Charmed 4.08 'Black As Cole'

I’m really glad this episode happened. Not just because Cole finally became human, but I because found it quite strange that since Prue died, almost everyone had forgotten about Cole’s past wrong doings.

Synopsis: A demon with a similar MO to Belthazor starts killing witches belonging to a small coven, Cole must embrace his demonic nature to defeat him. A woman who has been hunting Sykes for killing her husband discovers something unsettling about Cole.

I know that Cole’s evil acts are obviously done due to the influence of his demonic half. The same goes for his human side, since his love for Phoebe comes from that part of him. Still, in the back of my mind I always found it a little weird that Cole’s demonic past was largely ignored. He was one of the most feared demons in the underworld after all.

This episode finally puts all that on the table, when someone who was greatly affected by Belthazor turns up. By vanquishing Belthazor, Cole is finally able to say for sure that he’s 100% good now, making him and Phoebe all the more believable as a couple, and making his part of the group more conceivable too. Now we can finally move on.

Sykes posing as a Belthazor look-a-like is a cool little idea. We actually remember what Cole was up to back in season 3, when he went after the Halliwells originally, making all his actions up to this point a little fresher on everyone’s minds. It obviously forced his demon nature to come out, making it necessary for him to be vanquished.

Cole’s proposal isn’t all that out of character. They did meet when he tried to kill her. You can really see why Phoebe wouldn’t say yes though. Not just because he did it when they were covered in demon guts, but maybe because she wasn’t ready for that. We are talking about Phoebe who only a couple of years ago, was a little bit of a screw-up.

This, for me, is when Paige’s suspicions about Cole started. Finding out he was a demon and killed people when she did made her a lot more aware about what he was (will be) up to since she didn’t know him as long as all the others did.

I loved Piper’s little bonding moment with Paige while making the potion. It was the first cute moment I think the two of them ever shared together.

Piper and Leo trying to see if having a baby is possible was a cute little sub-plot. It’s weird that Piper is so opposed to the idea of children, especially seeing how motherly she is later on in the series.

8.5/10