Besides Milano's beautiful long hazel locks, the show lost a lot of edge on its fourth year. The battle to save her soul, was both rewarding and disappointing at the same time. But also gave the actress a chance to show a more nuanced acting, as queen of the underworld Phoebe. The season ended exactly the way it did these past three years, with the sisters faced with a terrible life decision, that could change their destiny forever... Alright. Early season 5 is a ridiculous mess. The show was on full sitcom mode (they even dared including the split screen, during the premiere) and Alyssa Milano ran the show down, with her cringeworthy acting and woman child nonsense. That unbelievable 180 from Cole into a lovesick puppy, was disgusting and out of character. And Holly Marie Combs and Brian Krause, looked distant half of the time. One silver lining, Rose McGowan finally seemed to stop being the third wheel, and is more assertive with her on-screen presence. I don't care why writers felt the need to justify her new hair color, her cherry blonde hair looked great. Those episodes were your regular WB shows fillers, with special guests, that are mostly the only good thing about it. That other mini revamp they did to appeal to a larger crowd, is all wrong. And everything good about those episodes, involved old storylines too. Sympathy for the demon, is not there yet, because the show still feels silly and too kid-friendly. But it has Barbas back, and some of the writing and acting improved a little.