What I’m Watching: Psych (Mid-Season Finale)

Psych: Season 4, Episode 9 “Shawn Takes a Shot in the Dark” (B+)

It seems like the summer season of this show has come to an end very abruptly, and I could watch weeks and weeks more before I got tired of it. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait until January before this series returns, but luckily this was an exceptionally fun episode to go out on and will certainly leave me with positive feelings about this show. Out-of-order episodes like this tend to work well, and the recurring theme of Henry teaching Shawn how to escape from a trunk and run while being chased was excellent fun. Giving Henry so much to do in this episode was fantastic, and his interactions with Lassiter was absolutely priceless. Lassiter had the best line of the episode when he yelled out “Spencer!” at the end of the episode and Shawn asked, “which one?” Lassiter’s response of “It doesn’t matter, you’re the same person!” was just terrific. It’s a clever throwback to a classic scene from “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” that’s done just as well and ends up being just as funny here. The casting of the two villains in this episode was also spot-on, with two different loose cannons, John Hawkes (“Me and You and Everyone We Know,” “Deadwood”) and Michael Rooker (“Thief,” “Meteor”), making formidably flimsy foes for Shawn and his incredibly ability to talk people’s ears off. The impact of Juliet’s near-proclamation of love for Shawn is lessened considerably by the absence of the woman Shawn was actually confessing his love for, Abigail. It’s about time Shawn and Juliet got together or Abigail got promoted to series regular, though I doubt that Rachel Leigh Cook would sign on for that. This has been a decent season of “Psych,” though, as I said, I’m eager for more.

Season grade: B+
Season MVP: James Roday