"LEO WYATT: Morality and Free Will"
"LEO WYATT: MORALITY AND FREE WILL"
In the Season Two episode - (2.21) "Apocalypse Not", the Charmed Ones whitelighter, Leo Wyatt, said a few things that either struck a "what the hell" note within me, or really pissed me off.
In that particular episode, a vanquishing spell goes awry when the Halliwells try to destroy the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The oldest Charmed One, Prue Halliwell, and one of the Horsemen become trapped in a vortex. Piper and Phoebe Halliwell enlist the help of the three remaining Horsemen to free Prue and the fourth Horseman before the vortex closes - something that Leo argued against:
Phoebe: Wonderful. So where's the meeting?
Leo: You're gonna do it?
Phoebe: I'm sorry, Leo, did you show up to the party late? Of course we're gonna do it.
Leo: Phoebe, you can never get into bed with evil, you know that. It could be a trap.
This is rather a contradictory thing to say, considering that Leo had earlier informed Phoebe and Piper that the Elders had met with some evil leaders to deal with Prue and one of the Apocalypse horsemen’s disappearances. Leo and Phoebe's conversation continued with:
Phoebe: But we're not gonna go up against them, we're gonna work with them, right?
Leo: But they'll betray you. Alright, this is how evil works. This is why evil loves free will so much. Because humans use it to follow their heart. And evil takes advantage of that.
Evil loves free will? What in the hell?? What exactly is Leo saying here? That to have free will is a bad thing? Was he really too stupid and narrow-minded to consider that free will could also work against evil’s advantage? After all, look at Phoebe's future half-demonic husband, Cole Turner aka Belthazor, who had exercised his free will to turn against the Source when he fell in love with Phoebe. And there were fellow demons Drake (Billy Zane) and the seer Kyra (Charisma Carpenter), who both ended up exorcising their free wills to turn their backs against the demonic world in Season Seven.
Or is it possible that Leo was simply one of those types who prefer that everyone - witches especially - blindly follow the dictates of the whitelighters? If so, I find his attitude not only distasteful, but also hypocritical. Especially when one considers that his own free will ended up being muted by the Elders, when he tried to marry Piper behind their backs and without their permission back in early Season Three.