Medium - Season 7, The Final Season [DVD]

I'm not quite sure what happened here, I still can't believe it and it saddens me to break it to those viewers who have loyally followed and derived enjoyment from this series as I have during its run on television, but the final seventh outing of this superb show ends on a deeply disappointing and deflating note.

To preface, I learned that season seven would be the final season after I finished viewing season six and was surprised to say the least, especially so since in my opinion there had been no decline in either the consistency or inventiveness displayed by the writers (notably Glenn Gordon Caron) throughout the previous six seasons. The idea that the network executives/producers of the show had decided to end the series on a high-note seemed premature, but perhaps laudable (considering how many television series out-stay their welcome to some degree). This is in spite of the fact that I personally hadn't observed any signs that this brilliant show was growing stale. But whether that decision was correct remains debatable, all I do know is that the final seventh season does little justice to the quality of the series as a whole.

Firstly, there will be disappointment for many with the thirteen-episode format (the fewest number since season four's sixteen). But as an avid viewer of `Medium' from the very beginning I clung to the hope that the potential for this (admittedly truncated) season given the wealth of material developed in the lives of the Dubois family in previous seasons would be fulfilled. There was so much possibility to pick up old story-threads and re-visit memorable characters from previous seasons, but the only storyline that's continued here in the final season is that of Joe's mother.

The majority of the seventh season is comprised of those episodes with the familiar formula that `Medium' has always executed so well, which is the contained, stand-alone murder investigations that often result in the capture/untimely death of the obligatory male offender with a unique motive and/or peculiar fetish. I suppose I can't complain that so many of these episodes in the final season take advantage of that formula which has proved so successful for the series in the past, I only wish that more episodes had centered on/explored the family lives of the members of the Dubois household.

...Mild Spoilers...

In the episode previously mentioned involving Joe's mother, entitled `Blood On The Tracks' (episode 10) there is an allusion by one of the characters that there are dark days ahead for Alison, as a result of which I expected a satisfying build-up to a gripping climax. Instead there is an episode involving Alison's brother, played by David Arquette- who please correct me if I'm wrong has never appeared in the series before- which consequently seemed to lack continuity, followed by a stand-alone murder investigation episode and ending with a time-travel episode that simply left me cold...

Episode 13- `Me Without You', the final episode of this series beloved by some many for its warmth and intrigue for six years is badly and unsatisfyingly constructed. It makes a mockery of all those storylines from previous seasons in which Alison travelled back and forth through time, learning new truths about herself and her loved ones as she made her journey. The best way for me to articulate my dissatisfaction with this episode is that I imagine the creator and writers began with the germ of an idea as to the note upon which they wanted this series to end, but the way in which they went about it tramples uncaringly on the lives of the main characters. The final scene is exactly how (knowing the characters of Alison and Joe as we all imagine we do) you would want this show to end, but it leaves a very bitter taste knowing how they and their loved ones arrived at that point.

Alison and Joe deserved a true happy ending. Perhaps it depends on your perspective whether they got one, but their daughters certainly didn't and therefore, for me, the ending just didn't ring true.

Well I love Medium in general and if I judge it episode by episode, this season delivers great supernatural crime drama just as well as the previous seasons. Now to look at it as the final season. Firstly, this season was cut shorter than it was meant to be, because we mustn't fool ourselves into thinking that TV networks really care about devoted fans. As a result of this the seasons ending was rushed... and when I say rushed, I do mean incredibly rushed. I actually loved the idea for how the series ended, but surely they weren't so rushed that it couldn't have been a two parter? Pretty much every episode before it was a stand alone story and one of them could have been sacrificed in order to have a two part finale. Unfortunately I felt the story was way to big for one episode and we end up skipping years into the future a couple of times in order to get a whole lifetime worth of story into 40 minutes (pretty crazy). The actresses who play Ariel, Bridget and Marie are not seen after the opening credits (other than in a final cast montage at the end) due to this flash forward, which I found quite disspointing. The idea however was a good one, it all just happened a bit too fast for me to really appreciate it.

It really saddens me that I couldn't be more enthusiastic writing this review, because Medium has been such a great series... I truly think Medium season 7 could have been an amazing finale if the network hadn't cut them down in what was already going to be their last season! That's modern TV for you.

Have watched all the previous seasons with my wife and we have enjoyed them all but we both felt a little short changed by this final season it was as if the writers had run out of ideas but had to end it somehow but were not sure how to do it and then finished it with a wimper.