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Episode Recap: Drowned World
What a show! The Medium season finale opened with Joe throwing the $2,200 cashmere robe at Meghan, and then asking for his idea back, and then he shot her. Unfortunately, he woke up. Too bad, that conniving “bottom-feeder” deserved that.
When he actually did see Meghan, a.k.a, “your favorite neighborhood she-devil,” he was understandably ticked off at her. He told her he had shown the robe to Allison and she was none too happy about it. “It’s a robe. It’s cashmere. It’s a luxury item.” Meghan offered to call Al and straighten everything out. But Joe wouldn’t let her. He said he intended to dissolve the business. Meghan reminded him she owned him. He responded by packing his things and walking out of the office. Meghan came after him, asking where he thought he was going, “I’m taking my morals and I’m going home.”
It looked like Joe was out of an idea and a job and the potential of an awful lot of money. However, Meghan offered him a pretty attractive dissolution deal to the tune of $250,000. (Take it and run!) Allison, being all-seeing, knew that it meant Meghan was assuming she’d make a heck of a lot more off Joe’s idea than that.
Later, the truth came out that Meghan had intentionally manipulated Joe to get his idea. When her husband showed up at the restaurant, she admitted to staging the whole make-out session, “I needed to make you uncomfortable, I needed to make you sell your share of the business.” And then she sold it and managed to get a cool $2 mil for the plan.
“Oh, my God. It’s the end of the world as we know it,” Scanlon proclaimed to Lynn. Who’d have seen it coming, Devalos and Van Dyke yukking it up. “Cavorting with that weasel,” is how Scanlon put it. Sadly, Van Dyke announced to Devalos that he had prostrate cancer, and as much as we didn’t like the new DA, it’s hard to be mad at someone when he’s dying. He gave Devalos his job back, which meant Allison was getting her job back. Van Dyke even requested a special meeting with Allison. He begged a favor, though he knew he had no right to ask after how he’d treated her in the past. Allison agreed to look for Van Dyke once he’d died and pass along any message to his family, letting them know he was OK. That scene was really beautiful and compassionate. I can’t believe that old fart made me cry, but he did.
The case this week was about Charles and Kelly Winters. Or rather the alleged haunted house in which they lived. Whenever Charles would go out of town, Kelly would hear water in the walls and a baby crying and thought she was going crazy. In another terribly disturbing turn, a woman who lived in that house some 20 years earlier had drowned her infant son and it would only be a matter of time before she tried to kill her young daughter as well.
Allison let them know about the dream she had revealing the death of the infant. When Kelly ended up dead in an apparent suicide, all fingers pointed at Charles. A noise machine was found in his attic that could have been set on a timer to make water sounds when he was not in the house. There was also a handwritten note from Kelly left in Al’s mailbox. Allison told Charles. “Your wife believed you meant to do her harm.”
Still, Charles couldn’t understand why they should sell the house, even though his wife couldn’t handle living there. But when he saw her lying dead in the bathtub, he mournfully commented, “She was so still.”
What I didn’t understand was how Kelly didn’t remember the running water and crying baby from her past. She was old enough when it happened to remember. That Natalie was one creepy mommy. When she heard little Kelly sniffling in the closet and grabbed her out, even as little Kelly screamed, “Don’t do this. I’ll do anything you want!” I almost lost it. I guess she could have just blocked it out. Trauma like that could be easier to erase from one’s memory.
Sam Winters showed up with a lawyer and said, “She was an odd girl, you know.”
But even before that I saw it coming; Charles’ father was also Kelly’s father. Kelly picked Charles out in a bar. She knew who Charles was – “a means to an end.” She wanted to be nearer to her father, even though he had abandoned her and left her with that monster of a mother.
Sam did not recognize her when he saw her as an adult. But he knew when Charles told him about her hearing the baby crying. He told Al, Devalos and Scanlon that Natalie had drowned Jonathan to punish him for leaving her. Although he helped Natalie conjure up a story about the infant’s death being an accident, he seemed remorseful that he left Kelly with her. And admitted it would have been the end of his life as he knew it with Charles’ rich mother. Need I say it? What a weak man. (Couldn’t help myself.)
I’m still a little unsure of why Kelly left the note implicating Charles. Was it to protect her father? Or to set him up?
Joe received a fateful call from Terry Cavanaugh. Looks like the Dubois family is getting their act together again!!! What PD McCall/Debra tore asunder, Meghan Doyle brought back full circle, well, with Terry’s help.
The final scene, finally the kids! Bridgette made me laugh, as always, with her, “Don’t they know they have kids? That’s it. I’m quitting this family.” Little Marie was agreeing right along with her. Joe and Allison don’t make it out of the car because they were busy celebrating their near millionaire status! And with a lot of panting and moaning, season 4 came to a close.
Until next season, you’ll just have to manage with the Medium clips in our Online Video Guide.
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May 13, 2008 3:04 AM
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Paula, it's proSTATE cancer, not prostrate cancer. please tell me you knew that.
LOVED the ending and the prospect of a happy future for the Dubois family. the family dynamic is truly the best part of this show.
the "mystery" part, on the other hand, I found really disappointing. if I understand correctly, that woman Kelly deliberately set out to marry her own brother? was it to be closer to her father or was it to exact revenge on her father? either way, that is pushing the limits of believability for me. did she set up the white noise machine in the attic? not only was the story not well fleshed out and explained, it just wasn't a good story line.
the Megan thing didn't end as badly as I thought it would. hopefully someday she'll get hers, though.
lastly, not to rub salt in an old wound, but for what it's worth I'm with GarryB about the whole "louse" comment from a few weeks ago and I don't understand why Paula never addressed it. other TVGuide writers chime in on their blogs all the time. it's not a HUGE deal, I just think it would have been nice of her to acknowledge that in an attempt to make a joke, she unintentionally said something kinda stupid.
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May 13, 2008 3:40 AM
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I wonder if they made this episode as a possible SERIES finalé. Think about it. Devalos and Allison got their jobs back. Joe and Allison got $250,000 PLUS Joe got a new job as a project manager for the development of his own idea. Joe and Allison having sex in the garage and then the door closes almost seemed an appropriate end to this series. I really wonder if that was the intention of this episode. I'm just glad that it got renewed instead.
I wonder if what happened to Joe would ever actually happen. I don't mean the scam by Meghan, but the job offer from the rich dude who bought his idea to kill it. So, for Joe to reject the advancement of his co-worker he earned $250,000 PLUS gets a great job working on HIS idea. Not bad for a louse, eh Paula?
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May 13, 2008 7:58 AM
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I'm very relieved that everyone ended up in a better spot at the end of the season than they did at the beginning. Obviously a 1-hour drama needs its drama, but a year of watching Devalos and the DuBois family struggle is enough for me! I like them too much to suffer through much more of that!
I just wanted to join in the discussion about the mystery of the night - it made NO sense whatsoever. It's like the writers forgot halfway through what they were doing. What was the point of Kelly's death? To punish her father for not taking her from her mother? If so, why did she leave the note implicating her husband? Who really put the noise machine in the attic? Was that supposed to implicate the husband too, making it seem like he was trying to drive her crazy? How did any of that punish the father? Very weak, and I expect more from this show.
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May 13, 2008 8:33 AM
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NBC is not stupid enough to cancel this show right now. In "Ask Ausiello" last week, he said that Medium is getting its highest ratings yet. The show is also getting the most press coverage since season 1. Also, I read somewhere that CBS (or maybe ABC) wanted to pick it up if NBC dropped it. I hope we don't have to wait until next January to see what happens next!
I didn't really care for the haunted house story either. It was confusing. Why would Kelly write a letter implicating her husband, and why in the world would she knowingly sleep with and marry her own brother. Ick!
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May 13, 2008 8:38 AM
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I came here hoping to have my confusion about last night's mystery cleared up. Glad I'm not the only one completely stumped. I guess the writers were the ones dreaming last night's episode. LOL!
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May 13, 2008 9:03 AM
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Okay - I thought I understood the haunted house story last night but maybe I didn't. I understood it as Kelly deliberately married her own brother (I agree - yuck!) and then set him up as a murderer (the noise machine so it would look like he was trying to drive her crazy, the fact that he said they had to stay in the house and the note implicating him) in order to punish her father and take his son away from him. In her mind I think he drove her mother crazy and it was his fault that the baby was drowned and that she was almost drowned too. She resented him for leaving her with her mother and going back to his wife and their son. In crazy land that = "I'll take that son away from you too". Am I the only one that got that from this episode? Did I get it totally wrong?
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May 13, 2008 9:19 AM
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I didn't see the promos for this episode, but I got the impression that Meghan was going to become some knife-wielding psychotic out to destroy Joe's life for turning down her advances. I'm so glad the story didn't go down that road, but I wanted to slap her silly for manipulating Joe the way she did (women--huh, Paula?).
I'm glad Devalos, Scanlon, and Allison are a team once again. I really missed the three of them working together this season, and didn't like the Cynthia Keener (or Keeler, or whatever) storylines very much. And Joe's aside in the last scene that the happy ending felt like "some kind of cosmic joke" had me worried for a few minutes, as if some sudden, shocking event would end the season on a cliffhanger. I'm glad THAT didn't happen, either.
And I agree that the whole haunted house/murdered baby story was confusing and not the show's best.
Thanks, Wheezy, for asking Paula why she turns mum when she's called on a stupid comment in her blog. Notice how she sneaked in another dig with her reference to Charles' father being a "weak man"? Couldn't help yourself, Paula? Sure you could. What's with you and this bitterness towards men? Keep it to yourself next season, please. And perhaps consult a shrink to deal with your issues.
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May 13, 2008 9:20 AM
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I agree that most likely, Kelly managed to put the memories of her brother's murder out of her head. Since he HAD to live with her mother, I think she probably needed to push the memory out as far as she could just to stay sane. Could you imagine what it would be like to live every day with someone you *KNEW* was a murderer, especially when you're just a small child and don't think anyone else can protect you? (Especially after your father has abandoned you?)
As for why she left the note pointing to Charles, she obviously was very angry about her abandonment - she sought out and married her half-brother just to get close to him, and by killing herself and blaming Charles for it, she could get some measure of revenge for her father leaving her. She could take his son away from him, not just physically by having him put in jail, but also emotionally by making him think his son was a killer.
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May 13, 2008 9:27 AM
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To me she was trying to punish her dad by implicating his son. She thought if she sent the child he wanted to jail, she might have some revenge for his leaving her with her "crazy" mother. She had no way of knowing Allison would figure out the truth.
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May 13, 2008 9:29 AM
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Good morning...loved the recap; it kind of cleared up some things for me about the main mistery storyline (which I had a stress-physical reaction to; I lose it whenever babies or children cry/are in danger even if it is "make believe"), although I'm still confused as to who really activated the noise machine...I also cried with Van Dyke's and Allison's last scene...and I'm so happy that the Dubois famili finally got a break! by the way, Joe has nice arms; has there ever been a scene where he is shirtless?...
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May 13, 2008 9:33 AM
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I loved the financial struggle plot this season. Loved the Megean twist and the VanDyke twist. The little girl who plays Bridget is a very special talent-I rather wonder if her larger role has accounted for the diminishing role of the older sister. And since the older sister all but disappeared for a few of the episodes, I wonder whether there is problem behind the scenes.
What I don't care for is the presentation of murders/molestation/torture that seems to be an effort to match CSI. Does the weekly mystery really need to be more and more disturbing and distastful? Especially the constant 'child/murder/torture/kidnapping' themes each week.
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May 13, 2008 9:37 AM
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TalkToTheHand, the actress who plays Ariel has been filming a movie, hence her diminshed role as of late. I'm sure she'll be back in full force next season.
I guess it makes more sense if implicating the husband was meant to take him away from the father. I think it wasn't written clearly enough if so many of us are confused, though!
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May 13, 2008 9:42 AM
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Reading through the comments, I've been thinking a bit more about the house storyline. From what Charles said, it sounded like they were pretty much newlyweds and had just bought the house, and that they'd bought it because Kelly had "fallen in love with it" and insisted that they get it - that's why they were so deep in debt. Also, remember that Alison said that it only took her about 10 minutes to find out about the home's history.
So here's my theory on it:
* Kelly is not only angry at her father, but she DOES remember her mother killing her brother, and part of her anger is that her father left her with a woman capable of killing her own child.
* When she grows up, she finds out he has a song, and decides that this is how she will get her revenge.
* She learns enough about Charles (or follows him long enough) that she knows what bar he hangs out at, so one night she shows up there as well and starts trying to woo him, eventually getting him to fall in love and marry her.
* Someplace in here, she does some research to find a home in the area where a child died by drowning, and then pushes Charles into purchasing THAT house.
* She begins to tell Charles that when he's gone, she hears this water running and baby crying. She isn't ACTUALLY hearing this, she's just *telling* him that she is.
* Most likely - since she couldn't really have foreseen Alison's intervention - she had planned to, at some point, "discover" that a baby had drowned in the house, knowing that as deep in debt as they were and how much they'd overpaid that Charles wouldn't be willing to try selling the house. When Charles brings Alison into the situation, though, she turns it to her advantage, using Alison as the means of discovering about the home's history.
* In order to frame Charles for the crime, she has, at some point, put the white noise machine in the attic over the bedroom, then writes the note to Alison (had Alison not intervened, she might have dropped the note off at another friend's home or mailed it to the police right before killing herself. There have been situations where people have done that - and in one case, I recall, a man had made a recording about how afraid he was that his wife was going to try and kill him, and he'd hidden the tape at the school where he worked, and it was found after his death.
* She then takes the overdose of sleeping pills and kills herself in the tub. The white noise machine ends up looking like her husband was trying to "gaslight" her, and the note - specifically mentioning that she's not suicidal - has the intended effect of casting suspicion on Charles.
One thing she didn't count on was Alison being able to dream the truth about her brother's murder and realize that she was Charles' half-sister who'd been abandoned by their shared father, which is what cause her reasons for what she did to be brought to light.
It's a pretty convoluted plan, but I think they gave us just enough for it to maybe be plausible - at least in the context of a show where the main character sees (and hears and dreams about) dead people, eh?
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May 13, 2008 10:00 AM
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Hi. I haven't gotten all the way through the comments yet, but I wanted to point something out real quick. With the whole mystery thing, the guy she married was a STEP brother that she had never known. The dad made a comment while being questioned about losing the "new family". She knew that the dad was very close to the son. I think the whole point of the mystery was for the daughter to get to know her dad and let him know it was HER and then to take herself away from him like he took himself away from her. Very sick and twisted, but if you look at her lineage, it's not a stretch to believe that she is a little off base too.
And Medium has been picked up, but with the better ratings it's been getting I sure hope NBC starts treating it with a little more respect then it's shown towards it in the past.
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May 13, 2008 10:15 AM
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