I Dream of Phoebe
Chris meets Phoebe at the newspaper; he is desperate, because a number of fortune-tellers and soothsayers have told him that he is to be conceived this month and he will cease to exist if this doesn't happen. Phoebe blames him for the separation of Leo and Piper, but Chris argues that he had to become the sisters' whitelighter to protect Wyatt. Phoebe picks up a letter to her column and gets a premonition of a woman being attacked by a demon.
Chris orbs Phoebe to a place in the Middle East, where they vanquish a demon and chase away another on a flying carpet. The one on the flying carpet drops a bottle; Phoebe dusts it off and a Genie emerges. She calls herself Jinny, and admits that she had written the letter to Ask Phoebe. Jinny tells Phoebe that her last master was Bosk who was "cruel even for a demon". Chris is upset because Piper is with Greg the fireman. As he orbs after Piper, Phoebe inadvertently makes her first wish to the genie, that Chris wouldn't go. Chris loses his power to orb. Phoebe uses her second wish to give his power back. Jinny tells Phoebe and Paige that Bosk is looking for Zanbar, a buried city of evil magic. Chris goes to Piper and tells her there's an emergency, separating her from Greg. Chris tries to separate Piper from Greg permanently, but won't tell her why.
Bosk flies through the attic window on his carpet. Phoebe throws a potion, but Bosk is wearing the Eye of Aghbar, which protects him. Phoebe wishes Jinny free and Jinny throws a fireball, vanquishing Bosk. Jinny flies away on Bosk's carpet. Phoebe finds that she is stuck in the bottle and that Chris, who had first picked up the bottle, is her master. Leo, later, reads the Arabic inscription on the bottle, which states that Jinny was a demon cursed to grant the wishes of others for refusing to marry a sorcerer and that whoever freed Jinny would be forced to switch places with her.
Leo tells Chris that he is to be sent back to his own time, that he has done more harm than good as a Whitelighter. An angry Chris then wishes Leo would get over being angry with him, which Phoebe grants.
Paige is at Richard's home and has summoned the ghosts of his family for a 'magical intervention', because she is worried about his use of magic. Richard, however, refuses to admit a problem and, angry at Paige for interfering, teleports out. Jinny takes control of Bosk's demon gang, who believe they have found Zanbar.
Chris urges Leo to get back together with Piper, but he is unwilling. Finally, Chris uses his second wish to get Piper and Leo to "sleep together". Phoebe tricks him, however, by forcing them to physically fall asleep next to each other. Two demons attack; Paige vanquishes them and Jinny follows. Paige catches Jinny in a crystal cage, but Richard grabs the bottle and shimmers away. Chris admits to Paige that he made two wishes and what they were. She's creeped out that he wished for Piper and Leo to sleep together so he tells her about being their son.
Back at Richard's house, Richard searches for a book of wishes so he can find the right wording to wish for the whole Halliwell family to accept his use of magic. Paige appears and tries to throw a power-stripping potion at Richard, but he repels it and knocks Paige flat. At the manor, Chris shows Greg that Leo and Piper are asleep together and Greg leaves, disappointed. Richard, sorry for what he has done, wishes Phoebe free.
Jinny frees herself by summoning her carpet. Threatening the sleeping Leo and Piper, she orders Chris to take her to the bottle. He does so and Jinny gets the bottle, where in now, resides Richard, and wishes the Charmed Ones dead, then orders Richard into the bottle. Piper's ghost floats over her body, but Leo pulls her close, heals her in her sleep, causing her ghost to return to her body.
Phoebe and Paige were revealed not to have moved on, because the wish was for the Charmed Ones to die and, as Piper was healed, the others could not die. Piper and Leo orb out to get Wyatt, leaving Chris to wonder aloud, "What about me?".The ghosts of Phoebe and Paige stabilise (i.e. are stopped from moving on) and whisp to haunt Jinny as she wishes for the return of Zanbar. The city rises and the ghosts of Phoebe and Paige arrive with Chris. Phoebe possesses Jinny, uses her body to vanquish the demons and wishes Richard free. Richard wishes the Charmed Ones alive. He gives Chris the bottle after wishing Zanbar to be hidden again.
Richard discussing his problems with magic with Paige and shows her that he has finally taken the power-stripping potion. Leo and Piper awaken and Leo is given the bottle to get rid of. Piper thought, on awaking, that she was dreaming and tells Leo that he healed her in her sleep.
Tropes:
- Addictive Magic: Much to Paige's concern, Richard has developed a serious problem with using magic for everything.
- "Arabian Nights" Days:
- Genie in Bedlah Babe clothing? Check.
- Men with scimitars? Check.
- Flying carpets? Check.
- Magical desert city? Check.
- Artistic License – Linguistics: Leo reads the warning on Jinny's bottle left-to-right, like most European languages. But Arabic is written right-to-left. You could Hand Wave it as Leo's Whitelighter powers giving him a Translation Convention. What's not easy to hand wave is the Arabic text on the actual prop translating to "Don't be sad, God is with you."
- Becoming the Genie: What Phoebe and Richard go through. Richard at least knew what he was getting into, but Phoebe was tricked and didn't know what the Arabic warning on the bottle meant.
- Brief Accent Imitation: When she's thought to be an innocent, Jinny affects an Arabic-sounding accent. Once she's revealed as a demon, she drops the accent.
- Brought Down to Normal: Richard has his powers stripped.
- Call-Back: Despite having learned from her previous experiences with genies, Phoebe still accidentally makes wishes.
- Continuity Nod: Phoebe knows not to make wishes with genies after her experiences in the Season 2 finale.
- Death Is Cheap: Jinny wishes the Charmed Ones dead. They do technically die but remain as ghosts and get wished back alive again.
- Double Standard: Rape, Sci-Fi: Chris wants to use a genie wish to make Piper and Leo have sex. Phoebe is disgusted by this idea, as is Paige when she later learns of it. Phoebe even tweaks the wish so that they just fall asleep next to each other.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Phoebe tries to comfort Paige about the Richard situation. Unfortunately Paige hasn't seen Phoebe in her genie outfit...Phoebe: I'm trying to be sympathetic and you're laughing at me!Paige: I'm sorry. Maybe I needed a laugh after everything?
- Exact Words:
- Chris wishes for Piper and Leo to sleep together. Phoebe grants it - by making them fall asleep next to each other.
- The Charmed Ones were explicitly wished dead. They do die, but Leo subconsciously healing Piper prevents their ghosts from crossing over. Piper goes back into her body, while Phoebe and Paige remain ghosts and use that to get the lamp back. Chris lampshades this in the final scene.
- Failed a Spot Check: Parodied. Leo informs Phoebe that Jinny's bottle had a warning that she was a demon. Written in Arabic.
- Genie in a Bottle: Different from the one in Season 2 in that this one has to be wished free. Anyone who does so has to take the genie's place.
- Go-Go Enslavement: Jinny and Phoebe's genie outfits. Richard's simple black pyjamas are much more conservative, don't even bare his midsection and are the same dimensions as his regular outfit, which is odd since the male genie in "Be Careful What You Witch For" was dressed less conservatively.
- Internal Reveal: After finding out that Chris wished for Piper and Leo to sleep together he hastily tells an outraged Paige that he is their son from the future.
- It's All My Fault: Said by Chris when Phoebe and Paige turn into ghosts.
- Just a Stupid Accent: Jinny has a generic 'Middle Eastern' accent when she's pretending to be an innocent. When she's freed, she reveals it's just an act, and reverts to an American one.
- Lampshade Hanging: Phoebe "Why do I always get stuck with the wig?" - lampshading how she always ends up as Ms. Fanservice.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Jinny wishing the Charmed Ones dead meant that Phoebe and Paige were now ghosts who could possess her and trick her back into the bottle.
- No Sympathy: Piper and Paige just find Phoebe being turned into a genie hilarious.
- Not What It Looks Like: Invoked by Chris. Piper and Leo fall asleep on the couch and the way Chris arranges them makes it looks like they're cuddling, which becomes purposeful when Greg drops by; Chris even uses telekinesis to reinforce the effect.
- Pimped-Out Dress: Richard conjures an elegant black evening gown for Paige to wear.
- The Power of Love: Leo is able to subconsciously heal Piper while they're both asleep - preventing her ghost from moving on.
- Power Perversion Potential: Chris tries to use the genie to wish for Piper and Leo to sleep together.
- Put on a Bus: After Richard takes the power-stripping potion he and Paige break up so he won't have to be exposed to magic anymore. Greg, Piper's on-and-off love interest, walks out after seeing her asleep on the couch with Leo. Richard never appears again, but Greg will make a brief reappearance in season 8.
- Ret-Gone: Chris is afraid of this happening to him if he isn't conceived by the end of the month.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Turns out this is what Jinny was.
- Shout-Out: The title is an obvious one. Lampshaded by Paige when she sees Phoebe in the outfit and blonde wig and says, "Shouldn't you be helping Major Nelson?"
- Skewed Priorities: Lampshaded when Piper is more concerned with getting back to her date than freeing Phoebe from the genie spell.
- That Was Not a Dream: In the final scene, Piper recalls being a ghost and floating over her own body. She's surprised to learn that wasn't a dream.
- True Blue Femininity: Phoebe's genie outfit is blue.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Paige calls Chris a sick pervert when she finds out that he used one of his wishes to try and make Leo and Piper sleep together, at least before Chris explains why.
- Paige expresses annoyance that no one told her the truth about Chris until she had literally died.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Jinny pretends to be an innocent in order to get Phoebe to help her.
