Phoebe & Cole



   

THE HISTORY OF RELATIONSHIP

The relationship between Phoebe Halliwell and Cole Turner was the second longest running relationship throughout the Charmed series (Piper Halliwell and Leo Wyatt's being the longest) and another favorite among fans. The relationship commenced in 2000 on the Season 3 premiere, The Honeymoon's Over and lasted until the Season 4 finale, Witch Way Now?.

Cole first met the Halliwell sisters while he was the legendary demonic soldier of fortune Belthazor. The Triad sent Belthazor to kill the Charmed Ones and tip the scales to evil. However, his love for Phoebe reawakened his long-dormant human half, and he renounced evil for her love. The relationship progressed so much that they consummated their relationship a few months after meeting in Primrose Empath and then married in 2002. The relationship ended when Cole was possessed by the Source of all Evil. Phoebe briefly joined him as Queen of the Underworld, but ultimately joined her sisters in vanquishing him. After coming back from the Demonic Wasteland, Cole tried countless times to get Phoebe back, to no avail. His desperate attempts to win her back ultimately lead him to being vanquished once and for all.

 

    

ROMANCING WITH DANGER

Cole Turner makes his first appearance in the third season (2000-1) première episode, "The Honeymoon's Over". Charmed Ones Phoebe (Milano) and Prue (Shannen Doherty) run into Assistant District Attorney Cole Turner at the site where they killed a demon, and cover their tracks. Over the course of the episode, it becomes apparent to the audience that Cole is himself a very powerful demon, pursuing Phoebe romantically and deceiving the sisters as to his true nature in order to finally kill them. In "Power Outage", Cole's superiors, the demonic Triad, learn that he may have developed genuine romantic feelings for Phoebe; Cole responds by killing them, forcing him into hiding. Meanwhile, the sisters acquire a target in the red-and-black-skinned demon Belthazor (Michael Bailey Smith); in "Sleuthing with the Enemy", the Charmed Ones discovers Cole and Belthazor are one and the same, but when Cole convinces Phoebe that he, being half human, truly loves her, she fakes his death so that her sisters Piper (Holly Marie Combs) and Prue will not hunt for him. When Cole re-emerges, causing a rift between Phoebe and her sisters, he attempts to re-ingratiate himself with his demonic peers, the Brotherhood of the Thorn, as the sisters' double agent. When Prue and Piper are both killed following a successful mission by the Source's assassin Shax (Michael Bailey Smith) in the season finale "All Hell Breaks Loose", Cole's ingratiation with allows him to beg the Source (again, Michael Bailey Smith) to turn back time and prevent the exposure of magic; the Source agrees on the condition that Phoebe remain in the underworld under his command, though he secretly orders her to be killed. Phoebe is able to escape, however, due to the presence of Leo Wyatt (Brian Krause), her "whitelighter" (a witch's guardian angel).

Cole does what he can to assist Phoebe and Piper from Shax's attack after Prue died from Shax's attack in the previous episode. Piper and Phoebe regain their full abilities, becoming Charmed Ones once again when they discover their younger half-sister, Paige (McGowan), with whom they destroy Shax. In "Black as Cole", a power-stripping one causes Cole to lose both his Belthazor form and demonic abilities, becoming wholly human. After the Charmed Ones successfully kill the Source (Peter Woodward) in "Charmed and Dangerous", the Source's essence fills the space left by Cole's vanquished demon half, making Cole the new Source; as the Source, he is guided by the Seer (Debbi Morgan), a manipulative demoness who has served multiple Sources. Paige continually suspects him of being evil. In "The Fifth Halliwheel", the Seer begins her plot to have Cole impregnate Phoebe, and in "Bite Me", Phoebe learns she is pregnant. On discovering that Cole is the Source, a pregnant Phoebe stands by his side to become the Queen of the Underworld, though she returns her sisters to help vanquish Cole in "Long Live the Queen". In "Womb Raider", the Seer uses a spell to take Cole's child from Phoebe, becoming the Source herself, but becomes overwhelmed by its powers and dies. Phoebe hears Cole's voice call to her on the wind, and in the season finale, "Witch Way Now?", she discovers Cole is able to linger in the Demonic Wasteland, where vanquished demons go, because of his human soul. Phoebe visits him there, insisting to him that he move on to his afterlife. After she leaves, he accidentally discovers he can acquire the powers of other demons vanquished there. He becomes powerful enough to kill the beast that consumes the essence of those vanquished there and, finally, to escape. Once back in the world, he saves the sisters' lives from a witch hunter.

 

   

END OF THE AFFAIR

In the season premiere, "A Witch's Tail", Cole returns more powerful than ever, and though he still loves Phoebe, she wants to move on from him and is frustrated by his attempts to win her back. During "Siren Song," he saves a young woman named Mellisa, revealed to be a future Whitelighter from death in an attempt to impress Phoebe and fails. When he tries to confront the Siren, she tries to kill him, but his powers allow him to survive, though he falls under her control. Under this influence, he tries to strangle Phoebe to death, but Leo vanquishes the Siren with Piper's powers, breaking her hold over him. Phoebe nearly dies, but Piper manages to heal her. As a result, Cole finally understands the threat he poses to Phoebe and promises to stop using his powers, but falls to temptation again when confronted by a sleezy landlord. In "Sympathy for the Demon", Cole is taunted by the spirit of the demon Barbas (Billy Drago) who convinces Cole to use a power-stripping potion and acquires Cole's powers, becoming corporeal. To stop the threat of Barbas or anyone else possessing Cole's powers, Paige strips Barbas of his powers and Cole takes them back; the sisters, however, fear that his powers will make him evil again. In "Sam, I Am", Cole misuses his abilities and incinerates two robbers; he is visited by two mysterious beings for the first time, the Avatars. Neither good or evil, the Avatars offer Cole the opportunity to join their ranks and enjoy their powers; he refuses. Instead, Cole tries to provoke the sisters to kill him by sending an assassin after them, knowing that they will be able to recover thanks to their recent contact with Paige's father, whitelighter Sam Wilder (Scott Jaeck). He is distraught to learn he cannot be killed, this discovery pushing him over the edge as he reverts to more malevolent means of winning Phoebe back, such as attempting to corrupt the power of the manor. In Charmed's 100th episode, "Centennial Charmed", Cole accepts the Avatars' offer and uses their power to change history so that Piper and Phoebe never met Paige. In the new reality, Cole is Belthazor again; he owns Halliwell Manor with Phoebe, but they are unhappy together. Paige, accidentally brought along to this world, teams with Piper and Leo to vanquish him with the original vanquishing potion. Cole knocks out Piper and Leo, but when Phoebe rejoins them, Paige's powers are restored and she retrieves the potion from Cole which Phoebe uses to finally vanquish him despite his pleas not to.