Last season's finale was a doozy; Melinda was trying to stop a person claiming to be her long-lost brother from luring tons of souls away from the light and keeping them Earth-bound. As those events closed off, Melinda was knocked unconscious, and received a vision of her Dad trying to tell her something cryptic about her family's past. The weird part is, her family had lost contact with her Dad many years ago when he left them, so does this mean he is now dead?
Well, the story of Melinda's Dad (and quite frankly, her family history) is part of the season's story arc. The other part reveals even more of Grandview's deep dark secrets, and we finally get a chance to see what lies underneath the seemingly pleasant, but over-haunted community (literally).
As with most shows of this nature, there are plot-advancing episodes stitched in with singular, one-shot stories. It seems that this season actually falls a bit more on the season-plot (whereas the past two season's plots were rarely touched on).
As Melinda uncovers the town's dark and dank secrets, we also meet a few more people with her gift. For one, there is her brother Gabriel (who is actually her half brother via her father). Then there is a little girl who runs away from her family and is, for some reason, drawn to Grandview (as many with this talent seem to be). Melinda also encounters a couple of ghosts who had her gift while they were alive. But both of these characters have a much more intimate association with Melinda, even if she doesn't realize it.
Jim (Melinda's husband played by David Conrad) also once again brings up the possibility of having a child, but it isn't until Professor Payne's (Jay Mohr) dead wife makes a reappearance that Melinda sheds the last of her worries and decides its time to start working on having a child.
Other good episodes include Ned's first appearance in the season (quite a few episodes in). Interestingly enough, Ned (Melinda's employee, Delia's [Camryn Manheim] son) is now played by Christopher Sanders instead of the younger Tyler Patrick Jones from the previous season. In his first episode, there seems to be a haunting at Ned's school, and Melinda and the group have to sift through anonymous online posts, text messages and all those other cool, hip things kids do these days.
Other good episodes include an Iraqi vet who returns home and is haunted by the events from the war (again, literally), a woman who has suddenly disappeared from all of her photographs and "Unhappy Medium" that features Orlando Jones as another psychic (but a fake one this time) looking to gain some more notoriety.
The Third Season takes the series down a much darker path as the spirits become much more powerful and aggressive. The Ghost Whisperer also has quite a few special features. Last season's Webisodes return in "The Other Side II" where Zach has fallen to the dark-side of the afterlife and struggles to redeem himself. Interestingly enough, I didn't watch these shorts until seeing the main feature. Which means, when a random ghost shows up at the end of the season and asks for Melinda's help, things seemed sort of off. Actually, that random ghost that appears for about 3 minutes in the show is Zach from the Webisodes.
Other special features include some documentaries about the new set designs and the direction The Third Season takes. You definitely want to wait until after you've seen the season before watching these.
It goes without saying that followers of the series should check on this season. If you are at all interested in Melinda's continuing battles with the darkness, or are curious about the secrets under Grandview, then this set should be bought. As for newcomers to the series, while this might not be the most ideal place to jump in, it won't leave you completely clueless and you will probably pick up all the relationships before too long.
