"Psych" Shawn (and Gus) of the Dead (2008)

User Rating:

8.3/10   

Director:

Steve Franks

Writers:

Steve Franks (creator)
Steve Franks (written by)

TV Series:

"Psych" (2006)

Original Air Date:

15 February 2008 (Season 2, Episode 16)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Mystery

Plot:

When a 3000-year-old mummy disappears from a museum, Shawn comes to the unlikely conclusion that the artifact walked out on its own. Meanwhile, Henry is acting strangely after receiving a mysterious phone call. |

Plot Keywords:

Police | Fake Psychic | African American | Friendship | Best Friend

Cast

James Roday	...	Shawn Spencer
Dulé Hill	...	Burton 'Gus' Guster
Timothy Omundson	...	Carlton Lassiter
Maggie Lawson	...	Juliet O'Hara
Kirsten Nelson	...	Karen Vick
Corbin Bernsen	...	Henry Spencer
Dorian Brown	...	Sophie Morris Bridgewell
Liam James	...	Young Shawn
Sage Brocklebank	...	McNab
Peggy Logan	...	Detective Rumpel
Don Broach	...	Sauter (as Don Broatch)
David Lovgren	...	William Wyles IV
Peter Boulanger	...	Hastings
Tiffany Burns	...	Reporter
Ali Liebert	...	Hannah

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:TV-PG

Trivia:

The caption under the photo in the news paper at the end of the episode says "Photo by Bruton Gaster".

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): While explaining how human eyes work, Shawn states that the cones are what allow us to see at night. This is incorrect -- the cones are what allow us to see in color. The rods are responsible for night vision.

Quotes:

Shawn Spencer: Really? The eleven point turn, Dude?

Movie Connections:

References Grease (1978)

Soundtrack:

Outtasite (Outta Mind)

Season 2: Really light and enjoyable fun

I watched season 1 of Psych in a rather non-committed way because I was never totally sold on the whole concept on which it was built and it did seem to struggle with it at times. However season 2 became regular viewing for me because it effortlessly overcame any of these problems by simply never taking itself seriously. You see the whole idea of Shawn pretending to be psychic to cover up his amazing observational skills for reasons that are not really that important is a rather weak idea to try and build a series on but "fun" is a good thing to build on if you can pull it off.

Season 2 pulls it off effortlessly thanks to solid mysteries but mostly thanks to the wonderfully silly and enjoyable delivery across the board. The script is the root of it of course because it does contain plenty of great lines but a great deal of the credit belongs with the lead two, who work really well individually and together. Roday is tremendous in the lead role and gets the sparky irreverence of his character just right – throwing out asides for fun. Hill plays off this really well, not as tight as he was in season 1 he has a lot more humour drawn from his character. Together they are the show for me and it is telling that they are strong enough to carry the show when really the rest of the cast are not as good.

Bernsen I quite enjoy but there is something very much supplementary about the characters of Lassiter and O'Hara that keep them as amusing distractions and nothing more. Here and there during season two, they are brought to the fore in particular scenes but it rarely works that well because you do miss Shaun and Gus quite quickly. For what they mostly do though, Omundsun and Lawson are good enough and provide prickly scratching posts for the quick-fire fun of Shaun.

Is Psych brilliant? Is it the best thing on television? Of course anyone who has seen The Wire will confirm that that title is already taken but even discounting it's brilliance Psych is nonsense. However it is brilliant in this nonsense because it perfectly balances on the line between "fun silly" and "stupid silly" and provides effortless slick fun. At some point I'm sure that the pressure for plots and keeping it fresh will twist Psych away from this, but for me season two is a perfect piece of light, entertaining fun that is the perfect way to close out the weekend.