The lowest moment of the show was when Piper told Cole he chose to be the source of evil. Cole didn't choose it. He was infected with the hollow because Phoebe had a preminition of them losing to the Source. He did that to protect them. He did not know that when they vanquished the source that the powers that the hollow absorbed from the Source would infect him and make him the new Source. He deserved better.

Cole was the most complex character on the show.

To my knowledge, Paige's final line "Happy birthday, Cole," in his final episode was originally supposed to be a sarcastic one-liner, but Rose decided to deliver the line sympathetically. So, while the end to his story was still bad, it could've been worse

The way they wrote Phoebe and Cole (and Paige for that matter) in seasons 4 and 5 should frankly qualify as character assassination

Cole and Phoebe could have been a great tragedy, but they fumbled it sooo badly

Julian McMahon will be missed... RIP 💔

Cole could have been to this series what Spike was to Buffy

If Phoebe wasn't portrayed constantly as a victim and they actually held her accountable we would have had a better storyline than the mess we had to endure in season 5.

Cole's ending still hurts me to this day. What I just couldn't get over was how the sisters and writers treated Cole like he was ornately evil and always would be, yet it was shown countless times it wasn't his choice. He was influenced by evil through demons, the source, demonic powers etc, but he always tried to be good. It made me mad because the sisters were also influenced by evil and did horrible things and yet they were given a free pass. Why didn't Cole get the same treatment? The writers made it hard for me to agree Cole was this evil character we shouldn't like because they were making his decisions and actions so justifiable. There had been previous side characters/love interests who were part demon or influenced by evil that were allowed to turn to good or the sisters backed, but not Cole for some reason. His death in S5 seemed like a cop out and lacked so much feeling that  I agree it was an insult. I also don't get why, after all of this, the writer's made Leo go down such a dark path killing elders and becoming an avatar after what they did with Cole's character. It seemed to undermine everything because if they were going for this good vs evil, nature over nurture point, why make Leo go off the rails? He was born good and yet chose to do all of those questionable bad actions. Cole, part demon, half of the time didn't choose the stuff that happened to him, but he apparently was never able to be redeemed like Leo. Cole only tried to help, save and love Phoebe the same way Leo did for his family and both had outside influences getting to them. Just doesn't seem fair. Seems like they should have written Cole more evil with worse intentions if they wanted to pull that off.

Yes! All the applause to you!

Cole laid down his life multiple times to save the sisters, and taking in the Hollow was literally only because Piper and Paige had lost their powers and Leo was dying. He sacrificed everything not just for Phoebe but her whole family, and he just ended up used, manipulated and violated by everyone. The demonic wasteland bit was so weird too - he says he's not going to get an afterlife or likely to be condemned to "the bad place" because of his demon half and Phoebe's like "lol not my problem". Phoebe was so awful to him it took me two seasons to forgive her. I even head canon that the reason for having her powers stripped in Season 6 is partly as punishment for her actions towards him.

Cole was my favorite character and I kept getting so pissed off at how they treated him. The sisters were so mean to him, they just kept using him and blaming him for everything

I really hated how they ruined his character. It's like the writers get lazy or stop caring and think the fans will accept whatever nonsense is thrown at us. Cole and Phoebe deserved a better ending. And fans of the show and the couple deserved better.

Julian McMahon also got tired of the role around S5 so they wrote him out when he got the pilot for “Nip/Tuck”

Another example is poor Daryl Morris, tbh I don't really think any of the sisters treated him well, and later on abused his position and friendship with him, while giving little in return. The worst example being when Phoebe and Paige stole his soul without permission. The only sister I can think of who wasn't downright awful toward Daryl was Prue. Cole was the worst example, he was treated so poorly and honestly influenced a lot of what would later define a lot of Phoebe's motivations/character, a downfall from how they formed initally. Also the source was after the Charmed Ones since Season 1, since it was implied by Rex and Hannah.

The thing I dislike the most about Cole's return past Long Live the Queen is that it just does a disservice to everyone involved. The sisters spend season 5 emotionally abusing him, which causes him to go mentally insane, it just became a repetitious dynamic and wasted half of the season that could've been spent elsewhere. It not only does Cole a disservice by making him not respect Phoebe's space and ignoring the fact he was possessed, but it also ignores Phoebe's part and the Charmed Ones notably Phoebe herself are ruined as a result. His reappearance in Season 7 just added fuel to the fire because Piper just spends the episode blaming him for everything like they did in Season 5 and doesn't even directly mention by name Cole helped her or even give him credit.

Cole is easily my most fav character.. his "end" was so dumb in my opinion.. also one of my biggest issues was when Cole tried giving up the sources oowers to that wizard or whatever and PHOEBE is the one who stops him from doing it and makes him get coronated, and yet the sisters still blame EVERYTHING on him and like you said, they keeo acting like hes never been good and/or has no potential to be.. that still drives me crazy to this day lol

Good thing I wasn't the only one annoyed by the way the show treated him. He was one of my favorite characters.

Personally I liked Coke I just wanted more from the character Cole had soooo much potential for the show

Cole became my only reason for watching Charmed. How they made a literal half demon, some time ruler of the underworld the inevitable victim in his relationship with Pheobe, while still framing him as the villain, boggles my mind. Pheobe became one of my most hated characters in general and was part of why I stopped watching the show. Well, that and the writers wouldn't have known consistency if it slapped them.

Some info you're missing. Julian was meant to be in exited in Long Live The Queen as the 100th episode like you said. But the reason this didn't happen was because the network told the production the show might be cancelled in season 4 so they truncated the planned evil Phoebe and Source Cole storyline to a few episodes instea of a much longer arc so they could end season 4 on a high, wrapping up the whole show in case they did get cancelled.

An actual interesting YouTube recommendation, and a great throwback. I loved Phoebe and Cole so much, and hated what they did to them, though I never gave much thought to why. You did an excellent analysis here, and I agree completely.