Morality Bites, again

[sol]

Last night, too much coffee, it was difficult to sleep, TV may send me to sleep vey well - and I saw Morality Bites

I never noticed before but the opening credits are featuring only the Charmed Ones, a very clear indication of how the whole episode revolves around the importance of their relationship

I re watched thinking of many things discussed here and this made me to value more the episode

The inconsistency of the link from playing a small prank on a rude man to a murder,had always affected a very interesting episode

I can accept the excess of moralism but in this case it was running into the ridiculous


Instead, itwas very nice to see the Charmed Ones in the full of their powers, Prue that destroys the attic, Piper freezing an entire neighborhood, Phoebe evidently unable to hold off her empathetic power, but she too so powerful

Those were the Charmed Ones whose growth scares the Triad, worries Tempus, it's easier to understand the anxiety to eliminate those young witches to their first steps
In Morality Bites we see what oracles and clairvoyants were seeing in the future, putting the entire evil world in alarm

Above all we see the loneliness in which the sisters sunk: Piper alone with her daughter in the Manor that looks unkempt, dusty, Prue turned into a wealthy workaholic businesswoman Phoebe clearly alone, unable to control her power to channel people's feelings

Powerful and alone, unnecessarily powerful without the strength and the grace of their bond

But, since that is the original timeline, what happens after the Charmed Ones came back?

What really happened?

The Prue and Piper to the original timeline where they were in the meantime?

The 1999's Charmed Ones really did the events seen or, time paradox, coming back,they left 2009 in the same moment they arrived?


Maybe Prue and Piper of 2009 were able to run away with Phoebe, as I hoped, and disappeared to start a new life elsewhere?

[erikamarie]

Feb 18, 2016 10:43:37 GMT -5 sol said:

Last night, too much coffee, it was difficult to sleep, TV may send me to sleep vey well - and I saw Morality Bites

I never noticed before but the opening credits are featuring only the Charmed Ones, a very clear indication of how the whole episode revolves around the importance of their relationship

I re watched thinking of many things discussed here and this made me to value more the episode

The inconsistency of the link from playing a small prank on a rude man to a murder,had always affected a very interesting episode

I can accept the excess of moralism but in this case it was running into the ridiculous


Instead, itwas very nice to see the Charmed Ones in the full of their powers, Prue that destroys the attic, Piper freezing an entire neighborhood, Phoebe evidently unable to hold off her empathetic power, but she too so powerful

Those were the Charmed Ones whose growth scares the Triad, worries Tempus, it's easier to understand the anxiety to eliminate those young witches to their first steps
In Morality Bites we see what oracles and clairvoyants were seeing in the future, putting the entire evil world in alarm

Above all we see the loneliness in which the sisters sunk: Piper alone with her daughter in the Manor that looks unkempt, dusty, Prue turned into a wealthy workaholic businesswoman Phoebe clearly alone, unable to control her power to channel people's feelings

Powerful and alone, unnecessarily powerful without the strength and the grace of their bond

But, since that is the original timeline, what happens after the Charmed Ones came back?

What really happened?

The Prue and Piper to the original timeline where they were in the meantime?

The 1999's Charmed Ones really did the events seen or, time paradox, coming back,they left 2009 in the same moment they arrived?


Maybe Prue and Piper of 2009 were able to run away with Phoebe, as I hoped, and disappeared to start a new life elsewhere?

I didn't understand very well what you mean: do you believe that when the Charmed Ones of 1999 came back to their time, the time rewound itself till the istant in which Piper wakes up on the couch?
In this case, Piper and Prue of 2009 know nothing about what happened and put into practise their plans to make escape Phoebe from the jail, it's right?

[sol]

I was talking with my friends: where 2009' Prue and Piper were durig the episodes?

Melted away by the Elders?

Thrown in 1999 with an exchange of bodies?

Or the Elders used a shrinking space-time rewinding the time?

I don't know if there are fanfic about Morality Bites timeline, but if I wanted to write something, I'ld start with Piper that gets up from the couch and calls Prue because it's time to go into action ad free Phoebe

[Esmeralda]

Feb 24, 2016 13:16:51 GMT -5 sol said:

I was talking with my friends: where 2009' Prue and Piper were durig the episodes?

Melted away by the Elders?

Thrown in 1999 with an exchange of bodies?

Or the Elders used a shrinking space-time rewinding the time?

I don't know if there are fanfic about Morality Bites timeline, but if I wanted to write something, I'ld start with Piper that gets up from the couch and calls Prue because it's time to go into action ad free Phoebe

And that's probably exactly what happened. Remember that the MB version of sisters had a "rescue Phoebe" plan all figured out - our versions just followed it. I think the difference is that that Phoebe never would've stopped Prue from destroying Pratt - ON TELEVISION! - and make the war on witches (including little Melinda) way, way worse.

Although then again they might have ended up doing exactly what they did in "Something Wicca This Way Goes" and "Still Alive and Kicking", but rather than going back to the Manor as you suggested, they'd go somewhere far, far away, leaving Melinda with Leo (the way the real ones were going to leave Wyatt and Chris behind with Victor) and let the witches in San Francisco suffer for what Prue had done while the Halliwells (who were warlocks, not witches) would've continued using magic for their own personal gain somewhere else.

[sol]

I agree but not on everything

Piper'ld have frozen the whole prison, the sisters'ld have escaped easily and undetected
They'ld assume new identities, Victor and Leo'ld take care of Melinda and Prue companies

But the episode's opening credit, all focused on the three sisters, convinced me that this is the heart of the problem, they have become strangers to each other: back together, being sisters again, they might have been working to solve the disaster that Pheobe did

A long work to turn witches again, true Charned Ones and maybe to help people to accept the magic, with Leo's help

It'ld be a nice timeline!

[Esmeralda]

Feb 25, 2016 12:46:42 GMT -5 sol said:

I agree but not on everything

Piper'ld have frozen the whole prison, the sisters'ld have escaped easily and undetected
They'ld assume new identities, Victor and Leo'ld take care of Melinda and Prue companies

But the episode's opening credit, all focused on the three sisters, convinced me that this is the heart of the problem, they have become strangers to each other: back together, being sisters again, they might have been working to solve the disaster that Pheobe did

A long work to turn witches again, true Charned Ones and maybe to help people to accept the magic, with Leo's help

It'ld be a nice timeline!

That would've been, but it still means that they would've proven that they were witches since they would've proven that they used magic to break Phoebe free, and would've made life harder on witches. If they really wanted to do what you're talking about, they probably would've done the Chris-route and try to go back in time to change things.

But I think they just wanted to grab Phoebe and get out of town and leave the rest of the witches hanging - or as the case may be, to burn. The punishing Pratt for letting his dog poop in their sidewalk would lead them to not caring about anyone besides themselves, the reason they were each alone and I can't see anything that would happen that would lead them in the path you're talking about. They'd just all go their separate ways and continue their separate lives. I can so see S8 Piper and S8 Phoebe doing that that it's not hard to see the MB versions doing it. You just have to remember Paige getting married and Phoebe getting her own place when Poor, Poor Pitiful Piper so needed her sisters after Leo became a Leocicle - but they left her alone, just like in S6. I'm sure the MB versions would've done the same thing. I don't think what happened would've been enough to make them want to change, just like what happened in "Something Wicca This Way Goes" didn't make them want to change but just continued down the same path to eventual destruction.

[sol]

I can't understand why " punishing Pratt for letting his dog poop in their sidewalk would lead them to not caring about anyone besides themselves"

Pratt was rude and lout, I think that their innocent and inexplicable trick has raised questions in the suspicious head of the hateful man
But what they have to understand or - I don't like this saying- the lesson they have to learn is about their sisterhood, even the different opening credit is about this, only the sisters

They betrayed their bond and their lives are marked by loneliness: alone is Prue with all her prosperity and success, alone is Piper with her little girl, alone is Phoebe with her uncontrollable power


They got, and were betrayed also, in that in which they most aspired: success, love, power

They got what they wanted and without their unique link, they ruined everything

[sol]

The discussion about different timelines made IMO Morality Bites a milestone in Charmed

Twice, looking at the future, we see the magic revealed

In the original Charmed One's future, the witch hunt reminiscent of some old science fiction movie, with shelters for persecuted and people pointing the finger on the street
In Chris and Wyatt's future, the magic seems to be lived as folklore, but witches are monitored by Wyatt

It'ld seem that the magic tended to reveal itself, hampered by witches, Elders, demons who want to keep the secret

The journey into the future affect the lives of sisters so much so that I wonder if the reason why Phoebe'll use a few times her empathic power as a weapon of attack, is that vision of herself that killed Cal Greene with the same power

[Chrisaholic]

If the Elders had started this and put the Charmed Ones into this future of 2009, why is that not only soul travelling of the sisters? To see how their future could become if they don't change. Only a little showing of powers could make mortals suspicious of neighbors and/or witches. Who knows?

[Deleted]

I can just imagine viewers in 1999 laughing at the 2009 depicted in this episode and saying:  That could never happen in America.

Fast forward through the Dubya Administration, 9/11, the Patriot Act, the Tea Party, and, the possibility of Donald Trump getting into the White House.  I guess nobody is laughing now.

[Deleted]

Oct 29, 2015 11:47:36 GMT -5 Nimue said:

I like Morality Bites (although it's very far from being one of my favorite episodes), except for the fact that it was the dog incident that started off everything. It's ridiculous, the sisters weren't hurting him or his dog, and they had done worser things before (Prue making Andy trip over that cart in Season 1). The message was a little too preachy to my taste (and of course they completely forgot about it later on)....

It's definitely not in my top 10 but its one of the best episodes. Maybe I have to watch it again.

Do you know what I think kills this episode? It's Alyssa Milano's acting. She just doesn't suit crying which is why I liked her better in Charmed Again Part 1 (which is my favourite episode) and not Part 2. She's just not the greatest crying actress of the 4. Don't get me started on Awakened!

When you see the premonition in this episode with Piper crying her heart out watching her sister dying AND when the actual burning happens - both her and Prue weep so brilliantly and the feeling is real. I like how Alyssa bought the comical and sexy appeal to the show, the acting was just additional (harsh right?).

I also think that the moral lesson learning from this episode is a bit over the top. And this should have been a concept that was introduced or explored in Season 1. By this point, all three sisters had used their powers for personal gain several times, and its actually what made the show fun, sometimes comedic.

I do like Piper and Leo's storyline in Morality Bites and her power advancement. I also liked how they predicted that TV's would have standard computer keyboard underneath them and that voice recognition was something they predicted in 1999 for 2009. hahahahhaa!

Overall, a memorable episode form a Solid Season. A solid A

[sol]

Reading the site reported by Cyma



tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WMG/Charmed



I found this

Only the Prue from the future was planning on saving Phoebe in 'Morality Bites'




It's right, Piper was living in the Manor with her dahghter and the BOS was kept at Bucklands and was full of new spells and potions, sign that Prue set up alone the escape plans for Phioebe, then asking Piper for help


Even more I believe that Morality Bites is the representation of the effects of the breaking of the bond between the sisters

[imdb lives on]

My favorite thread. I feel like the quite timeline while sad was the true one. No Billie or Christy, Gideon, or any of that. The sisters were still fighting and leading normal lives until they split. I wouldnt mind watching that show. Also another thing that bothered me was technology never progressed. We had flying cars, mtv on the moon and many other advanced yet neither show not comic explained why it stayed the same

[Granny Charmed]

I am more curious dears on this timeline, and it always is such a special episode to wonder about. Especially since Prue is alive in this one, and the original power of three lived to see 2009. Phoebe was *apparently* still single in this future timeline. Which makes me wonder if the Elders never sent Coop to her, she might have continued single. I am always wondered dears about how this set of sisters lived out their lives to this 2009 future.

But sadly dears, they forgot the lesson they learnt in 2009 in later seasons. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they ended up down the exact same path. If we were not treated to Forever Charmed, I would find it sweet revenge for them to have history repeat itself and they end up in a similar 2009 future. But *maybe* the presence of Paige would of saved them, much like the season 9 comic. Which I adore by the way.

If Prue wasn't killed off, and this was before season 3 originally ended I thought about something like this dears. I always wondered if the series would of ended closing out with reaching the 2009 future. Seeing if they learnt the lessons they did from 2009, and if history would repeat itself. Had that been the case, well then this episode would of been an even *way* more fun. Even so, it *could* of been something they did with Paige. Even if the show time jumped a few years to make it work. *Sigh*

[Chrisaholic]

Maybe it has, in a way. Looking at the future in "Chris Crossed", I'm sure magic was exposed and also witch hunters could be on the run but again, only assumptions. I'm certain that Wyatt would have used any measure to get and show who is the boss here! Or Master better.

[sol]

I remain convinced that the lesson they had to learn was the importance dl their sisterly bond


In MB Prue is a careerist alone and vain - vanity and pride are the real Prue' flaws,
Piper is a divorced lonely and depressed - an inability to stand on her own is a young Piper's characteristic, Phoebe nearly forty years is still in the grip of the emotions as a teenager - imprudence is Phoebe' flaw

At the beginning of the second season the pain for the loss of Andy riks to push Prue away from the magic and probably breaking the magical bond even their bond as sisters was at risk

The sisters in their short journey into the future may see what are likely to become, empty or depressed or out of control women, as so many women are, but they are powerful witches, loneliness is a danger

The little spite done to the man with the dog is a pretext to remember that every little careless action can set in motion an avalanche


"Wrong things done for the right reason".....I don't buy it, History teached us that often the wrong thing is the right move to make

[magena]

How many times Piper and Phoebe'll wonder if Prue'ld not be alive if they had quit being witches?

It'ld be better a blond, self centered and bossy Prue than a dead Prue!

[Esmeralda]

Feb 14, 2017 2:25:22 GMT -5 sol said:

I remain convinced that the lesson they had to learn was the importance dl their sisterly bond


In MB Prue is a careerist alone and vain - vanity and pride are the real Prue' flaws,
Piper is a divorced lonely and depressed - an inability to stand on her own is a young Piper's characteristic, Phoebe nearly forty years is still in the grip of the emotions as a teenager - imprudence is Phoebe' flaw

At the beginning of the second season the pain for the loss of Andy riks to push Prue away from the magic and probably breaking the magical bond even their bond as sisters was at risk

The sisters in their short journey into the future may see what are likely to become, empty or depressed or out of control women, as so many women are, but they are powerful witches, loneliness is a danger

The little spite done to the man with the dog is a pretext to remember that every little careless action can set in motion an avalanche

I agree with you up to here. If the wrong thing done for the right reason is the right thing, then they'd be as bad as the demons - which is exactly what happened, a lot of why I don't like S3-8, when they forgot that the wrong thing done for the right reason is still the wrong thing - ends do *not* justify the means - only if you just care for how it affects you and not how it affects others - *especially* when you have powers.

[sol]

Dear Es, I don't like the strict statement

It'ld happen that the wrong thing done for the right reason was the right thing, as the right thing done for the wrong reason was the wrong thing

It's not a semantic problem, but the finding that reality is complex and requires modulated feedback on the situation


In MB, Phoebe's sentence is still wrong: killing for revenge is not the wrong thing done for the right reason, it's the wrong thing done for the wrong reason

Leo: She hurt him because he murdered someone. Someone Phoebe cared about very much. A dear friend who he brutalized. But a technicality set him free. Phoebe was furious, outraged. And that's when she crossed the line from protecting the innocent to punishing the guilty. She used her power to kill Greene, got caught, and her magic exposed by Nathaniel Pratt.

If Phoebe killed deliberately to punish, the phrase is meaningless, a murder can have a raison d'être only if it is the elimination of a deadly enemy for the community

If Phoebe went crazy and killed because she lost her power control, it's still the wrong thing done for the wrong reason, but in this case, here is the Elders's lesson: to break their link means to be alone with their increasingly strong powers

Loneliness plus stronger powers is a dangerous cocktail, see Cole who chooses to be the Source without talking to the sisters, see Wyatt, teenager without the loving protection of mother and aunts, see Richard, intoxicated by his family powers, which he had always refused

This is the reason why that sentence disturbs me: it makes no sense, it's gooey, it distorts the very meaning of the moment, because Phoebe sacrifices herself to save the persecuted witches, not for Cal Greene's killing

With that sentence, it appears that Phoebe justifies the death penalty, even at the stake!

[Esmeralda]

You might not like it, and I'm sure most people would agree with you, but it is the way I feel, which is why I count the Charmed Ones as warlocks after Phoebe and Paige set up Rick Guttridge and after the Charmed Ones used the Hollow to murder the Jenkinses. Yes, it got changed, but it doesn't matter - given the same situation, they'd still kill whoever they think is evil - which is still why I think Wyatt turned evil in Chris' original future - no Leo. I'll bet that if Leo had been unfrozen, he would've talked them into doing something else, like Piper freezing them and then binding their powers like they did to Paige's past life. Murder is never the answer. It just leads to more murder.

It also wasn't the answer here.

What the Elders did was wrong - what they counted as the wrong thing done for the right reason and it didn't succeed - what Phoebe did wasn't. I just wonder how her dying would prevent future witches like Melinda from being persecuted. That's the part I didn't understand. Especially with Piper and Prue in the chamber watching Phoebe burn - how else could they get in there besides magic? I don't think they did the Piper and Prue of that alternate universe (since it obviously is one since it's nothing like our 1999 was - I think the Elders sent them to an alternate world where the Charmed Ones *had* turned to evil) any favors...

I really don't think the whole loneliness thing had anything to do with it, and if it was, the lesson never hit any more than the wrong thing done for the right reason is still wrong and we're supposed to protect the innocent not punish the guilty did.

I keep saying I wish my favorite episode had never been part of the series because I can now see how badly they messed it up, and I still feel that way.