Psych has been away for two weeks but appears to be back in full form. The most recent episode, “Shawn Has the Yips” is a great example of what each episode should be. Whereas earlier episodes in the season seemed to be lacking the fun and orginality that made earlier season special the most recent episode combined all of its elements perfectly.
From the 1989 flashback sequence we catch our first glimpse of a reoccurring theme in the episode. Shawn is practicing baseball with his father using a shooting range target with a mitt attached as his target. Everything goes well until Shawn begins over thinking and over shoots first base. Now, most episodes in the series try to recall events or a lesson from the flashback but not all really have much importance to the episode. Not so with this episode. Shawn’s case of the yips comes back multiple times in the episode including at the final confrontation with the murderer. It’s impressive that the episode was able to weave this one joke effectively throughout the episode.
When the show brings itself to present day it is revealed that Shawn, Gus, and the rest of the familiar faces at the SBPD are celebrating a recent soft ball win along with Buzz McNabb’s birthday. For once everyone seems to be in fine spirits with the exception of Shawn who feels slighted when his food is not delivered. While complaining to the restaurant manager Shawn spots a mysterious man dressed all in black lurking by the register. Now, of course this is a little suspicious all on it’s own but when Shawn spots a gun we quickly realize the celebration is about to end.
Once Lassiter is made aware of the gun situation the inevitable shootout occurs as throughout the series we have witnessed the head detectives penchant for shooting at every possible opportunity, something that will be seen again later in the episode. Initially the SBPD starts a man hunt for what the believe is a suspect of merely armed robbery. Shawn as is the Psych tradition has another theory about what the lone gunmen was after. His belief, the man was not after money but murder.
After searching the scene of the crime and discovering some telling camera angle tricks Shawn discovers the victim, Lassiter. He hurriedly calls the head detective who makes the normally bad decision of reaching down to pick up his phone while driving. For once though talking while driving is a life saver as the reach for the phone places Lassiter safely low enough to miss the bullets that fly through his car. Shawn’s theory that the shooter was after Lassiter appears to be true. Now all that was left to do was discover who the would be murder is. While the department searches for the many criminals who hold a grudge against the detective, Lassiter is forced under 24 hour watch at the station.
It doesn’t take long before Shawn figures out the most likely suspect, Ivan Petrivich. He was a well known drug dealer who dealt mostly to high school students often with poisonous drugs. Lassiter was able to bring him in on lesser charges after a high school football player was killed because of his drugs. Petrivich recently left prison and would have a grudge against the only man ever to put him behind bars. While checking the case files they realize that Lassiter isn’t the only one Petrivich would be after. Buzz McNabb also worked the case along with Shawn and Gus. Shortly after realizing this Buzz is attacked with a bomb in his mailbox. After watching this explosion though I’m glad that the show doesn’t try to utilize special effects too often. It was only funny in the sense that it looked rather ridiculous on a show that seems to go for more subtle physical humor and stunts.
The rest of the show continues on the trail of Petrivich but as with other great episodes there’s a few more twists. When the case appears to be solved and the suspect in custody fifteen minutes before the end of the episode it’s usually a good sign that what you thought to be true about the case turns out to not be the whole picture. The conclusion of the case at the end of the episode was satisfying in that it was not obvious but didn’t leave you feeling cheated. This episode seemed to do a great job of calling back details, lines, and scenarios from earlier in the episode and bringing them back with an actual importance to the plot. I loved that each seemingly useless detail would later be explained or expanded on. The episode had plenty of humor without ever veering too far off track. All in all, this really harkens back to the greatness of the first season while still adding originality and maintain its charm.
