(S03E04) Mark Sheppard makes his return in what has become a yearly tradition for Medium. Fans of the show will remember him from the season one episode "Penny For Your Thoughts" and season two's "Doctor's Orders." And, of course, fans of TV will remember him as Badger on Firefly. We still don't know whether there will be a fourth season of Medium yet, but if there is, I would be all for a fourth Dr. Walker episode. I get the feeling that the powers that be at the show might be into it as well, given the "we'll just have to wait and see" ending of last nights show. IfMagazine did an interview with Sheppard in August that goes into some of the details about how the Walker story came to be.Things got off to a great start with Allison's first dream. Seeing the death of Maura, and the reaction of Charles, explained a lot about just how he came to be the monster that he is now. And it is worth noting that the doctor who delivered the baby was played by Michael Fairman, who played Niska on Firefly. It was fun to see the two of them together. That couldn't have just been a coincidence. The rest of the dreams about Charles were just as good, and I thought the way they paced them in the show fit perfectly. Kudos to Sheppard who was good in both roles. The scene where Jack comes clean to Allison about the voice and how he has controlled it with alcohol for all these years was especially good. Giving Jack an American accent was a nice touch as it made for that great reveal moment in the shop when it's clear that Charles is now in control.

The relationship between Jack and Amanda was a little convoluted. I'm still not sure on just why Jack would have gone along with the long term payment plan for car repairs, other than just the fact that she was a cute girl. Maybe that's enough. That said, I loved the result. Finally seeing what happened in the car and finding out that Charles was controlling Amanda the whole time caught me by surprise. How creepy was her question, "I never wondered what it would be like to slice a girl open, touch her blood with my fingertips, taste it with my tongue?" Up to that moment I was leaning toward the idea that a little alcohol all the time controlled the voice, but too much gave it all the power.

This was kind of a light week for Scanlon and Devalos. I do like how Scanlon always gives in to Allison, no matter how crazy what she is telling him seems to him, but he can't do it until he has put up a fight. And Devalos was solid, if nothing spectacular. That was a nice tough guy D.A. scene when he was trying to get Jack to confess.

There wasn't much story for the rest of the DuBois clan this week either. Ariel's newfound interest in current events made for a cute scene when she was bargaining for more TV time. 10 hours a week? Sounds reasonable for a kid her age, but for me, that's Saturday. I did like the scenes with Joe. Their relationship is always handled so well. It was just a small part of the episode, but it gives the show a certain perspective, and also gave them a reason to add a great line for Joe, "Oh good, I was afraid I was going to have to keep after you to eat something from the alcohol food group."

The writing of tonight's episode was outstanding. There were a few times where I thought, "Ahhhhh, now I get it." only to have the next twist in the plot take the story off in another direction. That makes for fun viewing. The ending, with Allison realizing the dreams were coming from Maura, and that she needed help in stopping Charles worked perfectly. As did getting rid of Charles, but in a less than final way, so the possibility that he will resurface somewhere else is still out there. Overall, an excellent episode. Season three is off to a great start. My one complaint is that they haven't moved it to Monday after Heroes. It seems like that would be a nice fit.