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Context Recap / CharmedS1E21LoveHurts

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1!Love Hurts
2->'''Leo shows up at the Manor, badly wounded, and Prue and Piper learn of his true nature. To heal him, Piper trades her powers with Leo's using a power-switching spell, but it also works on Phoebe and Prue. Now, with their powers switched, the Charmed Ones have to defeat Leo's assailant, a Darklighter who has been stalking Leo's charge.'''
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4[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/121c.jpg]]
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6Daisy is startled entering her car, drops a bag and cuts her hand on broken glass. Leo appears behind her. Daisy is relieved to see him; she thought he was Alec, a Darklighter who has been chasing her for some time. Leo heals her hand, much to Daisy's amazement. Leo tells Daisy that he brought her to San Francisco, because he has "powerful friends" who can help protect her. He also tells her that he's made her invisible to Alec. At that moment, Alec appears, looking for Daisy. Daisy flees. Alec conjures a crossbow and shoots Leo in the shoulder. Injured, Leo orbs to the manor.
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8Prue and Phoebe are planning a vacation in Cabo San Lucas. Piper calls from the attic; she has found Leo with an arrow in his shoulder, and the girls stare uselessly for a while. Leo admits that he is really their Whitelighter. Leo warns Phoebe and Piper that the arrow is poison-tipped. Prue returns to the attic with several bandages, and uses her telekinetic power to remove the arrow. Leo tells the sisters about Alec and Daisy. He was protecting Daisy, because she has been identified as a future Whitelighter. Alec was originally after Daisy to seduce her and produce Darklighter spawn. However, they fell in love, until she found out what he was. After finding out about his true nature, Daisy rejects Alec continuously, much to his frustration and fury. Alec, like most Darklighters, has the Touch of Death.
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10Andy and Darryl are together at their desk, when Prue calls Andy. Andy can't talk now, as Darryl knows he's hiding something, so Prue offers to meet at Quake. Andy tells Prue to be careful, as Internal Affairs is after him. Prue tells Andy about Daisy; he offers to review security cameras to find her. Leo is bandaged up, but the arrow's poison is slowly killing him, and he can't use his healing power on himself. With his powers fading, he is losing his ability to cloak Daisy.
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12Alec orbs into Daisy's hotel room and won't leave her alone. The motel manager knocks, and then unlocks the door. Alec kills the manager as Daisy flees through the fire escape. Andy and Prue arrive, and Prue flings Alec across the room. Alec orbs out – but, unlike Leo, his orbs are black.
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14Piper has found a power-switching spell in the Book of Shadows, and thinks she can use it to switch her powers with Leo, so she can heal him. With Prue and Phoebe all present, Piper casts the spell. Kit walks in and Piper tries to freeze her, but can't. Suddenly, Prue touches Phoebe and has a premonition of Kit apparently knocking over a lamp. Kit walks up to the lamp and Phoebe tries to shoo her away, and in the process, flings the lamp into the wall, shattering it. Piper must have Leo's healing power, but she doesn't know how to use it. Prue tells Piper that she has to figure out how to trigger Leo's power, just like they had to find their triggers when their own powers were unbound.
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16Andy calls and says that Daisy has bought a bus ticket.
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18Inspectors Rodriguez and Anderson grill Andy about the scene in the hotel. Rather than answer, Andy turns in his badge and his gun. Daisy reaches the bus station and finds Alec everywhere she turns. Prue and Phoebe walk in. Prue tries to goad Phoebe into getting angry; she knows that her telekinesis was originally triggered by anger. Finally, Prue remembers that during high school, several guys called Phoebe "Freebie", after they caught her making out under the bleachers; the insult causes Phoebe to knock some magazines off a rack. Prue has a vision of Daisy cowering in the ladies' room. Prue and Phoebe confront Alec in the ladies' room. Alec conjures his crossbow. Phoebe tries to fling it out of his hand, but only causes all of the taps to come on and all of the soap to squirt out of the dispensers. Prue admits that she hit Grams' car several years ago – an accident for which Phoebe took the heat. Phoebe flings Alec into a stall. Alec drops the crossbow. Prue picks it up, takes aim and shoots, but Alec black-orbs away. The two sisters bring Daisy to the manor.
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20Andy has sent flowers to Prue and the card says he needs to see her. Prue leaves to meet with Andy, while Daisy and Phoebe go to the attic. They find Leo almost dead and Piper crying. Daisy tries to leave, but Piper convinces her to stay inside. Andy tells Prue that he has turned in his badge and is suspended. He warns her to be careful, and that it's best that they not be seen together, lest Rodriguez find out that Prue is his source. Andy adds that Prue and her sisters are doing the very thing that made him want to become a cop. Piper, upset, cries over Leo's body. She has tried to heal him several times, but can't figure out his trigger. She collapses on his body and tells him that she loves him. Suddenly, her hands start to glow, and Leo is healed. He tells her that love triggers his healing power, but he couldn't tell her that because she had to find that out for herself. They come downstairs and prepare to call Prue, when Alec black-orbs in. Phoebe tries to blow him out the door, but knocks the chandelier down instead. Alec grabs Piper and offers to spare her life, if the sisters let him have Daisy. Prue comes in behind him. Alec tosses Piper aside, grabs Daisy and black-orbs out. Leo feels too weak to use his powers, so the four leave their powers switched. Leo coaches Piper on how to sense a charge. Piper finds Daisy and Phoebe and Prue go after her while Piper stays with Leo. They find Daisy and Alec in a cemetery, where Alec is about to sacrifice Daisy. Phoebe flings Alec aside. Prue casts the power-switching spell, just as Alec is about to use his touch of death on Daisy. Suddenly, Prue's hand starts glowing red-hot; she has Alec's touch of death and realizes hate is the trigger for it. Phoebe draws Alec towards Prue who incinerates Alec with his own power and switches their powers back just before he dies. Prue says that she never had to feel so much hate before – and doesn't want to ever feel it again.
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22The sisters and Leo switch their powers back. Leo, himself, had been an Army medic in World War II. He died in the war and was offered the chance to become a Whitelighter. He accepted, but would give it all up for life with Piper. However, Piper thinks that would be too much of a loss for him.
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24Andy and Darryl meet at a noisy construction site. Rodriguez and Anderson are watching and using a long-range microphone, but the noise makes the microphone useless. Rodriguez, however, hears Andy mention Prue. Anderson wonders how that's possible. Suddenly, Rodriguez's eyes turn fiery red and he sonic screams. The sound penetrates Anderson's earphones, and he falls dead on the steering column.
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26Piper puts on Leo's dogtags, while Prue and Phoebe mix tropical drinks to make up for not making it to Cabo.
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29!! Tropes
30* AchillesHeel: Darklighter poison to Whitelighters. If it doesn't kill instantly, it'll just slowly spread, and Whitelighters can't heal themselves (though they can be healed by another Whitelighter).
31* BerserkButton: To trigger the swapped power of telekinesis, Prue pushes Phoebe's buttons--calling her "Freebie" and saying she once took the fall for an accident she (Prue) actually caused.
32* CallBack: Prue trying to anger Phoebe to trigger her (swapped) telekinesis is similar to the scene in the first episode when Phoebe did it to Prue.
33* DarkIsEvil: Alec consistently dresses in black. Darklighters have their own version of orbing, but it's black instead of blue.
34* DramaticIrony: Alec actually did what Leo couldn't: told the woman he loved who he really was.
35* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:
36** Alec is a Darklighter whose goal is to create evil offspring by seducing women, not unlike [[SuccubiAndIncubi an incubus]], a trait we don't see associated with Darklighters again. It's been fanwanked that he's a specific kind of Darklighter that does this, given that future episodes introduce breeds like Spirit Killers and Trackers in addition to the standard Darklighters, but in this episode Leo speaks as if it's part of the ''raison d'être'' of Darklighters in general.
37** Alec is also the only Darklighter seen using death touch in the series, until Rennek in the comic continuation. The other times a TouchOfDeath power appears, it's used by a demon or warlock.
38* EmbarrassingNickname: This episode establishes "Freebie" as one Phoebe got in high school.
39* EmotionalPowers: A Whitelighter's HealingHands require [[ThePowerOfLove love and empathy]], whereas a Darklighter's TouchOfDeath needs [[ThePowerOfHate an intense hatred of the target]].
40* EvilCounterpart: Alec to Leo. Both broke the rules by falling in love with their respective charges. Also, overall Darklighters to Whitelighters, especially with TouchOfDeath versus HealingHands.
41* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Prue uses Alec's power to kill him.
42* HowDoIShotWeb: After switching powers with Leo, Piper still isn't able to access his HealingHands until she channels her love for him. Phoebe also has trouble using Prue's telekinesis until she's sufficiently annoyed.
43* InternalReveal: Piper and Prue learn that Leo is a Whitelighter. (Technically, Phoebe told them this in [[Recap/CharmedS1E14SecretsAndGuys "Secrets and Guys"]], but it was a CassandraTruth.)
44* ItsAllMyFault: When Leo (temporarily) dies, Piper blames him for not telling her the trigger to his powers, but she really blames herself for not being able to figure it out in time.
45* LoopholeAbuse: Leo can't heal himself of the Darklighter poison, but Piper reasons she could if they swapped powers.
46* ThePowerOfFriendship: Internal Affairs tried to get Darryl to wear a wire ahead of his meeting with Andy; he refused. In return, Darryl feels he's owed an explanation about all this, so Andy tells him what he can.
47* ProperlyParanoid: When Andy says Prue is connected to all their unsolved cases, Darryl admits he saw that one coming.
48* RedEyesTakeWarning: Rodriguez sports them before killing Anderson.

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