Astral Monkey - Best Piper episode in S2?

[jdpm1991]

Am I the only one who just loves "Astral Monkey" to pieces? It's one of my favorite Holly performances in the end of the episode

[Nimue]

No, it's also one of my favorites of the entire series. Holly's performance at the end is heart-breaking.

[Deleted]

I think Awakening and Astral Monkey are very strong episodes. Those are probably my third and second fav Piper-centric episodes respectively (with Dead Man Dating as number 1).

Fourth would be The Wendigo.

After that, the only Piper episode I can really recall liking was "Little Monsters", but I suppose your mileage may vary on what you consider a Piper episode. I wasn't a Piper fan much in season 6, but I liked her in that episode- I think a bit of the compassion she used to show on a regular basis came through with the beast (forgot his name) and his son.

I generally still really liked Piper in season 2, when her focus wasn't on the love triangle.

[West]

It was a good scene, and I loved it. I dont hate this episode at all. I only hate Piper in season 2 in regards to the love triangle and how she was to Dan. Otherwise I can enjoy this episode.

[Melinda Halliwell]

I do love Holly's performance here and her regret when Williamson dies which wasn't shown character wise later seasons and the scene at the end with her and Leo is one of my favourite from Charmed generally.

[Sadrick]

It's one of the best episodes, period. Top five might not be the most accurate, but it certainly belongs in the top 10 or 15. Piper really stood out in this episode as someone whom you felt for. Although, at the same time it could be said that she brought the situation onto herself by illicitly having the fruit imported into the country.

[ljones]

I'm a little put off by "Astral Monkey". So, it's not a big favorite of mine.

[Charmed by Piper]

I loved the ending to the episode it was a really good moment for Piper and a favorite Piper/Leo moment for me.

[ljones]

I hate it that although Piper was willing to feel guilty for not answering Dr. Williamson's call; she, Leo and the sisters were unwilling to admit that Piper's greed in "Awakening", along with Prue, Phoebe and Leo's willingness to try to cheat death (and punishment) for Piper; led to the mess in "Astral Monkey".

[adzpower]

I like this episode a lot. It showed that yes, the sisters can make mistakes, they aren't perfect and they're still learning, but despite all that, they still suffered for it, they still felt guilt and remorse. Something that couldn't really be said about them in later seasons.

[ljones]

Guilt and remorse for what? While Prue, Phoebe and Leo tried to dismiss the matter, the only thing Piper felt guilt for was not answering Dr. Williamson's letters. That's it.

[sol]

If Piper had answered, probably she'ld have realized the danger and could prevent it, saving the doctor, she her regret is logical,preventing it's more useful than feeling guilty about what happened

[Melinda Halliwell]

I can understand why Piper didn't answer Doctor Williamson's letter because of what happened previously when Leo saved her at the end and the fact it would've thrown up red flags in terms of how she possibly survived had Williamson dug in further.

I'm surprised the sisters didn't erase the people in the room's memories later on after Piper woke up or got the blood samples somehow and destroyed them then thus eliminating subsequent events unless they didn't think anything of it would come about at the time even though Williamson responded to the nurses's comment saying, "I don't know. But I'm goanna find out."

[Ruth Marie]

I like this episode. Am I the only one who much likes when the villain of the week is human and we don't always get demons. So refreshing, and so many episodes turn out to be so good this way.

This episode is definitely in my top 10 of season 2. The end of season 2 was actually very strong, all the episode starting with Chick Flick were awesome. I do think the second season final often feels not like a typical final, but I actually didn't think it was so bad.

[adzpower]

Season 2 has gotten better and better for me on later re-watches, the sisters are great, they regularly help innocents, not as much of a focus on generic demons, honestly I could go on.

[Melinda Halliwell]

Yes it is nice to have a human villian sometimes than a demonic one which as Ruth Marie said because it makes the show interesting.

[gzv969]

Astral Monkey was one of pipers better episodes in season 2. The ending was quite emotional and I often compare it to that of phoebes performance in "long live the queen" after Cole was vanquished. I also liked Awakened but not for pipers performance, more for prue and phoebe in general. It was the first time they faced the threat of possible exposure and how they went about attempting to fix it in true Wiccan style. All those personal gain rules that came after that episode just put a damper on the excitement in later episodes. Reason why I love the early seasons when they were willing to take risks. Especially phoebe who wouldn't think twice back then in using magic to fix her problems.

I also liked piper in "Give me a Sign". Watching how piper and phoebe interacted without prue around and how phoebe drove her crazy with the spell she cast.

[ShadowCat]

Feb 27, 2017 15:19:09 GMT -5 gzv969 said:

Astral Monkey was one of pipers better episodes in season 2. The ending was quite emotional and I often compare it to that of phoebes performance in "long live the queen" after Cole was vanquished. I also liked Awakened but not for pipers performance, more for prue and phoebe in general. It was the first time they faced the threat of possible exposure and how they went about attempting to fix it in true Wiccan style. All those personal gain rules that came after that episode just put a damper on the excitement in later episodes. Reason why I love the early seasons when they were willing to take risks. Especially phoebe who wouldn't think twice back then in using magic to fix her problems.

I also liked piper in "Give me a Sign". Watching how piper and phoebe interacted without prue around and how phoebe drove her crazy with the spell she cast.

The personal gain thing always confused me. Now I am not saying you should make a career out of it, as if that is all you are motivated by life could become very cold indeed. If I recall correctly Phoebe is speaking to Prue regarding a major witch code, that being "do as you will, but harm no one." So I had to wonder if being Charmed put restrictions on the girls that are not enforced to the general witch population.   

[gzv969]

Feb 27, 2017 17:39:01 GMT -5 ShadowCat said:

Feb 27, 2017 15:19:09 GMT -5 gzv969 said:

Astral Monkey was one of pipers better episodes in season 2. The ending was quite emotional and I often compare it to that of phoebes performance in "long live the queen" after Cole was vanquished. I also liked Awakened but not for pipers performance, more for prue and phoebe in general. It was the first time they faced the threat of possible exposure and how they went about attempting to fix it in true Wiccan style. All those personal gain rules that came after that episode just put a damper on the excitement in later episodes. Reason why I love the early seasons when they were willing to take risks. Especially phoebe who wouldn't think twice back then in using magic to fix her problems.

I also liked piper in "Give me a Sign". Watching how piper and phoebe interacted without prue around and how phoebe drove her crazy with the spell she cast.

The personal gain thing always confused me. Now I am not saying you should make a career out of it, as if that is all you are motivated by life could become very cold indeed. If I recall correctly Phoebe is speaking to Prue regarding a major witch code, that being "do as you will, but harm no one." So I had to wonder if being Charmed put restrictions on the girls that are not enforced to the general witch population.   

Phoebe also had mentioned at some point that she could write Personal gain free spells, that it was all in the wordings (Give Me A Sign). Though that theory I believe was proven wrong. Also on another occasion, I believe "Cat House" phoebe tells piper to go ahead and write a spell to help with her marriage counseling, that piper and leo already had all the consequences in spades so a personal gain spell shouldn't be a problem (Though it turned out to be a problem). So Phoebe was still willing to break some of the rules and try personal gain spells when she felt they were needed.

[Ruth Marie]

Feb 27, 2017 8:45:28 GMT -5 adzpower said:

Season 2 has gotten better and better for me on later re-watches, the sisters are great, they regularly help innocents, not as much of a focus on generic demons, honestly I could go on.

Couldn't agree more adzpower.

Feb 27, 2017 14:04:44 GMT -5 Melinda Halliwell said:

Yes it is nice to have a human villian sometimes than a demonic one which as Ruth Marie said because it makes the show interesting.

Exactly. 

Feb 27, 2017 15:19:09 GMT -5 gzv969 said:

Astral Monkey was one of pipers better episodes in season 2. The ending was quite emotional and I often compare it to that of phoebes performance in "long live the queen" after Cole was vanquished. I also liked Awakened but not for pipers performance, more for prue and phoebe in general. It was the first time they faced the threat of possible exposure and how they went about attempting to fix it in true Wiccan style. All those personal gain rules that came after that episode just put a damper on the excitement in later episodes. Reason why I love the early seasons when they were willing to take risks. Especially phoebe who wouldn't think twice back then in using magic to fix her problems.

I also liked piper in "Give me a Sign". Watching how piper and phoebe interacted without prue around and how phoebe drove her crazy with the spell she cast.

Yeah the ending is really good. I wished they focused more on the threat of exposure. Too bad, witch hunters should of been more of a focus or even a big bad of the season. I find the idea of a human big bad more interesting than always being demons.