Synopsis of Sand Francisco Dreamin'
The episode starts with Leo and Piper sitting on the couch. He is falling asleep and announces that he is "going up to bed". Piper suggestively asks if he wants "some company" but he tells her he just wants to sleep. He leans toward Piper and she expects a kiss, but instead he makes some baby talk toward her stomach then goes upstairs.
Suddenly we hear a male voice tell Piper he "would be glad to" keep her company. Piper turns and is surprised to see a guy standing there wearing a tuxedo. Piper recognizes him and asks why he's there. (His name is Ryder.) He pulls her close and claims he is there to sweep Piper "off her feet". She pulls back and tells him she can't ~ that she's married. There is a flash and suddenly Piper is not wearing pajamas anymore, now she is wearing an evening gown and no longer looks pregnant. Ryder tells Piper she is not married in her dreams. The scene changes to show us that this is just a dream and Piper is really asleep in bed next to Leo. We also see a sandman standing next to the bed. The sandman turns toward Leo and sprinkles *dream dust* over Leo's head.
[The dream dust looks like computer-generated glitter.]
We are taken into Leo's dream where he is walking down the stairs, holding the baby. Halfway down, the baby disappears. Leo begins looking around from room to room, frantically repeating the phrase "Where's my baby?"
The scene switches back to show us the sandman moving through the wall into Paige's room. The sandman sprinkles some glitter over Paige's face and we are taken into her dream. It's in P3 and there are several women holding gifts. They are waiting their turn to approach a cradle. Paige arrives holding a clown doll. All the other women drop their gifts and walk away without saying anything. Paige appears as thought she might cry and points out that they haven't "seen the baby yet". Paige turns back toward the cradle when she hears crying. The clown doll begins talking to her, rudely telling Paige that no one cares about "the kid". The scene changes back to the sandman watching Paige sleep; he turns to walk through the wall into Phoebe's bedroom.
He sprinkles glitter over Phoebe's face and into her dream we go. The dream starts in black-and-white. Phoebe is hesitantly walking down the basement stairs. She looks around cautiously. Suddenly a psycho wearing a mask emerges from the darkness carrying a chainsaw. Phoebe screams and runs back toward the stairs but as she gets there the basement morphs into a meadow. Phoebe turns and sees a demon, (who we later learn is a tracer demon), throw a bolt of electricity at the sandman. The sandman grimaces in pain then disappears in a flash of light. Phoebe gasps and sits up in bed. She turns to see the sandman standing next to her bed. He tells her this is "not a dream" then disappears.
The next morning, Paige is on a ladder hanging crepe-paper streamers for the baby shower. Leo is making a modification to a cabinet to baby-proof it. Paige wants him to help but he mentions a book Phoebe got them about the dangers around a house. Paige mentions her dream from the night before and Leo admits he had a dream about the baby also. We also learn the clown doll from the dream is a real doll that Paige has and she calls him Slappy. Piper happily enters the room looking for Leo but he pays more attention to her stomach than to Piper herself. Piper looks a little irritated but then announces she has to go to the club to prepare for guest singer. Paige asks Piper what she thinks of the decorations. Piper likes them but also thinks Paige is going a little overboard. Piper winces and mentions that the baby will make a good soccer player. Leo hurries over to feel the baby kicking but Piper tells him he won't get to feel it unless he is "a kidney or a bladder". Leo is disappointed and complains that he never gets to "feel her kick". Leo perks up when one of his charges calls him. He is surprised that it's Phoebe and he orbs out. Leo orbs into the attic behind Phoebe.
[I wonder why he didn't just walk upstairs.]
Phoebe yelps in surprise and snaps at him not to sneak up on her. He reminds her that she called him. She wants to talk about tracer demons. Leo describes them as "lower level mercenaries able to track magical beings through different dimensions" and Phoebe tells him one invaded her dream the night before. She mentions the sandman but at this point she doesn't know he is a sandman, so she calls him "a weird creature holding a satchel". Leo suggests that it could just be a variation on her recurring dream. Phoebe tells him the sandman was standing next to her bed when she woke up. Leo agrees to check with the Elders and Phoebe starts looking through the Book Of Shadows.
The tracer demon is on a dark, barren landscape somewhere that has a tree with small satchels hanging from it instead of leaves. He walks toward his boss, a demon named Axel, who is angry about the tracer demon's failure to kill the sandman. The tracer demon is not worried because the sandman is easy to find. He asks Axel if he uses all the satchels to dream, but Axel points out that demons don't dream. Axel explains that with each satchel of dream-dust he collects, it means more humans that don't dream. Axel continues that when humans don't dream, they aren't able to work through their issues while they sleep, causing them to become angry and turn evil. Axel is hoping to impress the leaders of the Underworld and makes it clear to the tracer demon that he will be killed if he fails again.
The next morning Elise hands out assignments at the newspaper, noting that the city is "going to hell" because of all the angry, fighting people lately. Phoebe mentions that several people have written asking for advice on how to control their anger. Phoebe's assistant tells her Paige is calling, so Phoebe goes to her office to take the call in private. Paige sits in her car in a parking lot. She wants Phoebe's opinion about decorations for the baby shower. Phoebe gives her opinion then asks Paige if she has noticed anything odd in people's behavior. While they are talking, a woman has pulled up behind Paige and rudely urges Paige to vacate the parking space. Paige sticks her hand out the window and motions for the lady to move on. Paige jokes that everyone in San Francisco is odd, but admits she has seen more than her share of "a certain finger" today. Phoebe thinks a demon is behind it and Paige is forced to agree when the woman who had been honking at Paige suddenly appears at Paige's window and yells at Paige to get out of the parking space because she wants it.
Back at the house, Piper is watching a soap opera and Ryder is actually one of the characters on it. Ryder is talking to a female character named Sienna about how much they love each other, while Piper watches in tears. Phoebe and Paige return home. Paige sits down, blocking Piper's view of the TV. Piper complains, but Phoebe turns the TV off, claiming they have more important things to worry about. Phoebe explains what's been happening to Piper then calls for Leo. He robs in and confirms that Phoebe really had a premonition earlier and that the "creature" she saw is actually a Sandman. Leo explains that there are several Sandmen, they are similar to whitelighters in the sense that they are each assigned charges but they "exist on a different plane". Tracer demons can track the Sandmen from one plane to the next with the intention of killing them. It's obvious that Piper is worried someone will find out the contents of her dream and she asks why the demons would want to kill people's dreams, because "they're just harmless, erotic fun". Everyone stares at Piper, especially Leo, but she corrects herself, claiming she meant to say "exotic" instead. They mention the meadow of Phoebe dream/premonition which is supposed to be a cap from her childhood. They plan to go, but Phoebe tells Piper to stay behind because she is so far into the pregnancy now that she doesn't move very quickly and they can handle this without her. After only mild protesting, Piper sits down and turns the TV back on to find Ryder and Sienna lying in bed. Piper is disappointed that she "missed it."
That night, the sandman appears at the meadow and sprinkles dream-dust on a guy in a tent. When the sandman emerges from the tent, the tracer demon is waiting for him. The tracer demon uses magic causing the sandman to become corporeal. Paige and Phoebe orb in nearby and Paige quickly throws a potion at the tracer demon but he uses his power of electricity to explode it in mid-air. Paige is knocked back by the explosion and Phoebe lunges toward the sandman. The tracer demon tries to electrocute them but he hits the satchel instead, causing the whole bag of dream-dust to fall on Phoebe. The masked chain-saw killer from Phoebe's dream instantly appears a few feet away. Phoebe stares in shock and fear. Paige hurries over and orbs out with Phoebe and the sandman.
At the house, Paige is surprised that sandmen are real while Piper and Leo enter with coffee for everyone due to their lack of sleep. They realize the killer came to life because Phoebe absorbed too much dream-dust. Piper wants to get the killer back into Phoebe's dreams before anyone else's dreams become real. That comment makes Leo suspicious and Piper tells him to "never mind" and a smile from the sandman implies he knows what Piper dreams about. They come up with a plan to capture the tracer demon and get information from him so they can kill his boss. The doorbell rings and it's some of Piper's friends arriving to deliver appetizers for the baby shower. Leo, Phoebe and the Sandman go up to the attic to work on a summoning spell, while Paige and Piper remain downstairs with the friends.
Elsewhere, the tracer demon introduces Axel to the chain-saw killer and suggests that they use more dream-dust to bring the others' dreams to life also. Axel likes the idea.
The friends bring in several trays of food, some of which gets set down near Slappy the clown doll. One of the friends comments that Slappy is creepy and turns the doll face down. Piper tries to get the friends to leave but they resist and she finally has to just tell them she wants to be alone. Upstairs Phoebe is distracted and having trouble writing the summoning spell. She asks the sandman to explain and interpret her dream so she can conquer it. He claims he can't only the person who has the dream can conquer it.
Meanwhile, Paige and Piper try to find room in the crowded refrigerator for all the food. They speak about why Paige is going overboard with the shower. Paige claims it is "not every day that a half-whitelighter/half-witch is born into this world and we need to celebrate". Leo enters the kitchen before they can get too deep into the conversation. Right after that, the tracer demon appears and throws a full bag of dream-dust onto Piper and another bag onto Paige. Leo tries to attack but the tracer demon knocks him down and throws a bag full of dust onto Leo. Then he disappears.
Piper gets up and realizes she is wearing the evening gown from her dream and again does not look pregnant anymore. Ryder appears and starts trying to kiss her. Paige gets up and discovers a life-size Slappy the clown standing there. Piper starts to question about where the baby went, but Leo gets up and points that he has the baby. Everyone stares at Leo's (now large) stomach. Then we hear the chain-saw.
[They have put some padding under Brian Krause's shirt to make him look pregnant. In my opinion, they gave him more padding than Holly has been wearing and it looks odd to me.]
In the attic, Phoebe calls for her sisters while trying to fend off the killer with a coat rack. The sandman tries to warn Phoebe that she can not fight the dream physically. She disagrees and uses the coat rack like a sword to stab the killer on the left side of the abdomen. The killer falls down. Phoebe gets matching would on the left side of her abdomen and falls to the floor. The tracer demon appears killed the sandman. The sandman dissolves into a large pile of sparkling dream-dust. The tracer demon takes the satchel the sandman was holding and disappears. Phoebe loses consciousness.
After returning from commercial, Piper and Leo quickly enter the attic. Leo begins healing Phoebe and it's taking a little longer than usual, because they will soon learn that he is also healing the killer. Paige enters and tells them she has Ryder and Slappy trapped in crystal cages, (like they used on The Source). Leo tries to inquire about Ryder but Piper just tells him "a little less bitching and a little more healing, please". Phoebe is finally healed and Leo helps her up. The killer stands up also and begins to start the chainsaw. Piper starts to blow him up but Phoebe stops her, pointing out that if the killer dies, so will Phoebe. Paige tells Phoebe to lure the killer downstairs then takes a box of crystals and orbs downstairs along with Leo and Piper.
Phoebe yells and runs out of the attic. The killer chases Phoebe downstairs. As soon as they enter the room, Paige and Piper put the last crystal in place, trapping the killer in a crystal cage. Phoebe notices Slappy and Ryder in their cages and asks who Ryder is, calling him a fox. Ryder responds that he is "Piper's dream lover" causing Piper to be very embarrassed, while Leo looks irritated. Piper protests that they never slept together in the dreams. Paige suggests they go into a different room to figure things out. Slappy mocks Paige's decoration efforts as they leave the room.
In the other room, Phoebe suggests that they cast a spell to put themselves to sleep so they can confront Ryder, Slappy and the killer directly within their dreams. She explains that the sandman said if they "demystify them and learn to understand them, then they'll just go away". Leo loses his temper, telling them it's easy to figure out Piper's dreams ~ that she wants to "screw someone else". Piper snaps that at least Ryder doesn't treat her like she is a "walking incubator". Phoebe tells Leo they need him to watch over them while they sleep in case the tracer demon comes back. She tells Paige and Piper to get a spell ready while she goes upstairs to get some dream-dust from the attic floor. She sadly comments that the sandman was made of it.
Back at the barren landscape, the tracer demon decides that killing the Charmed Ones would be more impressive to the leaders of the underworld. He kills Axel to keep him out of the way.
Phoebe returns with a bowl of dream-dust and gives it to Leo. He asks if they know what they need to do. They confirm their objectives:
PAIGE: "I need to find out why I feel so empty."
PIPER: "I need to give in to my desire."
PHOEBE: "I need to find the courage to kick my killer's ass!"
Together, the sisters say the following spell:
Let we who waken from our sleep
Return at once to slumber deep.
They fall back against the sofa and Leo sprinkles dream-dust over each of them. We are taken into Phoebe's dream, which is in black-and-white. Phoebe's dream starts in the basement again. She calls out to that she knows the killer is there. She mutters to herself that she is "not afraid" several times, but she obviously is. The killer emerges from the darkness and Phoebe runs toward the stairs.
Paige's dream is at P3 and starts the same. The women drop their gifts and walk away when Paige arrives, holding the Slappy doll. Paige calls out to them, that they "haven't even seen the baby yet" and the Slappy doll tells Paige to look. Paige walks to the cradle as the baby in it begins to cry. When she gets to the cradle, she sees the blanket is embroidered with the name Paige Matthews. She picks up the baby but then we are back in the Halliwell's house, where Paige wakes up. She opens the door in time to see Slappy disappear. Paige explains to Leo that since her birth was kept a secret, no one was allowed to celebrate her and she was trying to make up for it with his baby.
Next we are taken into Piper's dream. Ryder is again trying to kiss and she resists, again pointing out that she is married. He reminds her that she isn't married in her dreams and tells her not to be afraid. She seems to remember that she's supposed to give in. They kiss and when Ryder pulls back from the kiss, he has morphed into Leo. They smile at each other for a moment before we are taken back to Paige and Leo watching Piper sleep. Piper is smiling in her sleep, which causes Leo to look disturbed. Paige checks on Ryder and watches him disappear. Piper wakes up and explains that it was really Leo she was dreaming about, she doesn't want them to become boring just because they have a baby. Paige is concerned that Phoebe is still sleeping and "doesn't look so hot."
In the dream, Phoebe reaches the top of the stairs and uses the handrail for balance so she can kick the killer in the face with both feet. The killer falls down the stairs but splits into three identical killers. One of them has an axe, on a chainsaw and the other has a cleaver. Phoebe screams. Back in reality, two more killers appear beside the one in the crystal cage. One of them kicks a crystal away, causing the cage to disappear. Piper gasps in surprise and the show goes to commercial.
When it returns, the group frantically tries to barricade the door but the three killers easily break through, destroying several pieces of furniture in the process. Back in the dream, Phoebe ends up in the kitchen and remembers something the sandman said. She pulls the mask off of one of the killers and is surprised to see her own face looking back at her. The camera moves toward the other two killers in the background. Their masks disappear so we see they are both Phoebe also.
Back in reality, all three killers disappear and Phoebe wakes up. She explains that she took the mask off the killer and it was really her. Phoebe says she had been beating herself up about Cole and didn't think she deserved to move on.
They realize that Leo is the only one left who needs to resolve his dream. The baby chooses this moment to kick causing Leo to smile. But the smile turns to disappointment when the baby returns to Piper. She explains to him that he wanted to feel closer to the baby and when it kicked he did feel closer. The tracer demon appears and is surprised to find the killer, Slappy and Ryder all gone. Piper comments that he's too late and promptly blows him up. Paige admits to going overboard with the shower and offers to move the shower to P3 so they can all enjoy the band.
The scene switches to later that night at the club. It appears to be after the baby shower and we see the three sisters have fallen asleep. Paige cuddles her Slappy doll, Piper has her arm around Paige and Phoebe has her arm across Piper's stomach.