Either the "Medium" writers are starting to read these reviews, or they simply came to the same conclusions about the often black and white approach to the show. The best shows dance along the thin gray line and are the better for it, so it seems that "Medium" is catching on.

First there was the tragic storyline with Anjelica Huston's character avenging her daughter's murder, and now there is the return of Kurtwood Smith's character from two seasons ago. He played FBI Agent Cooper, a man with a twisted sense of vigilante justice that hunts murderers when the system fails to put them in jail. Allison told Cooper she knew what he did, but she was incapable of proving it, and so he went about his merry way.

This week's episode, "Partners In Crime," starts right out with a vision from Allison about Cooper killing a new murderer, and he is indeed back in the area hunting down a serial killer. When she goes to confront him, however, he ends up gently persuading her to help him find the man before another victim is hurt. Cooper is a tough and very intelligent man and also shows a remarkable faith in Allison. He forces the evil district attorney to hire her and give her an office, just to see the cartoon villain squirm. When Allison doubts herself, it is Cooper who reassures her, and this puts her heart at odds with her sense of morality. Despite everything, she actually likes him.

This case takes an abrupt and sad turn when Cooper acts out the first vision Allison had, but instead of him hunting the murderer it is the other way around and he is killed. No, Mr. Foreman ("That 70's Show" reference, come on, who can resist)! Now, Allison is back to being a pariah in the DA's office, and she has to explain to the ghost of Cooper what happened to him. Ouch. His spirit of vengeance will not go unquenched, and he pushes Allison to finish solving the case and find his murderer - who is not at all the man she saw in the dream … or is it?

On the family front, Joe has a meeting with some possible backers of his idea. They do not accept it, except for a woman named Meghan Doyle. She actually wants to quit her job and go into business with Joe, using his idea to start her own company. He balks at giving her the major percentage of their investment idea, but his own desire to get started on this revolutionary idea has him giving in. Allison is not happy; she's going to be less happy when she sees how pretty Kelly Preston is.

The gray morality in this episode starts and ends with Agent Cooper, but it his character as well that is a gray blend of calm confidence and violent hatred of 'evil.' Allison says herself that he must have been a good man at one point, and she is not certain where he went wrong. The truth is Cooper shakes Allison because on one hand, she had a potential friend and supporter in him. He believes in her to a higher degree than even Devalos, and there was a strange sense of true camaraderie between them before and after his death. If he had not manipulated her to cause the death of his murderer, who knows if a partnership could have truly started. That could be an entire different show, however; the psychic and the ghost, working together to stop evil!

Hopefully Kurtwood Smith will be back again, since Cooper is a ghost and thus fair game to guest star again in Allison's world. Kelly Preston will be remaining in the next three episodes at the least, causing trouble for the mostly happy Dubois couple. Joe's frustration and impatience is one that I understand; I was getting tired of him sitting around at home and moping too. Next week, Allison attempts to put together a collection of 'accidental' deaths, and it will apparently put her health in jeopardy. Be careful, Allison, without you there is no show!

Story by Chelsea 'Dee' Doyle
Starpulse contributing writer