Phoebe was and still is my favourite character. Everyone seems to go off her at around season 3, mainly because of the whole Cole thing, but I’ve always seen both sides of the argument. I kind of get why she lied to her sisters, in the moment where a demon is straight up attacking Cole and that whole speech he gave to her, she was in a bit of a panic and just acted. In that moment I feel she saw the human side of Cole and recognised that he may be telling the truth and with someone after them she just had to act quickly without much thought. Even after she lied to her sisters you can see the guilt in her character, she becomes gloomy and just not her regular self, she was overwhelmed by the feeling of love I don’t think she had ever really felt before, she was most certainly blinded by it, and being quite young, that feeling consumed her, hence her decision to save him and why she always wanted to be around him. I do think it was wrong of her to lie to her sisters about it, but in that moment she couldn’t of predicted how things would have turned out from there, she obviously thought there was a possibility he would come back, but knew in her heart he wouldn’t do anything to hurt them. And she was right (at the time). Phoebe in this season saw Cole as someone she could save, so had to put all effort into making sure he didn’t become evil again near the end of season 3. Phoebe could not of predicted prue dying. It’s like when piper and Leo orbed off and didn’t come back until a month later, what could have happened in that time to phoebe and prue? Although I’m sure Leo would have sensed something. But the point being is that us watching it, we have a different perspective especially whilst rewatching because we know what’s going to happen so can’t believe when characters appear to be naive with a situation. After all the sisters went through and after all they have survived, yes if phoebe was there with prue and piper, maybe prue could have had a better chance of survival, but I still don’t understand how phoebe ‘should have known’ one of her sisters was going to die. In season 4 their relationship is peak at the start, and it shows that maybe Cole has been saved. But then it all goes down hill again and then comes evil phoebe etc. But I LOVED evil phoebe. I wish they would have continued with that story line for more than 1 episode...But that brings me to the fact that phoebe could go either way, good or evil, whilst Cole was struggling to stay good in the later half of season 4 but gave in. Phoebes ability to go either way led her to have more in common with Cole than maybe she even thought, something her sisters wouldn’t ever understand. So her choosing Cole over her sisters in the last few episodes of season 4 was perhaps not the right choice for her to make, but in that moment where she thinks she has a baby, her husband was at risk of being vanquished and she was under the influence of a demonic baby AND her new powers that came from that AND the seer talking her down and being manipulative, I can actually see why she chose Cole. But from and outside perspective it looks like betrayal, which of course it is, and being the the queen of the underworld was probably the ultimate betrayal. But Cole was family too, and she also thought she was pregnant, that’s TWO families to have to decide on. Add that to her easily being able to be swayed to the evil side due to her being born in the house and her past lives. Phoebe was blinded by love, but even as the queen of the underworld she still saw her being a charmed one and being able to be both good and evil, the fight inside her over what’s right and wrong was still present. It’s not a if she joined the ‘evil’ side and started killing innocents just for the bants. I actually kinda wish they went all out with phoebe evil side and just made her go crazy, but that’s not her character, that’s not who phoebe is, she was just a girl who met a guy and fell so deeply in love she was willing to do anything for him. Even betraying her sisters. After that we see her completely change. In season 5 she was a whole new person, she got a job, she then hated Cole, she was just defensive as a whole. But being in a relationship that toxic for that long and being the queen of the underworld for a short while would do that to a person, even if it was a choice, it was heavily influenced by the baby and Cole, and also her actions were deeply regretted as shown when they go through their biggest fears and phoebes is that she is evil. Her character had been damaged by season 3 and 4, but after that I feel she became a new person, and tried to get past it all. She in no way is the worst character on charmed in my opinion. She just made a lot of bad choices. Cole was a manipulator in the episodes leading up to phoebe being crowned queen. I love Cole, but the source took him over and destroyed him. So all in all, I don’t even think phoebe or Cole really had a say in becoming evil, I think the influences inside both of them overwhelmed them and they only really had each other to relate to. If that makes sense. Phoebe in seasons 7 and 8 was where I felt she had finally come back, perhaps not all the way, but she had finally got over it all. So basically, I understand why phoebe wasn’t a favourite character and why people may of disliked her, but I also understand her point of view and how she thought in some situations, even though at times she was incredibly naive, like ALL of them at times, I feel her character progression was one of the best as in she made mistakes and eventually overcame them by vanquishing the guilt and life she once had before (metaphorically, by vanquishing Cole) once and for all. I’m sure we could all say that she should have done it season 3 in sleuthing with the enemy, but nobody could have predicted that he would become the source of all evil and take phoebe as his queen. I believe Cole did change for phoebe and loved her and visa versa. But the source was too powerful and destroyed their whole relationship. Their relationship was doomed from the start, but I loved it. It’s a real eye opener for the part of phoebe that was fun loving, bubbly and trusting, that not everybody can be saved.
So basically I love phoebe and feel she’s progressed as a character so much after season 6 especially and became someone new after the whole Cole thing. Being in a relationship like that would kill anybody’s fun loving nature and make them seem dull and gloomy, she brought it back a bit in season 4 I feel, but lost it again after becoming queen. Then it shined through again a little bit by s7.
it only made sense for her to fall for a Cupid. Like in season 1 where a Cupid told her always seek love out. And in walked Coop. Although we needed more time with the coop character to be able to ship them more I agree, their relationship was a bit fast, but I understood why she fell for him. After being unlucky in love, she deserved this.
This is a very unpopular opinion I feel, but I had to say it in defence of phoebe, purely because I thought she added so much to the show :)
