Charmed Rewatch: Dead Man Dating
Oct. 30th, 2018 03:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
impyFair warning: Dead Man Dating still remains one of my favorite Charmed episodes ever. There was never a chance I'd be able to be unbiased about it so you might as well strap in for me squeeing over just about everything.
We open with Andy dropping by because he was nowhere near the neighborhood and we needed to start cute. Andy's dropping off Prue's birthday present even though her birthday isn't for another week. It's a key to the room he rented for the weekend, adjoining rooms because he didn't want to assume anything even though it's been a month since they agreed to go slow and... Prue isn't sure she wants to go. Well, she wants to go, but there's the whole witch thing holding her back.
We segue to Mark who is running late as his mother is trying her best to cram as many worries as she can into one scene. It's his birthday and she wants him to be safe and hey, maybe take this with you for safety's sake, but Mom, I'm 23 and not a little boy and I'll be fine, he says as he walks away. He was not fine, despite walking through Chinatown and being recognized and apparently well liked. But not well liked enough for anyone to notice when Tony Wong and his gang appear in an alley, shoot Mark, and then fucking set his body on fire. Seriously, this is like maaaaaaaaybe 9am and no one notices the smell of burning flesh?
But we don't focus on that because as soon as Mark's body hits the ground, his spirit rises up and is most disappointed to realize that he's dead. :/ Don't make John Cho sad, it makes me sad.
Back at the Manor, Piper is riffling through the drawers and we see evidence of a surprise party being planned. Turns out Phoebe was supposed to have sent the invites that Piper is now stuffing into envelopes along with confetti (we are one, Piper) last week. Phoebe points out that everything else is set so it's fine. Piper isn't reassured considering she did all of that work! Annnnnnnd then Prue shows up just as all the evidence is put away and she tells them about Andy's surprise. Piper is less than thrilled considering the party is Friday and you can't have a birthday party without the guest of honor. Phoebe's all excited that Prue's ready to go away with Andy until Piper finally gets her attention and then Phoebe shifts gears and tries to downplay the whole going away thing. Prue immediately guesses the party but her sisters assure her they would NEVER. When Prue leaves, Phoebe points out that it's a good thing she didn't send the invites because they both know Prue's gonna go away with Andy. Piper isn't thrilled considering the fact that if Phoebe had sent the invites on time, Andy wouldn't have messed up her plans, dammit.
Phoebe can't stick around for this logical take on the situation because she has a job to get to in order to finally break her birthday present tradition (card, three days late)!
Side note: the original airing and first round of DVDs has Semisonic's Secret Smile playing for this scene. The Netflix version has a really obnoxious song instead that offends my eardrums.
Anyway, Phoebe's new job is as The Amazing Phoebe, a lounge psychic at the Hotel Neptune. I'm sure that's a thing. We see her interview and instead of seeing Phoebe's premonition, we just hear her describe it and it's not until she actually gets the job and offends a customer that it's clear that she's not BSing her way through the audition. I kinda like how they played it, actually.
Prue and Piper talk on the phone and Piper suggests that Prue and Andy do go away. On Saturday. Again, Prue's spidey surprise party senses tingle and once more Piper plays it off, instead blaming the wait on Phoebe finally managing to get a job and pay for a real present. There's a cute moment where Prue mentions Phoebe's usual gift and really, the sister moments are the best part of this series. Piper looks at the paper where Phoebe has circled a want ad for a psychic and she heads off to find Phoebe because hello, personal gain!
Again. I love it.
She finds Phoebe who is dressed in the most delightful get-up, and proceeds to read her the riot act. Phoebe protests that since this is for Prue, it doesn't fall under personal gain. Piper isn't having it, but then Mark shows up and asks which one is the psychic. They both answer and he's thrilled that someone, anyone, can see him, as he'd tried all the other psychics in the area. Neither Halliwell realizes that Mark is a ghost until he follows Piper outside and a bicyclist rides right through him. Gasp!
Prue stops by Quake to see Andy who is having lunch with his ex-wife. I swear he already mentioned he was married but apparently this is one of those things where my knowledge of future episodes must've messed with my head because my cursory flip through of the previous episodes yielded nothing. Anyway, there's a stupid moment where Susan introduces herself and Prue says, "Trudeau? Sister?" I face palmed so hard, you don't even know. Look, even if we don't hold future episodes against this, Prue and Andy dated in high school and she'd know whether he had a sister named Susan or not. Andy tries to explain and Prue stalks off, sending a desert tray into him to keep him from following her. Woe.
And because I'm incapable of finishing a linear recap, let's go by storyline.
At the hotel, Phoebe picks up a guy's wallet and realizes he's going to be hit and killed by a pink Cadillac (sure) and all her efforts to keep him safe inside the hotel scream stalker and not actual psychic. It's funny and frustrating all at once. It does lead to a couple of really sweet scenes with Prue, however. One of them involves Prue taking her frustrations out by cleaning the kitchen and neither sister wants to talk, but when Phoebe pulls on a pair of rubber gloves and starts scrubbing too, Prue asks what's really going on. Phoebe sighs, admits her job (and why she got it) and then explains about the dude who won't let her save him. Prue ignores the whole possible personal gain angle and is proud of Phoebe for doing the right thing in keeping after this guy. When Phoebe asks about the fussing about personal gain, Prue says, "You were trying to do something good, and now you get to do something great. I can’t think of a better birthday present than that." Also, Shannen looks really pretty here.
Just me? No? Okay then.
Later, after Phoebe has saved her innocent, she finds Prue channel surfing and like Phoebe doesn't clean, Prue doesn't flip. So she explains the Andy situation and how she really can't see a way around the whole witch thing and how can she be this mad when Andy's right about her keeping secrets from him?
Phoebe gently reminds her eldest sister that they are the Charmed Ones, not the doomed ones, and that she's got to give a little.
Meanwhile, in the A plot, Mark and Piper find Mark's body and Yama, the spirit who will gather Mark's soul and send him to hell, finds out the hard way that Piper can freeze him. Piper and Mark run away and Piper calls the cops to alert them to Mark's body so his mother will be able to bury her son ASAP and then Mark can move on without worrying about Hell.
Run!
When Piper shows up at his mother's, we find out that she doesn't know Mark's dead and thus Piper's fancy parroting of Chinese was all for naught. She can't tell the woman her son is dead, so they head out.
There are some cute scenes at the Manor with Mark, including him walking in on the Halliwells having a pow wow in the hall while Prue's wearing nothing but a towel as she just stepped out of the shower and another where he sticks his head through the kitchen door to check out how things were going.
This is mostly cute because of how these two play it. Also, Shannen's use of the word nekkid.
Speaking of the Manor, Mark and Piper come home and turn on the news where Mark's body has been found all right, but identified as Tony Wong. When Mark sputters around not having ever done anything to Wong and not knowing why he'd kill him, Prue says maybe he wanted everyone to think Mark was Tony because they look so much alike.
They. Look. Nothing. Alike.
This ticks me off, btw, almost as much as Tony knowing it was Mark's birthday and then acting like this was important for some reason. It wasn't, btw. They could've killed just about any guy, slipped Tony's ring on his finger, and after the torching no one would know the difference if they never bothered with matching dental records.
Phoebe gets a premonition about Tony and proclaims she can see him, he's alive and Mark's like DUH, that's my body, remember. Such sass, Mark. I love you. Piper and Mark go off to confront Tony. Sorta. Piper's plan is to pop in, freeze everyone in the room, plop a newspaper with Tony's death featured in his hands, snap a picture, and run away. Not the worst plan, I suppose, and it gives us a scene where Mark tries to talk her out of it with the whole "can't go in there, protected by that ward... that you just took off and flung to the ground, okay, nevermind." bit. Really cute. Alas, Piper's powers wear off as soon as she leaves the room and Tony and his goons follow her and get her license plate number.
Piper and Mark stop by the police station where she leaves Andy a copy of the picture and Mark's name and Mark grumbles, "My afterlife's in the hands of a cop named Andy." Speak of the devil, Andy pops up and sees Piper talking to herself. He asks for her opinion on the Prue debacle and Piper tells him to give it time. There's a cute moment here between the two and then when Andy leaves, Mark tells Piper how sweet she is and I'm dying still from the cute and it's been 20 freakin' years! He has her drive them to his apartment where he gives his family's recipes because they bonded that first night over the fact that he's a really good cook and so is she and seriously, I waited years in hopes they'd bring Mark back because their chemistry was the stuff of legends.
Anyway, when they get back to the Manor, Piper gets kidnapped by Tony's goons and Mark hollers for Prue and Phoebe's help. They all rush after Piper but alas, Tony's got a head start. He's not thrilled at Piper ruining his plans but Piper isn't able to work up much sympathy for him considering he murdered Mark. Prue uses her powers to get past the goons and then throws Tony out of his own safe room (the one from Phoebe's vision). Tony stumbles into the alley and whoops, the cops have him surrounded. He decides to go out in a blaze of glory and makes a move towards Andy, who shoots him. He dies, his spirit rises, and Piper is not thrilled at seeing another human die for the first time. The Halliwells run out the back way to avoid tricky questions like "wtf are you doing here" and they run into ghost!Tony and then Yama appears to steal Tony's soul. Mark throws him on Yama's spear but Piper steps in and declares that he can't take Mark because he's a good man. Phoebe and Prue follow their sister's lead and defend Mark. Yama decides y'know what, three witches are too much hassle and he's just gonna go over here now, thanks.
Yeah, sure, I guess.
Almost at the end. The sisters are at Mark's funeral and for just a minute I think I'm going to make it out of this episode not crying for the first time ever, but then the music kicks in and Piper starts to cry and so do I.
No, see, if you cry I cry. That's the deal.
Mark drifts over to them and tells Prue she needs to celebrate her birthday as they're important and Prue agrees and I get all sad because Prue's gonna die in less than three years and it's so sad and then Mark and Piper have a moment and I swear, as sad as this is, I've always wondered if anyone else at the funeral was wondering what the hell those three random white chicks were doing over off to the side.
Where were you all my life?
Phoebe catches sight of Mark's Dad and the two of them walk off into the light. Piper cries, "Leave it to me to fall for a dead guy." Which is true and also foreshadowing like whoa.
We end with the sisters going home and surprise! Prue's party, complete with Andy.
Surprise!
Overall, I love this episode. You knew that. It's got its problems for sure, with the most glaring being the attempt to say that these two look anything alike:
But there's also a reason that even the most die hard Piper/Leo 'shippers still also 'ship Mark/Piper. It works as a stand alone episode and it also ties into other episodes both intentional at the time (Prue's ongoing issues with Andy) and unintentional: Prue's death and Piper's ultimate relationship with Leo. Plus we get a rarity, in that the crime commited wasn't supernatural at all. Sure, the whole running from accidentally being sent to hell is supernatural, but not the actual initial crime.
Also, Charmed does a pretty good of choosing songs for their funerals.
We open with Andy dropping by because he was nowhere near the neighborhood and we needed to start cute. Andy's dropping off Prue's birthday present even though her birthday isn't for another week. It's a key to the room he rented for the weekend, adjoining rooms because he didn't want to assume anything even though it's been a month since they agreed to go slow and... Prue isn't sure she wants to go. Well, she wants to go, but there's the whole witch thing holding her back.
We segue to Mark who is running late as his mother is trying her best to cram as many worries as she can into one scene. It's his birthday and she wants him to be safe and hey, maybe take this with you for safety's sake, but Mom, I'm 23 and not a little boy and I'll be fine, he says as he walks away. He was not fine, despite walking through Chinatown and being recognized and apparently well liked. But not well liked enough for anyone to notice when Tony Wong and his gang appear in an alley, shoot Mark, and then fucking set his body on fire. Seriously, this is like maaaaaaaaybe 9am and no one notices the smell of burning flesh?
But we don't focus on that because as soon as Mark's body hits the ground, his spirit rises up and is most disappointed to realize that he's dead. :/ Don't make John Cho sad, it makes me sad.
Back at the Manor, Piper is riffling through the drawers and we see evidence of a surprise party being planned. Turns out Phoebe was supposed to have sent the invites that Piper is now stuffing into envelopes along with confetti (we are one, Piper) last week. Phoebe points out that everything else is set so it's fine. Piper isn't reassured considering she did all of that work! Annnnnnnd then Prue shows up just as all the evidence is put away and she tells them about Andy's surprise. Piper is less than thrilled considering the party is Friday and you can't have a birthday party without the guest of honor. Phoebe's all excited that Prue's ready to go away with Andy until Piper finally gets her attention and then Phoebe shifts gears and tries to downplay the whole going away thing. Prue immediately guesses the party but her sisters assure her they would NEVER. When Prue leaves, Phoebe points out that it's a good thing she didn't send the invites because they both know Prue's gonna go away with Andy. Piper isn't thrilled considering the fact that if Phoebe had sent the invites on time, Andy wouldn't have messed up her plans, dammit.
Phoebe can't stick around for this logical take on the situation because she has a job to get to in order to finally break her birthday present tradition (card, three days late)!
Side note: the original airing and first round of DVDs has Semisonic's Secret Smile playing for this scene. The Netflix version has a really obnoxious song instead that offends my eardrums.
Anyway, Phoebe's new job is as The Amazing Phoebe, a lounge psychic at the Hotel Neptune. I'm sure that's a thing. We see her interview and instead of seeing Phoebe's premonition, we just hear her describe it and it's not until she actually gets the job and offends a customer that it's clear that she's not BSing her way through the audition. I kinda like how they played it, actually.
Prue and Piper talk on the phone and Piper suggests that Prue and Andy do go away. On Saturday. Again, Prue's spidey surprise party senses tingle and once more Piper plays it off, instead blaming the wait on Phoebe finally managing to get a job and pay for a real present. There's a cute moment where Prue mentions Phoebe's usual gift and really, the sister moments are the best part of this series. Piper looks at the paper where Phoebe has circled a want ad for a psychic and she heads off to find Phoebe because hello, personal gain!
Again. I love it.
She finds Phoebe who is dressed in the most delightful get-up, and proceeds to read her the riot act. Phoebe protests that since this is for Prue, it doesn't fall under personal gain. Piper isn't having it, but then Mark shows up and asks which one is the psychic. They both answer and he's thrilled that someone, anyone, can see him, as he'd tried all the other psychics in the area. Neither Halliwell realizes that Mark is a ghost until he follows Piper outside and a bicyclist rides right through him. Gasp!
Prue stops by Quake to see Andy who is having lunch with his ex-wife. I swear he already mentioned he was married but apparently this is one of those things where my knowledge of future episodes must've messed with my head because my cursory flip through of the previous episodes yielded nothing. Anyway, there's a stupid moment where Susan introduces herself and Prue says, "Trudeau? Sister?" I face palmed so hard, you don't even know. Look, even if we don't hold future episodes against this, Prue and Andy dated in high school and she'd know whether he had a sister named Susan or not. Andy tries to explain and Prue stalks off, sending a desert tray into him to keep him from following her. Woe.
And because I'm incapable of finishing a linear recap, let's go by storyline.
At the hotel, Phoebe picks up a guy's wallet and realizes he's going to be hit and killed by a pink Cadillac (sure) and all her efforts to keep him safe inside the hotel scream stalker and not actual psychic. It's funny and frustrating all at once. It does lead to a couple of really sweet scenes with Prue, however. One of them involves Prue taking her frustrations out by cleaning the kitchen and neither sister wants to talk, but when Phoebe pulls on a pair of rubber gloves and starts scrubbing too, Prue asks what's really going on. Phoebe sighs, admits her job (and why she got it) and then explains about the dude who won't let her save him. Prue ignores the whole possible personal gain angle and is proud of Phoebe for doing the right thing in keeping after this guy. When Phoebe asks about the fussing about personal gain, Prue says, "You were trying to do something good, and now you get to do something great. I can’t think of a better birthday present than that." Also, Shannen looks really pretty here.
Just me? No? Okay then.
Later, after Phoebe has saved her innocent, she finds Prue channel surfing and like Phoebe doesn't clean, Prue doesn't flip. So she explains the Andy situation and how she really can't see a way around the whole witch thing and how can she be this mad when Andy's right about her keeping secrets from him?
Phoebe gently reminds her eldest sister that they are the Charmed Ones, not the doomed ones, and that she's got to give a little.
Meanwhile, in the A plot, Mark and Piper find Mark's body and Yama, the spirit who will gather Mark's soul and send him to hell, finds out the hard way that Piper can freeze him. Piper and Mark run away and Piper calls the cops to alert them to Mark's body so his mother will be able to bury her son ASAP and then Mark can move on without worrying about Hell.
Run!
When Piper shows up at his mother's, we find out that she doesn't know Mark's dead and thus Piper's fancy parroting of Chinese was all for naught. She can't tell the woman her son is dead, so they head out.
There are some cute scenes at the Manor with Mark, including him walking in on the Halliwells having a pow wow in the hall while Prue's wearing nothing but a towel as she just stepped out of the shower and another where he sticks his head through the kitchen door to check out how things were going.
This is mostly cute because of how these two play it. Also, Shannen's use of the word nekkid.
Speaking of the Manor, Mark and Piper come home and turn on the news where Mark's body has been found all right, but identified as Tony Wong. When Mark sputters around not having ever done anything to Wong and not knowing why he'd kill him, Prue says maybe he wanted everyone to think Mark was Tony because they look so much alike.
They. Look. Nothing. Alike.
This ticks me off, btw, almost as much as Tony knowing it was Mark's birthday and then acting like this was important for some reason. It wasn't, btw. They could've killed just about any guy, slipped Tony's ring on his finger, and after the torching no one would know the difference if they never bothered with matching dental records.
Phoebe gets a premonition about Tony and proclaims she can see him, he's alive and Mark's like DUH, that's my body, remember. Such sass, Mark. I love you. Piper and Mark go off to confront Tony. Sorta. Piper's plan is to pop in, freeze everyone in the room, plop a newspaper with Tony's death featured in his hands, snap a picture, and run away. Not the worst plan, I suppose, and it gives us a scene where Mark tries to talk her out of it with the whole "can't go in there, protected by that ward... that you just took off and flung to the ground, okay, nevermind." bit. Really cute. Alas, Piper's powers wear off as soon as she leaves the room and Tony and his goons follow her and get her license plate number.
Piper and Mark stop by the police station where she leaves Andy a copy of the picture and Mark's name and Mark grumbles, "My afterlife's in the hands of a cop named Andy." Speak of the devil, Andy pops up and sees Piper talking to herself. He asks for her opinion on the Prue debacle and Piper tells him to give it time. There's a cute moment here between the two and then when Andy leaves, Mark tells Piper how sweet she is and I'm dying still from the cute and it's been 20 freakin' years! He has her drive them to his apartment where he gives his family's recipes because they bonded that first night over the fact that he's a really good cook and so is she and seriously, I waited years in hopes they'd bring Mark back because their chemistry was the stuff of legends.
Anyway, when they get back to the Manor, Piper gets kidnapped by Tony's goons and Mark hollers for Prue and Phoebe's help. They all rush after Piper but alas, Tony's got a head start. He's not thrilled at Piper ruining his plans but Piper isn't able to work up much sympathy for him considering he murdered Mark. Prue uses her powers to get past the goons and then throws Tony out of his own safe room (the one from Phoebe's vision). Tony stumbles into the alley and whoops, the cops have him surrounded. He decides to go out in a blaze of glory and makes a move towards Andy, who shoots him. He dies, his spirit rises, and Piper is not thrilled at seeing another human die for the first time. The Halliwells run out the back way to avoid tricky questions like "wtf are you doing here" and they run into ghost!Tony and then Yama appears to steal Tony's soul. Mark throws him on Yama's spear but Piper steps in and declares that he can't take Mark because he's a good man. Phoebe and Prue follow their sister's lead and defend Mark. Yama decides y'know what, three witches are too much hassle and he's just gonna go over here now, thanks.
Yeah, sure, I guess.
Almost at the end. The sisters are at Mark's funeral and for just a minute I think I'm going to make it out of this episode not crying for the first time ever, but then the music kicks in and Piper starts to cry and so do I.
No, see, if you cry I cry. That's the deal.
Mark drifts over to them and tells Prue she needs to celebrate her birthday as they're important and Prue agrees and I get all sad because Prue's gonna die in less than three years and it's so sad and then Mark and Piper have a moment and I swear, as sad as this is, I've always wondered if anyone else at the funeral was wondering what the hell those three random white chicks were doing over off to the side.
Where were you all my life?
Phoebe catches sight of Mark's Dad and the two of them walk off into the light. Piper cries, "Leave it to me to fall for a dead guy." Which is true and also foreshadowing like whoa.
We end with the sisters going home and surprise! Prue's party, complete with Andy.
Surprise!
Overall, I love this episode. You knew that. It's got its problems for sure, with the most glaring being the attempt to say that these two look anything alike:
But there's also a reason that even the most die hard Piper/Leo 'shippers still also 'ship Mark/Piper. It works as a stand alone episode and it also ties into other episodes both intentional at the time (Prue's ongoing issues with Andy) and unintentional: Prue's death and Piper's ultimate relationship with Leo. Plus we get a rarity, in that the crime commited wasn't supernatural at all. Sure, the whole running from accidentally being sent to hell is supernatural, but not the actual initial crime.
Also, Charmed does a pretty good of choosing songs for their funerals.