Medium – The Fifth Season (2009/CBS DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: B- Extras: C+ Episodes: C+
In his
biggest success since Moonlighting
two decades ago, Glenn Gordon Caron found a fine match-up between Patricia
Arquette and psychic Allison Dubois, the woman she plays who turns out to exist
in real life. As a result, instead of
the show being just another soulless X-Files
imitator, Medium is a hit that is
still on TV. However, its success is as
much due to the appeal of Arquette as anything; a character actress who has
occasionally been a female lead deservedly finding a great match between her
talents and a character to run with.
The show
is a well-written show that can be smart, but can also be uneven. In addition, since it is not being a supernatural
genre show outright, it is a drama. Too
bad it is the kind of drama that can be flat and may keep the show commercially
viable, but also makes it too much like its police procedural counterparts. Yet here too, more good actors save the show
from its limits, including Jake Weber (usually playing an unlikable character)
as her great husband, the underrated Miguel Sandoval as the D.A. and a group of
actors in general that have convincing chemistry that they are these people and
always have been. That is one way to
survive the TV grind.
All 18
hour-long shows are presented over 5 DVDs in convenient slender cases in a
paperboard slidecase. Having missed
earlier seasons, I will have to catch up sometimes (maybe on Blu-ray) but you
can pick up here and the show is still worth a look.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is a little soft and has some motion
blur, but the overall shooting is good and though the cliché of shaky camera
work can be seen, it is limited. The
Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is healthy and more state-of-the-art than many new TV on
DVD sets we have encountered of late, so that helps and dialogue recording is
on the full side. Extras include a
making of featurette, Curious Maria,
Script To Screen: “Apocalypse… Now?”
and Jake & Patricia Q & A.
- Nicholas Sheffo
