Medium: The Final Season
Directed by Larry Teng et al
Studio: CBS/Paramount
Year: 2010-2011
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 anamorphic
Running Time: 563 minutes
Rating: NR
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1, 2.0 stereo English
Subtitles: SDH
Region: 1
MSRP: $ 42.99
Release Date: June 21, 2011
Review Date: June 17, 2011
The Season
4.5/5
All good things must come to an end, and in the case of CBS’ wonderfully creative and involving fantasy procedural Medium, its seventh season proved to be its last, the show a victim of an ill-advised time switch into an impossible early hour (8 p.m.) that was clearly not beneficial to the show. (Interestingly, the show won its timeslot more often than not and had ratings on par with or superior to every other series CBS tried in that slot this season.) Despite the fact that the network cut its full season order to merely thirteen episodes once it was clear the ratings weren’t what the network had hoped for the hour, the show continued to shine in presenting imaginative plots with good mysteries and acted expertly by its veteran cast and some fascinating guest stars. It may have had a truncated last season, but the show went out with its head held high.
Things get off to a terrific start with a Freaky Friday-inspired plot for the season premiere where Allison (Emmy-winning Patricia Arquette) and Bridgette (Maria Lark) have a body swap just as Bridgette has attracted the interest of a new boy in middle school and Allison is striving to solve the murder of a homeless man made to drink drain cleaner on the pretext of its being alcohol and caught on video for the amusement of internet patrons looking for some sick laughs. A couple of this season’s episodes involve Allison with possession: in one, with a fresh skin graft on her burned arm, her left hand begins having a mind of its own. In another, Allison’s brother Michael (David Arquette taking over the role from the original Ryan Hurst who’s now on Sons of Anarchy) gets taken over when he sleeps by a self-help guru (John Glover) who has his own sinister agenda.
There is a two-episode story arc pitting Allison against her close friend Detective Lee Scanlon (David Cubitt) as they work through an extreme difference of opinion dealing with his evil older brother while other episodes put Allison in harm’s way involving a potential explosion in the heart of the city and a later-in-the-season kidnapping story where Allison is captured to provide a desperate man with information about his missing wife and baby. During the short season, Allison, hubby Joe (Jake Weber), and District Attorney Manuel Devalos (Miguel Sandoval) all make life-changing decisions which cause both major and minor conflicts, and there is closure with Joe’s mother (Cathy Baker) who had figured in several previous season storylines. Bruce Gray drops by a few times as Joe’s deceased father to talk with his daughter-in-law and with Ariel (Sofia Vassilieva) who’s off to Dartmouth after four episodes not to return until the series finale, an episode that (while borrowing a motif from the series finale of Six Feet Under) manages to both involve and truly move the longtime viewer.
As always, the cast of regulars is superb, and the staff writers make the family dynamic with Joe, Allison, and their children one of the most believable and enjoyable on television. Sadly, there weren’t enough episodes to bring in favorites from previous seasons like Captain Push (Arliss Howard) of the Texas Rangers or insane butcher Dr. Charles Walker (Mark Sheppard) for one last dance with Allison. Still, these thirteen episodes contain no duds, and some are as fine as any of the mysteries ever concocted for the show.
Here are the thirteen episodes contained on four discs in this seventh season set:
1 – Bring Your Daughter to Work Day
2 – The Match Game
3 – Means and Ends
4 – How to Kill a Good Guy
5 – Talk to the Hand
6 – Where Were You When . . . ?
7 – Native Tongue
8 – Smoke Damage
9 – The People in Your Neighborhood
10 – Blood on the Tracks
11 – Only Half Lucky
12 – Labor Pains
13 – Me Without You
Video Quality
4/5
The program is presented in the widescreen television aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is anamorphically enhanced. Sharpness is very good with the show with only the occasional soft shot cropping up. Color is solid, and flesh tones are very natural and appealing. Black levels are more than acceptable, and the images are perfectly clean with only some slight aliasing cropping up on some tight line structures occasionally. Each episode has been divided into 6 chapters.
Audio Quality
4/5
The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track uses music for the primary surround element of the audio mix. Dialogue is well recorded (luckily since the show relies very much on talk) and has been placed in the center channel. Surround channels aren’t exploited for optimum use with various ambient sounds, but there’s a decent amount of deep bass present in the music and occasional explosions to give the LFE channel something to do.
Special Features
4/5
All of the featurettes are presented in anamorphic widescreen.
“The Making of Medium: Season 7” summarizes all thirteen of the season’s episodes with comments from cast and crew about their contributions. These summaries contain major spoilers and should be avoided until all of the season’s episodes have been watched. It runs 23 ½ minutes.
“Memories of Medium” discusses the genesis of the show from the real Allison Dubois, producers Glenn Gordon Caron, Kelsey Grammer, and others as cast and crew name their own personal favorite episodes from the run of the series. It lasts 21 ¾ minutes.
“Medium: Shadows & Light” introduces us to director of photography Larry Reibman who has been with the show since the second season. Cast and crew sing his praises for 7 ¾ minutes.
“Meet Detective Lee Scanlon” gives us some background on the character of Lee Scanlon and the actor who portrays him – David Cubitt who discusses his lack of interest in the show at the beginning and also presents his wife and children to the camera. It runs 6 ¾ minutes.
“Medium Around the World” chooses select scenes from the series and lets us hear them translated into Spanish, Japanese, French, Portuguese, Russian, and German. It runs for 6 ¾ minutes.
The gag reel presents highlights from previous season’s mishaps before concentrating on this season's flubs. This runs 6 ¾ minutes.
The disc contains promo ads for the CBS/Paramount drama series and The United States of Tara.
In Conclusion
4/5 (not an average)
A wonderfully involving dramatic series comes to a glorious end with Medium: The Final Season. A nice selection of bonus features along with strong video and audio transfers help make this a TV box set worth recommending.
Matt Hough
Charlotte, NC
