The Sixth Season

Charmed is a television series about the three Halliwell sisters, who in their mid-twenties discovered they are witches with magical powers. As an added bonus, they find out that they are good witches and they are supposed to use their powers only for noble altruistic acts. And in no case should they use it for personal gain. In the first season, we learn that they are a staple against evil, and highly covenanted by dark forces. Their powers hold great potential for evil warlocks and demons. The sisters for the first three season were made up of Prue (Shannen Doherty), the older sister with the ability to move physical matter with her mind, Piper (Holly Marie Combs), the middle child with the ability to freeze time within a confined space, and finally the youngest sister Phoebe (Alyssa Milano), who has the power of second sight--she can see past, present, future by coming into contact with an object or a person. And in season four, a new cast member Rose McGowan as Paige replaced Doherty. For more details about this series and its characters, please refer to my reviews of season one, season two, season three, season four, and season five

In the close of season four, a new character named Chris from the future came to aid the Charmed Ones in their fight evil. Specifically, he came to help prevent Piper and Leo's son Wyatt from turning evil. How he was introduced made him an intriguing character, as you were never quite sure if you could trust or if you were even supposed to like him. In season five, the story continues with Chris serving as the girls' whitelighter and Leo an Elder.

The initial storyline dealing with Chris is trying to figure him out and what exactly he is doing. Because no matter what he does, he always seem to have some alternative plan he fails to reveal to the girls or Leo. His behavior puts Leo on an almost obsessive path to find out what Chris is hiding. It makes for an intriguing storyline that sadly halts mid-season when Chris's past and real plans for coming back in time are revealed. However, while the storyline about Chris's dark plan ends almost prematurely, it continues with another intriguing plot of evil. When the sisters find out what Chris is up too, it is apparent there are other forces at play that want baby Wyatt. Someone or something wants to turn Wyatt evil and it is up to the cast to prevent it from happening. The storyline is intriguing with conspiracies and good-guys-gone-bad. It runs until the end of the season.

Paige lost her job as a social worker in season four because of the commitments to being a fulltime witch. Unable to find suitable work, she signs on at a temp agency that turns out to be more than just a temp agency. She finds herself being put on jobs by a higher power. At these jobs are suffering innocents that she saves. One of the guys she helps is a warlock named Richard, who becomes a significant love interest and a guy Paige's sisters refuse to trust.

Piper deals with her new life--one without Leo. Leo became an elder at the expense of their relationship. Without Leo, Piper loses control in the beginning of the season and becomes a Valkyrie. The transition is somewhat similar to what happened to Phoebe when she lost Cole and turned into a mermaid in the beginning of season five. In addition, Piper and the gang are forced to handle Wyatt's super duper magic abilities. Little Wyatt conjures a dragon in one episode that later results in the Cleaners coming to take him away. The Cleaners are a neutral party who do whatever they must to keep magic a secret from mundane life on Earth. We also see Piper go on a demon hunting rampage to protect Wyatt from the unknown demon who supposedly turns him evil.

Phoebe acquires the power of empathy. She gains the ability to feel other people's emotions, which really helps her in sifting out dishonesty and providing advice to her readers. It becomes a pretty big deal when she starts acting out everyone's emotions around her, and she has to take a special potion to weaken the magnitude of her new power. Phoebe and her boss Jason continue their romantic relationship, which ends with Phoebe moving to Hong Kong with him. However, it ends with a sad note when Jason finds out Phoebe is a witch. Phoebe also loses her active powers late in the season (premonitions, levitation, empathy) after she is caught abusing her powers for personal gain.

Darryl continues to help the Charmed Ones out as he can. In one episode, Paige casts a spell that gives him super strength that he uses to save hostages being held at gunpoint in a bank. But the most interesting involvement with Darryl is the episode "Crimes And Witch-Demeanors". After the girls are caught abusing their magic, Darryl is implicated as a murderer and the sisters are put on trial. Darryl's life is the price. After almost losing his life, Darryl refuses to help the sisters in any way.

For general fun episodes, this season has a few. In "Power Of Three Blondes", former Playboy Centerfold Jenny McCarthy guest stars. Phoebe, Piper, and Paige are victims of identity theft. Three evil blonde sisters cast an identity spell to make the world believe they are the Charmed Ones. What is fun about the episode is the mood. The guest starring characters are over-the-top and make a silly compliment to the good sisters. "Witchstock" is another fun episode. The story itself is not the strongest, but the situation it puts the cast in is quite entertaining. Grams and Leo are love-going hippies. Other episodes include "I Dream of Phoebe", Charmed's take on I Dream of Jeannie, "Sword And The City", the sisters' world crosses with King Arthur's, "The Legend Of Sleepy Halliwell", Sleepy Hollow meets Harry Potter, and "Witch Wars", a demon inspired reality television series, where the participants hunt witches.

Overall, season five was an enjoyable season. The season featured several exciting storylines with lots of drama, intrigue, action, and a dab of mystery/suspense. I loved the story arcs dealing with the girls, Leo, and Chris. Getting to know Chris more as a character was quite fun, as well as the relationship the developed between him and the rest of the cast. In addition, the season story arc about a demon trying to turn baby Wyatt evil made for a good watch. In the end, season five is an exciting addition to the series and worth picking up.

Episode Guide

1. Valhelley Of The Dolls, Parts 1 & 2: Paige tries to cure Piper's memory loss, but her spell goes amiss and Paige suffers total amnesia. Needing Leo's help, Phoebe and Paige discover that he is being held captive by warrior-maidens on the Island of Valhalla.
2. Forget Me... Not: When a child inadvertently brings a dragon to life, the Cleaners spring into action to protect the magic from being exposed. The Charmed Ones take on the Cleaners in order to protect the child. 3. Power Of Three Blondes: When The Charmed Ones' identities are magically stolen by three evil sisters, they must out smart the sinister trio to get their lives back.
4. Love's A Witch: Paige becomes immersed in an ongoing feud between two magical families, the Montanas and the Callaways, and attempts to bring about a truce.
5. My Three Witches: The Charmed Ones learn a valuable lesson in magical priorities when a Whitelighter and a demon cast them into an alternate reality.
6. Soul Survivor: Paige discovers that her new boss has sold his soul to the demon Zahn. Despite her sister's pleas, Paige makes the ultimate sacrifice to save her boss.
7. Sword And The City: A bevy of magical beings arrive at the manor after The Charmed Ones agree to help the Lady of the Lake protect Excalibur, the legendary Sword in the Stone.
8. Little Monsters: The Charmed Ones believe that they can raise a half-demon infant to not be evil when they become foster parents after vanquishing the demon's parent.
9. Chris-Crossed: When a witch from an elite assassin family arrives to take Chris back to the future, The Charmed Ones must pull together to save him.
10. Witchstock: Paige is transported back in time via a pair of Gram's magical go-go boots. Piper and Phoebe must prevent Paige from changing the past and disrupting the lineage of The Charmed Ones.
11. Prince Charmed: Piper's overprotective tendency toward her son causes her to sear off men for the rest of her life. Paige and Phoebe conjure up a Mr. Right to remind Piper of the importance of love.
12. Used Karma: Dangerous supernatural events results when Phoebe is the accidental recipient of the spirit of Mata Hari, a stripper and double agent during World War I.

13. The Legend of Sleepy Halliwell: A Magic School mentor calls upon The Charmed Ones to find out who cast the spell of darkness upon the school and conjured up the Headless Horseman - who's been busy beheading the teachers!
14. I Dream Of Phoebe: Magical misfortune abounds and wishes go awry when Phoebe is tricked into becoming a genie after she frees that genie from a bottle.
15. The Courtship of Wyatt's Father: Phoebe and Paige believe that Leo and Paige are dead after they are accidentally sent to the Ghostly plane by a Darklighter.
16. Hyde School Reunion: Phoebe's wild teenage personality takes over when she inadvertently casts a spell on herself before her high school reunion. Her delinquent former classmates then use her magic for wrongdoing.
17. Spin City: Piper is kidnapped and cocooned by a Spider Demon, a creature who emerges every hundred years to feed of magical beings. Chris mutates into a spider after becoming infected with the Demon's venom.
18. Crimes And Witch-Demeanors: The Charmed Ones are put on trial for recklessly abusing their powers after Phoebe and Paige are caught on tape using their powers.
19. A Wrong Day's Journey Into Right: Paige unknowingly conjures up Mr. Right's evil twin, Mr. Wrong, who uses his magical pheromones to trick her into believing that she must kill her sisters to realize her secret desire.
20. Witch Wars: The Charmed Ones' powers are in jeopardy when they are tricked into taking part in a new demonic reality television show, where demon contestants compete to hunt down the sisters. The winning demon acquires their powers.
21. It's A Bad, Bad, Bad World, Parts 1 & 2: After Chris and Leo fall through a portal that transports them into an evil mirrored world, Phoebe and Paige must travel to the parallel universe to rescue them while battling their evil counterparts.

The DVD

Video:
This DVD release is given in 1.33:1 ratio full frame color. The picture quality is viewable. Most viewers will not be troubled with the quality, but some may notice that it has its faults. The image has a noticeable grain that is really noticeable during dark scenes. There are also a few occurrences of compression artifacts in the picture.

Audio:
The audio track in this release is in English and French 2.0 Dolby digital stereo. The audio in this release comes off fairly flat. However as with most TV on DVD releases it's not necessarily bad, as the majority of the audio is spoken dialogue. The sound quality is good, providing an audible and clean audio track. Music comes off fairly rich and sound effects tend to take advantage of the right and left channels. This release comes equipped with closed captioning.

Extras:
There are no extras included with this DVD release.

Final Thoughts:
What is appealing about a show like Charmed is that it is fun. The characters are all likable and the storylines offer intriguing tales set in a fantasy world in midst of a constant battle between good and evil. What season six did particularly well was handling individual character development and furthering the character's relationships, as well as producing several engaging story arcs filled with deception and mystery. It is a captivating season and one that fans should appreciate.