King Arthur in Hollywood
Charmed
Sword and the City
Season 06, Episode 08, Original air date: November 9, 2003
Synopsis: The Lady of the Lake calls for the Charmed Ones' help,
via some serious backed-up plumbing, to protect a
magical sword that just happens to be stuck in a stone. Ah hah! Piper is dealing
with everything going wrong with the house, such as the recalcitrant
plumbing. Her job gets that much harder when the Sword in the Stone draws a crowd of magical King
Arthur wannabes. She attempts to move the sword out of the house, but
accidentally draws it out of the stone instead. And we have Queen Arthur?
Once the sword is drawn, the bad guys aren't far behind. At least that's
what Mordaunt, who claims to be the official sword tutor, claims. He sends
Paige and Phoebe off to make a special potion while he trains Piper in
swordcraft. But Richard manages to stop them from completing the potion, which is a
booby trap that would have killed them, discovering that Mordaunt
isn't what he seems.
Meanwhile, Mordaunt
and Piper fight a host of Executioner demons and the Dark Knight,
Mordaunt's accomplices whom he naturally betrays. Paige and Phoebe orb to the attic to rescue
Piper, but she is too far gone to listen, as Piper and Mordaunt shimmer to an
underground lair, where he spins Piper's head with tales of power and
glory as he tries to obtain the sword for himself.
Leo and the Elders determine
that Piper isn't the new King Arthur, but the new Lady of the Lake. She
was supposed to keep the sword safe until she can pass it on to its
rightful owner, who is none other than her son Wyatt. But, the sword is too
powerful for anyone to wield except its rightful owner and it is destroying
Piper. Mordaunt uses Piper to create a new Round Table, all demons of
course. In order to gain enough power to
wield the sword, Mordaunt sucks the powers out of them, and sets out to kill the rightful owner before he's old
enough to use it himself.
Paige, Phoebe and Leo determine that to rescue Piper, they need to find the
rightful heir to King Arthur. Wyatt chooses that moment to gurgle. Mordaunt stabs Piper in an
attempt to lure the other sisters away from Wyatt. It almost works. Mordaunt slays
a fluffy teddy bear, thinking it's Wyatt, and our toddler and future king returns the favor by
summoning Excalibur and sending it deep into Mordaunt's gut. Piper is a bit freaked that her son is the next King
Arthur wishing he would have a normal life and Leo proves his worthiness
as a knight and father of the king by vanquishing the plumbing problems.
Regulars:
Holly Marie Combs as Piper Halliwell-Wyatt
Alyssa Milano as Phoebe Halliwell
Rose McGowan as Paige Matthews
Brian Krause as Leo Wyatt
Dorian Gregory as Daryl Morris
Drew Fuller as Chris Perry
Guest Stars:
Mark Aiken as Dark Knight
Edward Atterton as Mordaunt
Balthazar Getty as Richard Montana
Scout Taylor-Compton as Fairy
Danny Woodburn as Head Dwarf
Camelot was also the subject of one of the Charmed books series: by Constance M. Burge and Eloise Flood (Pocket Pulse, 2001).
White robes under the Druid moon,
Midsummer's Eve is coming soon.
Spells and chanting call the power
To work dark witchcraft in the hour!
Prue lands a trip to England to buy medieval books for a collector, so her sisters tag along to the quaint little village of Hay-on-Wye, deep in the heart of King Arthur country. Phoebe meets a dark and handsome stranger, Niall, and is shaken by a vision of him on a windswept, heathered landscape, holding an infant. When a villager disappears, Piper and Prue jump to accuse Niall. Phoebe defends Niall's innocence, insisting that if anyone is a villain, it is Niall's strange friend Diana, the secret leader of our Druids. They soon discover that he is a victim of Diana, just like the villager. Niall, the son of Merlin, has been yanked to the present from his own life in the 6th century. If the sisters don't find a way to return him to his time, Diana will use him to complete a ritual to impregnate her with a child of power. Convinced that only a magical spell from centuries past can save them, our Charmed Ones (well just 2 of them) journey back in time to ... Camelot! The remaining is thin and predictable and there are flaws in the plot, but if you like Charmed and you like Arthur, you may enjoy this read. As always, it's just escapism.
