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Medium: Mother's Little Helper
(S01E07) The fine folks at Medium decided to kick off the new year with what I am calling an Ariel episode. And two big thumbs up to Sofia Vassilieva. I guess working along side the Golden Globe talent of Patricia Arquette must help, because she did a terrific job in a much more involved role than she usually gets. Things got off to a creepy start with Allison's Carrie-esque dream of Ariel at the spring dance. Not only creepy because of the blood and stuff, but also because of how we know it will effect Allison. It's hard enough having all of the visions in her head, the lending library of horrible images as she puts it, but having it be one of her kids just amps it up. The parallel dream theme was set in motion very nicely in the breakfast scene when Ariel explained that she had the same dream, only with a rose petal ending, instead of the blood.
And that parallel dream theme is what made this episode. It wasn't a stretch to guess that the jilted groom was going to be the killer, but the road to get there was very interesting. Naturally, Allison was having visions of Patty, the mother, while Ariel could see what was happening to Claire, the daughter. The focus on Claire's "friendsection" account was a not so veiled nod at myspace, and probably doesn't bode well for Ariel's privacy where the computer is concerned.
It was interesting how they bounced back and forth between the two dream threads, and had both of them leading up to different killers. The big payoff at the end, with both dreams going in split screen, was very clever. It gave the whole scene a rather chaotic and unfocused feel as you weren't sure what to watch because so much is happening on both sides.
I also liked the family dynamic brought out by the dreams. Having the girls get her visions has to be one of Allison's biggest fears. And I'm sure it hurt when Ariel said that she just wants to be normal, and even more when she said, "You should have never had children. Not when you knew there was a chance they'd be like you." As usual, Joe is the voice of reason. This time, comforting Ariel as well as Allison. The scene where he explains to Ariel how she is so much like her mother, and how that is a great thing, was particularly good. He doesn't get to solve murders directly, but Joe makes a lot of what the DuBois girls do possible.
And in the end, when Ariel asks to go with Allison to identify the killer, it says a lot about just who she is. It calls back to that scene with Joe. She gets so many things from her mother, including her strength, and she's going to be just fine. The happy, king and queen of the dance, ending was a little over the top maybe, but that's ok. I like that Ariel gets a happy ending and doesn't have to grow up too fast. Overall, a very good episode. I'd put it second only to "Blood Relations" this season.
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