Charmed was my favorite distraction from the sad, small-town struggles of my childhood. It was the best of both worlds for me, daydreaming of nothing except escaping: witches fighting evil in the wondrous San Francisco. When I was eleven, my older sister passed away suddenly, and I was drowning in grief with no knowledge or skills about how to move forward. While I was no stranger to Charmed before this—often sneaking away to my bedroom to watch it whenever I could because my parents had forbidden it, claiming I was “too young”—the death of our beloved Prue Halliwell (Shannen Doherty) became instrumental in helping me process my loss and overwhelming emotions, specifically watching Piper (Holly Marie Combs) and Phoebe (Alyssa Milano), and even Paige (Rose McGowan) in her own ways, mourn their departed sister. By extension, how all of the sisters, including Prue, have dealt with the abundance of death in their lives, like losing their mother Patty (Finola Hughes) as children, is something I have since been acutely aware of these stories and deeply considered the nuances of them and the sisters’ journeys. So, after listening to a recent episode of the Charmed rewatch podcast, hosted by vets Combs, Brian Krause, and Drew Fuller, their robust criticism of Prue’s storyline in “Death Takes a Halliwell” (season 3, episode 16) inspired this defense of such a vital episode.
Before moving on to the episode’s content, I must refute their joint critique that the timing of this episode, and specifically Prue’s emotional state throughout it, didn’t make sense. “Death Takes a Halliwell” revisits and further explores Prue’s grief, anger, and sadness about their mother Patty’s death. The hosts believed the timing for revisiting this was off due to Patty’s return from the dead in the episode that aired prior, “Just Harried,” and the sisters sharing a beautiful, powerful, and heartwarming moment with their mother. However, I’d argue this is the perfect aftermath. For the first time in two decades, they had their mother back and got a glimpse of what their lives should’ve been. Then she was gone, and things returned to how they’d always been. Although Piper and Phoebe feel their share of the emotional burden, and it affects their lives in unique ways, it’s well-established that Prue struggles the most because she has the most vivid recollections of their life with Patty. Naturally, this trauma—trauma that is unable to be healed, but is instead buried down—floods to the surface after Patty’s too-brief visit. It’s a heartbreaking reminder of all they’ve missed out on, and a few hours with their mother doesn’t suddenly erase decades of anguish.
Credit: Peacock
Anyway. Prue’s grief is showcased on several occasions throughout her Charmed years, but “Death Takes a Halliwell” is the strongest example, in my opinion, and only strengthened by Patty’s visit. It delves deeper into Prue’s emotional state, going beyond sadness and fear (as in “From Fear to Eternity” and “P3H20”), and brings her anger to the forefront instead. To Prue, death is the greatest evil and the only villain she and her sisters cannot stop, but she’s certainly willing to try when her longtime foe is given a face during the first of a few visitations from the Angel of Death (Simon Templeman). Throughout the episode, she fights to stop Death from taking Inspector Davidson (Keith Diamond), to finally beat death after it took her mother, before finally accepting that death is inevitable and understanding she needs to finally begin to let go of the anger she’s held onto so tightly because she hasn’t ever known how else to be. The lesson is heightened by Death’s reveal that had Prue not stopped fighting and accepted she can’t stop the inevitable, she would’ve been the next to go.
Whether or not you like how the story played out, it’s undeniable that this is a vital turning point for Prue. Death gives her a reality check and encourages her to grieve, make peace, and move forward when dealing with loss, rather than hold on as she has with Patty. In my mind, it works no matter how Prue’s story would’ve unfolded from here. In the (unfortunate) reality we live in, it’s a perfect set-up for Prue’s death merely six episodes later. Death even ominously teases that it wasn’t her time yet. It’s a much-needed jump-start for Prue to begin making peace with her impending demise, realizing death isn’t an enemy but something everyone faces in their own time for whatever reason that may be. (And, in Charmed, they’re certainly of the belief that everything happens for a reason.)
Maybe, had she kept fighting, this cruel twist of fate would’ve led to her being trapped in the world as a vengeful spirit, unable to make peace, move on, and reunite with her lost loved ones. As with any lesson the sisters learned individually, it extends to the others, like in “Morality Bites” when Phoebe’s future execution teaches them of the severe consequences of using magic for personal gain. In this case, it’s also preparing Piper and Phoebe for Prue’s death. They never had quite the same issues as Prue did with death, but it helped them to accept it, make peace, and welcome Paige into their lives. (If they hadn’t, chances are life wouldn’t have strayed too far from the terrible “Centennial Charmed” world.)
Credit: Peacock
Had Prue lived (and I would desperately like to visit the place in the multiverse where this is the reality), out of her many emotional breakthroughs and valuable lessons learned, this had the capacity to reshape her world entirely. She had clung so tightly to anger, sadness, and fear that she’d estranged herself from the world, unable to open herself up fully. She needed to learn to celebrate and cherish the time she had with someone, no matter how limited. It’s a possible explanation for why she didn’t have a successful relationship, and likely would have played into her next one, separating it from those we’d seen before. Overall, “Death Takes a Halliwell” was likely intended by the Charmed writers to be when Prue finally started to heal and move forward, shifting the dynamics of her relationships with herself, her sisters, and the world as a whole.
In conclusion, given my history, I formed a deep emotional connection to Charmed and these characters. It means a lot to me, as I’m sure you can tell, and because there was pretty much nothing else to do where I grew up, I’ve watched all eight seasons at least a dozen times (though, realistically, it’s likely much more). I’ve spent a ridiculous amount of time analyzing these characters, stories, and episodes as a whole, so prepare for more hot takes in the future, and while I’m not trying to discredit or devalue others’ opinions of this episode, I don’t believe it deserved such a negative review from the Charmed podcast team. There are certainly issues with the episode, particularly scenes and dialogue that could’ve benefited from better writing. But there are many important and easily overlooked nuances presented in the story. And, as the title says, it perfectly sets up her story either way, which must’ve been at least partially intentional.