Medium"Drowned World"
Originally Aired: May 12, 2008
Leigh – Two Cents Reviewer
This week, it isn’t Alison waking up in a cold sweat before the credits roll; it’s Joe, as he dreams of the different ways he can make it perfectly clear to his new business partner that her subtle sexual advances aren’t welcome. Meanwhile, Alison is left baffled as she is asked to assure a frightened woman that her house isn’t haunted.
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ReplyDelete"Drowned World"
Originally Aired: May 12, 2008
Leigh – Two Cents Reviewer
This week, it isn’t Alison waking up in a cold sweat before the credits roll; it’s Joe, as he dreams of the different ways he can make it perfectly clear to his new business partner that her subtle sexual advances aren’t welcome. Meanwhile, Alison is left baffled as she is asked to assure a frightened woman that her house isn’t haunted.
Devalos been called in to see Van Dyke at the DA’s office early in the morning. He walks in to find his opponent packing away some files. He reveals in a roundabout way that he is in the advanced stages of prostate cancer and tells Devalos that he needs him to do some probate work and make sure Van Dyke’s family is okay.
Alison receives a call from an attorney named Charles Winters, who hopes to hire her on a freelance basis, but the job isn’t professional—it’s personal. His wife, Kelly, believes their house is haunted, and he wants Alison to convince her otherwise. She’s been hearing strange and unexplained sounds when Winters is away on business; specifically water running and a baby crying.
As Alison rides out to Winters’ house, Joe is having to confront Meghan about the meaning of her gift of a cashmere robe. She swears that the robe was an innocent gift that only means that she’s confident that their business partnership will be financially successful. Joe’s not buying it, however, and declares that he’s dissolving the business. Meghan refuses his resignation, since she owns 51% of their business. Joe walks out anyway.
Kelly Winters tells Alison about her ghostly experiences, but Alison isn’t getting any feelings about it. However, that night, Alison dreams about the crying baby that Kelly hears—and she witnesses a frustrated young mother drowning it in the bathtub of the Winters’ home.
Alison does some digging, and sure enough, a child was drowned in the house twenty years ago. She meets the couple for breakfast and asks Charles why he hasn’t shared the information with his wife, since it was easy enough to find. He says he’s kept it quiet because they’d sunk their life savings into the home, and he didn’t believe the ghosts were real.
Joe meets with Meghan Doyle, who offers him $250,000 if he relinquishes his share of the company. Alison and Joe talk it over, and agree to the offer. Alison finds out that Devalos has his job as DA back, and Alison, in turn, will have her job back. Things are looking up for the Dubois household. Alison and Joe do a little horizontal “celebrating,” and then Alison’s awakened by Scanlon: Kelly Winters has committed suicide.
Scanlon and Alison interrogate Winters at the precinct. He reveals that he argued with his wife and she went out for a drive. He had a few drinks and passed out, then woke up to the sound of water. He followed the sound to the bathroom, where he found his dead wife. Scanlon reveals that under warrant, he removed a white noise machine from the attic in the Winters home. It features several water simulation sounds and a timer—convenient for the times that Winters was away on business trips. Alison also reveals a letter from the dead woman saying if anything happened to her, police should look at her husband. Winters is incredulous. Scanlon arrests him.
Joe meets Meghan and collects the check. He expresses regret that things didn’t work out. Meghan tells him that she’s married, and that she’s been making him uncomfortable on purpose—so he’d sell her his half of the business. Well, his 49%. Joe feels a bit played, but is still pretty happy with his deal.
Alison Dream-Time again, and this time she sees the young mother preparing to drown her other child—a little girl named Kelly, who runs away just in time. Coincidence? Probably not, but Alison has to investigate further. She goes to visit Winters in prison, this time as an official DA representative. Winters says that he loved Kelly and that the letter she left behind doesn’t make any sense to him. Alison asks how much he knew about Kelly’s family. He only knew about a “crazy mother.” No other family, other than an absent father. He says that Kelly “chose” him to be her husband, and he felt special. Winters’ father, an attorney, shows up, and Alison moves to leave. Winters’ father volunteers that Kelly was an “odd girl,” and Alison seems to think he might be the one who’s odd.
Back at home, Alison doesn’t feel like the pieces fit. She discusses the case with Joe, then they talk about Joe’s business trip the following day—he’s headed to a meeting with Terry Cavanaugh, a man that Meghan had tried to sell Joe’s ideas to previously.
Alison gets another piece of the dream—when the girl runs away from her mother, she runs into her father. Back at the DA’s office, Winters the elder has been invited to a confab with Alison and the crew. They tell him that they’re starting to believe his side of the story—that Kelly was an odd girl and killed herself to escape her demons. There’s one problem, however—Dream Kelly is, in fact, Kelly Winters, and she had changed her maiden name years ago. Her birth father, as listed on her birth certificate, is in fact, Winters. His son was married to his daughter, and she married the son to get close to the father. Winters says that Kelly’s mother was his mistress, and she drowned the little boy to get back at him for not leaving his wife, Charles’ mother. He encouraged her to report the murder as an accident. He regrets not taking Kelly with him, but knows it would have ruined his marriage. Devalos doesn’t know if he’ll be able to prosecute, but he insists that he tell Charles the truth—a good start for his punishment.
Joe meets with Terry Cavanaugh, and finds out that Meghan has sold the company to him for two million dollars. Cavanaugh had a similar tech idea to Joe’s, but he likes Joe’s better. He offers Joe a chance to complete the idea, working for Cavanaugh.
Alison meets with Van Dyke, and he asks her to communicate comfort to his family from beyond the grave when it’s his time to die. Alison promises she’ll be on the lookout for him. They embrace.
Alison and Joe pull into the driveway later that evening, discuss Joe’s new job, and decide to enjoy each other’s company a little while longer before going inside.
All in all, this was a good season finale, and it sets Alison, her family and her colleagues up for the next season. Home life looks steady, and Devalos is back in the driver’s seat at the DA’s office, where he should be. The premise of Medium is wearing a little thin at this point, and at times it feels like there’s conflict being created for its own sake, just to distract from the formula. I don’t know how much longer the show can continue to have Alison-against-the-world, since she’s almost always proven right. It’s like if 24’s Jack Bauer was a soccer mom. But what do you think? Give us your Two Cents…what’s working or not working?