I thought that same thing. I wish I could help but it seems like a plot hole to me.

Thanks... this is getting on my nerves now! Agh, so confusing!

Hey wildcats, link this might help. :)

i had forgotten that Gabriel was Tom's son. thank you wildcats for reminding me of that. i was wornding the same thing and google lead me here. makes sense to me now though as Gabriel isen't realy her brother because Tom isen't her dad.

no he isn't

He isn't her brother. Tom Gordon lied about being her parent. If he had been her biological father, Gabriel would have been her half-brother. However once she finds out that she is not related to Tom, then she is also not related by blood to Gabriel. It isn't a plot hole because several mentions are made that not only was Gabriel in a mental health ward... but so was his mother. Tom Gordon got with Melinda's mother and believed in ghosts then ran out on her. He hooked up with another woman who probably had supernatural gifts too (due to her being a mental ward like her son which he states bitterly like he resented her not protecting them both from being put in there, he was there because he believed he could see ghosts and so likely she was too) and she probably got with him because she finally met someone who believed in her abilities (because he had encountered Melinda's mther and grandmother's abilities and that he murdered and was afraid of being haunted by Melinda's real father). What always confused me was that Gabriel just disappears off the show. They could have continued with the plot inference that there are more people out there with the gift, such as Gabriel and his mother, but as the series revolves around a woman with a rare ability they probably wanted to limit how many people they introduced who had gifts to maintain her being unique. Personally, I think a good way to deal with the whole scenario would have been to have Gabriel's mother die, come back as a ghost and have Melinda help reconcile Gabriel and salvage him from working for the dark side.

No, he's her legal stepbrother because Melinda's biological father is Paul Eastman and she didn't find out until Pater Familias when Beth told her the truth after Jim and Melinda confronted her with Tom Gordon's accusations. Beth was already pregnant with Melinda when she met and married Tom Gordon.