Review - Medium: Sweet Dreams

Sweet Dreams are not made of this. . .

In this episode Allison’s dream takes us back to when she was 17 years old and playing ouija with her friends. It also let’s us see Allison’s first experience as a medium. The dream brings up a lot of emotion for Allison and she decides that she has to find her long lost friend who disappeared from her life shortly before she graduated high school.

She is not sure at first that this dream has anything to do with the disappearance of a politician’s daughter which is the project she is currently working on for the D.A.’s office. As is often the case, every dream that Allison has during a case has something to do with it and this is no different. Turns out that her long lost friend has actually changed her name and started a new life and is none too thrilled that Allison has found her.

But this was just the break for which Allison has been searching. Her friend explained that it is easy to fake your own death even without a body. Just remove 4 liters of your own blood - no one can survive that much blood loss so you are assumed dead (which is what they assumed when they found a car with 4 liters of the politician’s daughter’s blood). Seems that the politician’s daughter has used the same man to help her get a new life and Allison’s friend leads her to him. And the flashes that Allison had of the politician in the adult video store were actually flashes of him picking up the blackmail tape of him and his daughter having sex.

As Allison meets with the young girl who is so obviously damaged from years of sexual abuse, you can’t help but wonder how it is all going to end. Is Allison going to be a hard-ass and bring the girl in for blackmail and fraud as she claims? Turns out Allison truly does have a heart of gold and after hearing the girl’s story she tells her to run for the border and that she’s got the check. District Attorney Devalos also has his own confrontation with the oh-so-dirty politician which was quite disturbing.

It is curious though that the “dead” guy she sees in her first experience as a medium turns up at the diner all these years later . . . alive? Perhaps this will be explained, perhaps not - either way, this was one heck of an episode!

Directed by
Jeff Bleckner (episode 1.03 "Couple of Choices, A")
Glenn Gordon Caron (episode 1.01 "Pilot")
Duane Clark (episode 1.11 "I Married a Mind Reader") (episode 1.14 "In the Rough")
Eric Laneuville (episode 1.10 "Other Side of the Tracks, The")
Aaron Lipstadt (episode 1.05 "In Sickness and Adultery") (episode 1.15 "Penny for Your Thoughts") (episode 1.16 "When Push Comes to Shove: Part 1") (episode 2.01 "When Push Comes to Shove: Part 2")
Artie Mandelberg (episode 1.04 "Night of the Wolf") (episode 1.07 "Jump Start")
Robert Duncan McNeill (episode 2.09 "Still Life")
Vince Misiano (episode 1.02 "Suspicions and Certainties") (episode 1.06 "Coming Soon") (episode 2.02 "Song Remains the Same, The")
Bill L. Norton (episode 1.09 "Coded") (episode 1.12 "Priest, a Doctor and a Medium Walk into an Execution Chamber, A")
Ronald L. Schwary (episode 1.13 "Being Mrs. O'Leary's Cow")
Peter Werner (episode 1.08 "Lucky")

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Michael Angeli writer (episode 1.03 "Couple of Choices, A") (episode 1.05 "In Sickness and Adultery")
Glenn Gordon Caron creator
Glenn Gordon Caron writer (episode 1.01 "Pilot") (episode 1.02 "Suspicions and Certainties") (episode 1.03 "Couple of Choices, A") (episode 2.01 "When Push Comes to Shove: Part 2")
Moira Dekker writer (episode 1.06 "Coming Soon") (episode 1.09 "Coded") (episode 1.15 "Penny for Your Thoughts") (as Moira Kirland)
Chris Dingess writer (episode 1.10 "Other Side of the Tracks, The") (episode 1.12 "Priest, a Doctor and a Medium Walk into an Execution Chamber, A") (episode 1.16 "When Push Comes to Shove: Part 1")
René Echevarria writer (episode 1.04 "Night of the Wolf") (episode 1.11 "I Married a Mind Reader") (episode 1.14 "In the Rough")
David Folwell writer (episode 1.08 "Lucky")
Melinda Hsu writer (episode 1.07 "Jump Start") (episode 1.13 "Being Mrs. O'Leary's Cow")
Bruce Miller writer (episode 2.02 "Song Remains the Same, The")

Cast (in credits order)
Patricia Arquette .... Allison Dubois
Miguel Sandoval .... D.A. Manuel Devalos
Sofia Vassilieva .... Ariel Dubois
Maria Lark .... Bridgette Dubois
Jake Weber .... Joe Dubois

Regular guests:
David Cubitt .... Detective Lee Scanlon / Det. Lee Scanlon (12 episodes)
Tina DiJoseph .... The Mayor's Liaison / Lynn DiNovi - Mayor's Liaison / ... (7 episodes)
Kendahl King .... Devalos' Assistant / Devalos's Assistant (7 episodes)
Seth T. Walker .... Detective / Forensic Tech (5 episodes)
Saida Pagan .... Morning News Anchor / TV Reporter (3 episodes)