Something that always makes me sad is that the sisters’ powers really stopped progressing in later seasons. I mean, if we look at all of them, Pipers stopped advancing after season four and Paige gets a hang of telekinetic orbing/orbing (and then just stops). Phoebe’s entire power situation is a mess. But like in more detail:
Piper
Honestly, Piper probably got off the best, despite her “development” in the last few seasons being theoretically stronger or more controlled in select situations. It’s not really acknowledged in the narrative beyond stuff like Phoebe being impressed at her control in Charrrmed! After a certain point, she mainly just started blasting demons and stopped using her freezing power, which was a bummer because it was a really cool power! And it could and should have been utilized more than it was. If you check out her list of power developments, majority of it after Lost and Bound (when she blew up the gate with the force field) isn’t really treated as an advancement anyways.
I’m not necessarily even opposed to her growing stronger and gaining better control as her power development in the later seasons, but I wish that they’d made it more of an explicit thing. I’d have loved to see her power grow on a wider scale, like the way it did in Morality Bites. Her freezing was presumably that powerful by the end of the show, or a few years off from being that powerful, but we really didn’t get to see it.
Alternatively, I’d have liked to see her gain more control on the molecular scale between immobilization and combustion. The comics had her get molecular acceleration, but I think it’d have been a good idea to have her gain that before combustion so that you can build up to it. Or have her gain more control to molecular inhibition (which was basically her actually freezing people when she was a warlock in s3.) I’d have just really liked Piper’s powers to have actually advanced/grown in some way with molecular manipulation. (As-is, it’s more that they just randomly connected her freezing and blowing up through molecules, but it works, so I’m not mad.)
The other thing that I really, really wish that we’d seen is her learning how to use her powers without her hands!! Especially because we see her do in one the show: once when she was a little girl (when she’d presumably have less power/control in contrast to like s8!Piper) and during the Blue Moon when the sisters’ powers advanced. That’d have been a great way to see her powers advance. (I always have thoughts about the girls’ powers as kids versus to adults, but that’s a different thing.)
Phoebe
I’ve had to rewrite this section multiple times, because I keep rage quitting to rant about Phoebe’s powers. Such as the post here. I stand by it though, because I don’t know what the fuck they were doing with Phoebe’s powers, and neither did they! Her premonitions progressed pretty well and I think that the way her premonitions progressed would have been great ways to bring in new powers for her.
While I did like her levitation power, it doesn’t fit with the rest of her psychic-based powerset and it never really advances. (I also feel like Phoebe never gaining an “active” power like she wanted is a better storyline and opportunity for character development for her.) I honestly just hate how they handled empathy because it was way overpowered and got too far away from actual empathy. They then of course stripped Phoebe’s powers and her progression the last two seasons were solely her regaining her premonitions and them progressing again. (Honestly, I feel like a big issue with Phoebe’s power development is that none of them were very connected and therefore, you had to juggle three completely different powers while advancing them somehow.)
I’m not really sure how I would’ve preferred Phoebe’s powers to progress in the last few seasons if we’re keeping all three of them. Ideally, I think that they just shouldn’t have given her levitation. Alternatively, I think it’d have been easier if her empathy had been rooted in actual empathy instead of power channeling/replication and deviation. I’d have liked to see her develop empathic manipulation and empathic healing as advancements. They also should have had her develop psychic reflection on-screen.
The issue with Phoebe’s powers is that they just don’t mesh well. They set up the possibility for empathy and astral projections through her premonitions, which would have been the best advancements to give her. (I have a post rolling around in my head for a completely different power progression, but that’s a different thing.) Sorry, Phoebe’s powerset was just a complete mess, man.
Paige
What power development?
Okay, but like. Technically, Paige has the most powers as half-Whitelighter but like!! After getting the hang of orbing and telekinetic orbing, the girl didn’t get any power development until she learned to heal in season eight. She really should have developed a second witch power in the end of season five/season six
The issue with Paige’s power development is that, frankly, I have no idea what the show should have given her. Piper’s powers were molecular-based, Phoebe’s were psychic, etc. (Prue’s were movement-based, but honestly, I’m not totally sold on how I’d have done Prue’s powers differently either. I actually liked them for her, but like I said with Phoebe, I liked it when the sisters’ powersets were kind of this coherent vibe.)
Looking at other hybrids, it’s weird that Paige didn’t have normal telekinesis as well. Wyatt, Chris, and Simon Marks all did, so Paige, as a Charmed One, should have had it as well. If we continue with the Witchlighter hybrid powerset, Paige also could have had an orb shield (Wyatt) or conjuration (Simon). That said, I’m not necessarily into either of them. The orb shield is much more of a defensive power, which makes sense for the literal infant but I feel like would’ve been a crutch for Paige or always forgotten since they need her to fight. Giving her conjuration (or projection actually) isn’t actually a bad idea, I’m just not into Paige with either of them. She also should have been able to telekinetically orb things without speaking or moving her hands. Let the sisters’ powers grow beyond the need to trigger them!!
I have two possible ideas for how her powers could have progressed actually: hovering/flight or photokinesis/light manipulation. Whitelighters have the ability to hover/levitate, so that could’ve been one of Paige’s powers instead of Phoebe’s. Paige also canonically does hover in Gone with the Witches anyways. If she got it earlier, it could evolve into levitation and then flight as an active power. Another option, which is actually my favorite of the two, is photokinesis. Again, she canonically has it already and if introduced earlier, it could’ve grown into full on light manipulation where she can create and destroy light, which’d have tactical advantages man.
For a solid minute, I thought that I accidentally erased my entire post because I was trying to add a line break and I nearly screamed so there is no line break. But yeah, I just feel like the show got lazy with the sisters’ powers in the last few seasons, and they should have had more going on, y’know? Phoebe and Paige both deserved better/more coherent writing on how their powers progressed at the very least.
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