All Hell Breaks Loose (Charmed)

File:AllHellBreaksLoose.jpg

The Source plans his strategy in All Hell Breaks Loose

General information

• Episode of the popular U.S. television series, Charmed
• Episode Number: 22
• Season: 3
• Production Code: 4300066
• Airdate: May 17th, 2001
• Writer: Brad Kern
• Director: Shannen Doherty

Synopsis

Template:Spoiler Piper and Prue have to protect a doctor, who is followed by a demon assassin named Shax for having saved too many lives. The doctor can't believe demons exist and thinks all this is a joke... until Shax enters and throws Piper and Prue through a wall, shattering it and almost killing the sisters. Luckily, Phoebe arrives, hurts the demon with a spell, scares him away and calls for Leo to heal Piper and Prue.

While Phoebe and Leo are in the Underworld to help Cole to fight the evil he holds within, Piper and Prue walk the streets and look for Shax. They finally find him, Piper blasts him, not killing him, and Shax disappears. But a news reporter shooting a story not far from there gets the battle on camera...

The girls keep in mind that Shax is still alive and might be a danger to the doctor. They join him in the hospital, but when they come out, Shax appears, and Piper and Prue have no other option than reciting the vanquishing spell in front of the hospital and of hundreds of people. They all applaude when the demon is dead. And once again, the battle is captured by video camera.

Both video records are shown on TV and cause a sensation. A large crowd forms in front of the Manor which consist of journalists, believers, curious people, and a girl named Alice who believes herself to be a witch (though she isn't one). While Piper and Prue discuss what they will do about all this, Alice blasts into the house looking to join their coven, but Prue throws her out with her powers. Alice claims that Piper and Prue are bad witches to the reporter outside. Some time later, Piper suddenly bleeds and falls. We then discover that Alice has shot her with a police rifle and she is captured by the SFPD. Prue has to take her to the hospital, but the crowd holds her back. She has to use her powers to throw people out of her way. But Piper finally dies...

The Source learns about all of this and informs Cole when he comes to see him. The Source is in trouble too: by exposing themselves, evil is also exposed. Cole, Leo and Phoebe end by finding a risky solution: they have to contact Tempus and have him rewind time. The Source tells them that Tempus is weak now and could die in process. The Source finally accepts, but with one condition: Phoebe will not be affected, but must remain in the underworld for all time.

In the hospital, special forces break in. Prue blocks the door to the operating room where her sister's dead body lies. She's about to be shot the minute later, but just as a bullet is about to strike her, time then rewinds to Shax's initial attack. He manages to throw Piper and Prue through a wall again, shattering it and almost killing the sisters. Unfortunately with Phoebe in the Underworld and unable to summon Leo, the sisters are unable to defeat Shax and heal Piper and Prue. Shax then kills the doctor and leaves the Manor, breaking the door as he flies out in a whirlwind. Final words spoken on the episode were Shax's "The End".

Continued Ending

Between this episode and Season 4's premiere, occurred the firing of actress Shannen Doherty from the show, she was later replaced by Rose McGowan who would come in to play baby half-sister Paige Matthews and restore the Power of Three. Though, what happened after Shax closed the door and Piper calling out for Prue (in Charmed Again, Pt 1) was never explained on the show, this is what fans of the series have created as the storyline in between, it's what most possibly happened, and what was somehow explained in the following episode:

In the Underworld, Leo and Cole managed to save Phoebe from The Source and went back to the manor; Leo saw Piper and Prue dying across the wall and healed Piper first, but when he tried to save Prue, it was too late... she had already died.

Although in this episode, after the first attack, Leo healed both Piper and Prue at the same time, using both hands. This could be somewhat explained as Leo arriving too late and needing much more strength to save one sister at a time, doing it first with his wife.

Book of Shadows

Enemies

• Shax: see Shax (Charmed)

Spells

• To Vanquish Shax: Evil wind that blows, that which forms below. No longer may you dwell, death takes you with this spell

Guest stars

• Dorian Gregory as Darryl Morris
• Julian McMahon as Cole Turner
• Michael Bailey Smith as Shax and The Source
• Matt Malloy as Dr. Griffiths
• Marianna Elliott as Alice Hicks
• Mercedes Colon as Elana Dominguez
• Margaret Easley as News Director
• Joe Torrenueva as Reporter #1
• Joe O'Connor as News Editor
• Mark Bennington as Cameraman
• Tommy Redmond Hicks as Captain
• Gary Lane as Bystander at Hospital
• Larry Lane as Bystander at Hospital
• Rebekah Louise Smith as Female Classmate
• Lee Spencer as Lawyer

Trivia

• This was actress Shannen Doherty's final episode in the series. She is never shown again, except for her back in Cat House and her body covering her face with a mirror in a Forever Charmed episode trailer.
• This episode ranked #1 of Favorite Episodes by the fans, with Something Wicca This Way Goes? in the second place.
• Actor Michael Bailey Smith, who played Belthazor and Grimlocks in the series prior, expanded his creature resume in this episode to include Shax and The Source.
• The episode's ending made it seem that all three sisters were killed. Prue and Piper were thrown through a wall with no one there to heal them, and Phoebe was to be killed in the Underworld by the Source's minions once time was reversed.
• The Source's sword would later be used in the episodes Charmed Again, Pt 2, Enter the Demon, Sword and the City and Crimes and Witch Demeanors.
• Piper dies in this episode from a gun shot wound, but time is reset at the end of episode.
• Prue dies by brain damage when thrown through a wall, along with Piper, who doesn't die.
• This was the first cliffhanger season finale.
• It was announced two weeks after Shannen Doherty announced her departure from the series, that Charmed was renewed for three more seasons, making it to where Charmed was guarenteed that they would have a 4th, 5th, and 6th seasons.

International titles

• French : Adieux
• German: Das Ende (the end)
• Spanish: El infierno se desata

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