Psych (Season 3)

While I definitely enjoyed the first two seasons of Psych, they did have their own individual problems that prevented them from being truly great. Season 3, on the other hand, is the point at which Psych really starts to become one of my favorite comedies.

With Season 2 being fairly lacking in character work, the premiere indicates that this season will not have the same issue. Ghosts is jam-packed with great character-driven subplots, from Shawn reuniting with his mom to Gus being forced to choose between Psych and his job. While the show still doesn't utilize any overarching storylines, Season 3 actually starts to develop the characters and progress some of the threads. Shawn's mom actually sticks around and becomes a recurring character (though still not appearing all that often), Lassiter briefly reunites with his ex-wife to finalize their divorce, Shawn gets a new girlfriend by the end of the season, and the finale has the team face off against their biggest criminal yet. Even with how episodic Psych is, the characters have always been one of its greatest strengths, so the fact that Season 3 is far more character-driven was a great decision for the show.

This season also includes far more experimental episodes aside from the standard cases of the week. There's a homage to John Hughes movies, a hostage crisis episode (a Blue Skies TV staple), and an even a horror episode that's legitimately kind of intense. As a whole, these experiments comprise about half of the season, so there is still plenty of standard Psych fare, but I really love how much more varied the show is starting to become. Even the more basic cases of the week are generally better this season, with episodes like Daredevils, Six Feet Under The Sea, and Christmas Joy being elevated by the show's strong writing. Once again, the writing this season has improved since Season 2 and is far more consistently funny. However, I won't say that every episode managed to stand out, with "There Might Be Blood" and "Any Given Friday Night" being particularly uninteresting.

Still, there were a lot of highlights this season, with these being the biggest:

Gus Walks Into A Bank: I wrote about this in a Burn Notice review, but there's something about bank robbery episodes where they always end up being great. While I don't quite love this one as much as Bad Breaks, the decision to slot the otherwise goofy Shawn and Gus into a tense and serious situation led to a ton of really funny moments, along with a compelling mystery.

Six Feet Under The Sea: I still don't quite get why I love this episode so much. It's a fairly standard case about an aquatic murder mystery, but the comedic writing managed to be some of the best in the whole series? Maybe it's the fact that the victim is a sea lion, maybe it's the many hilarious sea puns, maybe it's Shawn and Gus breaking into an aquarium, or maybe it's all of the above. Regardless, this episode is just too damn funny.

Lassie Did A Bad, Bad Thing: Lassiter is one of my favorite characters in the series, maybe second to Gus, mostly because I love his dynamic with the Psych duo. His reluctance to interact with them makes episodes where he's forced to ask them for help incredibly satisfying and oddly heartwarming. It's funny, it's tense, it's sweet, and it develops the group dynamic just a little bit more.

Tuesday The 17th: Judging by the name, you can tell that this whole episode is a homage to slasher movies, and the genius stroke here is to start it off as more of a parody, but when the murders start, the episode suddenly becomes deathly serious. What ensues is a surprisingly tense and scary love letter to slasher flicks, juxtaposed with an emotionally affecting and incredibly important subplot for Lassiter.

An Evening With Mr Yang: I adore the Yang finales. The decision to end the season with a dramatic episode, with Shawn forced to partake in a cat-and-mouse game with a serial killer, is really great. This finale in particular is incredibly tense and packed with great set pieces, and the ending where Shawn starts dating Abigail even though Juliet has feelings for him is a great cliffhanger.

Overall, Season 3 was a big improvement for Psych, kickstarting what I like to call the peak of the series (Seasons 3-6). It's funny, inventive, and has some of the best character work to date.

4/5 Stars