Psych: I'm Not Telling the Truth

What if you were good at solving crimes? What if you were that exceptional, even in a border-line Sherlock Holmes way, topped with a handful of hunches? This would be the story of our hero, a pseudo psychic detective by the name of Shawn Spencer (James Roday). The truth with Shawn is that he is so good at logical reasoning, and plain guessing that he ends up giving the cops these anonymous tips that help solve various cases. He watches the witnesses, suspects etc., and he just knows. Problem is, instead of receiving a well deserved community service award, the police department deducts that Shawn is an accomplice to these crimes.

We’ve heard so many times that ‘there’s a fine line between genius and insanity’, and this is the exact ideal that is proven by this show. Due to his gift of making astute observations, he manages to convince everyone that he’s a psychic, and thus, he can miraculously divine worthy information concerning cases. As a result, he receives a minor compensation for solving the latest crime. However, having a wide range of hopeless careers in his lifetime, Shawn finally decides that crime-solving (something he excels in!) would be the best way to make some dough.

With the help of his childhood best friend, and pharmaceutical salesman, Burton “Gus” Guster aka Magic Head, he is able to “divine” valuable information about numerous cases. It’s interesting how Gus’s experience/knowledge comes in handy, for it is at the most random of times. Whether it has to do with certain area codes in the phone index, the local newspaper titles of random towns in US, pharmaceutical drugs, or catching a scent with the ‘super sniffer’, Gus is the man! The fact that Gus is so sentimental, and could tear up at any moment in the episode, makes the show even more entertaining to watch! Something about a grown man blubbering like a baby at the blur of a moment . . . It’s just a funny sight to see, but if I were in his shoes, I would cry most of the time too. There is literally no way of counting how many times a gun has been pointed at these guys, for their tomfoolery lands them in deep trouble very often.

As if these characters weren’t enough, there is the ‘head detective of the SBPD’, Carlton Lassiter, an uptight & strict law abiding citizen sporting a Tony Randall/Mr. Bean look, who is yet another attraction. He’s the Monica (from Friends) of Psych! He’s so obsessive about certain details, which lead us viewers to hate him to an extent, but the truth is, there is a method to his madness, although his odd behaviour does include keeping a black book filled with the list of criminals that he sent to prison. . .Nevertheless, we the fans, still love his madness!

What is any show without some romantic tension? This must have been the reason why the character, Juliette was introduced into the mix. It was so sweet watching the chemistry unfold between Shawn and ‘Jules’. Whether it was at the beginning at the accidental speed date at that Irish pub while working on a case, or just the regular back, and forth between the two, it was always fun to watch. In my opinion, Shawn’s immature persona, and crude (yet cute, I must add) way of flirting, and jealousy rage increased their appeal, and the show’s likeability!

The randomness of the main characters (Shawn and Gus), the clever/quirky movie references, the overprotective, yet practical dad of Shawn, the edgy ‘Lassie’, the mysterious pineapple that appears in every episode, and just plain stupidity are just a few things that drove the show to it’s huge success, to surpass 7 whole breathtaking seasons! Rumor has it that Psych just got 5 more episodes for the upcoming season, and it is scheduled to end with the next season. I’m over here, just crossing my heart, and hoping that this news in fact does stay as a rumor itself! The 8th season of Psych airs on Sunday, December 15th on the USA Network with Psych: The Musical!

Don’t miss it! You know that I won’t!