At the end of the third season of NBC's Medium, Allison Dubois (the Emmy award-winning Patricia Arquette) had been outed as a psychic by a disreputable reporter, causing her to lose her job with the district attorney’s office. Husband Joe (Jake Weber) was also laid off from his high-paying job. Season four opens with Allison warily accepting a job from a sardonic private investigator, played by recurring guest Anjelica Huston, and Dubois daughters Ariel (Sofia Vassileva) and Bridget (Maria Lark) going through some new experiences of their own. Words: Abbie Bernstein

What effect does being out of work have on Allison and Joe?

Patricia Arquette: The fact that they’re both out of work at the beginning of this season and that, as a couple, they don’t have that much of a nest egg to fall back on is a situation a lot of Americans find themselves in. I think the strength of our show is the marital relationship and the reality of that family, how much it echoes other Americans’ experience. So we have that chance to show the struggle of when people are out of work, how quickly that affects you.

I think it’s difficult for Joe, because he’s used to being the big breadwinner for our family – he’s a mathematician, he makes a fair living. And suddenly we’re in these circumstances. I think, as a man, he’s done a good job supporting the family. That’s very difficult, to find yourself suddenly not being able to provide. So it definitely brings a lot of stress into the marriage. And there’s an episode where things kind of come to a head between us, where he wants to make a decision that I disagree with. And he kind of puts my back against the wall and demands that I see it his way, or at least acquiesce.

Jake Weber: Not a good place to put Allison Dubois. He handles it with long sufferance, as all men handle changes in family life. He’s a pretty cool cucumber. He tends to ride the highs low and the lows high, which is admirable, but he is definitely challenged this season. His identity as a man, as a provider, is challenged. His relationship with his wife is challenged radically because there are practical considerations that [Joe feels Allison] is not being responsible about. And, yeah, there’s a real hard time for him. He has to ask his mother for money. This is a man who has always been successful and provided for his family. So he has some cracks and they show up on screen.

How has it been working with Anjelica Huston?

Patricia Arquette: Oh, it’s been wonderful. I’ve always been such a big fan of hers and I was so grateful that she did us this honour to come on our show, but I was kind of shy with her. Coming from the film world, the way television works – how quickly you have to move and how little time you have to explore things – I felt kind of apologetic.

Are you approaching your characters any differently this season than you have in the past?

Patricia Arquette: I know that when I come back at the beginning of the season, I feel really rusty. And then, like any relationship, you find yourself encountering some of the same arguments or situations with each other, within scenes. And like life, it gets frustrating sometimes, and then a change will occur. So it’s this ebb and flow and then this waiting, and then change and evolution, if that makes any sense.

Jake Weber: Yeah, it really is kind of like you’ve been away from a partner for a while, and there’s always an adjustment period when you meet up again and start going through the routine that you’ve established. It’s not dissimilar to a marriage in that sense. I’m always surprised at what they come up with for these characters. For example, one of the things they’re exploring now is how Allison sort of assumes the characteristics of somebody she is channeling such as somebody that is deaf…There could be a whole world of strangeness there. We could have a whole My Left Foot situation going on.

Do you have favourite episodes?

Jake Weber: My favourite episode is still, I think, one where they were all going to make a trip somewhere and Allison kept having these dreams about a plane that was going down. So they end up driving and it was just one of the episodes in which they really integrated her psychic visions with the practical thing that was affecting the family. That’s when the show is at its best, I believe, when they integrate those two. It was a very simple storyline, just finding a missing gal, but it was quite affecting because of the way it was all integrated.

Patricia Arquette: I remember a moment where Bridget is talking about her friend at school and we’re just glad that she has a friend, because she’s a bit of an outcast or oddball at that time, a different kind of kid. We love her, but we’re glad that she seems to have found a friend who also appreciates her. And then Joe shows up at school and realises she’s talking to no one [he can see] – she’s seeing a ghost. And there’s just a beautiful moment of him watching her being in her own world, and if he didn’t know [Allison was psychic], he would think his daughter was insane.

Are you ever approached by people who are or claim to be psychic?

Patricia Arquette: Usually it’s people who have their own gifts and they’ve felt like they’ve never had someone to talk about it with, or they just want to extend their appreciation that they can see that a couple can have a relationship and you can have a normal life with this ability. I have had a few oddballs, but honestly, I’ve had a few oddballs from other movies that I’ve done. It doesn’t seem any more than usual.