Why is Season 2 considered Phoebe at her best?

[openspacesp3]

I've noticed a lot around the Charmed fandom Phoebe tends to not be well liked, but when it comes to seasons Season 2 is often regarded where Phoebe is at her peak or her best so to speak. My favorite in early Seasons was always Piper. So I'm curious to see why people think this about Phoebe. Have nothing against early Phoebe, I'm just curious. I actually loved Phoebe in Season 1. 

[codebox]

Phoebe was at her best in season 2 because Kern had yet came into play. In reality though the reason is her priorities. In the first scene of the Season 2 premiere "Witch Trial" has Phoebe cheerfully greeting her sisters in celebration for their 1 year anniversary of becoming witches. Right then and there you get a sense of her peak character. The carefree, yet impulsive sister who's most into magic. And the whole episode is about her giving support to her sisters not to give up and stop being witches. One of my favorite lines in Charmed to this day is when Phoebe said to a grieving Prue "We've done a lot of good as witches too". That cemented to me why she became my favorite back then.

This is further compounded by the fact Phoebe was the highlight in every episode. Be it a role, a line of dialogue anything. She was always the best. Even her going to college was something people could relate with, it help find her purpose she was lacking before. She had grown from who she use to be as established in Pre-Witched. It was when Heartbreak City came around Phoebe was truly the heart of Charmed. I also miss when she use to connect with innocents the most on a personal level and was always quick on a vanquish. One of the best Phoebe scenes was in The Devil's Music just seeing her instantly prepare for Masselin vanquish on the spot. Or how she was always willing to befriend the innocent. Like her chemistry with Charlene.

Fast forward to Season 3 and with the exception of the first 4 episodes Phoebe's priorities had drastically changed. That scene in All Halliwell's Eve where she rides on the broom was the last scene where Phoebe was truly Phoebe to me. Afterwards it was all about her and Cole. From Sight Unseen onward all she would do is talk about Cole, sometimes that'd be her clear focus no longer was magic or demons her main interest, it just became about Cole. Even her first scene in Power Outage was just her ranting to her sisters as to why Cole has become distant. She barely went a scene without talking about him. And while she did have her moments (namely when Cole didn't appear in the episode, or getting Paige settled in) the amount of time she was PhoeMe took away from it and then Season 5-8 all you get from her is dates, men, babies or "I got to focus on myself" with no longer a passion for magic or that freespirit.

She went from my favorite sister to my least favorite and had PhoeMe never been born Phoebe would've continued to be my favorite sister.

[Elle Em]

Phoebe in the first two seasons was a very interesting and unique person. Prue and Piper were as well, but not as much as Phoebe. She had a spark that made her more of an individual than many other characters, both in this show in particular and in others. 

In season 1 she had a lot of growing up to do, and we saw that in season 2. She was more mature in her general attitude, and she did things like volunteer, go back to school, etc. She made genuine, heartfelt connections with innocents more in season 2 than any other season. And in this season, she was a great mix of her unique self while also not being too much of an adult just yet. When she was played this way, I found her very relatable, even though I don't have much in common with her. 

I think she also comes across so well early on because of how she changed for the worse later. Besides her obvious character flaws later on like not taking responsibility for being evil, she just didn't have the same spark as she did before. 

[Esmeralda]

Jun 4, 2020 13:40:40 GMT -5 openspacesp3 said:

I've noticed a lot around the Charmed fandom Phoebe tends to not be well liked, but when it comes to seasons Season 2 is often regarded where Phoebe is at her peak or her best so to speak. My favorite in early Seasons was always Piper. So I'm curious to see why people think this about Phoebe. Have nothing against early Phoebe, I'm just curious. I actually loved Phoebe in Season 1. 

For me, that's easy. Before she met Cole, she was Phoebs, my favorite sister. After she did, she was PhoeME, my least-favorite sister.

I was SO happy that once Connie Burge left (Phoebs was based on her, the way S1-2 Prue and Piper were based on Connie's sisters) no one ever called her Phoebs because as far as I was concerned, Phoebs was dead and a whole new different character who thought about herself and Cole and not much else had taken her place.

[stratego]

Phoebe in season 1 is great. She's pretty much the same in season 2, only she's also figuring out what to do with her life. She stands out in season 2 because her changes seemed to be for the better compared to her sisters who seemed to act more out of character. Prue moved away from her love for art and became more goofy, while sweet Piper became more cynical.

[Aaeiyn]

A lot of my favorite Phoebe moments are in S2. Not to say I don't like her in other seasons. I used to dislike her, but she became my favorite, again LOL

Anyway, back to S2, even when I disliked Phoebe, I still liked her in S2. Now, I (absolutely) adore her, in S2. A lot of my favorite episodes with her, are the following (in no particular order):

- S2E3 "The Painted World"
- S2E4 "The Devil's Music"
- S2E5 "She's a Man, Baby, a Man!"
- S2E7 "They're Everywhere"
- S2E18 "Chick Flick"
- S2E19 "Ex Libris"
- S2E21 "Apocalypse, Not"

With S2E3 "The Painted World" being my all time favorite Phoebe episode. A wonderful episode written by the creator of the show 😁