"Post Season Three Leadership of the Charmed Ones"

"POST SEASON THREE LEADERSHIP OF THE CHARMED ONES"

I am probably going to get bashed for this, but I never thought it was a good thing for the writers to automatically allow Piper Halliwell to become the new leader of the Charmed Ones in Season Four of "CHARMED", due to her new position as the oldest sister.  In fact, I believe it was a big mistake.

I am sorry, but I do not think that former middle sister Piper ever had the personality to be a real leader. And I found her "growth" as a character and a leader from Season Four to Season Eight rather hard to believe. Even by the last two seasons. Her idea of leadership was to be curt and bitchy a lot. And to be honest, the Halliwells made some really bad decisions during her tenure as "leader" - half-demon Cole Turner's death in (4.20) "Long Live the Queen", Piper's decision to allow husband/whitelighter Leo Wyatt to change her personality in (5.23) "Oh Goddess! (Part 2)", Phoebe and half-sister Paige Matthews' theft of police detective Darryl Morris' soul in (6.01) "Valhalley of the Dolls (Part 1)", Paige convincing her Season Six boyfriend Richard Montana into stripping his powers, Phoebe and Paige's murder of Rick Gettridge in (6.17) "Hyde School Reunion", and the deal with the Avatars in (7.12) "Extreme Makeover: World Edition".

New middle sister Phoebe probably would have made a slightly better leader if she had not been so self-absorbed and immature at times. And Paige would have made an even better leader, despite her inexperience in S4. Unfortunately for Paige, Kern and his writers were so hellbent upon turning her into a flake between mid-Season 5 and the series finale.

Do not get me wrong. I like Piper. But unlike oldest sister Prue Halliwell, who was killed in Season Three's (3.22) "All Hell Breaks Loose"; she never really knew how to think matters through. I am not saying that Prue always did. There were times when she had jumped to conclusions. But never at the scale in which Piper, Phoebe and Paige did. Especially Piper. And more than anything, I never understood Kern's decision to turn Piper into Uber Bitch or a second-rate Prue, because she was the new leader. It really seemed to go against her personality. I have no problem with Piper becoming a stronger personality. It is another when Kern's decision to make her the new leader because of her age, ended up turning her into a second-rate Prue or an Uber Bitch.