Review: Medium 6x14 - Will the Real Fred Rovick Please Stand Up?

I’ve long thought that Diedrich Bader was an excellent comedic actor; his role as the lovable redneck neighbor in Office Space cemented that for me about a decade ago, but unfortunately, he’s just one of those actors who doesn’t get nearly enough work. Hopefully, his role in this episode of Medium will change all that.

Bader played around a dozen characters this week, and moreso than just relying on costumes, he took pains to make each one an individual person. When he was in the kitchen with Allison as Joe DuBois, Bader nailed the slightly hunched way Joe walks around the house. When he was sitting at the table, it was weird how he kept on running his fingers through his short hair, but that again is another Joe DuBois mannerism, and is exactly what Jake Weber would have been doing in that scene.

Likewise with Lee, Bader got his mannerisms down (the constant scratching of the back of his head) without resorting to a David Cubitt impression. He managed to make the characters recognizable, and in doing so, created a compelling episode from beginning to end.

I love how the writers used this convention for many reasons: one, it kept the audience as off-balance as Allison must have been. Watching it, we had no idea who the real Fred Rovick was. Was it the city planner? The juror? The guy fixing Manuel’s computer? We knew it wasn’t Joe, or the lady walking her dog across the street, but other than that, it was like a crazy game of “Where’s Waldo?”

Another thing that kind of kept us off-balance was trying to figure out how the Fred Rovick storyline tied into the murder trial. I never guessed that Rovick and Mallory Kessinger were together, and was further surprised that they were having an affair, and buying off the juror is the reason he was fleecing Phoenix residents.

What cracks me up is that it seems as though Devalos sends very few people to jail anymore. They either die, or in Mallory Kessinger’s case, end up free from prison, but with no money. Even Fred Rovick, identity thief, ended up with hundreds of millions of dollars on a tropical island somewhere. Granted, he paid back everyone with interest, but still– Devalos isn’t doing a great job of locking criminals up.

Also hilarious about this episode? Mr. Teefers. Here’s my theory on this entire storyline: While I’ve never been a television writer, I imagine it’s much like any other job, in that sometimes you get punchy (I’m sure that this happens quite often around season 6). When you get punchy, sometimes when you throw out, “how about we just have someone in a giant beaver costume,” it sounds like a good idea, whereas in season 2, it would have been dismissed. In season 6, I would reckon that an entire day was spent just saying the phrase “giant beaver” over and over again while giggling.

That is why sometimes season 6 is great. I loved the Mr. Teefers storyline. It’s nice to see that Ariel had inherited her parents’ sassiness, and had no problem outsmarting the giant beaver. My only complaint is that I would have liked to see more interactions with Ariel and the family, but in an episode that was this packed, it’s understandable that some things had to fall by the wayside.

Medium can be relentlessly dark at times– especially when there are storylines involving violence against children. Because of that, it’s nice to have an episode that is kind of funny, while still maintaining an appropriately dark tone. Alfred Hitchcock Presents did a fantastic with nailing a creepy/funny balance, and this episode of Medium reminded me of that, one of my all-time favorite TV shows.

Image: Michael Yarish/CBS