Valhalley of the Dolls: Part 1
Chad Carson is interviewing Phoebe at a beach bash, sponsored by KQSF fm. The DJ says, as if in a letter to her column, "There's this woman I like and if I ask her out, I'm afraid she'll say no. What should I do?" Phoebe is unaware of her new power of empathy, but it kicks in and she answers, "Well why don't you ask me and find out?" to the delight of the crowd.
Chris is in the attic flipping through the Book of Shadows and taking notes, when a Valkyrie opens a portal and enters. The Valkyrie asks, "What's taking so long?" They are holding Leo prisoner in Valhalla. Chris is up to something and needs Leo out of the way. He and the Valkyrie kiss before she portals out.
Paige has a new job walking about a half dozen dogs and not having an easy time of it. Piper is in a strangely happy mood, in spite of having lost Leo. Paige and Phoebe think this is unusual for Piper. The sisters summon a Trok Demon and Piper tries to freeze him but blows one of his heads off instead. Phoebe vanquishes the demon with a spell. They learn only afterwards that Chris can't heal. Phoebe realizes that Piper is sad in spite of her apparently happy mood. The sisters want Chris to go up and find Leo, but then Chris admits that Leo is missing. Phoebe breaks the news to Piper, who seems unperturbed.
In Valhalla, a newly arrived warrior in camouflage fatigues is locked in a bamboo cage with a man in armor. Both have swords and small metal shields. They fight, and the man in camouflage is wounded. The Valkyries remove him for healing. The armored man takes off his helmet and is revealed to be Leo.
Paige is scrying for Leo, using a world map and even pictures of the planets, when Phoebe senses Chris's nervousness. Chris tries to discourage them from finding Leo, but the sisters are determined. The DJ stands Phoebe up, but she tracks him down, and in the resulting conversation, she becomes aware of her new power. Paige suspects that Leo has altered Piper's memory. Paige tries to restore it with a spell, but ends up wiping Piper's memory. She doesn't remember her name, nor Wyatt or Paige or Chris. She accidentally blows up a fixture. Paige finally scries for Leo, and she and Phoebe orb to Valhalla over Chris's objections. They find Leo in the bamboo cage, and soon after, two Valkyries attack. Leo throws two short swords, which strike the Valkyries' back. Leo warns the sisters to leave before the other Valkyries arrive.
Paige and Phoebe find the page for Valkyries in the Book of Shadows. Realizing that they're good, they wonder why they have Leo. Chris tries again to discourage them and the sisters wonder how he knows so much. He says they need a warrior's soul to get close to the Valkyries and one of their pendants to enter Valhalla undetected.
Chris orbs to the site where a policeman has been shot. A Valkyrie arrives to claim his soul, but Chris kills her and takes her pendant. Paige and Phoebe approach Darryl; they need to borrow his soul for a couple of hours, promising to return it; he refuses, of course, but Paige hits him in the back with a potion, leaving his body and soul separated. She sucks his soul in a vial.
Chris puts the pendant on Piper; with her memory blank, he easily convinces her that she really is a Valkyrie. Chris has brought two more pendants for the other sisters (and presumably killed two more Valkyries to get them). The sisters portal into Valhalla; the other Valkyries don't recognize them, but they release Darryl and are accepted. Darryl faces Leo in the bamboo cage. They circle each other, each unwilling to attack. Finally, at the urging of the Valkyries, Darryl lunges at Leo. He knocks Leo's helmet off and Piper recognizes him. Leo counter attacks, punches Darryl and tells him to stay down.
Piper's memory is restored, and shortly after the sisters Leo and Darryl escape, Piper and Leo argue. She is angry that Leo left and that he messed with her memory. He explains that he was going to reverse the spell slowly, but that somebody put him in Valhalla and he couldn't. Phoebe's empathy kicks in and she scolds and punches Leo; the noise attracts attention. Paige opens the portal but Piper won't go through. The others escape and some warriors follow them through the portal.
Tropes
- Adaptational Attractiveness: Well sort of. Original myths of Valkyries had them as demons. They evolved over time to become beautiful shield maidens - which is the one this episode goes for.
- Amazon Brigade: The Valkyries of Valhalla are Action Girls themselves, training other warriors for some final battle in the future.
- Bare Midriffs Are Feminine: The Valkyries, as beautiful shield maidens, all expose their midriffs with their costumes.
- Black Dude Dies First: Leysa is the only woman of colour among the Valkyries, so of course she's the one Chris murders to steal her pendant.
- Call-Back: Phoebe references Father Thomas from "Primrose Empath" when she gains empath powers, worrying she might suffer like Prue did.
- Call It Karma: As Phoebe becomes overwhelmed by Piper's emotions, she starts punching Leo in the face. He takes the hits, seeing them as deserved.
- Characterization Marches On: Chris is all but stated to have a sexual relationship with Mist, which would seem quite odd when "Chris Crossed" shows he has a fiancé back in the future.
- Continuity Nod:
- Paige tries to use the spell she used on Cole in the Season 5 premiere to get Piper to admit her true feelings.
- Leo being the champion in Valhalla makes sense when you see that he demonstrated some skill with a sword in "A Knight To Remember".
- Didn't Think This Through: With Darryl put in the cage to fight Leo, Paige asks how exactly they're going to save their mortal friend in addition to their Elder in-law. Phoebe has no idea, as she's just winging it.
- Expansion Pack Past: Chris is revealed to have come back because of Wyatt.
- Expository Hairstyle Change:
- Well Phoebe's drastically short hair was more a result of Alyssa Milano opting to cut it for her 30th birthday - but it coincides with Phoebe gaining empath powers.
- Paige's red hair has turned strawberry blonde as she starts going to temp jobs.
- Foreshadowing:
- Despite healing being a standard Whitelighter power, Chris cannot use it. He brushes it off as him being unexperienced.
- Phoebe keeps proving amazingly good at reading people lately, hinting at her new empath power.
- The various dogs that Paige looks after carry on in different ways, but a particular one keeps brushing up against her, as if trying to get her attention. The next episode reveals this is not some ordinary dog and that her new temp jobs have some kind of connection to the magical world.
- Heartbroken Badass: When Piper's memories start returning, Phoebe feels overwhelmed by her sorrow and anger. She ends up channeling Piper's emotions.Phoebe: We had a life together, a family, and you destroyed it! You destroyed me! You left me alone to raise our son by myself! How could you do this? How could you do this?!
- The High Queen: Technically Freyja is Queen of the Valkyries, and she fits the trope - as a wise, beautiful and benevolent leader.
- I Warned You: Leo asserted to the Valkyries that he didn't belong on the island and that they should let him go. Later, after Phoebe and Piper are forced to flee, the Valkyries find two of their own with swords in their backs. Leo reminds the Valkyries of what he said earlier.
- Identity Amnesia: Once given a Valkyrie pendant, Piper mistakenly believes she is one.
- In the Back: With two Valkyries attacking Phoebe and Paige, Leo grabs two swords in his cage and throws them for this effect.
- Initiation Ceremony: Freshly dead people with a warrior spirit are taken to Valhalla and put to the test with a cage match against the Valkyries' best warrior. The Valkyries don't expect a new recruit to win outright; they just want to see if there's any capability that would justify adding them to the warriors' ranks.
- Lady Land: Valhalla is populated by beautiful Valkyries, though they do train male warriors.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Paige's spell backfires and causes Piper to lose her memories.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Chris turns Piper into a Valkyrie, requiring a sexy new outfit, and Phoebe snarks "she hates wearing those costumes as much as we do", lampshading the show's frequency at doing this.
- Male Gaze: There are shots of the Valkyrie pendants when the sisters wear them, allowing their chests to be framed quite prominently on camera.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Phoebe is about to chew Paige out for accidentally erasing Piper's memories, only to sense this feeling and immediately switch to comforting her.
- Not Herself: Piper at the beginning of the episode, due to a spell Leo cast on her, before his kidnapping.
- Odd Name Out: The Valkyries' names are Freyja, Kara, Leysa and...Mist?
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Leo being a hardened warrior. Paige is outright surprised to see it.
- Power Incontinence: The rush of Piper's memories and emotions returning is so overwhelming for Phoebe's empathy power that she's overtaken completely for a few minutes, giving Leo a "Reason You Suck" Speech from Piper's perspective.
- Promotion to Opening Titles: Drew Fuller as Chris Perry.
- Stepford Smiler: Leo's spell turned Piper into a Type B. Unable to grieve for their break-up, she's ridiculously cheery and upbeat.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Darryl accidentally knocks Leo's helmet off, causing Piper to recognize him and remember everything. Phoebe and Paige have this reaction.
- Token Wholesome: Not only does Piper serve this role as she usually does compared to her sisters, but she also does so compared to the Valkyries; hers is the only costume that covers the midriff, and Kara is the only other Valkyrie not showing cleavage.
- Took a Level in Badass: Leo has gone from being an Actual Pacifist to being a champion warrior in Valhalla.
- Wasn't That Fun?: Amnesiac Piper finds her exploding power quite amusing.
- Wham Shot: The masked warrior in the cage revealing himself to be Leo.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Darryl rightfully gives the sisters this when they give him a potion to make him legally dead so they can use him as a potential warrior.
- Worthy Opponent: The soldier that Mist brings to Valhalla doesn't win the fight against Leo. However Freyja decides that he put up a good fight and allows him to join their ranks.
- You're Insane!: While evading the warriors on the island, Phoebe suddenly attacks Paige, prompting this reaction. Phoebe apologizes, saying the warriors' emotions got to her.
