TV Verdict

Medium is one of those shows that genre geeks don’t always think of adding to the ol’ DVR. I think a similar show is Ghost Whisperer but I can’t comment for sure because I haven’t watched that one. I got hooked on the series when I covered the first couple of seasons on DVD. There’s a grounded reality to the relationships on the show that make it stand out from other similar shows, and make it accessible to everyone. The people on the series are attractive but not necessarily “TV” attractive. They look real, like someone you might bump into in line paying for groceries. Allison (Patricia Arquette) has dreams normally; dreams that tell what has happened to dead people. On occasion, those dead people even come to her for a visit. This season for the second time a dead person has taken over her body. This time she can’t remember what that ghost did with her though. Slowly, dreams begin to reveal to her what happened within the six hours she was out. What often happens with these dreams is she believes she has learned something but more often than not she jumps to wrong conclusions. Why doesn’t she ever learn to take a breath and wait for more dreams to come in order to get the whole story? In earlier seasons, she’s searched for a kidnap victim and in those cases time is of the most importance so it’s understandable that she jumped to conclusions in those situations. If the “victim” is already dead though, why not dream it through? This time her husband begs her to take that break and wait for more dreams when she awakes believing that she killed someone within the six hours. The decision ends up being a good one. Will she learn from it? I’m predicting the answer to be a resounding NO.

In case you haven’t seen the show, basically Allison takes what she learns in her dreams to the District Attorney and he and a detective follow up on her stories. Smattered within the case of the week is usually some sort of family drama. This week’s drama involves Allison’s husband teaching their oldest daughter to drive. It sounds mundane but it’s not overbearing and it just shows what an odd life this family has to leave due to Allison’s unique abilities. The life everyone around Allison has to live is extremely well defined by the closing moments of this episode with the District Attorney making simple small talk with her right after a case involving a ghost that took control Allison’s body was closed.

Unfortunately, this episode wasn’t as solid as most installments to the series. The mystery just wasn’t that interesting as it began to be revealed. The other issue is that Patricia Arquette is forced to do a Latino accent when the ghost is inside her and she fails at it miserably. She comes off sounding more like Natasha from Rocky and Bullwinkle or a hungry vampire from Transylvania. While this episode missed the mark, the show is still highly recommended.