The Fifth Season

Medium's fifth season was its last with original network NBC. The season was cut short and cancelled, which resulted in nineteen episodes. However, the series was picked up for a sixth season by CBS. Despite the cancellation and a short season, season five is entertaining with a racy, dramatic edge. Fans of the series will enjoy it, as there are some pretty compelling and intense developments for Allison and company.

For the most part, season five is similar to past seasons. Allison has dreams and other related psychic encounters that lead her to uncovering mysteries about criminals. With her psychic information, she helps the police and district attorney's office catch the bad guys. However, along with the show's common format, it is spiced up with character development. Allison continually struggles to balance work and home life. Joe's company faces a buyout, which leads him to taking a job in San Diego. Scanlon faces his greatest fear: becoming a father. Ariel's abilities continue to manifest as she tries to be a normal teenager. In addition, the season has some pretty intense episodes, which include two fantastic multi-parters.

"The Devil Inside" is an intense two-part episode with the entire cast on edge. Allison finds out she has a stalker and is immediately concerned when she receives a death threat. Devalos reassures her that it comes with the job and she should not be afraid. However, the threat is real. Her stalker believes he is doing the work of god, which is to stop Allison's meddling with people and death. The story gets pretty intense as her life comes close to ending and later when her psychic abilities are greatly interfered with by the ghost of her stalker.

"How To Make A Killing In Big Business" is another great three-part episode. In fact, it is the season's strongest. Allison is recruited by a large corporation to use her talents for marketing related issues. She is given a six figure salary, company car, and other perks. At first the job is a dream, but Allison eventually learns it is ploy to keep from her helping the police catch a serial killer. As the situation unfolds, Allison has to balance her loyalties to Devalos and Scanlon and financial threats against her family.

Beyond the great multi-part episodes, season five has some all-around solid storylines. "The First Bite Is The Deepest" has the return of Cynthia Keener. Allison dreams about a young girl Keener rescued many years ago. Unfortunately, the young girl's life did not turn out to well and she recently recognized her abductor. She plans to kill him. Allison, with the help of Cynthia, must race against the clock to stop the young girl from becoming what she hates the most.

"Bring Me The Head of Oswaldo Castillo" is the intense season finale. Allison suffers a brain tumor that threatens her life and psychic abilities. She fears if she has surgery she will lose her abilities. And recently having dreamt about her family being killed, she risks everything for everything. The situation also sets up an interesting development for season six.

In addition, some of the season's other strong episodes include "A Person Of Interest", Allison is taken over by an odd urge to build a bomb, "A Necessary Evil", Agent Cooper 'helps' Allison, but also helps himself, "Then...And Again", Allison dreams about hers and Devalos' deaths, and "The Talented Ms. Boddicker", an unlikely psychic surfaces, but Allison thinks she has ulterior motives.

Overall, Medium's fifth season has some pretty intense episodes. While the series continues to follow a similar format to past seasons, it still continues to offer plenty of mystery and drama. Fans of the series will not be disappointed with it. There are a couple of strong multi-part episodes, which are intense from start to finish. The season also ends with an interesting development, which clearly sets the stage for season six. In the end, Medium's fifth season is another strong collection of episodes.

Episode Guide

1. Soul Survivor: Allison is assigned to a case where a woman's late husband appears to inhabit the body of her current one. Young Bridgette draws naked pictures of her teacher.
2. Things To Do In Phoenix When You're Dead: When a man brutally kills a woman and dumps her body, the only witness to the crime is a ghost. Meanwhile, an artificial baby has a strange effect on Ariel.
3. A Person Of Interest: As Joe welcomes a new employee, Allison's latest case causes her to develop an overwhelming urge to build something dangerous in their garage.
4. ...About Last Night: Allison wakes up in a strange neighborhood with her car missing and six hours she can't account for. Teaching Ariel to drive frustrates Joe.
5. A Taste Of Her Own Medicine: As Devalos celebrates his reinstatement, a councilman asks for help locating his daughter. Allison dreams of baby news for Scanlon and keeps Joe up all night.
6. Apocalypse...Now?: Ariel develops a crush on her new study partner. And Allison dreams of a nuclear holocaust, which she later ties to a mass murder.
7. A Necessary Evil: The ghost of Agent Cooper offers to help solve a crime, but Allison suspects an ulterior motive. Joe's boss forces him to hire someone untrustworthy.
8. Truth Be Told: Allison Develops a knack for spotting lies. So when a young couple is murdered -- and Joe issued for stealing an idea -- she puts her new ability to the test.
9. All In the Family: Joe gets a surprise visit from his sister and the ghost of his father. Allison helps search for a missing mother whose children have a bizarre relationship.
10. Then...And Again: After she and Devalos are gunned down, Allison wakes up five years in the past. Now she must convince her boss to change his mind about a murder conviction.
11. The Devil Inside (Part 1): A man stalks Allison, convinced he's doing the work of God. Later, the Dubois family becomes confined to their home and Joe worries about his new company.
12. The Devil Inside (Part 2): Allison continues to be tormented by her obsessed stalker, even after he dies. Joe enlists Marie's help in playing the stock market for his boss.
13-14. How To Make A Killing In Big Business (Parts 1 & 2): A fellow female psychic offers Allison a dream job, but with strings attached. Meanwhile, Ariel takes prescription drugs to stop visions of a dead classmate.
15. How To Make A Killing In Big Business (Part 3): As Ariel continues to have disturbing visions at school, Allison tries to persuade her new boss to turn in his son, convinced that he's a serial killer.
16. The Man In The Mirror: Just before Marie's school play, Allison fails into a coma. But then her spirit jumps into the body of a middle-aged man, who insists on living with Joe.
17. The First Bite Is The Deepest: After she dreams of a young kidnap victim, Allison visits her former employer Cynthia Keener in prison. Joe's new boss offers him a job in San Diego.
18. The Talented Ms. Boddicker: A lonely bank teller claims she predicted a robbery, but Allison has her doubts. As Scanlon prepares for fatherhood, Joe starts his new job in San Diego.
19. Bring Me The Head of Oswaldo Castillo: When Allison suffers a health crisis, She's afraid that a much-needed operation will take away her gift, and prevent her from saving her family from an assassin.

The DVD

Video:
The video in this release is given in an enhanced anamorphic 1.78:1 ratio widescreen color format. The picture quality is quite good. It suffers from a slight grain, but detail remains to be sharp and clear. However, there are some occasional moments when the picture suffers compression artifacts. This is a rare occurrence, but it does happen.

Audio:
The audio in this release is given in English 5.1 Dolby digital surround sound. There is also an additional English 2.0 Dolby digital stereo track. Overall, the sound quality is very good, providing an audible and clean audio track. The 5.1 track sounds great, with the majority of activity in the forward channels. Music and sound effects sound very rich and vibrant.

Extras:

• Scripts to Screen: "Apocalypse...Now?" (7:56): is a featurette about the making of the episode "Apocalypse...Now?". Various cast and crew members discuss its conception, production, storyline, and so on.
• Curious Maria (10:21): is a behind the scenes look at Medium with Maria Lark. She goes around and speaks with various cast and crew members about their insights to the show.
• The Making of Medium: Season 5 (27:15): is a traditional behind the scenes featurette about the making of the season. It includes Craig Sweeny, Glenn Gordon Caron, Laurie Seidman, Miguel Sandoval, Particia Arquette, Sofia Vassilieva, Arlene Sanford, Madison & Miranda Carabello, Maria Lark, Aaron Lipstadt, and others. They talk about key storylines, changes for the characters, specific episodes, and other related matters.
• Jake and Patricia Q&A (22:59): is an interview featurette with Patricia Arquette and Jake Weber. Jake takes on the role as the interviewer and Patricia as the interviewee. The session is half-serious with Jake asking some goofy questions, such as why does the cast like you more than me. They have a humorous tone with each other, yet still delve into some serious issues.

Final Thoughts:
Medium's fifth season is another short season, which was due to NBC cancelling the series (although it was renewed by CBS). While the season is short, there is still plenty of compelling cases and intense drama as Allison continues to use her abilities to catch criminals. More specifically, this season has some solid character development, a couple exciting multi-part episodes, and concludes with an interesting note. Overall, fans of the series will appreciate this set.