In the season three finale of "Medium," the future looked very bleak for the Dubois family. Allison and Joe were both out of a job, and Allison was publicly known as a psychic. Manuel Devalos lost the DA position to his once-friend, Tom Van Dyke.

This season continued the despairing trend by having Ariel be tormented at school for her mother's special powers and Allison being blacklisted in general by the police due to Van Dyke's dislike of her. Joe had very few options for a job, and none of them were interested in hiring him.

It is safe to say that the end of last season and all of season focused on a darker and bleaker path, and therefore it was up to the writers to right the Dubois world again. The audience wants to see their heroes struggle, but they also want the heroes to overcome adversity and be the stronger for it. Finally, Joe and Allison have done so, thanks to this week's season finale, "Drowned World," and I hope I was not alone when I breathed a sign of relief.

Allison is hired by Charles Winters to go to his house and decide whether or not it is haunted. His wife Kelly keeps hearing water noises and a baby crying, and she is terrified of what it means. Allison agrees, but when she arrives at the house she feels nothing out of the ordinary. She is concerned about Kelly's mental status, but then she has a dream about a woman drowning her baby in that same house. This convinces Kelly that they must leave, but Charles refuses because of how much debt they are already in. Kelly then commits suicide in the bathtub, and she sends a letter to Allison implicating Charles in a murder cover up. His father arrives just in time to watch his son get arrested for murder.

As the police investigate the suicide/possible murder, Devalos is shocked that Van Dyke quietly quits his job and hands the reins back over to him. It turns out that Van Dyke has terminal cancer, and he wants to speak to Allison. Devalos is now back where he belongs, and that means Lee and Allison are also back at his side. Let's hear a round of "Yay!" This does mean that after Allison figures out the case and the involvement of Mr. Winters, she has a strong support system in the police again. Kelly and Charles were actually half-siblings, and Kelly's mother murdered her baby brother by drowning because Mr. Winters left her. She planned on killing Kelly too, but he got there in time. This was Kelly's plan - to ruin Charles' and therefore her father's life. He covered up the murder of the baby, and Devalos promises to find some way to charge him, while letting Charles go free.

The "Fatal Attraction" story takes a wonderful spin when Meghan returns and Joe quits the company. She points out that she owns more than half of the company, and then she agrees to pay him $250,000 if he sells the rest of his idea to her. He willingly does so, but then Kelly Preston shines as she mockingly tells Joe it was all a set-up. She planned from the beginning to make him uncomfortable enough to quit and then sell is idea for $2 million. She sold it to Terry Cavanagh, the big shot businessman he was introduced to last week. Poor naïve Joe taken in by the vicious Preston. That was far better than her being a psychopathic stalker, and "Medium" writers should be saluted for the twist.

Just when things were looking down for Joe, he meets with Terry and he is offered a job to keep working on his idea. So this season ends with Joe and Allison happily employed and Devalos back in office. Everything is how it should be, but they went through a remarkably uphill journey to get there. Looking back over season four, it held a lot of rough patches, both in story and in writing, but overall it was necessary and definitely came through by the end.

Things to look forward to next season will be Allison's new position as a well known psychic in the community. So far since she came out there has been ridicule and disbelief, with some support sprinkled in, but Devalos made it very clear to everyone that Allison works for him using her gifts now. He put her front and center in his campaign, and there is no reason for her to hide. Will this be good, or will it be bad? What about the effects this will have on her family and children? I guess we will just have to find out next time, but thankfully for the fans, "Medium" will be back for a fifth season, so enjoy the summer and get ready for a new exciting season of dreams and ghosts!

Story by Chelsea 'Dee' Doyle
Starpulse contributing writer