Wow. Just, wow. There was a lot going on in this episode, wasn’t there? See what’s going on in this picture? Yes, that’s D.A. Devalos as Rainn Wilson’s Rollo and Lynn as Juno herself. When I first saw the chucks, the swinging jug of Sunny D, and the pregnant belly bulging out of a red zip up hoodie, I thought “Oh dear God why??” But it was totally worth it to hear Devalos say “Your eggo is preggo.” And thankfully, it was a one-time joke that they moved on from, because if it had been recurring throughout the episode it would’ve killed it for me.
On to the rest of the episode. This for me was just outstanding. It was everything I always loved about Medium and more. Allison wasn’t playing dumb — it helped that her dreams were rather straightforward this time around. The whole main plot was fantastic. And we got Blythe Danner in a superb guest role as the mother of the missing woman, who ended up being the one who made her go missing.
I admit it was almost a little too easy for me to figure out what was going on. Maybe this is the result of watching too much TV (ya think?), but as soon as Louise (Danner) said that she had lost her glasses, it was pretty obvious that she had lost them in the disposing of her daughter Meredith. I was, however, all wrong about her reason for doing so. I thought maybe she had some psycho possessive thing going on with her step-granddaughter Phoebe, but it turns out she was saving her from Meredith’s Munchausen by Proxy.
I was confused like Allison as to why Louise would kill her daughter instead of go to the police, but it broke my heart a little to hear her tell that she was her daughter, and her responsibility. She wouldn’t let her husband, son-in-law, or Phoebe know what Meredith had done to all of them. Blythe Danner is such a wonderful actress that I always enjoy seeing her, and this was no exception. She played her part perfectly, and even though we’re used to seeing her in the role of mother and grandmother, it was enough of a departure for me not to feel like it’s getting old.
Medium has been reminding me of Private Practice a little bit in that there’ve been quite a few episodes with the whole ethical dilemma thing going on. However, unlike the latter show, Medium hasn’t shoved their moral standards down our throats in such a way that it feels dogmatic, and I appreciate that.
Allison is able to go beyond the black and white and into the gray, if you’ll forgive me for using such a tired cliché (and a dumb rhyme, apparently) to figure out what is the best decision for the well-being of everyone at stake. She realized that the only thing she’d accomplish by getting Louise convicted of murder is to tear apart a family that had already gone to hell and back. Phoebe got her new heart, and with that, the family could start a new life.
What did you think of “A Taste of Her Own Medicine”? Pretty great, no?
Clacked by Cate Cropp
on Mar 03, 2009 @ 15:00 EST5EDT
I love Medium, and this was a wonderful episode. I also loved how Allison dreamed of Lynn being pregnant — and then Lynn was. And how Allison was just waiting for Scanlon to say something about the pregnancy when she was talking to him at the office. LOL! And remember, God created naps!
Allison has really been going into the gray a lot this season. Someone should get arrested sooner or later. But this was another strong episode even though every aspect of it was predictable and borrowed from something else (Juno, the Sixth Sense). Okay, except for maybe the Joe thing – I was afraid they were going to give him a serious illness.
Is it Munchausen by Proxy if she killed the ex-wife, too?
*POST AUTHOR*
The killing of the wife was not directly MbP, but I do believe she killed her to keep her from getting in the way of making Phoebe sick. I only saw Sixth Sense once so it didn’t come to mind, I actually thought of a book called Sharp Objects – great(!!!) read, but not for the timid.