Psych - Season 4 [DVD]

Like all of the other Psych seasons this one is amazing and Psych is easily my favourite tv show. Season 4 is just as hilarious as all of the previous seasons and never feels like the series is starting to get old or repetitive, the on screen relationship between all of the 4 main characters does become more prominent in this season, as stated in the previous review, Shawn and Jules' is just one area where the show focuses on the relationships of the characters more. However, even whilst starting to look at the characters relationships more seriously it never detracts from the overall excitement and humour that makes Psych such an excellent show. If you've watched and liked the previous 3 seasons then this one will not let you down being just as good if not better than the others, If you haven't seen Psych before then you definitely need to get the first season, you will not regret it!! Roll on the UK release of season 5!

No matter how much time goes by, Gus and Shawn still attract the weirdest cases on TV. So unsurprisingly, "Psych Season 4" is just crammed with hilarious faux-psychic mysteries -- it gets a little dark in places and shows a few signs of wear and tear, but the rest of the season is full of werewolves, westerns and Bollywood. Well, not all in the same episode.

A Vancouver ski vacation is interrupted when Shawn (James Roday) spots the brilliant art thief Pierre Despereaux, so now he and Gus (Dule Hill) must figure out a way to thwart the perfect crime. To make matters worse, Lassiter (Timothy Ormundson) is determined to capture Despereaux himself, since he's been after the thief for years.

And back in Santa Barbara, the boys have a slew of other weird cases -- possible demonic possession, a murdered billionaire who asks Shawn to solve his murder, a haunted Wild West town, a drug lord, Gus' college a capella quartet, a soldier's mysterious death, a whitewater rafting disaster, tracking down Juliet's college boyfriend, a deadly virus, a shark attack, a Bollywood curse, and a man who believes he's a werewolf.

On the darker side of things: Shawn ends up kidnapped by a thug during the course of a case, and must find a way to tell his friends where he is. And the gang is dragged into ANOTHER game of cat-and-mouse -- Mr Yin ("dance partner" of the insane Yang) starts killing people in Hitchcockian style.

"Psych Season Four" is perhaps the most uneven season that this show has had thus far -- when it's good it's very VERY good, but a few of the episodes are kind of flawed ("Think Tank"). Fortunately, "Psych" at its worst is still a deliciously weird experience -- the writers are still exceptional at writing twisty-turny mysteries full of strange twists. AND we get to see Shawn biting a U.S. Marshal.

It also has the usual "Psych" mix: hilarious dialogue ("My first instinct is beavers, but I'm not willing to rule out those pesky Keebler elves"), funny situations (Henry stuffing little Shawn in a car trunk, to the horror of their neighbor") and increasingly strange cases that always turn out to be murder. Most of the season is comedy/light mystery, but the writers drop in a couple of more dramatic episodes -- and the finale is a brilliantly tangled web of murder, twisted trickery, and poignant loss.

Roday's Shawn is a pop-culture Peter Pan -- charming, funny, weird and goofily immature, but he gets to show his serious, sadder side in the finale. We also see Shawn actually having a long-term relationship, and struggling to deal with the demands of a selfish girlfriend who doesn't seem to respect his work.

Hill is amazing at being the "normal" guy who reins in Shawn's weirdness (while displaying a little of his own). And both Ormundson and Maggie Lawson get their time in the spotlight -- Lassiter gets sick of being overshadowed by Shawn and tries to solve a bizarre case the way Shawn would, and Juliet has to deal with her ex-boyfriend and brother being mixed up in crimes.

"Psych Season Four" has some rough spots, but it's still a delightful blend of mystery and comedy with the occasional spattering of darkness. Fun and crazy still.

Shawn and Gus are back for more crime-solving adventures in the fourth season of this comic detective show.

At an early age, Shawn was taught by his dad to notice the most minute details in any setting, and he uses this skill to convince everyone around him, (apart from his childhood friend Gus) that he is a psychic. Even though this is a lie, Shawn pulls off the story with an innocent charm that makes his character just loveable enough. Together with Gus, the two manage to use Shawn's keen sense of observation and Gus's intelligent and unflappable persona to put the real bad guys in jail.

The season four box set is my first experience of Psych. I usually don't jump into a series midway through the storyline, but this show is one of those series that I have seen advertised and figured it might be worth watching if nothing else was on. When I see clips of the show, it always seemed a bit clunky and much like a poor man's Mentalist. However, I have to say these advertisements give viewers the wrong impression; I was pleasantly surprised that the show is much more than a rip-off of The Mentalist/Lie to Me. For starters, Psych began airing before those shows did, so if anyone is being ripped off, it's Psych. Psych also stands apart from the other two shows for a number of reasons. First, The Mentalist and Lie to Me are centred on the main protagonists, Simon Baker in the The Mentalist, and Tim Roth in Lie to Me. The other characters in these shows are fairly incidental, with maybe the one exception of Cho in The Mentalist. Psych is different in that it is an ensemble piece, with each character playing a significant part. From the grumpy, extremely intelligent police detective to the, sometimes hair free/very hairy dad, each character contributes to creating a truly great show. Also, in episodes of The Mentalist, it is always the most famous guest star who is the killer, which I think is a major flaw in a quality show. In Psych, this is not the case; in fact, it is quite the opposite. It seems that the most famous face is hardly ever the killer.

What stands out about Psych above all else is the superb double act that Dulé Hill and James Roday have managed to get down pat. Their banter is sharp and witty, and they are the perfect antithesis of each other. Roday spews out humorous inaccurate affirmations whereas Dulé Hill constantly corrects him, with Roday then denying that he said anything wrong in the first place. The dialogue between the pair is quick-fire and drives the whole show. I am constantly hearing about how good the double act is between O'Loughlin and Caan in Hawaii 5.0 - but as far as I am concerned, the Hill/Roday partnership leaves the Hawaii 5.0 boys behind, the Psych partnership ranks among the best. In addition to a great double act, the great characterisation in the show is truly effective in keeping the viewer guessing whodunit to the very end.

Another aspect of the show that assures that I will be a fan of Psych for (what I hope to be) many seasons to come is the barrage of movie references throughout the each show. The writers can't seem to write dialogue or create a plot without some sort of tribute to a great or not-so-great bit of cinema. In one episode, I counted about 15 movie/television references, and I am sure I missed a few. The only other show I can think of that does this to such an extent is The Simpsons. These references are the main reason I will be buying all of the other season box sets Psych very soon, as this provides a pop culture fix for me and gives me validation for my endless hours of watching TV/movies! Woohoo!

The special features in the box set include episode commentaries to inform you of the movie references that you may have missed or couldn't quite place.

All in all, Psych is a funny, clever show that perhaps does not have the production budget of similar shows like The Mentalist or Lie to Me, but at times it stands far above both of those shows in enjoyment. So don't let Psych be "the sock that got lost in the dryer" ' if you like The Mentalist/Lie to Me, you will love Psych.