Post by codebox on Jun 24, 2020 1:03:39 GMT -5
So like with my previous threads over Piper and Phoebe and my thoughts on their character. (The So about Piper? and Why did Phoebe have to change?) I figured I would delve deeper into the same with Prue, I've chosen her Season 3 specifically because its where she's the most criticized. However I'm of the unpopular here, I do like Season 3 Prue, even if I can understand sort of a downwards trend with her and could see why she may have died at the right time. But I thought I'd make this to sorta give her a defense while also noting her changes. One of the things brought up against her is her sudden "Superwitch" status and her sense of pride. Well let's go back to Season 1, what people don't really note is how Prue was basically more of a Power of One in that instance because her telekinesis was their only way of offense against demons, not to mention her greater emphasis on story over Piper and Phoebe (which to be fair evens out in the second half of the season)
However Season 1 also came at a time where the girls were not only starting out, but were beginners to the craft. In fact most demon vanquishes were defeated with the Telemobilization combo (the combination where Piper freezes and Prue uses her telekinesis in conjunction) In season 3 she suddenly develops the ability to excel at martial arts to the point where Phoebe is an underpaid stun double in return. (There's also the fact Piper and Phoebe became superwitches to an even greater extent than Prue in Seasons 5-8, so the fact they are worse about it in comparison lessens the impact on Prue for me, I mean compare Prue knowing martial arts to Piper's overpowered Power of One exploding power, where Piper came at the expense of every resource they had, to the point Phoebe and Paige had to use potions in the same way just to accomplish a vanquish)
Whereas Phoebe was seen training and using it over the course of seasons 1 and 2. And to be fair, yeah it does seem so sudden that Prue can randomly do this so well. But it is noted in Ms Hellfire she ends up taking kickboxing lessons with Phoebe, so a little foreshadowing before Season 3 would've helped (maybe within that 1 month of Piper's absence she used it?) however I also think there are advantages or scenes with this power that are used well with Prue not a lot of people realize or take note of. For instance, I like how more action involved it made the girls, it gave them ways to interact with demons compared to the standard.
Let's compare the courtroom scene for instance youtu.be/ycIF8XzsYd0?t=150 what makes this scene fun to me is all of the sisters are interacting in a way that seems nature and proactive to the scene. Imagine if Phoebe being the only combat oriented one did all the fighting, while Piper and Prue sorta struggled. This scene would have less flow to it, with all the girls showcasing some amount of fighting skill it makes their take on the court demons more interesting. Plus Prue and Phoebe are sorta on even playing field here, it never feels like one is better than the other. Piper does struggle some, since she's not as up close as the other two, but the fact she is involved shows no sister is better or more overpowered they were all on a playing field interacting with demons in a different way than normal, it was a nice way to showcase Prue's sudden martial arts, even if they didn't do a good job foreshadowing or showing it prior. I also like the subtle touches of Prue also using her power and Phoebe using levitation in conjunction with the fight in a way that still made it seem nature to the fight itself.
Compare it to this to something like the Manicore vanquish in Season 6 youtu.be/6qvdeUi-Cbs?t=245 now this might seem a bit too out there, since manticores are different compared to the demons they fought, but my point is to show how even the flow of the sisters were compared to here. Anytime later they are cornered or have to fight groups of demons (with some rare exceptions) most scenes end with them chucking so many potions at the same time it feels like all of them have Piper's exploding power, its much less interesting to watch.
There are also moments throughout season 3, where I think Prue gets this same even or balanced treatment with her combat skills. I appreciated the fact she was more involved. With some minor exceptions. I want to move onto another good example, Power Outage. Here in the first scene www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuEFhw8c8dY&t=34s what I enjoyed what the flow of each of their powers in preparation for a fight, with Prue combining her fighting skill with her Astral Projection. However it also showcased what I did like about Prue the most in Season 3, her leadership coming into play, like her commenting on how Phoebe needs more force on her kick and Piper needs more impact on her slicing, since the sisters never had a defined leader in Seasons 4-8, it was nice seeing one of the sisters display this in a way that made sense for the eldest sister to do. I also liked Prue's support of Piper's exploding power trying to encourage Piper that she'll get use to it, I loved her "the control will come" line because it was done in a supportive way. youtu.be/ppVyA5EsUSU?t=228 I also think Prue and Piper's scene in this season are quite underrated, they get a lot of nice moments together especially in Sleuthing and Coyote Piper.
Or how when Prue and Piper are making the Belthazor vanquishing potion and her telling Piper the ingredients. www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7vLRjU1f4o&t=121s You can see Prue's more leader and experienced role come into play here, I especially loved her line "we have to follow it to a tee" since to me it showcases a leader wanting things done, but isn't without her sisters. Again it doesn't seem like much, but I loving catching these details upon rewatches. I also like the scene where Prue and Piper are with Grel the bounty hunter and Prue does a spinning ground kick on him, youtu.be/mxC829e86-8?t=221 while also adding "its our job to protect them" again showing her ability to care about innocents. Prue got a lot of good moments here. www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDVtX8GoJTQ even when confronting Phoebe here Prue came off as the more ration sister, even if I hate this exchange because of Phoebe.
However things aren't always used well, when it comes to Wrestling with Demons, Primrose Empath and Sin Francisco these are where the problems with Season 3 Prue start to come into play. Now I can understand where people are coming from, when Prue gains the urge to help this Vinceres who she thinks is an innocent, and during the end scene where she channeled her empathy and became the Matrix of One, especially with that Charlie’s Angels hair flip. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl_8WC0urRI Its completely a display of overpowering Prue in a way that isn't natural, compare this to how equal Prue and Phoebe were in the courtroom scene. Even if I think the way she beat him was cool, it also raises some questions. That scene directly proves why Prue should've gotten Levitation, because since Prue can do this by channeling empathy, and Prue can levitate herself with her power why not just make her have Phoebe's power link since it was obvious from this scene alone all of Phoebe's powers link together with Prue.
We also have Wrestling with Demons where Phoebe and Prue fight a bunch of Wrestler demons, I do think Prue shows up Phoebe a bit here, namely when she leaps into the air and split kicks two of them. There's also her pride in sending in a demon against her sister's wishes. But it also showcases a scene that I think was used well. Where Prue confronts Phoebe about lying to her about Cole's fake death, weather or not you agree is a matter of perspective, but I love it because its what I loved about Prue the most and showcases something missing later, the fact Prue was the only sister to really challenge Piper and Phoebe on anything or create conflict.
However when it comes to these moments, I do think they are victim to just being the ONLY example people use to throw "Superwitch" label at Prue, because while I agree they showcase her to an overpowered extent I think these are the exception over the rule. Compare it to Piper blowing up literally everything in Seasons 5-8, she's more of a power of one than Prue was. Especially when a sister like Paige who has an active power would tell Piper to blow up something as if she had no active power herself. Now someone will mention Death Takes a Halliwell as an example of her pride and combat skill. I think its Prue's best episode (a reason I'll explain in the future) but I think in that aspect her pride worked because it was used to teach her the lesson and put her in her place, Prue's pride doesn't come out on top.
Look at the scene where she tries to one up and thinks she can fight death, she clearly can't and it does pretty good foreshadowing of her own death. youtu.be/89OFW-VdUwA?t=47 I love this scene btw. One could also note her pride began as early as Sight Unseen episode 5. But it also goes into why I think this came up. Firstly I want to describe that scene in the attic (sadly I can't find footage due to copyright claimed) however in that case Prue was so focused on wanting to know more about the triad and when it came to that scene I found Piper, Phoebe and even Leo worse by comparison. Phoebe acts ditzy especially when she goes "I locked the door, mostly" and then Piper and Phoebe not taking the situation seriously, even Leo doesn't bother taking her seriously because he and Piper are too busy smiling at each other. It also brings up why I think Prue may have more of a sense of Pride in certain cases this season.
Since Piper and Phoebe are wrapped up in their indivdual romances this season, it sorta leaves Prue as the odd one out. She HAS to act like the one in control because she's the one with the most focused task here, it was pretty much all she had in this season. Phoebe had lost her love of withcraft and even became ditzy when it came to magic she already knew about while turning into PhoeME with her Cole obsession and Piper often having to be commanded by Prue it does make sense why Prue would want to be in charge for better or for worst. I also like how it could be used as a flaw. I only took issue with it in Sin Francisco.
Anyways that's my analysis on Prue, while I can see where issues with Prue come up in Season 3 I still liked Prue for her grounded sense of focusing on the task, her moments with Piper, her leadership skills, It also gave her an edge because Phoebe in comparison was so much worse and while I do think Piper was a step up from Season 2, she did have her moments like Death Takes a Halliwell or the airport scene in Exit Strategy. What do you guys think?
However Season 1 also came at a time where the girls were not only starting out, but were beginners to the craft. In fact most demon vanquishes were defeated with the Telemobilization combo (the combination where Piper freezes and Prue uses her telekinesis in conjunction) In season 3 she suddenly develops the ability to excel at martial arts to the point where Phoebe is an underpaid stun double in return. (There's also the fact Piper and Phoebe became superwitches to an even greater extent than Prue in Seasons 5-8, so the fact they are worse about it in comparison lessens the impact on Prue for me, I mean compare Prue knowing martial arts to Piper's overpowered Power of One exploding power, where Piper came at the expense of every resource they had, to the point Phoebe and Paige had to use potions in the same way just to accomplish a vanquish)
Whereas Phoebe was seen training and using it over the course of seasons 1 and 2. And to be fair, yeah it does seem so sudden that Prue can randomly do this so well. But it is noted in Ms Hellfire she ends up taking kickboxing lessons with Phoebe, so a little foreshadowing before Season 3 would've helped (maybe within that 1 month of Piper's absence she used it?) however I also think there are advantages or scenes with this power that are used well with Prue not a lot of people realize or take note of. For instance, I like how more action involved it made the girls, it gave them ways to interact with demons compared to the standard.
Let's compare the courtroom scene for instance youtu.be/ycIF8XzsYd0?t=150 what makes this scene fun to me is all of the sisters are interacting in a way that seems nature and proactive to the scene. Imagine if Phoebe being the only combat oriented one did all the fighting, while Piper and Prue sorta struggled. This scene would have less flow to it, with all the girls showcasing some amount of fighting skill it makes their take on the court demons more interesting. Plus Prue and Phoebe are sorta on even playing field here, it never feels like one is better than the other. Piper does struggle some, since she's not as up close as the other two, but the fact she is involved shows no sister is better or more overpowered they were all on a playing field interacting with demons in a different way than normal, it was a nice way to showcase Prue's sudden martial arts, even if they didn't do a good job foreshadowing or showing it prior. I also like the subtle touches of Prue also using her power and Phoebe using levitation in conjunction with the fight in a way that still made it seem nature to the fight itself.
Compare it to this to something like the Manicore vanquish in Season 6 youtu.be/6qvdeUi-Cbs?t=245 now this might seem a bit too out there, since manticores are different compared to the demons they fought, but my point is to show how even the flow of the sisters were compared to here. Anytime later they are cornered or have to fight groups of demons (with some rare exceptions) most scenes end with them chucking so many potions at the same time it feels like all of them have Piper's exploding power, its much less interesting to watch.
There are also moments throughout season 3, where I think Prue gets this same even or balanced treatment with her combat skills. I appreciated the fact she was more involved. With some minor exceptions. I want to move onto another good example, Power Outage. Here in the first scene www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuEFhw8c8dY&t=34s what I enjoyed what the flow of each of their powers in preparation for a fight, with Prue combining her fighting skill with her Astral Projection. However it also showcased what I did like about Prue the most in Season 3, her leadership coming into play, like her commenting on how Phoebe needs more force on her kick and Piper needs more impact on her slicing, since the sisters never had a defined leader in Seasons 4-8, it was nice seeing one of the sisters display this in a way that made sense for the eldest sister to do. I also liked Prue's support of Piper's exploding power trying to encourage Piper that she'll get use to it, I loved her "the control will come" line because it was done in a supportive way. youtu.be/ppVyA5EsUSU?t=228 I also think Prue and Piper's scene in this season are quite underrated, they get a lot of nice moments together especially in Sleuthing and Coyote Piper.
Or how when Prue and Piper are making the Belthazor vanquishing potion and her telling Piper the ingredients. www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7vLRjU1f4o&t=121s You can see Prue's more leader and experienced role come into play here, I especially loved her line "we have to follow it to a tee" since to me it showcases a leader wanting things done, but isn't without her sisters. Again it doesn't seem like much, but I loving catching these details upon rewatches. I also like the scene where Prue and Piper are with Grel the bounty hunter and Prue does a spinning ground kick on him, youtu.be/mxC829e86-8?t=221 while also adding "its our job to protect them" again showing her ability to care about innocents. Prue got a lot of good moments here. www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDVtX8GoJTQ even when confronting Phoebe here Prue came off as the more ration sister, even if I hate this exchange because of Phoebe.
However things aren't always used well, when it comes to Wrestling with Demons, Primrose Empath and Sin Francisco these are where the problems with Season 3 Prue start to come into play. Now I can understand where people are coming from, when Prue gains the urge to help this Vinceres who she thinks is an innocent, and during the end scene where she channeled her empathy and became the Matrix of One, especially with that Charlie’s Angels hair flip. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl_8WC0urRI Its completely a display of overpowering Prue in a way that isn't natural, compare this to how equal Prue and Phoebe were in the courtroom scene. Even if I think the way she beat him was cool, it also raises some questions. That scene directly proves why Prue should've gotten Levitation, because since Prue can do this by channeling empathy, and Prue can levitate herself with her power why not just make her have Phoebe's power link since it was obvious from this scene alone all of Phoebe's powers link together with Prue.
We also have Wrestling with Demons where Phoebe and Prue fight a bunch of Wrestler demons, I do think Prue shows up Phoebe a bit here, namely when she leaps into the air and split kicks two of them. There's also her pride in sending in a demon against her sister's wishes. But it also showcases a scene that I think was used well. Where Prue confronts Phoebe about lying to her about Cole's fake death, weather or not you agree is a matter of perspective, but I love it because its what I loved about Prue the most and showcases something missing later, the fact Prue was the only sister to really challenge Piper and Phoebe on anything or create conflict.
However when it comes to these moments, I do think they are victim to just being the ONLY example people use to throw "Superwitch" label at Prue, because while I agree they showcase her to an overpowered extent I think these are the exception over the rule. Compare it to Piper blowing up literally everything in Seasons 5-8, she's more of a power of one than Prue was. Especially when a sister like Paige who has an active power would tell Piper to blow up something as if she had no active power herself. Now someone will mention Death Takes a Halliwell as an example of her pride and combat skill. I think its Prue's best episode (a reason I'll explain in the future) but I think in that aspect her pride worked because it was used to teach her the lesson and put her in her place, Prue's pride doesn't come out on top.
Look at the scene where she tries to one up and thinks she can fight death, she clearly can't and it does pretty good foreshadowing of her own death. youtu.be/89OFW-VdUwA?t=47 I love this scene btw. One could also note her pride began as early as Sight Unseen episode 5. But it also goes into why I think this came up. Firstly I want to describe that scene in the attic (sadly I can't find footage due to copyright claimed) however in that case Prue was so focused on wanting to know more about the triad and when it came to that scene I found Piper, Phoebe and even Leo worse by comparison. Phoebe acts ditzy especially when she goes "I locked the door, mostly" and then Piper and Phoebe not taking the situation seriously, even Leo doesn't bother taking her seriously because he and Piper are too busy smiling at each other. It also brings up why I think Prue may have more of a sense of Pride in certain cases this season.
Since Piper and Phoebe are wrapped up in their indivdual romances this season, it sorta leaves Prue as the odd one out. She HAS to act like the one in control because she's the one with the most focused task here, it was pretty much all she had in this season. Phoebe had lost her love of withcraft and even became ditzy when it came to magic she already knew about while turning into PhoeME with her Cole obsession and Piper often having to be commanded by Prue it does make sense why Prue would want to be in charge for better or for worst. I also like how it could be used as a flaw. I only took issue with it in Sin Francisco.
Anyways that's my analysis on Prue, while I can see where issues with Prue come up in Season 3 I still liked Prue for her grounded sense of focusing on the task, her moments with Piper, her leadership skills, It also gave her an edge because Phoebe in comparison was so much worse and while I do think Piper was a step up from Season 2, she did have her moments like Death Takes a Halliwell or the airport scene in Exit Strategy. What do you guys think?
