Changes you would've made to Season 4 !

[BriannaWarren2.0]

- Introduce Paige in season three.
- Phoebe opens up an occult store. 
- If Phoebe and Cole weren't meant to be together, vanquish him and keep him dead.
- Make the vanquishing of Shax two episodes.
- After the two part episode of vanquishing Shax, have an episode dedicated to Prue, no demons and no distractions, an entire episode of them mourning the death of Prue. 

[Too Much Coffee]

The first episode is completely focused on mourning Prue and her funeral. If Paige had to appear (even though I'd want her left out until the second episode) she'd only be in it briefly.

Also, Shax is not vanquished so quickly, either he takes two episodes, or is around for the first five of six episodes.

More to come when I think about it.

[CharmedFaith]

Most of the first half of S4 im fine with. If I had to make changes and keep it "realistic" with what could happen...

Shax wouldnt have been vanquished within the first episode. They would've damaged him but he would've gotten away and be a threat looming over the sisters.

Shax would've been vanquished in the mid season finale after he did plenty of damage to the sisters. He's the Sources assassin for a reason! He managed to kill 1 sister and now he almost gets to kill another.

The Source would've been vanquished in the Season finale with the cliffhanger being that his essence just entered Cole. This would set up a 5th season where Phoebe is brought to the dark side for half a season effectively putting The Charmed Ones in limbo.

The Power of Three would be significantly weaker as the bond between the sisters isnt what it was with Prue and they'd be in a new learning curve working together. Prue/Piper/Phoebe got into a habit of "Freeze it, kick it, send flying". New sister, new ball game especially with Paige not knowing how to fully control her powers yet.

[Melinda Halliwell]

It seems we have the same idea CharmedFaith as I would've done what you did.

To add onto that I would've had it actually established whether Cole was possessed by the Source or had just had his powers then saving years of arguments between fans on that subject like how we knew Tara the essence possessed Piper with the middle sisters reflection in the mirror.

One final thing although I'm not sure if I'd do it or not is whether have still Paige move in when she did or later on then obviously.

[CharmedFaith]

She definitely moved in to soon. She should've moved in after Charmed and Dangerous or in a perfect world in the S4 finale after they vanquish The Source and consider their bond stronger than it was at the beginning of the season.

[Esmeralda]

Oct 20, 2020 13:11:58 GMT -5 CharmedFaith said:

She definitely moved in to soon. She should've moved in after Charmed and Dangerous or in a perfect world in the S4 finale after they vanquish The Source and consider their bond stronger than it was at the beginning of the season.

Oh, you're right! That would've made a great ending, even better than finding out that Piper was pregnant - that should've been held off til S5 when they think the danger is over.

[Esmeralda]

I would've preferred if Piper as the new oldest found herself with just TK, Phoebe as the new middle FINALLY getting an active power - the power to freeze TIME (not molecules) and Paige as the youngest (never the baby - that should've always been Phoebe) only getting premonitions. If you wanted that to be a whitelighter version, that would be okay with me as long as that was her ONLY power.

This way all three would have to relearn how to use her new power, making a truly new Power of Three.

Please leave all whitelighter powers out of it until another one of them dies and becomes a whitelighter, while also leaving explosions, levitation, astral projection, empathy and any other extra power as far away as possible.

I'd also prefer the Source truly possessing Cole so that he'd be like Shane and only pretend to be like Cole. When he's vanquished, there's no such thing as the Demonic Wasteland - he's gone forever - we never see him again.

[CharmedFaith]

I think having them suddenly switch powers would've been weird and messy. They are born with their powers and there is nothing that says which sister has to have which power depending on what order they were born in.

[Esmeralda]

Oct 20, 2020 17:32:33 GMT -5 CharmedFaith said:

I think having them suddenly switch powers would've been weird and messy. They are born with their powers and there is nothing that says which sister has to have which power depending on what order they were born in.

I think that after Prue's death, something weird and messy is something they needed to become something different, possibly something better. Much better than trying to change it by making Piper the Oldest, Phoebe the Middle and Paige the Baby when none ever were and a death doesn't change the birth order. Prue should've remained the Oldest (via writing in the Book or moving the pointer), Piper the Middle, Phoebe the Baby and Paige the Only Child. Changing powers makes much more sense to me.

[CharmedFaith]

Oct 20, 2020 21:11:57 GMT -5 Esmeralda said:

Oct 20, 2020 17:32:33 GMT -5 CharmedFaith said:

I think having them suddenly switch powers would've been weird and messy. They are born with their powers and there is nothing that says which sister has to have which power depending on what order they were born in.

I think that after Prue's death, something weird and messy is something they needed to become something different, possibly something better. Much better than trying to change it by making Piper the Oldest, Phoebe the Middle and Paige the Baby when none ever were and a death doesn't change the birth order. Prue should've remained the Oldest (via writing in the Book or moving the pointer), Piper the Middle, Phoebe the Baby and Paige the Only Child. Changing powers makes much more sense to me.

I think it was pretty natural with what they did. Piper and Phoebe spent their lives relying on Prue to do the hard things so with her gone it would've changed the entire dynamic. Id say it even played a role in Phoebe distancing herself once again from Piper and being a witch (of course it was really bad writing but gotta try to make it logical) in later seasons.

Their biggest problem was shoving Paige into her role as the youngest come Season 5 and getting rid of her best storyline. She grew up with no sisters and was independent her entire life and they squandered that along with her working in child services.

[Melinda Halliwell]

In terms of Paige moving into the manor early I did ask some fans elsewhere what they thought and a few mentioned that was okay because the sisters couldn't mourn Prue forever. They had to move on some point and the time Paige moved in was a good date and much better than after Prue's funeral.

With the Source I did debate whether on having the sisters actually vanquish him or not because the way whinny half face went was too easy for me so I'd rather either have that be more harder to do or have the sisters not able to kill him at all being the personification of evil and so have to lock him up like Lucifer from Supernatural in a cage like the Seer made for the Tall Man then.

He'd definitely be the red winged sword guy we saw in 'All Hell Breaks Loose' and like Es said shown to fully possess Cole the same as Shane I think.

[Elle Em]

There was so much material in season 4 that we could have spread it all out so much. I'd stretch everything about Charmed Again into half a season.

Maybe the audience meets Paige, but Piper and Phoebe don't. No one knows who she is for a few episodes. Then Piper and Phoebe start to do some research (on their own, no ghosts to just give them the story), and eventually find Paige. Paige comes to realize she's got a family and is a witch and is very, very reluctant to bond with her new sisters and accept her new life. It takes saving an innocent together and taking time to get to know each other before she accepts them and her destiny. The Power of Three would be reconstituted midway through season 4, and this is when the Source realizes that the Charmed Ones weren't destroyed after all.

Then the second half of season 4 would be like it was in the original first half, where they're getting to know each other better and saving all the innocents they did in the first half, just now taking place in the second half of the season. I would have Charmed and Dangerous be the season 4 finale. 

[CharmedFaith]

Oct 21, 2020 3:49:53 GMT -5 Melinda Halliwell said:

In terms of Paige moving into the manor early I did ask some fans elsewhere what they thought and a few mentioned that was okay because the sisters couldn't mourn Prue forever. They had to move on some point and the time Paige moved in was a good date and much better than after Prue's funeral.

With the Source I did debate whether on having the sisters actually vanquish him or not because the way whinny half face went was too easy for me so I'd rather either have that be more harder to do or have the sisters not able to kill him at all being the personification of evil and so have to lock him up like Lucifer from Supernatural in a cage like the Seer made for the Tall Man then.

He'd definitely be the red winged sword guy we saw in 'All Hell Breaks Loose' and like Es said shown to fully possess Cole the same as Shane I think.

Is 6 months really mourning forever though? (to those fans you spoke to) She was barely gone a year before they truly came to terms with it.

[Katie Warren]

Oct 21, 2020 8:15:09 GMT -5 Elle Em said:

There was so much material in season 4 that we could have spread it all out so much. I'd stretch everything about Charmed Again into half a season.

Maybe the audience meets Paige, but Piper and Phoebe don't. No one knows who she is for a few episodes. Then Piper and Phoebe start to do some research (on their own, no ghosts to just give them the story), and eventually find Paige. Paige comes to realize she's got a family and is a witch and is very, very reluctant to bond with her new sisters and accept her new life. It takes saving an innocent together and taking time to get to know each other before she accepts them and her destiny. The Power of Three would be reconstituted midway through season 4, and this is when the Source realizes that the Charmed Ones weren't destroyed after all.

Then the second half of season 4 would be like it was in the original first half, where they're getting to know each other better and saving all the innocents they did in the first half, just now taking place in the second half of the season. I would have Charmed and Dangerous be the season 4 finale. 

I agree. Charmed Again was so rushed, it could easily have been the entire first arc, mixed in with Hell Hath No Fury and other episodes with saving innocents and lower level demons or such, since they don't have the power of three yet with Paige.

I'd love to have meet Paige, and not revealed who she truly was right away, maybe the sisters even meet her when they go to Social Services for something to do with their latest innocent.

I liked your ideas Elle Em.

[Esmeralda]

Oct 21, 2020 19:45:17 GMT -5 Katie Warren said:

Oct 21, 2020 8:15:09 GMT -5 Elle Em said:

There was so much material in season 4 that we could have spread it all out so much. I'd stretch everything about Charmed Again into half a season.

Maybe the audience meets Paige, but Piper and Phoebe don't. No one knows who she is for a few episodes. Then Piper and Phoebe start to do some research (on their own, no ghosts to just give them the story), and eventually find Paige. Paige comes to realize she's got a family and is a witch and is very, very reluctant to bond with her new sisters and accept her new life. It takes saving an innocent together and taking time to get to know each other before she accepts them and her destiny. The Power of Three would be reconstituted midway through season 4, and this is when the Source realizes that the Charmed Ones weren't destroyed after all.

Then the second half of season 4 would be like it was in the original first half, where they're getting to know each other better and saving all the innocents they did in the first half, just now taking place in the second half of the season. I would have Charmed and Dangerous be the season 4 finale. 

I agree. Charmed Again was so rushed, it could easily have been the entire first arc, mixed in with Hell Hath No Fury and other episodes with saving innocents and lower level demons or such, since they don't have the power of three yet with Paige.

I'd love to have meet Paige, and not revealed who she truly was right away, maybe the sisters even meet her when they go to Social Services for something to do with their latest innocent.

I liked your ideas Elle Em.

I do, too. I REALLY hope someday we'll get to read "Classic Charmed Done Elle Em's Way"!

[Elle Em]

Thank you both. I would love to more fully write out these ideas and others I have as well. It's always interesting to me that this show never gets old.

[Jean]

Oct 22, 2020 7:03:07 GMT -5 Elle Em said:

Thank you both. I would love to more fully write out these ideas and others I have as well. It's always interesting to me that this show never gets old.

I too would love to read it.

It never gets old. I find that Charmed not being the perfect show allowed fan fiction and discussions like this possible. We'll always find fun ways we can fix or change stuff.

[ljones]

I'd also prefer the Source truly possessing Cole so that he'd be like Shane and only pretend to be like Cole.

The Source truly did possess Cole by late Season Four, despite the latter's earlier attempt to break free from the possession.

[Melinda Halliwell]

And that's the argument which has occurred so many years with Charmed fans that I've disliked. Some people say Cole was possessed because he talked in the third person like conversations he had with the Seer whilst other people spout Cole's love for Phoebe been why he had the Source's powers and wasn't possessed because he wouldn't have loved Phoebe and out rightly would've wanted to kill her like he also would've Piper and Paige been why like when the Source went into Shane's body I'd have wanted something like that or similar to show he had possessed Cole negating the many headaches over the years of arguing.

[Aaeiyn]

Cole not coming back after being vanquished. Really hate that storyline.