Charmed: Sand Francisco Dreamin' (5.14)

This feels like another retread, made even more glaring since the show did 'secret fears' just seven episodes ago. Sand Francisco Dreamin' has a strong premise, the idea of demons hunting down sandmen and the resulting anger created due to the absence of dreams, but it soon falls into familiar trappings: Charmed coasting once again, relying on increasingly stale conceits like sitcom power swaps and one-note demons instead of pursuing interesting new material.

Each character has their own deep-seated fears and traumas that get expressed through their dreams, but too many of them are redundant. Piper's pregnancy has left her feeling unsexy, so she's been dreaming about an eligible bachelor that wants to get in her pants. Blah. Then there's Paige and her still-present childhood abandonment issues, but the show already explored that just a couple of weeks back, leaving the story feeling repetitive. Leo has some angst over missing out on Piper's pregnancy, landing him pregnant via some wacky magic hijinks. Snore.

The most interesting dream belongs to Phoebe, and it's not only because her dreams have the most interesting visuals, but because it's more successfully character-driven. Phoebe is being pursued by a masked killer, somebody she initially believes is Cole, until she realizes that she is her own pursuer, and that she's essentially become her own worst enemy. It's a subplot that feels a lot more organic than the other elements of this episode, with a central idea that hasn't been explored already.

Elsewhere, there are a couple of moments that are impressive -- I liked Mr. Sandman playing at the top of the show, and Beth Orton was great at the end. The visuals for the dream sequences were also surprisingly ambitious, with a blend of various camera techniques and visual trickery to reflect each dream or nightmare. But Sand Francisco Dreamin' as a whole episode felt like the show relying on familiar tricks too much to truly work. Meh. C

Credits
Guest stars Henry Gibson (Sandman); Rebecca Balding (Elise Rothman); Darin Heames (Tracer Demon); Austin Peck (Ryder); Tim Kelleher (Axel); Allison Munn (Wendy); Clarissa Romano (Becca); Beth Orton (Herself)
Writers Monica Breen, Alison Schapker Director John Kretchmer