Psych – Episode 4-3 Review

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It took three episodes but I believe Psych is finally back to the perfect mix of humor, mystery, suspense and great acting that made the show a refreshing and amusing hour of t.v. This weeks episode, “High Noon-ish” was the first episode this season that brought back what I believe had been missing from the previous two episodes: a combination of off-the-cuff pop culture references, witty arguments and great appearances by some of the supporting characters. Sure, both of the other episodes this season had their share of memorable moments but this western style episode managed to entertain throughout and remain classically Psych. For the most part anyways. Admittedly there was barely any mention of psychic powers which sort of is the tool the show utilizes to make sense of, well, the title of the show. But really what makes a great episode is not the fake visions but Shawn and Gus’ relationship and often times non sequitur conversations. If the show makes too much of a habit of ignoring its premise beyond just crime solving I might start having a few qualms but an episode every once in a while without psychic visions is an ok change of pace.

The crime of the week in this episode is sort of two-fold. From the beginning we find out that the Old Sonora town, an Old West style tourist trap, has been facing a rash of stolen wood from the buildings and other parts of the set props. If you’re thinking this isn’t really up to the typical standards of crimes covered by Shawn, Gus and the members of the SBPD, you’d be right. Detective Lassiter brings in Shawn and Gus as a special favor. Lassiter himself has no jurisdiction in the area but does have a history with the owner of Sonora, Hank Mendel. Hank has been running the town for years acting as sheriff and putting on re-enactments with the fellow ‘townspeople.’ As a child Lassiter was evidently left at Sonora on weekends since his father wasn’t around and his mom needed some place to take him. Because of this Lassiter forces Shawn and Gus to stay over night in the town to help out Hank, a man he views as family, to catch the lumber stealing culprit.

While waiting for the culprit to show themselves the Psych duo hangs around a campfire and the town and we learn two interesting things. Lassiter’s nicknames include ‘Binkie’ which Shawn is later warned its’ use will result in his finding himself on the wrong side of Lassiter’s gun. Also, while the writers are able to include many great jokes and references to classical western movies they were able to resist the obvious, albeit crude, humor of the campfire scene in Blazing Saddles. A few cowboy jokes later the boys run into town after hearing suspicious noises. Apparently the horses have been let loose somehow and are running throughout Sonora. Hank pushes Shawn and Gus out of the way only to find himself trampled. Also during this time we discover the second and larger crime in the episode. A dead body is discovered in the surrounding area bringing suspicion on everyone who works at Sonora.

The dead man is a rich citizen of Santa Barbara who had plans to turn the area of Sonora into a sort of children’s theme park that would be free. McBain had been attempting to buy Hank’s land in order to see this vision come true. Hank was unwilling to sell but claimed that McBain had accepted this and neither had talked to each other about this in six months. Of course, being McBain was found dead on Hank’s property no one seems to be buying this; hence, Hank becomes the number one suspect in the murder. It doesn’t help that the bullet that killed McBain is the type only found in old guns like the one Hank uses during the fake shootout in town.

Obviously Shawn decides that Hank can not possibly be guilty and spends the rest of the episode trying to determine who is at fault. We meet some of the other players in the town including a woman who pretends to be employed in the worlds oldest occupation but is in actuality in love with Hank, Deputy Tripsy who can be found at the scene of the horse stampede along with Stinky Pete who may be getting sick of always playing the bad guy. The plot thickens when it is revealed that this old west style town may have something of a little more value than educational entertainment. One member of the town has managed to strike gold.

I loved the some of the details in this episode that made everything really come together. For much of the time Shawn was acting as the new sheriff of the town while Gus played at blacksmith. The costumes and particularly the accent James Roday chose for his sheriff were funny throughout the episode. Even the music invoked a distinct spaghetti western style. And lest we forget this was actually a tourist trap there were moments of tourist stupidity throughout the episode. My favorite tourist was probably the one snapping pictures in the background while Shawn decided to ride a horse down the street to get to the building right next door.

 

Perhaps the most memorable moment of the episode was its end which I won’t spoil completely but will say is in a very fitting style. After all, every western needs a good shootout. The sheer joy Lassiter gets in pulling out his gun should be a little frightening but I was just glad to see the character getting a chance to shine. Too often Lassiter is relegated to either playing straight man to Shawn’s psychic visions or a seemingly inept officer. Yes, in this episode Lassiter still came off as obsessive over a childhood memory but he still got to be the hero in the end and solved the crime without help from Shawn. It would be refreshing in future episodes to also feature some of the other supporting characters such as Juliet O’Hara or Henry Spencer.

In the end this episode was probably not the greatest example of what a Psych episode is since it had a severe lack of actual psychic moments. Yet it had it’s fair share of humor and left me wondering how one would actually play 19 card stud, a new invention from this episode. Finally I’m to the point that I really can’t wait for the next episode not because I’m a faithful follower of the series but because it is actually worth watching as standalone episodes. Hopefully future episodes of the season will be up to this quality.