Cheaper by the Coven

Season 7, Episode 3, Aired
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Episode Summary

When Paige and Phoebe summon Grams for Chris' Wiccaning, Grams puts a spell on the children to try to end their sibling rivalry, but instead it reverts the sisters back to bickering teenagers. Meanwhile Phoebe, still acting like a teenager, attends an award ceremony with Les, and Leo consults a demonic seer to find out who is behind the attack on Wyatt.moreless
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Fan Episode Reviews (15)

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  • Bratty Witches

    6.5
    "Fair"
    By lenzinoH20, Sep 21, 2011 Report Abuse
    Cheaper By The Coven-When Paige and Phoebe summon Grams for Chris' Wiccaning, Grams puts a spell on the children to try to end their sibling rivalry, but instead it reverts the sisters back to bickering teenagers. Meanwhile Phoebe, still acting like a teenager, attends an award ceremony with Les, and Leo consults a demonic seer to find out who is behind the attack on Wyatt.
    Poor Holly, Rose and Alyssa. When you personally cringe when an actor is forced to work with literally chilish material, you know a series is in serious trouble. I can't name how many times we've seen the sisters have been put under spell, posessed or made to act silly for an episode. At this point, I've seen more mature episodes of Rugrats, which pretty what this episode is! An episode of Rugrats with the sisters acting like a bunch a bratty kids for an hour. The writers try to tie that part of the plot with the sister's childhoods and what's going on with Wyatt, but it just doesn't work. The sibling rivalry spell is just failed to make any sense besides some of thosecheap laughs the writer love to add inlike Phoebe's embarassing behavior at the Reader's Choice Awards. Oh look, little bitty Phoebe likes Lesley! *rolls eyes*
    But have to say everything else about the episode was range from pretty good to borderline awesomeness! It's good to see Victor,Grams and Patty all in one episode again. Last time we saw the sisters' mother was in "Charmed Again" Part 2 and I'd rather forget about Grams' appearence in the horrid "Witchstock". All 3 characters definately make up for the weak plot, especially watching Victor and Grams bicker. I also loved the "family" moments between all the characters like Victor and Patty talking about how they wish they were there for the girls growing up and how Grams has been with the girls every step of the way. I even liked the scene of Piper nearly breaking down about all the tragedy that has happened to the sisters over the years like losing Pure and Leo's current issues. Even as a child, Holly manages to make the best of story and gave a decent performance there. It's nice to know the writers haven't completely forgotten about the sisters' past. The demon plot was also intriguing, leading to a shocking twist that Leo is demon! It was chilling reveal and the reason behind it was actually some pretty complex stuff for Charmed. You feel bad for Wyatt especially knowing he created a demon out of guilt over his father's absence in his life.
    Lastly, I can't forget to mention of Kira, the Seer, who is played played by the always charming Charisma Carpenter. A veteran of Buffy and Angel, this was a great casting choice for the writers as Charisma effortlessly steals her scenes in this episode. You just gotta love the Cordelia-eqse way she is written and how she toys with Leo's emotions. Luckily, this is the end of her Charmed appearences and she leaves a lot to look forward to in upcoming episodes! All and All, "Cheaper By The Coven" may haveliterally chilish plot, but thanks to some great guest stars and some intense reveals, it's decent.moreless

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    0 0

  • The irritating Charmed teenagers

    5.7
    "Mediocre"
    By SleepTight, Dec 11, 2010 Report Abuse
    'Cheaper By The Coven' is so far the worst episode I've reviewed so far. It had it's very few moments but in overall it was really painful to watch and I think my brain got damaged.

    The episode could have been completely removed and nothing would have been missed except for two or three scenes, everything else wasn't worth it.

    May I begin with the note about the /terrible/ acting?
    All the actors looked extremely bored while filming the episode, can't say that I blame them. It also seemed so forced and it made the episode hard to watch. Even the beautiful Charisma wasn't at her best, but then again. How can you when you have a terrible script?

    The episode was about Wyatt feeling rejected because his dad isn't around and all the attention is going towards little baby Chris. Also there is a demon after Wyatt that turns out to look exactly like Leo*snore*. He made the demon because he blames himself that Leo is never around and that Leo killed Gideo *snore* and this was actually the good part of the episode.

    Oh, and we have the amazing Charisma scenes, well. They weren't amazing, Charisma was. With her beautiful smile that makes the average man loose their minds over. Charisma was a big part of the reason why the episode isn't complete garbage, her first scene was pretty bad but she did good in her second scene.

    Oh, and then over to the three annoying sisters, they are once again acting like a teenager (does that sound familiar?)

    Holly did a good job in her 'sad' scene but other than that it was just as annoying as the other two. Though I have to admit, Alyssa wasn't all that bad. She had her funny moments and her cute facial expressions, but that irritating Nick McLay or whatever almost ruined the scenes with his stupid face and horrible acting.

    Oh, and what do we have more? Peggy, Penny and Viktor are back. Yay? No, not really. That old hat is as irritating as it can get, the woman who plays for the Charmed ones mom is a very bad actress and her performance made tiny till no impression at all. Viktor was the good character this time, he stayed interesting and un-irritating through the whole thing. Though his acting wasn't that great either.

    All in all, 'Cheaper By The Coven' is an extremely irritating and badly written episode, completely unnecessary and forgettable.
    moreless

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    0 3

  • SIBLING RIVALRY

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By Blinksterboy, Jul 11, 2010 Report Abuse
    Sibling Rivalry

    I like these big family episodes, especially when Patty is involved. The banter is knife-sharp and it's great fun listening to Penny and Victor scoring points off each other. The occasion this time is Chris's wiccaning, despite the little mite being about as magical as a loaf of bread.

    For all the family members, however, this is very much a Wyatt based episode. The main plot sees him getting sulky over the attention heaped on Chris. To stop them quarrelling, Penny casts a spell which (shock!) backfires and shifts their rivalry onto the sisters. At the same time, Wyatt also has to contend with a mysterious masked demon, which leads his father to consult a demonic seer.

    Having the Charmed Ones turn into bickering teenagers is an interesting idea but ends up being rather annoying, despite some good acting. I'm so glad they decided to reverse the spell. I also don't get why Penny thinks Leo is evil. Surely killing someone who is trying to murder your son would make you a hero? She has killed countless demons to protect the sisters so what's the difference?

    The guest actress playing the seer is very good and adds a real sparkle to the role. Hope she sticks around.

    Having the 'demon' turn out to be Leo is a good twist and all the more so because Wyatt has conjured him. I think it's a bit much that a two year old is blaming himself over his parents splitting up but there you go.

    Overall, it's a decent hour with some good one liners and some interesting twists. I just wish they'd skipped all that squabbling. Score: 8.8moreless

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    3 0

  • Leo is evil?

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By Danny2312, Mar 19, 2008 Report Abuse
    Paige and Phoebe summon Grams in order to help them for Chris's wiccaning. But Wyatt is unhappy, and he is being stalked and haunted by a demon, whose identity remains unknown. Leo is the first one to know the demon, but he is shocked because he is actually himself. Grams panics and afraids of Leo doing something harmful to Chris. Good episode, especially after the very disappointing episode "A Call to Arms", "Centennial Charmed"...Not the best episode in this series, also not the worst episode in this series. I like this episode, but just not too much about Leo. I don't like the story about Leo too much.moreless

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    1 0

  • of what the Charmed ones were like as kids!

    10
    "Perfect"
    By Prowler86Kid, Aug 22, 2007 Report Abuse
    Grams accidentaly turn Phoebe, Piper, and Paige into arguing teenagers. Number three in my top fav funny episodes of Charmed! I loved seeing them out of character like that. Piper teasing Pheebs about her liking Leslie, made me laugh and so did Grams talking about robbing the craddle. I think it was nice for Victor and Patty too, because they weren't around too much when they were growing up. My favorite part was when they all saw Patty and ran towards her screaming mommy. With the way they carried on, I would've hated being their mommy! Makes me wonder what Prue was like as a pre-teen?moreless

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    1 0
 

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

    ADD TRIVIA
    • Wyatt was able to sense that the Leo demon was behind, which is why he was able to protect himself. He also showed that he could sense danger or someone being in danger from the womb and in Sense and Sensibility when Leo was in danger. Edit
    • After Wyatt's and Chris' rivalry went into the sisters, Grams said she needed a reversal spell to take it back out. However, if she had just used the same spell that she used on Wyatt and Chris, the rivalry would've been pulled out of the sisters and would've gone back into Wyatt and Chris. No other spell was needed. Edit
    • When Wyatt is taken by Leo/Demon, Piper and the real Leo fight in a cave to take him back. Before the fight starts, Leo/Demon goes away from Wyatt to the right side of the cave, but after the fight is over, he emerges from the left side. Edit

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • Charisma Carpenter also plays a seer on the show Angel. Edit
    • This episode scored 5.4 million viewers. Edit
    • Series star Holly Marie Combs and guest star, Charisma Carpenter, have prevoiusly worked together in the film "See Jane Date". Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Grams: Victor, what are you doing here? Victor: And a big hello to you too, Penny. I was invited for a wiccaning. Grams: Oh, sorry. Wiccanings are only for magical family members. Victor: That's not what Paige says. Grams: Well, Paige doesn't know all the rules. Piper: Okay, I can see this is going to go really well. Edit
    • (Piper is on the phone with Paige, who called to say that Wyatt orbed Chris out of Magic School. The doorbell rings, and Piper opens the front door to find Victor on the porch holding a baby.) Victor: I hope this is yours, because it sure isn't mine. Edit
    • (As he watches Phoebe through his office glass window as she walks across the bullpen to leave) Leslie (to himself): If she turns around, that means she likes me. Come on, Phoebe, don't let me down. You can do it. Turn around. (Phoebe stops at the door, then turns around to look at him, before she walks away) That-a-girl. Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • Title: Cheaper By The Coven
      This is a reference to the film "Cheaper By the Dozen" about a married couple with a large family; it's also a common saying. Edit

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