Get ready "Medium" fans because the writers are about to try the impossible: make Cynthia Keener (Anjelica Huston), the often cold and strangely angry missing person investigator, a relatable character. Watch as the audience is dazzled by a sorrowful backstory full of regret, tragedy, and irony. This show is no stranger to surprising its viewers with making anyone - killer, district attorney, sleazy lawyer - interesting and compelling, but Cynthia has been a difficult one. She is given a two-part episode to turn her apathetic money grabbing ways into something else entirely. Will it succeed?

Part 1 of "Wicked Game" begins immediately by giving Cynthia viewer sympathy. A young woman has broken down in a rain storm and is kidnapped by an unknown man. This young woman is Susie Keener, Cynthia's daughter. It begins to make sense why she would be so fervent to save others ... and also why she masks her pain with an indifferent mercenary behavior. A woman who tracks down kidnappers loses her daughter to one. Ouch. In any case, Cynthia encourages Allison to find a missing girl, but all Allison can do is see exactly what happened to Susie in excruciating detail. Susie was placed in a basement in a cupboard. There is another young woman named Joanna, who has been a victim for quite some time.

In time, Susie realizes that they are being held just two blocks away from her own home. She is convinced her mother will find them. Once seeing this, Allison confronts Cynthia with her knowledge, and they set out to find the building where Susie was held. In an incredibly believable and agonizing scene, Cynthia breaks down in the basement - now remodeled - where her daughter was kept and most likely murdered. The cruelty of knowing she was a mere two blocks away, while Cynthia searched for nine years, is heart breaking. They track down the mother of Joanna after Allison sees in a dream that Joanna was brutally murdered in front of Susie's eyes. Instead, they are shocked to find out that Joanna has been alive all this time!

Cynthia fires Allison in a fit of rage, but in the end her current kidnapping victim Melanie is found along with Joanna in the basement of a man's house. He has been killed in self-defense, and both girls are alive. Case closed? Not if the horrifying last scene has anything to do with it; Joanna was in on it from the beginning! She is no victim but a kidnapper herself, the creator of the wicked games that earn this episode its title.

On the personal side, Joe is miserable because he is getting no help from his unemployment agency, and he is a failure at helping Bridgette with her science project. However, he has some prophetic dreams that all encourage him to focus on solar power inventions. He is excited and believes that starting his own business may be his destiny. He needs 30,000 dollars, which they do not have, but their daughters do for their college fund. Allison immediately slams the idea down, which causes a fight, and Joe walks out.

This was a fascinating, intricate episode that succeeded in making Cynthia a character to empathize with, if not entirely like. This may be thanks to the admirable acting job on the part of Angelica Huston. She has always been an enormously talented actress, and so far utilized poorly due to the negativity of her character. The scene in the basement was raw and harrowing to watch but beautiful in its simplicity. The shots from next week show Cynthia to be taking charge and meeting the sociopathic Joanna head on, which should be quite entertaining. This show may have room for Cynthia after all; bravo, "Medium."

On the subject of Joe and Allison's fight, both sides are valid. To take a chance when they are already having financial troubles, and possibly steal the future of their children away, is simply too much. On the other hand, Joe has always supported Allison when others may have given up on her, and to have his passion slapped down without consideration is unjust. Where this will take them and their relationship is unclear, but it is far from over, and that is why you should all tune in for Part 2!

Story by Chelsea 'Dee' Doyle
Starpulse contributing writer