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While Lee and Devalos were only small players in this week’s episode, the DuBois family was front-and-center. We saw a lot of what’s a fairly typical dynamic in the DuBois household: Joe and the girls are left to pretty much figure things out for themselves while Allison is absorbed in a big case. In this instance, Bridgette thinks she has her first crush, and it’s big sister Ariel to whom she confides, instead of Allison.
While ideally, Allison would be around, I like the fact that Medium shows what becomes a typical event in a household in which either both parents work, or when the kids are being raised by a single parent. I may not have counseled my younger sister on her first crush, but I taught her how to ride a bike. It’s nice to see that even though Bridgette bugs the crap out of Ariel (as little sisters are prone to do), that Ariel can still be there for her when she needs her.
The case that Allison was so absorbed in this week is quite a bizarre one: A psychiatric patient who killed her parents when she was 13, seems perfectly well-adjusted now, but her roommate at the hospital has gone missing. First off, I want to say how impressed I was with Alexandra Krosney, who played Keelin, the missing roommate.
We only saw her on video, and even then, not for long, but she had the dead-eyed thing down, and was really convincing as someone who was coming out of a catatonic state. Danielle Panabaker also did a very good job as Summer. She was sweet and innocent, but there was a certain edge to her that belied the act, even before it was revealed that she was totally evil.
It was pretty easy to guess that Summer always knew that her brother had killed her parents, but at first, I thought she was keeping quiet because she was being released soon, and that if she started saying she didn’t do it, they would think she was still crazy, and may not let her out. From the promo, we knew that she killed somebody; I just assumed that she got released and then exacted her revenge on her brother.
My problem with the actual story, that she and her brother were in on it together the whole time, is the “why.” I understand that 13-year-olds aren’t good at thinking about the future, and that money seems super-awesome, but to not only collude with your brother to kill them, but to take the fall for it and spend five years in a mental institution? That doesn’t make any sense to me whatsoever.
Why did summer take the fall while her brother roamed free? Was it decided that she would do it just because she’s a really good actress? Because, she obviously is, but damn. I get how that conversation happened, because I have a variation of it every day: “No, honey, why don’t you put the baby down for his nap? You’re better at it.” But even in that benign situation, it is universally understood that someone is getting screwed because they are better at something, which is weird.
Obviously though, I’m applying rational thought to irrational behavior. Summer is a deeply disturbed woman, even if she isn’t disturbed in the way her doctors originally thought. So while I may not completely understand the motivation behind Summer and her brother’s actions, it was still a well-acted and creepy story.
Back to Bridgette for a moment though. It’s been nice to see all three of the girls grow up over the course of the show, but did I miss the episode in which Marie grew up into a calligrapher? Because that was some seriously perfect handwriting for a kid her age. That can’t be typical, can it? And also, why didn’t Bridgette realize it wasn’t her handwriting, instead of thinking she just wrote it while in some sort of fugue state?
This story actually would have worked for me more if it had been couched in the girls’ abilities. They all seem to have psychic tendencies, yet they manifest in different ways. Instead of Marie having a crush on Finn because he plays with her on the playground at lunch, it would have been kind of cool if she had written that stuff as Bridgette. That would have explained both how the handwriting was so advanced, and why Bridgette didn’t recognize it as Marie’s, or at least as not her own. At the end of the day though, there were plenty of things that I liked about this episode, and Medium is definitely continuing the resurgence it’s enjoyed this season.
Image: CBS
Agree with YOU KONA The writers have to develop more the abilities of the girls they are old enough to take a big part of the show..Allison is great and have been spending six years with her but we have three ALLISONS (Ariel, Brigette and Marie) they can bring a new story to the show
That would have been reminiscent of Marie’s previous psychic capabilities too had she written it as Bridgette, she previously channelled the optometrist and the cable channel in her first moment.
I would like to see a little more concern/interaction with Allison and any of their daugthers. I loved some of Ariel and Allison moments they shared over the gift in the past, we haven’t had so much of that this season.
I mean it doesn’t look like there’s going to be any rest for Allison, going by the promo.
I agree with Linda. I miss the episodes when Ariel and Allison or Bridgette and Allison shared moments over the gift. And I miss the whole family thing. In the prev. season thre have been more “familyproblems” and I miss them, cus now the show is devided into two, One is Allison and her work and two is the family who mostly handle everything on there own, without allison. Like the last episode, which I loved btw, when Ariel helped bridgette figure our the whole crush thing, I loved that sister-bunding, so more of that. and I would like more of the sister trio too have a bigger space in the story, I think it would be an interesting twist, to write in them more in allisons investigasions, if the girls “dream more” or have more problems that Allison gets to be a part of!