What would happen if a reckless, but cop-trained, 30-year-old with a photographic memory decided to work for the police as a (fake) psychic? That is what the USA Network hit show, Psych, is out there to answer.
James Roday plays Shawn Spencer, the clever son of a respected ex-cop. Shawn, along with his best friend and partner in solving crime, Gus (Dulé Hill), have solved over 50 "unsolvable" cases by pretending Shawn is psychic. The hilarious show has returned for its fifth season and can be seen on Wednesday nights at 10 p.m.
The pilot, "Romeo and Juliet and Juliet," was kung fu themed, complete with Chinese gangs and a Westside Story-like premise. The season starts just where it left off, showing how Juliet O’Hara (Maggie Lawson) is unsure about returning to her job as a detective after the traumatizing event she suffered in the fourth season’s finale (her near death experience with Mr. Yin). Shawn, as well as Lassie and the Chief, all try to get Juliet back on the team, while working to solve the case at hand.
The episode was not the funniest they’ve ever had, but still wasn’t bad. Shawn’s dramatic craving to learn kung fu and complete lack of knowledge on Asian culture made for a lot of the best jokes.
For example, Shawn’s enrolling in a wushu class for five- to eight-year-olds was hilarious. He quickly became enthralled with the random punching and began to believe that the reason his dad never let him take karate was because he knew that Shawn would be too good at it — which his father later revealed as false, explaining that he didn’t let Shawn take classes because he was afraid Shawn would kill himself karate chopping everything in their house. Gus was just upset that while he sat outside waiting for two hours, Shawn "fulfilled a childhood dream."
Another funny part included Shawn thinking that endearing himself to a gang leader included telling the man how he loved Chinese checkers, Chinese fire drills and ping-pong.
Overall, the pilot did a good job of wrapping up loose ends and making the audience laugh, especially with the seatbelt and cleaning supplies bloopers at the end. Unfortunately, though, some of the guest stars were not the best of actors, especially in comparison to Roday and Hill’s bizarre acting chemistry.
Psych is not a very well known show and critics have deemed its cases a tad outlandish. Nonetheless, it has a very loyal group of fans that have rebuked that the show is about a fake psychic and is bound to be a bit crazy. I myself am one of those fans and I believe that if anyone takes the time to watch a couple episodes, they’ll find the show both funny and creative.
As always, when the pilot ended, I was a bit disappointed — but only because I wanted to see more. Fortunately, Psych is OnDemand. I watched the episode four more times.
