Written by Senora Bicho
Executive producer Glenn Gordon Caron’s Medium is a crime drama based on real-life, self-proclaimed psychic Allison DuBois, played wonderfully by Patricia Arquette. The fourth season of Medium has had a lot to live up to because the third season was the best of its history, but it has fallen short. The cases have not been particularly interesting and have been predictable. Last season ended in turmoil as Allison was dismissed from the District Attorney’s office after her abilities were made public and her husband Joe lost his job.
Eight episodes into the new season, Joe still isn’t working, but Allison has been able to make some money for the family consulting for Ameritips, a company that looks for missing people. This opportunity came to her via the brightest part of the season so far, the reoccurring role of Cynthia Keener played by Anjelica Houston. Keener came to her in order to utilize her abilities in solving the cases she is assigned to. We don’t know much about her, just that she is feisty, skeptical and takes her job very seriously.
This special two-parter, the first of which airs on NBC on Monday, March 24 (10-11 p.m. ET/PT) and concludes on March 31, provides background on Keener viewers have been looking for. The first episode starts with a girl stranded in the rain; she is talking to her mom when a man comes along to help her. He starts her car but then knocks her out, cut to Keener waking up which turns out to all be a dream of Allison’s. She discovers that the girl is Keener’s daughter who has been missing since 1998. The next day Allison meets with Keener on a new case of a missing 18-year-old girl, and later that night she dreams again about Keener’s daughter. When she awakes, Allison confronts Keener and from the information in Allison’s dreams, they do some investigating, which reveals both cases are intertwined.
There is also a side story involving Joe and a new invention, which could solve the family’s financial problems. This causes tension between him and Allison. The resolution to this plotline is clever and amusing.
These two episodes give Houston an opportunity to show her acting talent and some range of emotion rather than just being the angry skeptic. There are good scenes between her character and Allison, and Allison and Joe. The case is the most interesting one of the season so far and finally provides an ending that I didn’t see coming. What makes this episode special is that it is not just about the case being solved, but deeper, real-world issues as well.
If you have been enjoying this season of Medium thus far, you will surely enjoy these two episodes. If you have not watched the show in the past, even though this isn’t the best season, these two episodes are still better than most other crime shows, and these days with not much new to watch it is worth trying out. If you like what you see in these two episodes, go out and rent or buy Season Three.
