Medium: The Boy Next Door
Mar. 9th, 2007 09:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gategrrlThis episode of Medium was much better than last week's. Tighter script, more reliance on Arquette's acting (and yes, I think she can act) and less relying (unfortunately) on the family aspect of the show - at least, the family we are used to seeing in every episode.
The Boy Next Door gives some explanation as to why Allison didn't trust her dreams, or want to explore them, and why she took up drinking earlier in her life. There have been hints that she was a borderline alcholic in the second season, I think.
But the reason I like this one so much was the entire episode was from the point of view of a teenage Alison, still a Sophmore in high school, living with a mother who loves her, but refuses to support her belief in prophetic dreams, and won't listen to her about those. It's all about Allison, but at the same time, it's all about a future case Teen Allison is 'listening' in on that involves the boy who moved in next door in her neighborhood. Peri Gilpin played Allison's mother to a "t" as her divorced mother working her ass off as a waitress trying to make ends meet. I liked Gilpin, I thought she was believable. Caring, but wanting to have her homelife as smooth as possible. I thought it was troubling how often she pushed sleeping prescription sleeping pills on her high school aged daughter.
The actress who played the young Allison was believable also (I'm not sure, but I think she played Allison in her young twenties last season as well). She was sympathetic, trying to feel around, get some acknowledgement from her friend, her mother, and failing to get the support she needed. She hit the right notes, and I could how this Allison would grow to be the fierce mother of three daughters she does NOT want to grow up like she did - not believed and ignored for her differences. It was all there, thanks to the script and the acting. This actress carried the show very well: I hope to see her in other roles as well.
Allison starts having upsetting dreams of her future self going to the site where a raped and murdered 13 year old girl lies - and then seeing her future self (the one we know) meeting her old neighbor at a grocery store - and then seeing future Allison trying to get her neighbor to admit to raping many young girls, and finally murdering the most recent one.
The solution was a little pat, but that's pretty standard for this series at this point in its evolution. The real theme of the episode was, if you can see the future, and prevent some bad things from happening, would you follow the dreams and not allow those bad things to happen? Even if it means letting the Boy Next Door shoot himself, as he said he almost did before Allison brought a plate of cookies over, breaking that suicidal mood. The question occurs as Allison listens to her dreams, and notices that the Neighbor acts strangely. She thinks he murdered her cat because she refused to go to a comic book convention. (and why did they make him a weirdo comic book kid, anyhow?) And then he attempts to rape her best friend. He's abused by his father (we find out after he kills himself in this timeline).
I hope the woman who wrote the script writes some more. This one was tight. It used Joe to a minimum, though effectively. It showed what happened to help make Allison who she is today. And it lets the audience know that she's made some tough decisions about changing the future, even if she didn't clearly remember doing so in the final scene. If the series continues in this vein, then I have hopes for a strong through line again.
Now, if only Medium would get back to solving cases instead of delving more and more into Allison herself. And I wonder if the stories have been lacking lately because of difficulties I suspect are happening behind the scenes with Jake Weber, who plays Joe, Allison's husband.
The Boy Next Door gives some explanation as to why Allison didn't trust her dreams, or want to explore them, and why she took up drinking earlier in her life. There have been hints that she was a borderline alcholic in the second season, I think.
But the reason I like this one so much was the entire episode was from the point of view of a teenage Alison, still a Sophmore in high school, living with a mother who loves her, but refuses to support her belief in prophetic dreams, and won't listen to her about those. It's all about Allison, but at the same time, it's all about a future case Teen Allison is 'listening' in on that involves the boy who moved in next door in her neighborhood. Peri Gilpin played Allison's mother to a "t" as her divorced mother working her ass off as a waitress trying to make ends meet. I liked Gilpin, I thought she was believable. Caring, but wanting to have her homelife as smooth as possible. I thought it was troubling how often she pushed sleeping prescription sleeping pills on her high school aged daughter.
The actress who played the young Allison was believable also (I'm not sure, but I think she played Allison in her young twenties last season as well). She was sympathetic, trying to feel around, get some acknowledgement from her friend, her mother, and failing to get the support she needed. She hit the right notes, and I could how this Allison would grow to be the fierce mother of three daughters she does NOT want to grow up like she did - not believed and ignored for her differences. It was all there, thanks to the script and the acting. This actress carried the show very well: I hope to see her in other roles as well.
Allison starts having upsetting dreams of her future self going to the site where a raped and murdered 13 year old girl lies - and then seeing her future self (the one we know) meeting her old neighbor at a grocery store - and then seeing future Allison trying to get her neighbor to admit to raping many young girls, and finally murdering the most recent one.
The solution was a little pat, but that's pretty standard for this series at this point in its evolution. The real theme of the episode was, if you can see the future, and prevent some bad things from happening, would you follow the dreams and not allow those bad things to happen? Even if it means letting the Boy Next Door shoot himself, as he said he almost did before Allison brought a plate of cookies over, breaking that suicidal mood. The question occurs as Allison listens to her dreams, and notices that the Neighbor acts strangely. She thinks he murdered her cat because she refused to go to a comic book convention. (and why did they make him a weirdo comic book kid, anyhow?) And then he attempts to rape her best friend. He's abused by his father (we find out after he kills himself in this timeline).
I hope the woman who wrote the script writes some more. This one was tight. It used Joe to a minimum, though effectively. It showed what happened to help make Allison who she is today. And it lets the audience know that she's made some tough decisions about changing the future, even if she didn't clearly remember doing so in the final scene. If the series continues in this vein, then I have hopes for a strong through line again.
Now, if only Medium would get back to solving cases instead of delving more and more into Allison herself. And I wonder if the stories have been lacking lately because of difficulties I suspect are happening behind the scenes with Jake Weber, who plays Joe, Allison's husband.
