Psych: Season 3 [DVD] [2008]

Comedy doesn't get much better than this show. It follows the adventures and misadventures of Shawn Spencer (James Roday) and his best friend Gus (Dule Hill) as they solve cased for the Santa Barbara police. The catch? Shawn has convinced them he gets the clues he uses not because of his keen powers of observation (the truth) but because he is a psychic. While the chief of police Karen Vick (Kirsten Nelson) and detective Juliette O'Hara (Maggie Lawson) appear to believe him, head detective Carlton Lassiter (Timothy Omundson) is opening disbelieving. Rounding out the cast is Corbin Bernsen as Shawn's dad Henry. Henry knows the truth but plays along reluctantly, sometimes for his own reasons.

This season finds Shawn and Gus taking on some of their wackiest cases yet. They get involved in the death of a sea lion. Gus is held captive in a bank robbery gone bad. There's murder at the roller derby and among stunt men. They go on a treasure hunt. The camp they attended as a kid is being haunted by a serial killer (in a great Friday the 13th spoof).

Cybil Shepherd shows up a few times as Shawn's mother, a character we've only heard about before. She adds a good dynamic to the cast as well.

While each week has a fairly decent mystery, the real reason I look forward to this show is the comedy. This show is wacky. Shawn and Gus have some fast paced dialogue that always makes me laugh. And Shawn can put a reference to 80's culture into just about any conversation. The physical comedy of those two is just as fun. Yes, the other characters get chances to shine in the comedy department, but this is James Roday and Dule Hill's show, and they nail it week after week.

About the only weak show here is the series closer which tries to get serious with a serial killer kidnapping someone close to Shawn in an attempt to get him to play the killer's games. This show doesn't do serious. It worked out okay, but the goofiness is what I love.

That one weakness is minor compared to the fun of this season. Get this season and you'll be laughing before you know what hit you.

Season 3 is when Psych really hits its stride. S 1 & 2 are great, but now it really gets going. The characters get more layered and the cast chemistry jumps off the screen. It's amazing how they revv up the tension and darkness in episodes like "Gus Walks Into A Bank", "Bad Bad Thing" and the nail-biting finale without losing the light tone. The writing is tight, witty, fast-paced and the improv fresh and snappy.
Season 3 is also when they really got going with the "genre" episodes and movie homages, like "Murder... Anyone?... Bueller?", the wonderfully goofy "Disco Didn't Die" and Roday's directing debut and homage to slasher films, "Tuesday the 17th"

I love this show!

My only disappointment with the DVD set is the bonus material. There are much fewer outtakes and commentaries than in the previous seasons! Calling the distributor's self promotion a "bonus feature" on disc 1 is taking the Mickey.

"Psych" is one of those lucky shows that -- like a fine wine -- seems to get better as it ages. Not that you should stick it in a cellar and forget about it for fifty years, though. The third season of this quirky comedy/mystery show is definitely worth seeing at least a few times -- James Roday and Dule Hill continue to be absolutely hilarious as the faux psychic and his frazzled friend, and their cases continue to get even weirder.

"Psych" may be breaking up when Gus is given a choice by his boss -- his pharmaceutical job, or the agency. To prove their worth, Shawn offers to investigate the company VP's haunted house... and Gus soon finds that there's more than meets the eye to this haunting. Meanwhile Shawn's mother (Cybill Shepherd) drops in for work, stirring up some old skeletons for our favorite faux psychic.

Among the cases Gus and Shawn take on: a vanishing body at the high school reunion, a treasure map, the implosion of Henry's greatest case, roller derby robberies, Coast Guard clashes, a murdered sea lion, a body hidden in a Nativity scene, a firebug with a murderous secret, a murdered footballer, an old summer camp haunted by an axe murderer, and an attempt to clear the name of a pathological liar.

Their cases become personal when Lassiter (Timothy Ormundson) is accused of killing a drug lord, and Shawn is determined to prove that the disgraced cop didn't do it. And the Yin Yang serial returns to Santa Barbara, wanting Shawn as the newest "challenger." So he/she leads Shawn through a ghastly series of riddles... and if Shawn doesn't outwit him/her, those close to him may die.

Clearly Steve Franks is sticking to the old adage: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." "Psych" ain't broke, so the third season of coasts along smoothly in a flurry of pop culture references, bizarre dialogue ("Señor pantalones del fuego?") and crimes that befuddle the SBPD.

It does end and begin unusually -- the season premiere is a twistaround of the usual mystery, and finale quickly becomes a serious, deadly game of cat-and-mouse. But the mysteries in the middle of the season are perfect examples of "Psych": the writers deftly juggle funny-sounding plot twists (roller derbies, stowing away on a murderer's boat) with some twisty-turny police work.

There's even an endless parade of pop culture references -- "Speed," Hamlet, the Peanuts dance, "Gone With The Wind," and of course "Friday the 13th." However, "Psych's" biggest charm point has always been the insanely kooky dialogue. Mostly Shawn provides it ("Just once, can you grab life by the little Lassiters and follow your instincts?") but the other characters get some good lines here and there ("All I can remember after that are hundreds of those tiny razor sharp claws and teeth." "Lower primate my ass. I recognize a military formation when I see one!").

Roday is eccentric, charming and eternally kooky, as if Shawn is deliberately living out his life like a TV show. But he gets to show a very serious, intense side in the finale. Hill continues to be the normal one with a mild goofy side ("I'm King Kong!"), and gets to do a daring rescue by leaping through a wall of flames. And Ormundson gets to explore some of Lassiter's other facets (his crumbling marriage and his brief removal from the force).

The third season of "Psych" is all about the weird and the wacky, but also injects some very serious, very creepy moments as well. All around a wonderful success, and it bodes well for what comes up this summer.