Ghost Whisperer: The Third Season – DVD Review

By June L. Sep 2, 2008, 16:46 GMT

Melinda Gordon communicates with earthbound spirits ghosts who cling to the living because they have unfinished business that prevents them from moving beyond the familiar plane of existence that we call life. Inspired in part by the work of famed medium James Van Praagh and of Mary Ann Winkowski a real-life communicator with spirits GHOST WHISPERER explores the spiritual side of life and death as Melinda navigates among the dead ...more

The third season of Ghost Whisperer takes a turn to a darker level of supernatural than we have seen on the show previously. 

In the past, Melinda (Jennifer Love Hewitt) has dealt with spirits, some of them angry and confused, but she has been able to help them cross to the light.  Now she is seeing some that don’t want to go, but rather plan on staying put to cause trouble.

In the commentary, John Gray series creator says that a conscious decision was made to move the storyline away from the universal ghost stories for the third season, and give it a more personal slant, by focusing an ongoing storyline on Melinda and her family. 

At the end of season two Melinda learns that she possibly has a brother.  As the season three begins, Melinda is searching for the truth about her father, and why he left when she was a child, as well as clues to the identity of her brother. 

As she searches she encounters spirits that also feed her growing obsession with the thought that there is something she needs to address in Grandview, and it is underground. 

This combination of elements make for a complex background for the action of the series, the malevolent spirits essentially in Melinda’s own backyard are juxtaposed with the idyllic environs of the village of Grandview. 

This is in a way a paradigm for Melinda herself, outwardly beautiful and living an idyllic life, but inwardly struggling with the secret of her abilities and the confusion they often bring to her existence.

The first of these is Haunted Hero, which examines the plight of a returning Iraq war hero who is haunted by the men who were killed while under his command. 

The very real issue of post-traumatic-stress syndrome is addressed, as well as the feelings of survivor guilt, and family grief at the loss of a loved one.  It is well written, beautifully acted, and balanced in all the storytelling. 

The second episode Unhappy Medium, pits Melinda’s real abilities against those of a famous psychic known for his books on the subject.  Coming from opposite points of view, they actually learn from each other. 

Finally the episode Horror Show was a treat in the fact that it pays homage to so many pieces of the horror/supernatural genre that are familiar to audiences.  A young girl is haunted by the ghost of a film director!  These are just three shows from a season that had many outstanding episodes, and interesting moments.

Ghost Whisperer: The Third Season is presented on five discs attractively packaged in three plastic folders boxed together.  The folders are illustrated with photographic art from the series and contain program notes and episode summaries.  Playing time for the episodes is over 13 hours. 

Special Features are a treat for Ghost Whisperer fans, and they included The Other Side Webseries II, Welcome to the Underworld, Bringing the Spirits to Life featurette, Interactive Mashup where you create your own cemetery scene, an Interactive Trip through a Haunted House, an animated short showing what happened to Melinda between season 2 and season 3, Melinda’s Haunted Diary an interactive activity, Evolution of Melinda where viewers can see the fashion development of three seasons of the character, and Payne’s World featurette, in which Jay Mohr talks about his character, ghosts and his own experiences.  There are also selected episode commentaries by John Gray, James Chressanthis and P. K. Simonds.

There are some excellent episodes throughout the season, breaking away from the pattern of identifying the restless spirit and crossing it over. 

Ghost Whisperer: The Third Season is now available at Amazon. As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.