I personally watched every Psych episodes from Pilot to Mr. Yin Presents, watching the Yin-Yang finales both in season 3 and 4 you kinda feel emptied after. The adrenaline that is in those fantastic episodes made me think was it too fantastic? It's like Valentine's Day; you shower your special person with every way possible to show them that they mean something for you that every other day seems dull. When you compare episodes like 'The Old And The Restless' or 'Shawn Has the Yips' to the ''Yin-Yang'' series it's like comparing Ali to Tyson, just way over his league. The rivalry between Shawn and these psychopaths -Two of them- is so great they should make a spin-off only for them.
2 Reviews
Season 4: Cracks are showing but generally still enjoyable, fun and on-formula
bob the moo13 March 2010
Warning: Spoilers
I think that I have said it in each and every season review of this show but I do always come to a new season with the worry that it will eventually lose it. By "it" I mean the ability to deliver the sort of care-free fun and laughs that it has done in previous seasons and will introduce things that just don't fit with (or hurt) the winning formula in the attempt to get ratings or force plots - it happened to Monk and it could just as easily happen here. Season 3 showed some evidence of this as the odd more serious plots fell flat and attempts at character development didn't do much. Season 4 perhaps represented more of a risk of this show taking itself too seriously - particularly with the mid-season move to a different slot, with increased expectations on performance clearly coming with it.
Of course in reality my worries do not follow me as I do try and it certainly helped to have the show make an early couple of digs at The Mentalist - a show that at very least must have been pitched with the exact same three-sentence description as Psych except with the work "drama" inserted in place of "comedy". This sort of self-referential in-joking doesn't break the 4th wall but it certainly is part of the show never taking itself seriously and always looking to please the audience, while the generally silly tone allows this to happen without it feeling out of place or detrimental. The flip side of this though is that, as ever, the show struggles when it tries to break out of this fun mode and do something with more substance than the quick-fire jokes - and it does do this more in season 4 than in previous ones.
Before I do consider the cracks, let me just repeat that this season is still very good fun and had some great episodes while even the weaker ones managed to throw up plenty of the in-joke throwaway gags that are the reason I enjoy it. OK so Shawn being kidnapped was not that good an episode but it did give us a view of his flat complete with cheesy picture of himself on the wall - just one of many jokes of the same kind across the season. The problem is that the pressure does show on the season. The relevance and comedic value of the childhood bit at the start is being stretched, with some of them feeling like they are there simply for the sake of being there, which is never a good thing. Likewise some of the episodes and content does feel a little forced - and not always because it is "serious". Personally I really enjoyed the virus-outbreak threat but I enjoyed it because it managed to mix more of a fast-moving plot (and drama) with lashings of the silly humour, not replace one with the other. This is not always the case and, while it doesn't ever go totally serious there are episodes here where the impression is that the comedy has been secondary to other aspects and these are the episodes which I do not enjoy as much.
The "deliver" aspect of the show is perhaps most evident in the casting as the show has suddenly got a parade of semi-famous or 80's-reference faces walking through it. At their best these are unobtrusive in regards the narrative and aren't totally pointless and do add some comedic (Judd) or dramatic value (Patrick, Ferrer) but then on the other hand we also have those that are like wrestler John Cena. He is not the only one but his appearance is a good example as we suddenly have him crowbarred in as a brother to Jules and with a relevance to the plot that week - both things that feel forced and don't really work even if that episode did have some good things in there. It does smack of a show trying to do more but not quite sure how to do it - hence the "new characters" rolled in and the regular cameos, fortunately the show is still on-formula enough to mean these are not negatively impacting but they do still represent cracks in the season that will grow if unchecked.
The "on-formula" aspect thing means we do still get great value from Roday and Hill, both very funny when the material is working for them, which it mostly does. Roday has to do some more serious material and mostly he doesn't do that badly or that well; he isn't helped by the addition of a "girlfriend" though, which the show doesn't seem to know what to do with and the season breaths a near-audible exhale when she is finally written out. I liked Lawson this season as well - the tension with Shawn is well maintained but never allowed to be too much to the fore or do too much too soon. Omundson's is a limited character (in a good way) and he does that well even if he is not as good when asked to do more. Nelson is more noticeable for her absence than what she does while Bernsen is good (including a great LA Law line) but the show doesn't seem to be totally sure what to do with him.
Season 4 is not as good as previous season thanks to some clunky plots, dramatic aspects that don't work, pointless characters (specifically the girlfriend) and some heavy-handed cameos and attempts at "upping the game" which slightly detract from the actual "game" that viewers have come to see. That said these are not massive problems so much as cracks of concern as the show mostly works on the formula and delivers good laughs and easy fun.
Of course in reality my worries do not follow me as I do try and it certainly helped to have the show make an early couple of digs at The Mentalist - a show that at very least must have been pitched with the exact same three-sentence description as Psych except with the work "drama" inserted in place of "comedy". This sort of self-referential in-joking doesn't break the 4th wall but it certainly is part of the show never taking itself seriously and always looking to please the audience, while the generally silly tone allows this to happen without it feeling out of place or detrimental. The flip side of this though is that, as ever, the show struggles when it tries to break out of this fun mode and do something with more substance than the quick-fire jokes - and it does do this more in season 4 than in previous ones.
Before I do consider the cracks, let me just repeat that this season is still very good fun and had some great episodes while even the weaker ones managed to throw up plenty of the in-joke throwaway gags that are the reason I enjoy it. OK so Shawn being kidnapped was not that good an episode but it did give us a view of his flat complete with cheesy picture of himself on the wall - just one of many jokes of the same kind across the season. The problem is that the pressure does show on the season. The relevance and comedic value of the childhood bit at the start is being stretched, with some of them feeling like they are there simply for the sake of being there, which is never a good thing. Likewise some of the episodes and content does feel a little forced - and not always because it is "serious". Personally I really enjoyed the virus-outbreak threat but I enjoyed it because it managed to mix more of a fast-moving plot (and drama) with lashings of the silly humour, not replace one with the other. This is not always the case and, while it doesn't ever go totally serious there are episodes here where the impression is that the comedy has been secondary to other aspects and these are the episodes which I do not enjoy as much.
The "deliver" aspect of the show is perhaps most evident in the casting as the show has suddenly got a parade of semi-famous or 80's-reference faces walking through it. At their best these are unobtrusive in regards the narrative and aren't totally pointless and do add some comedic (Judd) or dramatic value (Patrick, Ferrer) but then on the other hand we also have those that are like wrestler John Cena. He is not the only one but his appearance is a good example as we suddenly have him crowbarred in as a brother to Jules and with a relevance to the plot that week - both things that feel forced and don't really work even if that episode did have some good things in there. It does smack of a show trying to do more but not quite sure how to do it - hence the "new characters" rolled in and the regular cameos, fortunately the show is still on-formula enough to mean these are not negatively impacting but they do still represent cracks in the season that will grow if unchecked.
The "on-formula" aspect thing means we do still get great value from Roday and Hill, both very funny when the material is working for them, which it mostly does. Roday has to do some more serious material and mostly he doesn't do that badly or that well; he isn't helped by the addition of a "girlfriend" though, which the show doesn't seem to know what to do with and the season breaths a near-audible exhale when she is finally written out. I liked Lawson this season as well - the tension with Shawn is well maintained but never allowed to be too much to the fore or do too much too soon. Omundson's is a limited character (in a good way) and he does that well even if he is not as good when asked to do more. Nelson is more noticeable for her absence than what she does while Bernsen is good (including a great LA Law line) but the show doesn't seem to be totally sure what to do with him.
Season 4 is not as good as previous season thanks to some clunky plots, dramatic aspects that don't work, pointless characters (specifically the girlfriend) and some heavy-handed cameos and attempts at "upping the game" which slightly detract from the actual "game" that viewers have come to see. That said these are not massive problems so much as cracks of concern as the show mostly works on the formula and delivers good laughs and easy fun.
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