Medium

[gategrrl]

I don't know if anyone on my flist watches Medium anymore, but, what the heck.

Last night's episode was disappointing to say the least. The scripts for this show have been progressively showing Alison breaking down further and futher and losing that cool control of herself in the face of her visions. There aren't any supporting character development beats that help the character change. It also doesn't help that the focus of the series seems to be changing from down-to-earth (no pun intended) crimes and personal foibles, to more far-out and perposterous plots and so forth. 

The episode from a couple of weeks ago, with Captain Push, was interesting, as well as brutal, but the week after and this week's were...well, how many times are they going to have Alison taken over by a person who doesn't know they're dead? It's already happened once before.

I still love the family interaction -- oh yeah. I'll have to rewatch the more recent shows, but I've noticed that the actor who plays Joe, the Husband, is RARELY in the same shots with the kids, unless he has some direct interaction with them. It's noticable, especially in this last episode. They'll cut away from him but leave his voice talking as the camera pans over to Alison/PA.  When I saw the extras on the season one DVDs, it was evident that he wasn't used to working with kids, nor did he particularly seem to enjoy working with them, and these kids in particular are on the ball and very much scene stealers. They are pros.  If the actor isn't dealing well with the child actors, who are half the show, along with him, well, it's starting to affect the show, at least for me.

Anyone else have opinions?

Comments

[superbadgirl]

Totally agree about Alison. I never really liked her that much to start out with, but for someone who's had these abilities all her life I find it preposterous that she always, ALWAYS jumps the gun on interpreting what the dreams mean. How many fucking times does she have to do the same "overreact emotionally" bullshit before she'll get it? More importantly, how many fucking times before I simply stop watching?

Maybe it's just that Patricia Arquette is NOT convincing as emotional/weepy. It comes off as really excruciating to me most of the time, and makes me think she cannot act.

I hadn't noticed less kid time with Joe, but I will now. ;)

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

It's like the writers are going for the Flash, and not for the "meat", which the earlier two seasons had, pretty much.

PA is okay, to me: although this season they're requiring her to emote, and it's just not working well. I don't think the scripts are as good. I think they might be writing the scripts up in order to compete with - Ghost Whisperer maybe? I don't know.

And lately, her dreams, although not giving her all the answers at the time, like in the Dead Zone, they are more exact and even less loosey-goosey than they used to be. I wish the writers would stick more to the type of show they initially developed; that show felt more intimate, more chilling, and you wondered how does this woman deal with seeing all these things all the time?

not particularly useful, I'm afraid

[ndmzero.livejournal.com]

Hi.
Long time no contact.

Anyway, technically, I usually "intend" to watch Medium because I like(d) it - but Wednesday night is killing me now that Lost is back - I want to watch Friday Night Lights at 8 which conflicts with Bones; and Medium conflicts with Lost -- and last week I was out of town and forgot to add anything to my VCR taping except FNL. And this week I was rushed and since they reshowed last week's Lost somehow I forgot to tape Medium at 10 -- which might not have been a bad thing based on your comments.

Re: children -- You'd think "Joe" would be used to working with children by now, in any event.

So I haven't seen the last two weeks so can't comment.

I do plan on putting the show back in the rotation - but it sounds like it's jumping the shark.

n

Re: not particularly useful, I'm afraid

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

I like the show...but I liked The Dead Zone, too, and that went down the tubes when the main creative producer died of cancer two years into the run of the show. I stopped watching The Dead Zone, and although I once considered buying it on DVD, I don't think I will...except the first season, which really *was* very good and a great extension of the book's premise.

But Medium...darn it, I want to continue liking it.

[khek.livejournal.com]

I read somewhere (TV Guide, maybe?) that the actor who plays Joe doesn't like kids, doesn't like working with these kids in particular, and tends to avoid them as much as possible. It was the first time I'd read anything about him, so it stuck with me. Plus, once it was pointed out, I started noticing how little he interacts with them.

About Alison...she does seem to be stuck in a rut. I also don't understand how she can misinterpret her visions so badly, as she did last night. She jumps to conclusions far too quickly, and looks like an ass when she's wrong, because just a little common sense should have stopped that jumping before it even started.

I used to love the show, but it's pretty boring at the moment. Alison needs to stop seeing visions of herself and go back to seeing visions that solve cases. THat's when the show is interesting.

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

No kidding - I didn't know about that TV Guide article. Heh. Honestly, you can't hide stuff like that on film. He's supposed to play a devoted husband and father- but boy, his distaste is too evident on the screen.

And you're spot on - Alison's been having too many visions about HERSELF and not others. You pinned it down exactly. She's supposed to be helping OTHERS, and picking out juries and so forth - and she's not. It is getting boring that way, you are so right.