Charmed: The Eyes Have It (5.6)

The Eyes Have It is an interesting exploration into a different culture, along the lines of Dead Man Dating in season one. I'm not sure if the gypsy stuff here is consistent with reality, but I always liked the depiction of other kinds of medicine and folklore on this show, and there were some great moments here like Aunt Lydia showing the sisters the magic of her culture. The story itself was also a lot of fun, with an interesting demonic conceit and strong performances from the genre vet guest stars, including Tobin Bell and Emmanuelle Vaugier.

Despite so many of latter-day Charmed's Phoebe-centric stories blowing chunks, her involvement in this episode was pretty intriguing, notably the show actually acknowledging the fact that she hasn't had a premonition in forever. It also introduced a short-lived power advancement that didn't feel entirely unnecessary. Great visuals for Phoebe's visions here, especially in the kitchen scene.

While the episode is strong, there are a couple of points I violently disliked. It's disappointing to see Piper and Paige relegated recently to 'annoying faux-drama of the week' subplots, Piper's yet again involving her pregnancy, and Paige this week whining over not having a job anymore. So... why did you quit social services? So freakin' dumb.

The Eyes Have It also features a bunch of hooey about Phoebe's blossoming media career, and it's crazily annoying. There's nothing more stupid than somebody whining about a job that they weren't forced to get. Here's a woman who gets a decent paycheck for writing a small column in a tabloid newspaper answering, what, four or five questions a day. Yet she's always rushing around to meet her deadline and constantly complaining about being too stressed out by the radio appearances she's making and the talk shows she's guesting on and the photo-shoots she has to endure. Nobody is forcing her to do all of this, and Elise is hardly going to fire her for not being a fame-whore. And then there's the fact that it's highly improbable that a tabloid advice columnist could become some huge San Francisco celebrity in such a short amount of time. Sorry for rambling, but yeesh Phoebe bugged the hell out of me during this period.

Gah. Apart from those minor complains (which I realize took up most of this review), The Eyes Have It is an interesting episode that is pretty reminiscent of Charmed 's ambitious first three seasons. The stupidity is kept to a minimum, and the demon story is actually pretty cool. Surprise, surprise. A-

Credits
Guest stars Tobin Bell (Orin); Emmanuelle Vaugier (Dr. Ava Nicolae); Shareen Mitchell (Lydia); Rebecca Balding (Elise Rothman); Channon Roe (Cree); Lorna Raver (Theresa)
Writer Laurie Parres Director James Marshall