Medium 002 - What Did We Learn?

by Sheila on October 11th, 2006

Episode Name: Suspicions and Certainties
Episode Number: 002 (1.02)
MED-002 Summary | All Episodes | Liveblogged

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Allison helps put a necrophiliac murderer on death row by helping Devalos select a jury that will return the death penalty.
Allison and Joe have an argument when he thinks she is “selling certainty” and wants to know when she went from having feelings about things to being certain.
The jury returns the death penalty but Allison worries it is the wrong man because he does not look like the murderer she has been seeing in her dreams. Devalos tells her he is definitely the right man and they have oodles of forensic evidence to prove it. This was simply the sentencing phase of the trial.
Allison realizes the face she saw in her dreams is that of the gondola poler on the menu at the Italian restaurant they frequent so they got the right man after all.

SUBPLOT

We meet some of Joe’s rocket scientist co-workers and their lovely wives when they all get together for dinner. One of the wives is a child psychologist who recently made an astonishing breakthrough with a boy who, until she worked with him, had not spoken for years. As her husband tells the story, however, Allison sees what really happened with her mind’s eye and realizes it was more accident than breakthrough.
Why is this subplot important to the main story? Because it provides a reason for Joe and Allison to argue about suspicions vs. certainties when she tells him what really happened with the psychologist, which results in a bigger argument about whether she really knows what prospective jurors are thinking. It also gives Joe the opportunity to plant the seeds of doubt about whether the right man is on trial in the first place.

TRIVIA

Joe’s dad makes his first appearance. He is a cranky man who doesn’t seem to think much of Allison’s parenting abilities. Oh, and he’s dead. But that doesn’t stop him from visiting every once in a while.
Allison is 33 years old.

WHAT DID WE LEARN?

We don’t see much of the girls this episode, aside from a brief booger-flicking altercation. We do see something new in Joe. In episode one, his arguing was of the supportive, let-me-help-you-figure-things-out variety. This time, he is more negative and disbelieving of Allison’s growing confidence in her abilities. It was okay when she just had scary dreams but this being certain thing freaks him out.

D.A. Devalos is assertive and humorous in his dealings with the jury consultant, thorough in his explanation of the jury selection process, and downright gleeful when the information Allison tells him about the jurors turns out to be true. So far, still holding true to my original assessment of a strong, competent, fair-minded individual, with a little patience and humor added into the mix.

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