‘Medium’ Recap: Volvo. For Life. Or Until You Get a Psychic GMC.

Last night’s episode of Medium started with a bang, or rather, a crash. A startled Allison Dubois (Patricia Arquette) jolts from her bed after dreaming about a startling car crash involving her daughters. True to her psychic powers, the next morning she is awakened by a phone call informing her that her beloved Volvo has been struck. Luckily, Allison arrives on the scene to find the only casualty being her beige 1990 station wagon. Little does she know this will set off a chain of events that will help her solve a double murder, a hijacking, a kidnapping, a hostage situation, a bank robbery, and even a little identity fraud.

After Allison’s poor Volvo is laid to rest, she finds herself cruising in a brand new GMC Terrain with all the bells and whistles. While marveling over its endless luxury features, Alison finds that her new GMC comes equipped with both a Bluetooth and some psychic ability. As she trolls around town, she realizes she can tap into the conversations going on in the cars around her, allowing her to overhear a carjacking occurring down the street. As the episode continues, the car itself seems to rival both Allison and her daughter, Ariel, in psychic prowess.

The most awe inspiring thing about this episode was its ability to be both outlandishly farfetched while painfully predictable. With the exception of husband Joe Dubois, played by Jack Weber, the characters are at best one-dimensional, and at worst, annoying.

That aside, the episode might actually go down as the best GMC commercial ever made. If the new Terrain can look that stylish and solve felonies, the American auto industry might just have a prayer.