Medium 2.11: "Method to His Madness"

Written by Robert Doherty
Directed by Peter Werner

In which Allison begins dreaming about a serial killer, and after his death, begins acting out his MO, which brings up some concerns with Joe and her co-workers about her actions…


There were moments during this episode when I wondered if I had accidentally slipped in an episode of “Millennium”. Not that such a thing would have been terrible, since I enjoy that show immensely, but it’s not what I’m looking for when watching “Medium”. That said, I have to give credit where credit is due. This scenario fits within the logic of the series, even if it does so in a more graphic manner than usual.

At the same time, I’m on the fence as to whether or not I feel that the idea was handled as deftly as I have come to expect. Sure, there were the usual “common sense” moments where Joe tried to get Allison to see what the real-world effect of her reaction to the dreams might be, and when Allison slipped into the persona of the killer, it was chilling.

My main issue with this episode was not the graphic slashing or bloodletting, however. It was the disappointing final act. It was one thing for Allison to take several scenes to catch up with what the audience could figure out in relatively short order once the “ME” clue was dropped (my wife actually called it before I did, and she wasn’t paying much attention). It’s another for her to confront this possible deranged killer on her own, without any hope of backup, and expect things to go well.

But all of that would have been forgiven if the Medical Examiner would have at least threatened Allison and taught her a lesson. The lesson being: Allison is not a cop and she shouldn’t act like one. Instead, the guilty party just sits there and explains, in detail, exactly why she committed the murder. It’s a time-honored complaint, and I’m sure it’s happened on this series before, but for some reason it was a lot more annoying during this episode.

I guess my objection is that the rest of the episode didn’t test my willing suspension of disbelief, so it annoyed me when the end was far too conventional. That’s going to happen from time to time, but it doesn’t get any less irritating. And when I don’t expect that kind of conventional cheat, it gets under my skin and takes something away from my enjoyment of the episode. Along with the graphic content, which was a little over the top, that ending made this episode less enjoyable.

Writing: 1/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4

Final Rating: 6/10