Medium 2.13: "Raising Cain"

Written by Craig Sweeny
Directed by Ed Sherin

In which Allison has a dream about a child who grows up to be an anti-social school shooter, and when her dreams also help save the child’s life, she tries to stop the future from happening…


As usual, Allison’s abilities show up in an unexpected but logical way, giving her clues about where Trevor’s life might lead, depending on the resolution of the present situation. There’s the concern about Trevor’s survival as well, since his mother seems to have some odd psychotic religious beliefs. And I don’t mean that as a slam against religiosity…the woman was psychotic above and beyond her religious background.

I was a little worried at first, because in a very general sense, this territory was covered by a fourth season episode of “Dead Zone”. What makes this one a bit more interesting is the fact that Allison is already a parent, and she has a daily reminder of how three lives are directly dependent on her influence. At the same time, that leads to certain assumptions that keep her from seeing the situation clearly until the very end.

All that said, I’m not sure I buy the idea that Trevor was inspired to be a good and moral child because of his near-death and mother’s suicide. The reason that Allison is so shocked by that revelation is that it runs completely counter to the typical trend. Sure, the easy answer is that it’s an atypical situation, thus the whole point of the story, but it doesn’t necessarily address the concern (at least, it doesn’t fully overcome the challenge to my willing suspension of disbelief).

The guest cast was very good. I’m usually a bit worried about child actors, since they tend towards the horrific. But the actor who played Trevor did exactly what he needed to do, and the real coup was the actress who played his mother. She switched from pseudo-normality to psychotic almost too easily!

Beyond that, I don’t have much to say about the episode. It did exactly what it was supposed to do, and it covered the usual ground, and it did so with the typical “Medium” competence and touch. I’m just not entirely sold on the overall direction that it took. I can’t imagine how all those horrible experiences, after a lifetime of psychological abuse, could produce a success story. But this wouldn’t be the first time that I struggled with an episode’s premise based solely on my particular and admittedly subjective point of view.

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

Final Rating: 7/10