Medium Episode 4.09 Wicked Game (1)

In a thunderstorm, a young woman is peering under the hood of her car, talking to her mother on her cell phone. She hopes she can use her mom's AAA number, but gets a lecture instead. Annoyed, she hangs up after spying a guy with a pick-up. He's a little odd, refusing to answer her questions, but he jumps her car and gets it started. The man asks her to roll down her window and punches her unconscious. Cynthia wakes up gasping for Susie. Allison wakes up and puts it all together.

At breakfast the girls chide Joe, spying the bathing suit edition of his sports magazine. Mommy doesn't get magazines with guys in bathing suits on the cover� Allison does some research and learns hat Cynthia's daughter Susie went missing in 1998 and was never found. Joe recommends not pouring salt in Cynthia's wounds, but Allison knows she's dreamed about Susie for a reason.

Allison meets with Cynthia about the case of 18-year-old Melanie, who's disappeared from her parents' home. Cynthia thinks she's rich and spoiled, mad at her parents and out on a shopping spree. Cynthia asks Allison to listen to taped interviews with Melanie's friends to see if she picks up anything. Hoping to prompt a confession from Cynthia about Susie, Allison strongly underlines her empathy for Melanie's mother, but Cynthia's a vault.

Allison is making dinner with Joe and is frustrated because she didn't confront Cynthia. Bridgette is also frustrated, with her science project. She's been given a solar cell to light a Christmas bulb, and she thinks it's stupid. Joe suggests using the solar cell to power something more "cool," and Bridgette runs to get an old boombox from the garage.

Susie screams and cries while bound and gagged in the closet of a basement cell. She kicks the doors open to be confronted by Joanna, another captive, chained to a cot. Joanna informs her that there's always two of them, one for their psycho captor to play with, the other to watch, and there's no one to hear the screams. When they hear someone coming, Susie scrambles back into the closet. The man has a gun, but Allison wakes up before seeing his face.

Joe checks in for his monthly interview at the unemployment office, and is surprised when the guy tells him that whatever he's doing to find a job, it's not working. He wants to know why Joe is waiting for someone to give him permission to earn a living. Later, Joe is bummed when he and Bridgette can't get enough juice out of the solar cell to power the boombox. He feels like a failure. Allison doesn't have much sympathy for his pity party, since she's been listening to the tapes, and hasn't an inkling about what happened to Melanie.

Overnight, the wind picks up. Joe wakes up, thinking the lawn furniture's blowing around, only to find the bikini model from his magazine on the back porch. She's tanning in the middle of the night on a special chaise that Joe invented, which amplifies moonlight. Joe's a genius! She asks him to put lotion on her back, reminding him that it's only a dream, and no one understands that better than Allison. Joe wakes up.

Susie is asking Joanna if it's possible that they're already dead, when she hears a distinctive church bell, and knows that they must be within two blocks of her mother's house. There's no way she's going to die if she's only two blocks from her mother. Allison wakes up, and before long, she's confronted Cynthia about Susie.

Cynthia admits she never tells anyone about Susie; it's her own, ironic cross to bear. Allison thinks they can find her, by looking for homes with fallout shelters built 40-50 years ago. Cynthia muses that she returns to Phoenix every year hoping to find a clue to Susie's whereabouts, but never has, until now. They visit Miss Fogarty at 450 Natches Road, and Allison knows it's the right place. In 1998, the previous owner rented the place out. Cynthia breaks down, realizing that Susie was held captive blocks away from her old home.

Returning home, Allison hugs Ariel too hard, and follows pounding music to the garage, where Joe has had a breakthrough, using mirrors to power all kinds of things off of Bridgette's solar cell. Allison puts a damper on his enthusiasm, wondering how mirrors can power things when there's no sun. She's distracted by the case, and dreams that Joanna finds a paper clip to pick the lock around her ankle.

Returning home, Allison hugs Ariel too hard, and follows pounding music to the garage, where Joe has had a breakthrough, using mirrors to power all kinds of things off of Bridgette's solar cell. Allison puts a damper on his enthusiasm, wondering how mirrors can power things when there's no sun. She's distracted by the case, and dreams that Joanna finds a paper clip to pick the lock around her ankle.

Joanna's mother is confused by Allison's questions, explaining that Joanna never went missing in 1998; they just spoke yesterday. Cynthia apologizes to Joanna's mother. Furious, Cynthia fires Allison. That night, Joe has a fabulous cartoon dream that inspires him with ideas for all kinds of solar power inventions. When Allison wakes up, he's supercharged, and proposes a plan for his own business, believing he's finally on the verge of his destiny. All he needs is $30,000, which Allison claims they don't have.

Joe asks Allison not to pick up the phone, but it's Cynthia, who apologizes, and tells Allison to turn on the TV news. A man holding two girls captive was just killed by one of them. The two captives: Melanie and Joanna. Cynthia offers Allison her job back Allison hangs up, mystified as to why she's still dreaming about Susie. Feeling miffed amidst his epiphany, Joe points out they do have $30,000 in the girls' college fund. This seed money could mean millions for college. Allison flatly refuses to touch the fund.

Angry that Allison doesn't believe in him, after he's had so much faith in her, Joe huffs out. Allison notices that the guy who abducted Melanie and Joanna is not the guy from her dream. Just then, a fax comes in with a photo of the guy who lived at 450 Natches in 1998 - it's Susie's captor, Peter Connolly. Allison calls Cynthia, but she wants Susie's case closed. Allison goes back to bed to dream about Susie.

With Joanna and their captor gone, Susie picks her ankle lock and runs for the front door. Joanna whips open the door to laugh crazily at Susie. Peter tells Joanna that she "sure can pick'em," and Joanna agrees. It's time for a bath, so she smashes Susie over the head, knocking her out. Allison wakes up to the voices of her daughters, calling her to get breakfast. To be continued...