I can’t believe how jilted I’m feeling this morning after watching the final episode of Medium last night. I had no idea it was coming. I feel like a teenager in junior high whose been going around with some guy for an eternal month and then out of the blue he wants his oversized friendship ring your wore on a chain around your neck back. Incredulous, you ask: “You’re breaking up with me??”
I had no idea my favourite show was breaking up with me after five seasons. I welcomed into my home every Friday night this series about a mother whose psychic dreams helped fight crime. I liked that the show was based on a true story. I liked how strong yet vulnerable Allison DuBois was using her “gift” to help solve cases for the DA’s office in Phoenix.
I became a not-so-distant relative checking in each week to watch her three daughters grow and her aerospace engineer husband battle bad employers. I liked how normal this abnormal family was, watching them in the kitchen resolving schedules and school crises, or the parents late night pillow talks and bathroom disagreements and discussions, and how level-headed Joe kept his gifted girls from levitating each episode as they faced fears and visions he couldn’t see. By interjecting so much ordinary into this unordinary family, the show creators let our own beliefs relax for an hour, encouraging us to interpret the dreams for more clues to solve the case.
I only caught the last 20 minutes last night, but I knew this family was breaking up with me. I missed the announcement late last fall that the station was only making 13 episodes. But they had time to create a proper ending, or end their lives properly. Allison dies a grandmother 41 years later, and Joe is waiting for her, as promised, when she crosses over. I admit this planned finale makes for better DVD packaging of the series, and maybe the real medium dreamt how this show would end.
Medium wasn’t a high-tech crime show like CSI or NCIS, and it wasn’t a wholesome family show like Family Ties or The Waltons. It remained a down-to-earth supernatural show that made Ghost Whisperer seem like fantasy. In that it was unique, and I’ll miss it.
Goodnight Allison. Goodnight Joe. Goodnight Ariel, and Bridgette, and Marie.
word traveller 
I agree about the wind down. They successfully stretched my belief for five years, but the elastic snapped in the last episode.
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I can’t agree more. I am going to miss Medium. I thought that the final episode did not do the series justice. What now for Friday night?
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The casting of Patricia Arquette for the role was definite reason for tuning in weekly. I can’t think of many programs with such perfect casting. Everybody matched the scripts perfectly.
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