#i feel like this is simultaneously phoebe sympathetic and then also makes her look real bad

[phoebehalliwell]

I need u to explain something to me

Phoebe forgave Cole when he spent the whole season 3 trying to kill her because « Balthazar did it » and Cole «changed » (🤷🏻‍♀️). Like Balthazar and Cole were two differents entities and Cole was a victim (I used to think that was bullshit and Cole should have been killed in s3.) Phoebe was even dating him when he was a demon using his power for « good »

So Why did phoebe was so hell bent on killing him in s05 and say that he was evil when he was infected by the Source ? You could argue that Cole and the Source were also two entities ? And that he was under the influence of the Source / a victim ?

In s05,He even tried to use his demonic powers for « good », exactly like S3. I guess i don’t get why in s03, Cole was a « innocent That had to be saved » but in s05 he had to be killed ?

SHORT ANSWER:

LONG ANSWER: 2k under the cut

pt i - 1k so out of universe explanation like as we moved into s4 the show really favored these long overarching plotlines as opposed to something like s2 which really didn't have any big plot just vibes. inching back a lil further i think in s3 the introduction of a demon love interest was really like. like kinda bound to happen now that we've given pleo their type of happily ever after the will they won't they is over the heavens forbid it is over now we need another relationship to add a bit of spice to the mix and what better than like. a demon? so you run phole and they're kinda. your main source of drama consistently throughout the season yes there's the vague looming threat of the source but really it's phoebe and cole weaving together thru these episodes putting meat on these bones. i think the first faux-vanquish was bound to happen, because like the relationship is still so fresh and you haven't even got to the demon-tries-to-be-good point yet you're still in the heat and angst of betrayal like baby. there are still miles to go here. there's no way you're ending this yet. (which like. yeah i agree like. in universe cole totally should have been killed in s3. also out of universe bc like. i can't say i was hella in love with what was going on over there lmao. whoops.)

anyways. we hit season 4 and you have cole being good demon! yeah! but this whole time you kinda know what you're leading up to like the source is being name checked a bit too much here chekhov's demon if you will if the source doesn't actually you know fuckin show up and try to kill them this season well then what the fuck is he doing? but then. what do you do once u kill the source like end ur show r u joking moniee baby let's add some drama ooh u know what what if cole the demon became the source. which i think like. you need someone to become the source someone close to them and you can't do a sister (or can you?) because u need the power of three also what r u gonna kill a sister and you can't really do leo just because you've made him such a softboi healer kind emotional type. but u know who's dark n mysterious with an evil past who is very much tied up in the lives of our girls? cole.

so i think like from the beginning they knew they were doing source cole because how do u pick between the love of ur life and ur sisters the drama so on so forth i think they knew they needed phoebe married to cole before they went all in because you really need that he’s family too pull. but out of universe for the life of me i cannot tell if they were implying cole was actually evil or not. my personal conspiracy theory is that some people in the writers room were like cole is misunderstood and really trying to be good and others were like okay he was underworld’s top demon for 100 years maybe reflect on that?? and both these views are heading towards the same goal (source!cole) but have different opinions on who cole is beyond that plotline. but idk!

and then as a personal opinion i think the source plotline really bogged down s4 like. :/. and i think the show kinda felt that too that this wasn’t really sustainable the show is charmed after all named after the charmed ones if you have a show where there are just two witches one of them’s trying to kill their sister the other just got here and then our third sister is like. queen of hell, but is kinda being a bimbo about it (respectfully) like. that’s not charmed. it could be A Show, but it’s not this show, which i repeat. is charmed. which i think is why they immediately backtracked on the s5 intention to do Phoebe: Queen of Hell and then like snorted a line and powered out the quickest way to get phoebe back in the fold, to which the conclusion was: him or us. the whole core of the drama how do you pick between the love of your life and your sisters like. better decide the answer. you only get one. and obvi it’s gotta be the sisters; again: this is charmed also you already played your back pocket half-sister card you only get to use that move once. which means. sisters have been chosen. cole has to go.

but!! everyone loves cole everyone loves phoebe and cole they’re the ones bringing like. the heat the passion the sex appeal because respectfully piper and leo Are Not they’re the domestic fantasy and paige just got here so she’s not really ready to shoulder that burden quite yet. so like. phoebe and cole am i rite. let’s bring back cole. but u already had phoebe definitively chose her sisters you already had them vanquish cole you can’t really revert back to the same him vs them thing that powered s4 because you already know the answer. (i guess. again this is all just speculation i was not there when this was happening i was 5. wait actually. okay yeah s5 started airing in september 2002 i was 2. lmao.) but you’ve brought cole back what are you going to do with him what’s his main motivation. well. his motivation at first was kill phoebe. then it was i’m in love with phoebe. like it’s always been phoebe. so clearly it must be phoebe again. cole will do anything!! to get back phoebe. but it’s too late. phoebe has already made the irrevocable decision to be with her sisters. so therefore. cole will be obsessed with her and she will reject him at every turn. we’re gonna give cole a lot of screentime in this futile and cringe chase for love tho why? bc julian <3 what a guy. hey should he date paige?

pt ii - 1k and then an In Universe explanation let’s get started. phoebe has had no longer term relationships. definitely no on screen ones. the closest thing we got to any implication of serious romance was clay in s1. she didn’t get anywhere w eric bc his mind got wiped, the cupid was obvi a no-go from the beginning, and billy Isn’t Real. so this relationship with cole is really like the first serious relationship she’s had in a minute and she fell hard and she fell fast, but could you blame her? cole was literally her perfect guy he built himself to be Literally her perfect guy. and when you find out your perfect guy is a demon like. how do you rationalize that. because quite frankly he has had many opportunities to kill you can he hasn’t so like. he can’t be that bad. it can’t all be fake. you really hope it’s not all fake. and then, like, of course, there’s the belthazor element. like. he literally has a demon form. turns big red and scary. phoebe’s no demonologist. i’m sure she can just rationalize that as a jekyll and hyde situation cole is just some innocent strapped along for the hellish ride manned by some evil beast. but around her, he can conquer that demon. because that’s a demon. belthazor’s a demon. cole is a human cole is good cole is an innocent and he had no power over those things. so i think that’s the mentality that phoebe really carried thru to s4, and then cole becomes human. and then cole becomes the source, but you don’t know it. and cole really tries to fight the source when he’s with her you know true love is the greatest force blah blah blah so like. odds are phoebe doesn’t notice. a) we’re still kind of settling into the “new cole” because he hasn’t been demon-free well, like, ever, so u need to figure out what that looks like and then b) now that he doesn’t have his jekyll-side or whatever you two are free you can be in love and god do you want to be in love you want something that’s yours something to hold on to because lately it kind of seems that everything you love is being ripped away so god please can you just have this one thing that’s yours. so i think phoebe really overlooked any signs of cole’s source possession. she only saw cole. her cole. the man she loved. Which Means When Shit Really Hit The Fan, phoebe doesn’t see this as the source possession finally taking over she has no idea of the internal battle cole has been facing inside himself (and then not to mention phoebe is also kinda drugged up rn on pure evil so we’re not in the Best headspace) phoebe kinda just seeing this as the mask being ripped off. all the clues she’s been ignoring over the past couple months have been finally exposed: cole is evil. (which: the clues actually read as cole is possessed By evil. but who’s gonna tell her that? the seer? no one else knows if anyone should know it’s phoebe but she was so busy trying to pretend everything was perfect that she was finally gonna get to be happy that she missed the source living right under her nose so. whoops.)

and then entering s5 i think phoebe keeps with the mentality that cole was actually evil this whole time. like she didn’t know he was possessed she didn’t know when this possession started so the natural conclusion is cole is just Like This and she’s a bimbo. blinded by love. and i think this really starts to backtrack and put everything else in a negative light because like. had she not been trying to save cole prue wouldn’t have died. also. cole never explicitly told her that belthazor was a separate entity. she had just assumed. because she thought she knew him. but clearly she didn’t because he was the fucking source of all evil and she couldn’t tell because evidently she didn’t know cole at all. he and belthazor were probably just one and the same. he let her believe that, let her see what he wanted to see, so he could have what he wanted. her. all to himself. no one else no other life but him. and i mean again who’s gonna refute that i think phoebe really builds up an echo chamber in her head calling herself and idiot calling cole evil and promising to never fall for it again that by the time cole shows up ready to give it one last shot at good, phoebe’s like no. i’ve seen what you are before. and i’m not gonna get another sister killed i’m not gonna fall for evil again. because!! cole trying to be good in s5 looks the same as cole trying to be good in s3 s4. cole being in love with phoebe in s5 looks the same as cole being in love with phoebe in s3 s4 (actually it’s a lil bit more bonkers and possessive but u get the point). and this is because he was! he was in love with phoebe he was trying to be good, but phoebe, post-source!cole almost killing her sisters, has reached to conclusion that cole that whole time was consciously evil, because she was never able to tell the difference between her cole and source!cole, given the fact he always actively suppressed that side around her. around her, cole never changed, despite getting progressively more evil to the world around him, because his love for phoebe fought it off. which really was the downfall. because if she had seen the markers and seen him as something other than her cole, maybe this whole thing could have been salvaged. but she was blinded by her love for roughly like what. two three months? and in her head reached the conclusion that she was actually blinded by love the entire time. so rather than fall for that again she just kept her eyes shut.

#i feel like this is simultaneously phoebe sympathetic and then also makes her look real bad #bc like. like. #like if she knows everything we know there's no way she acts the way she does #but she doesn't know everything we know That's Why She Acts That Way #but at the same time u feel like she should know Something i mean like babe at least Something #but i feel like just. insanely oblivious is the only explanation #charmed #phoebe halliwell #cole turner #yeah #💌