diff --git a/confluent_server/confluent/core.py b/confluent_server/confluent/core.py
index ee62c5e8..997781cd 100644
--- a/confluent_server/confluent/core.py
+++ b/confluent_server/confluent/core.py
@@ -753,9 +753,9 @@ def _forward_rsp(connection, res):
             r = msgpack.packb(
                 ['Exception', 'Unable to serialize response ' + repr(res)],
                 use_bin_type=False)
-    except Exception:
+    except Exception as e:
         r = msgpack.packb(
-                ['Exception', 'Unable to serialize response ' + repr(res)],
+                ['Exception', 'Unable to serialize response ' + repr(res) + ' due to ' + str(e)],
                 use_bin_type=False)
     rlen = len(r)
     if not rlen:
diff --git a/confluent_server/confluent/exceptions.py b/confluent_server/confluent/exceptions.py
index bce75763..cb856094 100644
--- a/confluent_server/confluent/exceptions.py
+++ b/confluent_server/confluent/exceptions.py
@@ -21,10 +21,12 @@ import msgpack
 
 def deserialize_exc(msg):
     excd = msgpack.unpackb(msg, raw=False)
+    if excd[0] == 'Exception':
+        return Exception(excd[1])
     if excd[0] not in globals():
-        return False
+        return Exception('Cannot deserialize: {0}'.format(repr(excd)))
     if not issubclass(excd[0], ConfluentException):
-        return False
+        return Exception('Cannot deserialize: {0}'.format(repr(excd)))
     return globals(excd[0])(*excd[1])
 
 class ConfluentException(Exception):
diff --git a/confluent_server/confluent/messages.py b/confluent_server/confluent/messages.py
index 3fc63b8e..b14d12ee 100644
--- a/confluent_server/confluent/messages.py
+++ b/confluent_server/confluent/messages.py
@@ -578,9 +578,11 @@ class DetachMedia(ConfluentMessage):
 
 
 class Media(ConfluentMessage):
-    def __init__(self, node, media):
-        self.myargs = (node, media)
-        self.kvpairs = {node: {'name': media.name, 'url': media.url}}
+    def __init__(self, node, media=None, rawmedia=None):
+        if media:
+            rawmedia = {'name': media.name, 'url': media.url}
+        self.myargs = (node, None, rawmedia)
+        self.kvpairs = {node: rawmedia}
 
 class SavedFile(ConfluentMessage):
     def __init__(self, node, file):