Five years in and they're still fighting all the monsters and demons that Buffy doesn't really have time for. The Halliwells - oh, and one Matthews - are back, and their love lives are in a bad way. Well, except Piper's. She's having a lovely bouncing baby girl, you know.

In recent months in the regular issue, I've been getting some flak for suggesting that Charmed had had its day, and it's time to put my money where my mouth is or back off with my tail between my legs. While last season's replacement of Shannen Doherty with Rose McGowan can be considering a success, there's no escaping the fact that it didn't bring so much of a vibrant addition to the show as a chance to paper over the cracks. If anyone can pick out an especially good Paige episode that wouldn't have worked just as well with Prue, please write in.

So far it seems as though the sisters are woefully interchangeable, and the opening episode of season five, "A Witch's Tail," goes out of it's way to prove this. Not only is it another double length story, which gives it way more time than it deserves, but it continues the theme of the sisters moving up the Halliwell pecking order, as Piper gets all the 'dead mother' angst Prue used to thrive on, Phoebe gets the 'marital strife' plot strands that Piper used to be landed with, and Paige gets to ditz about and make mad decisions in a Phoebe-esque way.

Meanwhile, with everyone keen for the fantastic Julian McMahon to stay around, it seems like there's nowhere for Cole to go anymore except where he's been. He's evil, he's good, he's evil, he's good, he's evil again but he wants to be good...how long is this going to last? While I appreciate that Phoebe has had more than her share of trouble with him, if she really claims to love Cole, she should be trying to help him overcome the dark forces within him, as she did back in Season Three. But once again, that would once again set things going down a path all ready well-traveled.

Piper's pregnancy is the other main cause for concern. After the assorted Cult-type babies seen in the last few years, it's difficult to imagine that the child can do anything but get in the way, and a daughter is way too liable to take Piper out of the action way too much. On the sensitive side, this seems to have helped early on, as, possibly aware of a limited involvement later in the season, the oldest sister is getting more fights and is featuring a lot more prominently in the episodes than she has in the past. Then again, with Holly Marie Combs and Alyssa Milano getting a producer credit as well this season, it could just be a case of throwing their weight around behind scenes as well.

Now while I was all set to diss Charmed - and I still say it has problems with depth and characterization would benefit from some work - the latest couple of episodes have been excellent. "Sympathy for the Demon" brings back old villain Barbus, the demon able to kill with someone's worst fears, but for once he's actually a serious threat to the girls, torturing them, terrifying them, and managing, as so many have before, to get one of them killed. What is especially worthy of attention here, though, is that it continues the theme of a stronger Piper who isn't going to be pushed around anymore, and starts bringing more powerful threats to bear as the girls' powers expand. The end of the episode, where Paige masters some of the trickier spells Prue once used, demonstrates how quickly she's learning the craft, and it's about time the girls were really more a force to be reckoned with.

Speaking of which, the warlock in the following episode, "A Witch In Time," is even tougher to beat. Claiming to have been sent back in Time by Cole, he not only decides to seize the underworld's power for himself, but also claims that in the next six months, Cole himself will become the leader of the dark forces once again. Yes, so we're back to something that's been done before, but it will be interesting to see how things play out this time, as Cole is more in control of who he is now. More importantly, it's a darker story with some really nasty moments, with Piper saving the day and Leo actually getting more involved in the action as well.

Overall then, it seems that it's a tail between the legs situation. While I"m not claiming that Charmed should continue forever - and better it goes out when it's still doing well rather than losing viewers through unending repetition - it seems to be working up some decent plotlines at the moment that will hopefully bear some worthwhile fruit. If the writers can just get over a desire to do light-hearted and silly plotlines, which worked fine when the girls' powers were fairly limited and weak, this could be a pretty good year again. I'm just not stupid enough to claim it won't be a bumpy ride getting there.