Medium Episode 4.04 “Do You Hear What I Hear” Recaps
First, I’ll start with us: Betty and Dawn DePorter both mentioned their disappointment with the yelling scene. I’ll admit - I was hoping for something a bit more dramatic from seeing the scream in the previews. It would have been better if she was screaming because she was dreaming about the little girl screaming and woke up still screaming, not because she was awake and just trying to hear herself. However, although the episode script reminded me of that blockbuster movie a few years ago where the dad was the kidnapper, the acting was top rate.
Next, TV Guide’s Paula Paige says, “The show was back in prime form…” She also says that the reason she likes Medium so much is the family relationship. I think most of us agree that this is what makes Medium so special to us, too.
Alynda Wheat of PopWatch says Steven Culp is getting a bit typecast as a baddie, which makes people suspicious of his motives from the start. Maybe he needs to play a straight and narrow good guy for a few shows to avoid being stuck with those roles forever.
Finally, we have NBC’s two minute recap:
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4 opinions for Medium Episode 4.04 “Do You Hear What I Hear” Recaps
Betty
Feb 21, 2008 at 11:58 am
OMG! I’ve been so busy, I forgot to go and read Paula’s review! She usually does a great job.
Dawn
Feb 21, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Katelyn, I thought the writing and acting in this ep was excellent, and I thought David’s direction was great. I particularly found Patricia’s performance very moving and compelling. The only part that I might tend to agree (and disagree) with you on is the screaming scene. I thought it was great, and it did a fantastic job of expressing Allison’s frustration with her condition. And I think that the point of her screaming was not because of her connection to the little girl, but because she was so frustrated at not being able to hear. But the very last second of her screaming was the only part that I might have had to agree with you on. That part felt a little forced to me. I can understand why someone who was deaf might say that this didn’t seem realistic, but at the same time, this is television, and it kind of bugs me when people pick apart a show because it isn’t realistic enough, and then they criticize it because it’s too realistic. Last season a lot of people said the show was getting boring and stale, so this year the producers changed it up, and now people are complaining because it isn’t the same as it was last year. Make up your mind, people!
Okay, I’m off my soapbox now. But I did love Paula’s review. She always does a great job.
I haven’t read the other one yet. TV Squad also had a great review of this ep.
Betty
Feb 22, 2008 at 4:49 pm
I do disagree with people who say the show isn’t as good as it used to be and who do not want to see the character change and grow. Everyone changes and grows to some degree - especially someone like Allison who has this ability she is learning to deal with and explore. However, I do agree with the folks who complain that the writers seem to ignore some of her abilities - like her being able to pick up a vibe by touching someone or something that was theirs. It doesn’t always give her all the answers, but some clues - that seemed to be lacking in this episode. Real psychics speak of this - getting pieces that they don’t necessarily know what they mean, but when they put their heads together with someone else, i.e. the family of a missing or murdered person or law enforcement, they are able to derive meaning from those clues. Remember in “A Couple of Choices” (the episode where Scanlon was introduced) Allison was dreaming of these murdered couples(one of which was Lee’s pregnant sister and brother-in-law) in flashes like a slide show of photographs. When she said that, a light bulb went off for Lee - he remembered seeing similar wedding photgraphs in all of the murdered couple’s homes, and Allison also sensed another person besides the murderer in Lee’s sister’s home at the time of the murder which made no sense to Allison or Devalos or Lee at first until he remembered his sister was 3 months pregnant at the time of her murder. I think the BEST episodes are those that don’t ignore what Allison is capable of, but use everything to make a complete story.
I do think there was a feeling of this episode being forced. A person usually goes through denial at first, then anger, then eventually acceptance. Allison skipped the first step completely - it was like she woke up and 5 seconds later jumped to the conclusion that she was deaf - it’s always quiet in the suburbs in the middle of the night - it would take more than 5 seconds for me to come to the conclusion I was deaf. I think I would pound on something that would normally make a lot of noise rather than scream - maybe I’d just lost my voice. I think a person would go through a period of shock also - it takes time for something to sink in completely - I thought the writing and directing were over the top on this one. I realize the show is only 1 hour, but I just feel like these writers could have come up with a more compelling script. Patricia is such a good actress, I think David could have gotten her to express her frustration in a more subtle way than having a screaming hissy fit.
Dawn
Feb 22, 2008 at 5:54 pm
Not to be disagreeable, Betty, but I do disagree about your assessment of Allison’s reaction to her hearing loss. She didn’t “jump to the conclusion” that she was deaf. She was deaf. If you’re talking (which she was, as was Joe) and you can’t even hear yourself ( or your husband), that’s a pretty good indicator that you’re deaf. She couldn’t even hear herself scream. That pretty much nails it down right there. The only thing that she didn’t know was why. She didn’t know about the little girl until after she had lost her hearing, and only then could she put the pieces together and understand what was happening to her. I’m not sure about the stages that you’ve mentioned, but it did seem to me that when Allison was screaming to try and see if she could hear herself, that was a form of denial, followed by anger when she realized that she truly couldn’t hear, and she was helpless to do anything about it.
I agree about the writing to a certain extent. I thought the characters of the parents and Cynthia Keener were overwritten, and the parents especially overplayed. The dialogue during the negotiations was a bit hammy (as were the performances). It was as if the writers thought they were in the middle of an action flick and the characters had to use that corny movie dialogue where they all talk tough and overemote. Honestly, the lines between Cynthia Keener and the parents sounded like they came out of some bad big-budget action flick like “Ransom”.
As is often the case, the family story was the best part of this episode. The way they dealt with Allison losing her hearing and its impact on her family was handled beautifully without being too over the top. The scenes when Allison was washing dishes and Marie was trying to get her attention and the one when she was watching her family play and she couldn’t join in were subtly and deftly handled by the writers, the actors, and the director. That’s just my opinion.
You’re right about the writers not making use of all of Allison’s capabilities, to a degree. If you’ll recall in the second episode this season, Allison was frequently shown touching the missing girl’s things to try and get a clue about her whereabouts. The only thing that they haven’t been showing much of lately is her ability to see ghosts. I loved those scenes when she would wake up and see them standing at the foot of her bed. One of my favorite eps from last year was “Better Off Dead” when she saw the two ghosts and one of them didn’t want her help. I wish that they would use that a bit more and change things up instead of using the “she gets clues in her dreams” trick so much. The best eps of Medium recently have been the ones when they broke away from that routine and did something different.
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