TVSquad

(S01E07) The fine folks at Medium decided to kick off the new year with what I am calling an Ariel episode. And two big thumbs up to Sofia Vassilieva. I guess working along side the Golden Globe talent of Patricia Arquette must help, because she did a terrific job in a much more involved role than she usually gets.

Things got off to a creepy start with Allison's Carrie-esque dream of Ariel at the spring dance. Not only creepy because of the blood and stuff, but also because of how we know it will effect Allison. It's hard enough having all of the visions in her head, the lending library of horrible images as she puts it, but having it be one of her kids just amps it up. The parallel dream theme was set in motion very nicely in the breakfast scene when Ariel explained that she had the same dream, only with a rose petal ending, instead of the blood.

Each week the performances vary by such enormous degrees that I'm having trouble figuring out who I like the least, or, "best." What I've realized is that while Carrie, Bo and Vonzell are all very talented individuals, they suffer simply by being on the show. When Simon chewed out the band last week, he really pointed out the biggest handicap to becoming an American Idol: if the band doesn't back you up with enthusiasm, you're lost. Which is why Bo chose to go solo on his performance of "In a Dream," although it didn't work out too well, in my opinion.

This is a tough one to call. Carrie gave me chills when she did Roy Orbison's "Crying," and she gave solid performances on Air Supply's "Making Love" and Shania Twain's "Man, I Feel Like a Woman." (By the way, was she wearing hair extensions?) But solid is as solid does: it doesn't necessarily make an Idol.