What I’m Watching: Psych

Psych: Season 5, Episodes 14 & 15 “The Polarizing Express” (B-) & “Dead Bear Walking” (B+)

I got considerably confused by USA’s decision to air two episodes of both “Psych” and “Burn Notice” on back-to-back nights and just went ahead and presumed that this was this show’s season finale given that “Burn Notice” wrapped its season on Thursday night. It turns out that’s not the case, and we still have one installment left and coming this Wednesday. I found episode fifteen, the second of the night, to be perfectly fitting as a season capper, especially in comparison to the one that preceded it. The good news is that this show did manage to pull off a hallucinogenic, highly referential, alternate reality dream holiday episode than most shows probably could. It was still decidedly irreverent and pretty random, even and especially with Tony Marcus present as Shawn’s spiritual guide. I enjoyed his quick quip about being confused with and losing roles to Peter Dinklage. Episode two of the night proved far more entertaining – and inventive – thanks both to the goofy polar bear plot and the presence of Lassie’s sister. I couldn’t place her when I was watching the episode, but some IMDB research reveals that she was one of the only good parts (Cobie Smulders of HIMYM was the other one) of the terrible film “The Slammin’ Salmon.” Seeing Lassie’s relationship with his sister is interesting, and it’s nice that Shawn made is so that Lassie could close the case and be restored to glory in his sister’s eyes. I love how creepy Gus gets when he finds someone attractive, and it was pretty hilarious to see her essentially ask him out only to have him become terrified when he saw Lassie’s face when he looked at her.