Psych (Season 6)

Season 6 is my personal favorite season of Psych. It has some of my favorite episodes in the whole series, a consistently strong level of quality, and some pretty top-notch character work.

Just like the last few seasons, Season 6's main running storyline is about Shawn and Juliet's relationship. They reveal their relationship to Lassiter in the premiere, Shawn considers proposing, and the season ends with them planning on moving in together. While I enjoy all this stuff, I can definitely say that the real highlight of this season is Henry Spencer, believe it or not. All the way back in my Season 1 review, I said that I hate Henry, and that still applies. However, I did really like his storyline about rejoining the police only to retire in this season for real. It definitely feels like Henry is ready to retire now, taking a slightly more laid-back attitude in Season 6, and it all builds to a tense finale that proves you don't need the Yang family to end a season with some high stakes drama. Meanwhile, Lassiter actually starts to get his life in order this season, getting a girlfriend and a new house, both of which result in some great episodes.

The thing that puts Season 6 above all the others for me is the interactions between the cast, which are just on another level compared to the rest of the show. Season 6 has a bunch of episodes (Last Night Gus, Neil Simon's Lover Retreat) where the case of the week is sidelined for a stronger focus on interactions between the cast, and they ended up being some of my favorites in the series. The decision to upgrade Woody the Coroner to a main cast member definitely helped a lot with this, he lends a chaotic energy to the cast that's just so fun to watch. Woody even gets an entire episode to himself, which is one of the better ones in the season. The parodies and homages this season are also some of the best and most creative in the series yet, from episodes based on The Hangover, Buffy, superhero movies, Indiana Jones, The Shining, and Chinatown. It's truly impressive that Psych's creative juices and energy is still flowing even in its sixth season, never feeling like things are getting stale or tired.

There were a lot of episodes this season that I loved, but these were my favorites:

Shawn Rescues Darth Vader: This episode had such a chaotic opening, Shawn sneaking into a house to steal a Darth Vader figure only to stumble upon a dead body. It's a super energetic way to kick off the season, and the scene where Lassiter uses a lie detector on Shawn is one of my favorites in the whole show.

Last Night Gus: This is easily the best episode of Psych, an absolute laugh riot throughout. As a Hangover parody, it starts with a large portion of the cast waking up at Psych not remembering a thing, so they run around to try and figure out what happened. Now this storyline itself is hilarious, especially with the typically more serious Lassiter being caught up in the mix, but it's the finale that really makes it my favorite episode. The titular "last night Gus" is a hilarious showcase of Dule Hill's physical acting capabilities and left me in stitches by the end of the episode.

This Episode Sucks: I'm kind of already biased towards this one, as it's a pretty blatant love letter to Buffy, even bringing in Tom Lenk (Andrew) and Kristy Swanson (movie Buffy) as cast members. Aside from that though, the concept of a case about a vampire is pretty fun on its own, and it was great to see Lassiter get a new girlfriend.

Neil Simon's Lover Retreat: The character interactions in this episode are second to none, as with Shawn and Juliet solving a case on a vacation, Gus, Lassiter, and Henry spend most of the episode awkwardly hanging out. The case itself is fairly standard but it climaxes with a fun hot air balloon chase, and the big cliffhanger about Shawn's proposal ring was really cool.

Indiana Shawn: Pierre Desperaux is back! And this time he's basically a good guy, teaming up with Shawn and Gus to stop an artifact thief. You can tell from the title, this is an Indiana Jones homage, and it's just as action-packed, rip-roaring, and fun as the films. I also like the subplot about Gus learning of Shawn's engagement ring.

Here's Lassie: It was only a matter of time until Lassiter snapped. I mean, how long do you think he could last dealing with Shawn and Gus all these years, with nothing going his way, it really was inevitable. In all seriousness though, this was a hilarious Shining parody that let Lassiter really let loose.

Santabarbaratown: This was a pretty great finale, the dark noir-ish tone was a fun change of pace, and I really did like seeing Henry try to solve his last case before retiring. The big dramatic cliffhanger at the end was especially shocking, even though we knew Henry wouldn't die, it felt so unlike Psych to try something like that.

Overall, Season 6 of Psych is one of the show's highest points, containing some of the best episodes in the series, along with showing off the cast's chemistry better than any other season before it.

5/5 Stars