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Episode Recap: Girls Ain’t Nothing But Trouble
What a fantastic start to Medium tonight. I loved the silent movie portraying the sad ills of the Dubois ladies with barely a morsel of food to share between the four of them. But where was Joe in all of that? In a short video on the NBC website, Maria Lark said it was fun to do, but she wasn’t terribly fond of the scratchy clothes.
A man was accused of killing his wife and Allison was asked to join the defense team headed by her favorite defense attorney, Larry Watt played by the fantastic Conor O'Farrell. He handed Allison a check saying, “Think it over, but think fast. Bank opens at 8; jury selection at 9…” A big paycheck makes working for the enemy very palatable, while a dream telling of the defendant’s guilt made it hard to enjoy.
Ariel is either stealing or I don’t know what. OK, it’s I don’t know what, because she was taking the 5-finger discount, she was giving “readings”. When Joe told this to Allison, I thought he meant Ariel was reading poetry in a speakeasy. I’m dating myself, aren’t I? Well, I wasn’t around for speakeasies, but it took me a second to realize he didn’t mean that, nor did he mean palm readings or tealeaf readings, for that matter. It’s actually a pretty ingenious idea and if Allison were more like Lynn Spears, she just might pimp her daughter out as the next Kreskin.
Could swear I heard Jake Weber’s British accent, if only for a moment or two or three…You know my love for Joe is deep, but with British, Aussie and Kiwi actors being cast in all the top roles on American TV, (Journeyman, Life, Sarah Connor, Moonlight, Eli Stone, the list goes on and on), I fear we may all be speaking with foreign accents sooner rather than later.
The line of the night was spoken so eloquently by the handsome and underused Joe: “You’ve got this seven-course meal of a moral quandary and I’ve got this fast food burger of a problem.”
Allison really did have a dilemma, a moral conundrum, if you will. But Watt had a point, take the money and take care of your family, which is exactly what the defendant was doing. Money is a soiled thing anyhow; it so rarely comes to us from altruistic means. A dollar won in the dark side is just as green as one from the light. I think Darth Vader said that.
Surprisingly, Edgemont did not kill his wife, his mentally, (and fashion) challenged daughter, Chloe did; he and his other daughter, Myra, conspired to make Stacy’s death look like an accident. Or so we thought. What we didn’t know is that Myra actually killed Stacy herself, as well as beating to death a nurse she didn’t like either. It might only be a matter of time before she kills her sister. And I guess having her dad sent to jail and possibly to a death sentence worked out nicely for her as well. Talk about pure evil. Though her red hair was really beautiful.
However, Allison had her number. As Myra walked out of the courtroom, Allison warned her, “I’m watching you.” Is this a possible cliffhanger? Are we to assume this storyline might be revisited? Because I would surely like to see Myra get what’s coming to her. And I hope what’s coming to her involves a cast iron fairy.
Another new episode coming next week. It’s like Christmas in February, or March as it will be… But you should start stocking up on Medium clips in our Online Video Guide because I don’t think we’re getting many more episode than that.
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Feb 26, 2008 12:02 AM
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Great recap. I thought it was nice to see an opening different than Allison's typical dreams.
It would have been nice to have the slightest flashback for the newbies like my husband, who only recently starting watching the show in earnest with me, to know Watt's history with Allison. I had to pause TiVo and fill him in.
We thought Ariel was doing something a little more typical like writing term papers. Readings... ha! 
With regard to the fairy drawing, it was nice to see a revelation come to Allison through a means other than a dream. This should satisfy those who say she never has those anymore. She's been removed from the process, so it would make sense she wasn't having those, like she did when she first met Watt.
I was sort of glad to see a not-so-nice ending, although my husband was mad Myra didn't get hers. Just goes to show what happens when you dabble in the dark side... the endings aren't always pretty and nice.
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Feb 26, 2008 6:33 AM
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Was the nurse beaten to death? I watched this late, just before sleep, so maybe I missed that but I just thought she was beaten and then paid off. Anyway, I really liked this episode from the silent movie start to the "I'm watching you" ending. I first thought of a poetry slam when Joe said that Ariel was doing "readings" but that was only the first, brief thought. Funny. I hope she finds a way to help both Larry Watt and Devalos. I wonder what she'll do if she actually sees a client of Larry's doing wrong? This time she pushed on and it worked out, at least for her. There's apparently no way to get the real killer behind bars for her crime, so let that be a lesson to everyone out there. If you're gonna kill someone, get a mentally disabled person to take the fall for you. What? That wasn't the lesson here? Oh, my mistake.
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Feb 26, 2008 8:29 AM
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And how cute was it to see Devalos running around in his little shorts? I laughed....
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Feb 26, 2008 9:15 AM
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I agree. The nurse wasn't beaten to death, just badly beaten, but lived to collect a settlement.
Did Allison earn her money from Larry Watt? Well, he didn't exactly allow her to because he didn't want to hear what she knew because it would make it harder for him to defend his client. We never got to a jury trial, so she didn't help him there. We were simply provided with an unsolvable story, although we knew who did it because of Allison's dreams. I was left more with the feeling that Watt paid her as a favor to Devalos, for actually doing nothing he was going to use her for. And her telling Myra she'd be watching her? If I had a family at home I wouldn't be daring and threatening a psychopath. Who knows what Myra might do.
If the actress who played Myra was 18 in real life, then I'm gonna shave years off my real age too.
Otherwise, the family story was good as usual.
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Feb 26, 2008 9:48 AM
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I loved the show and the twists and turns in 'who done it'. I was wondering something. When Allison walked into the room to meet Edgemont, Watt asked her as soon as she shook hands what was her opinion. She said it didn't work that way. Didn't it used to work that way? I guess she meant it didn't work that way every time but didn't she used to get flashes when she shook someones hand? When she first met Scanlon she saw what happened in his sisters house just by being there. That would happen to her a lot. I was a little disappointed that Devalos had what? 5 lines? No Scanlon at all??? Are they being slowly written out since she doesn't work for the DA any longer? Since the show is on NBC I guess it could end at any moment with no closure but that is the risk we take if we want to watch a show on NBC. I hope to see Medium in the future. I like the show so much.
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Feb 26, 2008 10:04 AM
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I liked this episode but didn't love it. Allison was pretty bit*chy with Joe in the bedroom when they both had a story to tell. She jumped down his throat long before she even knew what he'd done. I liked the cold shoulder he gave her later when she came back from her meeting with Watt. I liked his "They're my kids too" comment in response to her thanks for feeding them. They are his kids and he can talk to anyone he dang well feels he needs to in order to get to the bottom of what they're doing. Ariel obviously knew that Joe had rooted out her secret because she knew he'd told Alison.
It was nice to see a working side to Watt. He's a good guy and Alison is pretty naive when it comes to good vs bad. She is too one dimentional and judgemental in her thinking sometimes.
BUT when we first met Watt, wasn't he performing a criminal act, a pretty serious one. I thought it had to do with his son or something. His son was up on murder, but it was really him who'd done the deed? Anyone remember? Or had he been protecting his son? Dang, I just can't remember, but he certainly seems to be getting a better write nowadays.
It would have been nice to see real justice done and have Myra sent to prison instead of Dad. Did he turn himself in because he suddenly thought they were closing in on Chloe or because he learned that Myra had actually done all the violence? Myra obviously believed he cared more for wife and Chloe than her, did he prove her wrong by turning himself in for her crime? I'd like to see another episode to finish this story out with the proper ending, Myra frying and Dad freed to care for Chloe.
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Feb 26, 2008 10:27 AM
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In my opinion, taking this show from the format it once was, that of a medium/psychic being the main storyline to a show with that as a part of the story sharing equal time (or less in some cases) with the family dynamics is essentially ending the show.
When people, such as myself, were drawn to it for it's supernatural aspects...ghosts, ESP, psychic feelings...see it now as being about someone who has dreams that must be interpreted throughout the show and who has major family problems to solve....it loses something. It loses what it once was.
While I love the characters and don't mind the stories as they now are, it's not the Medium we knew and loved at the beginning, and I believe it's going to lose viewers on that basis. There are plenty of other family dynamic shows. Why take this one so far into that that we lose what we were drawn to this show for? I really believe it will be the death of the show if they don't get back to the way it used to be. And that's sad.
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Feb 26, 2008 10:31 AM
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Oh, I disagree with that sentiment, Pinkie. You are, of course, free to your opinion, but I have loved the family dynamic of Medium from the very beginning. That, for me, was what set it apart from so many others. The writers of this show have truly fleshed out each of the main characters so that we get a true feeling of what makes them real. So many other shows give us a cop or a lawyer or what have you and that is who that character is. We don't get a full picture of other sides to their personality. With the Dubois' we see that Alison is high strung but also loving and supportive. Joe is highly intelligent, but generally panders to his spouse even though she isn't by any means always right. Ariel is a typical teen girly girl who alternates between doing the absolute mature thing and skating right on the edge of the not so right thing. Bridget is a bit of a question mark for me. She's a strange little kid, but funny and loving. Marie is just now starting to have lines so her personality remains to be seen.
Its true she doesn't have ghosties wandering around talking to her and I miss that sometimes, but I dont' think it was ever supposed to be a constant and had it been I think we would have lost interest long ago. I think what makes Medium a continuous draw is the fact that we see different types of psychic behavior, like Allison's automatic writing last night when she drew the fairy or sometimes she's able to see things when she touches a person or thing. Other times she sees and speaks to ghosts, other times she dreams about a dead person, other times she takes on characteristics of the person she's communing with both alive and dead.
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Feb 26, 2008 10:53 AM
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And I agree, Splotchie, that it is a great show still and for all those reasons you gave. But, I still maintain, it's just not the show it was. The show I want to see. I'll still watch it on this basis, but to me it's just a homogenized version of the original. It used to be edgy,scary, dangerous and interesting to talk about. Now it's practically the Brady Bunch. I realize that's an exxageration, but I want Allison out on cases like she used to be. Not sitting at home wondering what to do next, having a dream and calling people on the phone to discuss it.
I don't know. I sure don't mean to be disagreeable here. For me it's like the writers of ER deciding that these people don't need to be doctors anymore, let's take them down a whole new path..then it wouldn't be ER anymore. And Medium seems to be verging on that and it's losing what so many viewers were attracted to. That's just my frustrated opinion.
I'll watch this show until it is no more...probably...but I am disappointed. If every viewer agrees with you, Splotchie, then it will continue to do well, but if the supernatural crowd sees it losing that aspect, it won't....and none of us want to see that.
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Feb 26, 2008 11:10 AM
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I can't remember the guest actor's name who played Edgemont just remember his day's as Jim Valente on Roswell.
It was good seeing him again, I hope this storyline is continuing because it would be a shame to let it end with a dead end frame up.
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Feb 26, 2008 11:35 AM
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I've never felt that Medium was a "supernatural" show. To me, it has always been about the Dubois family and their lives while dealing with a psychic mother. I love where the show is at now, although I do miss the former DA and Det. Scanlon.
I really haven't noticed how Allison's powers have changed. I do love how they are integrating the girls abilities into the show though!
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Feb 26, 2008 11:48 AM
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I love the integration of the girls' abilities too.
I didn't expect anyone to agree with me. I HOPE you're all right about this because I totally love Patricia Arquette & Jake Weber and would love to see this go on.
Heck, I can have my cake and eat it too with Moonlight, if some new shows hurry up and get filmed!!
And, by the way, I respect how we can disagree on this blog and do it in a friendly, respectful way. Thanks!
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Feb 26, 2008 12:13 PM
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I love the integration of the girls' abilities too.
I didn't expect anyone to agree with me.
There are many terrific ways this show could go by showing the developing powers that the children have. To me, it would only continue to allow the show to grow!
Pinkie - I love your opinions whether I agree with them or not. I only get snippy when bloggers get stupid, and there was absolutely nothing stupid about your comments!
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Feb 26, 2008 2:15 PM
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Well, thanks Ranger, I feel the same way and besides~~you made me
laugh!! Nice I'm not thought of as stupid.
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Feb 26, 2008 2:44 PM
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