Let’s see … Psych is broadcast on USA Network. USA Network is part of the NBC Universal kingdom. NBC hosted Superbowl “Big Roman Numeral” this year. Hence, Psych had a football theme this past week (as did Monk – I wonder if the San Francisco Condors play the Santa Barbara Timberwolves in the regular season?).
Initially, I thought this was going to be a bad idea for the episode. However, as usual, I was incorrect. Shawn and Gus put such a nice spin on the whole theme, and loaded it all up with plenty of pop culture references, that it turned out to be an entertaining romp. The best part, aside from Gus’ no-massage massage and Shawn’s mention of The Mentalist was a moment at the end of the show where, amazingly, Henry smiled at something his son did.
It was the very last scene of this week’s installment — right before the “Psych Out,” which was amusing in itself. After solving the murder of the T-Birds’ place kicker, Shawn asked for just one thing: to run out on the playing field with the rest of the team. As Queen’s “We Are the Champions” played subtly under the action, Shawn came out of the locker room, full gear, leading the hyped-up charge to the field.
Right behind him was dad Henry Spencer. Henry was doing something unusual — he was smiling. Not just a brief flicker of a smile then a return to his stone-cold demeanor, but a genuine smile of affection and, dare I say, pride for his son. It continued on his face once Shawn and the team ran up the field, leaving him, Gus, and Jules basking in the shared glory of it all.
I’ll admit it, the scene gave me a bit of a chill. Not because it was one of those things that people find very cool and wish they could do. It was more because the moment was a very rare time that we saw Henry’s outward pride of what his son is doing. Despite his growlings about Shawn’s methods of detective work we know that Henry is definitely proud of his son’s direction in life; he just doesn’t show it on a daily basis. With this moment you really got to see the affection that he has towards Shawn.
I’d be lying to you if I didn’t wish there were more of these moments on Psych from time to time. Granted, I don’t want them to become all huggy and sappy every moment they’re on the screen together, but I do hope that they show a bit more thawing of their relationship as the show progresses. What say you on this?
Clacked by Richard Keller 
on Feb 02, 2009 @ 11:05 EST5EDT
I was a bigger fan of the look Jules gave him, but I’m a romantic sap at heart.
This is a great show that doesn’t get enough attention. I loved that Shawn is apparently a fan of the Mentalist.
This episode was so good. Three Ralph Macchio references and a shout to one of my favorite 80’s movies, Just One of the Guys (why did Comedy Central ever stop playing it?)! Plus foot humor!
I think the only thing that might’ve made it more perfect would be, like, a reference to the Peanut Butter Solution or something. Sweet.
This episode shouted, nay, SCREAMED Vancouver, BC the entire time. It was funny. See, I already know the show is filmed there but there were two super obvious things on this episode that made the shooting location obvious. First, the overhead shots of the dome where the Thunderbirds (that’s the name of the Santa Barbara team, not Timberwolves FYI) supposedly played was totally BC Place, where the BC Lions of the CFL play (and where the Olympic opening ceremonies will be next year).
Picture: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f2/BCPLACESTADIUM.jpg/800px-BCPLACESTADIUM.jpg
Secondly, the driver of the plot of this episode was the severed foot, was it not? Well, if you live in the Pacific Northwest (as I do) then you are likely very aware of the six severed feet that have been discovered on the shores of Vancouver over the last two years. A quick Google search will give you proof:
https://www.google.com/search?q=severed+feet&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
Anyway, its obvious that the writers couldn’t really spend as much time in Vancouver as they have over the last two seasons and not hear about this story. Its cool (not that someone is mysteriously severing feet) that they took it and used it as a plot in the show. So there you are, your Vancouver connections for this week.
I liked hearing about the Vancouver tie-ins, Jordan. Watching this show makes me really want to check out Vancouver. :)
Also, Dorv, I took the “The Mentalist” mention more as a jibe than a show of fandom. I haven’t watched it, but the gist sounds a bit like a rip-off of “Psych.” I thought it was hilarious for him to mention it, acknowledging within the show that they know “The Mentalist” is kind of feeding off of them.
Marathon today! I’m off to watch.