What's wrong with Piper's Exploding Power?

[openspacesp3]

I've seen many people complain about Piper's exploding power? Can someone explain what it is they mean? I always thought it was a cool power, if a bit overused. 

[codebox]

The main issue people (or at least myself, can't speak for everyone) have with the power is that it not only turned Piper into the Power of One, but it pretty much came at the expense of her freezing power. And because it was so overused it got tiring seeing demon vanquished by that same power over and over again. I mean During the run of the show Piper used this power 243 times. The writers didn't think that was overkill? It has been used to vanquish more demons than any other individual power in the series. (And people say Prue was a superwitch) Most people complain Season 3 is where Prue became superwitch, I disagree. True I do agree she started to gain a sense of pride and want to do things more on her own and it did seem sudden for her to have these fighting abilities that even made Phoebe look like an underpaid stun double, but I digress.

In later seasons Piper would often be the source of just vanquishing demons outright with her exploding power so much to the point where it became the solution, in fact its often noted in verse the exact moment a demon appears the girls only response is to tell Piper to just blow it up, as if that's the only way the have to defeat it, often at the expense of other resources like Paige's telekinetic orbing or other assets and the rare moments it doesn't work the demon is just treated as a bigger threat

If Piper wasn't around the girls just had to resort to using potion that functioned exactly the same as her exploding power. Piper was seen blowing up upper level demons in Seasons 7 and 8. When a member of the Triad attacked, she was able to successfully blow him up after three attempts and the power grew even further, allowing her to vanquish all three members of a newly formed Triad with only one attempt. The power grew more powerful and Piper was able to destroy nearly unvanquishable demons, such as Jeric, an ancient demon from Egypt that specialized in rituals of Mummification.

In the season 7 finale she was seen blowing up a cave of vampires even though in season 4 vampires were said to be immune to their powers. By season 8 there was barely a limit to her exploding power unless a demon outright was immune. Don't get me wrong it was a cool power, (I plan to use it myself in a story I'm writing) but in later seasons it was the win button in demon fights. Hope that explains it well.

[Melinda Halliwell]

Codebox is right here. Once Piper blew things up she became the power of one negating the need for Paige and Phoebe needing to be around for vanquishes whereas season 4 prior it took all 3 sisters mostly to kill whatever evil they faced.

I understand why Paige sometimes said things like, "Piper blow him or her up" when something attacked because her power was offense but doing that made it look like she didn't have an active power herself or she forgot she did infuriating fans instead of calling for something using that on whatever was there like Paige did weapons multiple occasions.

It got boring also when Phoebe rarely used martial arts later on because Piper just flicked her wrists and poof the enemy was gone or things like vampires being killed with stakes and hurt by holy water didn't happen seven end like they did season 4's 'Bite Me.'

The way Piper's power should've been portrayed is she could use it on lower level evils but upper level ones were more resistant whether that's been thrown back or able to reassemble themselves like Bianca did then as the sisters grew more Charmed evil became stronger with Piper, Phoebe, and Paige having to come up with new ideas how to defeat them.

If a demon was shown in the Book of Shadows to be vanquished a certain way that should've been it otherwise what was the point having that information there in the first place if Piper could kill it herself then?

[Elle Em]

Besides what others have said, it also was a very jarring, in-your-face kind of power that seemed better suited for an action movie than a show rooted in the subtle magic of sisterhood, family, and Charmed's own version of Wicca with its spells, potions, and Book of Shadows. 

It's easy to imagine ever more powerful magic for the sisters to possess, Piper's exploding power being an example of this. But part of the appeal of the show for me was the idea that things aren't so easy, and that there's a process to solving problems. If Piper can blow up every evil being that attacks, why would she have her freezing power anymore? Why would the other sisters need powers at all? Why have the Book of Shadows? It reduces the complexity of fighting evil and saving innocents down to a flick of the wrist of one single person. Where's the fun in that?

[Esmeralda]

My major thing with it is that it had nothing to do with stopping time or freezing molecules - it was the opposite. That opened up Phoebe able to have levitation and empathy which had nothing to do with seeing the future. It was all part of making Melinda Warren's prophecy mean absolutely nothing since after getting her explosion power, Piper hardly ever froze anything and Phoebe's premonitions hardly had anything to do with saving innocents. Both things were part of making S4-8 seem like a totally different show.

As has been pointed out, it also has to do with the fact that Piper could now vanquish villains all on her own - if her power only pushed the bad person back, a bit like Prue's TK, it wouldn't bug me half as much as it does.

[pheebs]

I agree with many of your views guys.

I hated that the sisters got any additional powers at all than let their original ones grow.

Once any of them got more new powers, the original ones were barely used.

Piper's powers to explode demons is just the worst. It NEVER should let her vanquish demons but keep them at bay. None of their powers should vanquish demons. This includes Phoebe's empathy
In Used Karma she used Empathy to deviate the Swarm Demons' fire balls to vanquish one I think.

The Power of Three and Book of Shadows was hardly an asset and central later in the series.

I still hate how the Book of Shadows was nothing but a prop. When Leo gets info from the Elders and the Magic School told them what they needed to know, that upset me.

The first season (and some of the second) truly was the most centric with the sisters using their original powers, working together with their own smarts, relying on the book and Phoebe's Premonitions to save innocents. I also enjoyed re-watching S1 and S2 when Phoebe also researched not only the book of shadows but looking online her laptop for research.

[BriannaWarren2.0]

I think if she had received another power as her "base" power, so to speak, that had any resemblance with her exploding demons up that people wouldn't have such an issue with it. 

In my opinion, the three original powers were basic and overdone, even by the 90s standard, I wished they came up with different "base" powers for them that it would have been better. Prue receiving Astral Projection is another weird one. 

[gleamingroses]

Like what has been stated it was so overpowered and not in a good way. Some will say this was a Prue problem in Season 1, however season 1 was them coming into their powers and it being determined by who has the best offense. They also didn't have potions or variety of spells. With Piper's exploding power it came at the expense of the girls using their resources just to have Piper be a win button.

It also bugged me that it made it feel as if Paige and Phoebe often didn't have power. In fact for Paige in particular despite having an offensive power would act as if she didn't have it in some cases, because it felt like the episode wanted to focus more of her being a whitelighter so she couldn't "demon vanquish" (which is most evident when she becomes more like Leo late Season 7 carrying onto Season 8) as Paige would say "Piper blow it up" without even assisting with her own power.

Things got worse when her exploding power could even deflect demon projectiles (like fire balls or athames) which was odd considering Paige's power served that purpose. Paige and Phoebe would resort to potions before even think to use powers if Piper was out of the picture. And with potions they all just became versions of Piper's exploding power often feeling like they were the same thing.

[CharmedFaith]

I like Pipers molecular combustion, it was a good addition for her at the beginning when she was still more on the worried side. But of course as time went on it became the deus-ex machine for the writers. They wanted quick fixes instead of putting limitations to it since it was less expensive than freezing time.

[Ruth Marie]

Oct 25, 2020 19:47:10 GMT -5 CharmedFaith said:

I like Pipers molecular combustion, it was a good addition for her at the beginning when she was still more on the worried side. But of course as time went on it became the deus-ex machine for the writers. They wanted quick fixes instead of putting limitations to it since it was less expensive than freezing time.

It was an easy way out for the writers. It mean, no need to come up with a power of three spell, or put more risks and efforts into them being attacked.

If we must have that power, it should never let Piper vanquish demons, but just keep them at bay.

But, as the show went on, Piper's power and Paige's orbing was so overused, it made the series less dramatic and predictable. Blow up a demon, quickly orb out to safety.