Charmed: Sense and Sense Ability (5.20)

It's all in the delivery, people. Sense and Sense Ability is pretty underwhelming in terms of story, while the concept is pretty thin, and the performances are so broad, but somehow... insanely, this episode actually works. The moments where the sisters try and communicate are all pretty funny, Alyssa Milano's shrieky performance surprisingly not setting my teeth on edge this week. Rose McGowan, too, seems to be having fun in the manic charades sequence.

Grace Zabriskie, who is the most gifted 'crazy lady' character actress working, is a little wasted here -- considering the Crone's master plan is just to kidnap Wyatt. Blah. But she chews the scenery in every one of her scenes, giving off a casually cunning vibe, totally relaxed in her own madness. It sticks out like a sore thumb on a show like this, where the demons are ordinarily played so wildly, but Zabriskie makes it her own. Those stacked black guy demons were pretty vacuous, but I did raise an eyebrow at the fact that they were all illiterate. Like... what the hell, show? Seriously?

Similarly annoying is the continued insistence that Phoebe's advice column is something worthy of nationwide acclaim. Please. She's not only getting awarded, she's now getting syndicated, but folks are worrying she's "too edgy". This needs to stop, now. I refuse to believe that Phoebe is anything but a moron.

Great performances, a lot of cheap laughs, and a general sense of fun. It's not a series classic, but it's one of the few comedy episodes in the later Charmed seasons that doesn't feel like a cheap excuse for some penis gags. B+

Credits
Guest stars Grace Zabriskie (The Crone); Rebecca Balding (Elise Rothman); Jerome Butler (Kazi King); Nynno Ahli (Kazi Demon); Daniel Escobar (Richard Jean); Norman Reedus (Nate Parks)
Teleplay Daniel Cerone, Krista Vernoff Story Brian Krause, Ed Bokinskie Directors Joel J. Feigenbaum, Stewart Schill