Charmed 5.06 'The Eyes Have it'

Gypsies are introduced to the Charmed universe. ‘The Eyes have it’ finally returns to the idea of the sisters’ emotions controlling their powers, which has been largely ignored since the beginning of the series. This episode could have so easily been disastrous, but the writers tackle it quite skilfully, despite a few minor flaws.

'The Eyes Have it' sees the sisters help a clan of Gypsies who are being hunted by a demon after their power. Paige has trouble adjusting to the life of an unemployed witch, and Piper's magical pregnancy causes some issues when she attempts to see a doctor.

At this point Phoebe’s premonitions had become an after-thought, rarely being used to save the day so it was about time we get some answers as to where in the hell they’ve gone to. I like that Phoebe’s lack of balance affected her powers. The fact that their emotions control their powers is almost forgotten about, especially seeing as how easy they can control their powers now, Piper in particular who has become far too powerful for her own good; it almost takes the excitement out of many of the demon attacks. Although, why didn’t they use this advancement of Phoebe’s powers at any other stage in the series? The idea of Phoebe astral projecting into her future is barely even mentioned again, it could have led to some great ideas and a lot more predicaments if healing had been taken out of the mix.

Paige’s super witch quest is an odd one. She spends a lot of the season trying to develop her magic, but sometimes, like this episode, she spends more time complaining about her lack of direction, than attempting to take charge of the mission she was so set on attempting when she left her job. Piper’s pregnancy is essentially all her time is devoted to this season, but I always love what the series does with it, even though a lot of the time it’s a constant whine about her whole condition.

The gypsy idea was actually pretty interesting and I liked that they have their own traditions and magic separate from witches. I also really liked the fact that they re-vamped their source vanquishing spell and ‘gypsified’ it. Ava herself rejecting their tradition isn’t the most original of stories I’ll admit, but it’s sad that she couldn’t stop her aunt’s death because of her stubbornness. Emmanuelle Vaugier is one of my favourite actresses and though she’s not given something particularly challenging to do here, she still does it justice; she seems to pop up in so many different roles, and nails it every time. The ending to this episode was a bittersweet, but satisfying one. A nice stand-alone episode, for sure.

8/10