Fifth Season of ‘Medium’ Opens With Average Pair of Episodes

Television Rating: 3.0/5.0

CHICAGO – “Medium” is like TV comfort food. NBC’s paranormal mystery will never break new ground but is almost always entertaining. Each episode and overall season has a way of blending into each other, but there’s something comforting about a Monday night staple that is, at the very least, consistently satisfactory and sometimes better.

Take for example the fifth season opener, “Soul Survivor”. It is an episode that, except for a few character details, could have been in any season of the show. If you’re looking for a series with more pronounced character arcs and development, “Medium” is not the show for you.

Patricia Arquette as Allison Dubois Photo credit: Mitchell Haaseth/NBC

The premiere of “Medium” opens with Allison Dubois (Patricia Arquette) having yet another psychic dream, this one playing out like an episode of the classic “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not”. In it, a worker has reportedly been taken over by the soul of a departed evil man. When Allison sees the man from her dream in the D.A.’s office the next day as a part of a complex mystery, she knows not to trust him.

Manuel Devalos (Miguel Sandoval) has been re-elected to the D.A.’s office and Detective Scanlon (David Cubitt) is still working alongside Allison to figure out the latest psychic mysteries. Both of Allison’s older daughters - Ariel (Sofia Vassilieva) and Bridget (Maria Lark) - continue to prove that the paranormal apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree.

“Soul Survivor” sticks with the basic formula of nearly every episode of the show. Allison has some unusual dreams about a murder suspect that she’s forced to interpret and put into practical crimefighting in the real world. Meanwhile, Allison and Joe’s (Jake Weber) daughter Bridget (Maria Lark) has some odd abilities of her own that manifest themselves in obscene drawings of her teacher.

Patricia Arquette as Allison Dubois Photo credit: Frank Ockenfels/NBC

The opening week’s mystery is pretty lackluster and the episode in general is far from one of the best. It doesn’t have the emotional weight or the twists and turns of the show at its most creative. Last season opened with a great arc of episodes co-starring Anjelica Huston. It seems odd that the creators of “Medium” would choose to open with an average installment, but that’s definitely the case with “Soul Survivor”.

The main reason to watch “Medium” is the same one as it has been for four seasons, Patricia Arquette. She has been nominated for several awards for this role and one has to wonder how long the show would have been on the air with a less-talented actress in the lead role.

One would hope that the writing would improve to the level of its lead, but Arquette still makes the show worth watching.

The second episode, “Things To Do In Phoenix When You’re Dead” is a little better but the two episodes combined made me think that almost every show that maintains a predictably average level of quality for years eventually dips below it.

I’m a little concerned that season five may be the one where “Medium” goes from comfort food to something audiences are tired of eating.

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com