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The
Show:
"I'm going to tell you what I do. I don't want you to freak
out because it's so cool, okay? I'm a psychic. A great and powerful
psychic,
whose powers inspire fear and awe in those who first experience them. I
am a
crime solving machine and I have closed over fifty cases - many without
pants."
- Shawn Spencer
The fourth season of Psych had the program still going
strong and firing on all cylinders.
Shawn, the fake psychic, and his partner Gus solve more
improbably
crimes while exchanging witty banter filled with pop culture references. Part crime show, part sitcom, it's a fun
program that's been able to stay fresh, which is pretty impressive
given the
nature of the show.
Shawn Spencer (James Roday) is a psychic who works for the
police force. At least, that's what the
cops think. He really doesn't have any
supernatural abilities, he's just very observant. Trained
from a young age by his police
officer father, Shawn notices things that the rest of us don't and is
able to
piece together seemingly disparate clues in ways that make it seem like
he has
psychic powers.
Together with his best friend Gus (Dulé Hill, West
Wing) Shawn has started a psychic
detective agency, Psych. Yes, it's a pun
on the now dated slang word that meant "fooled you" something that
Shawn finds
amusing and Gus finds surprising that no one has called them on it yet.
This season finds Shawn and Gus still working for the Santa
Barbara Police Department along side officers Carlton Lassiter (Timothy
Omundson) aka "Lassie" and his partner Juliet O'Hara (Maggie Lawson). There's a good mixture of silly episodes
played for laughs and more serious installments. In
the former category are episodes like Let's Get Hairy
where a man, Stewart (Joshua
Malina from West Wing) hires Shawn
and Gus to prove that he's a werewolf.
Their Halloween episode for this season, the dialog was all done
in the
style of an old monster movie from the 30's or 40's.
It's hilarious and never goes too far, paying
respect to those old films without making fun of them.
Another stand-out episode, this one more serious, is Shawn
Takes a Shot in the Dark. This
time it's Shawn who is in trouble when
he gets shot and locking in a trunk when he tries to stop a crime
before it is
committed. Told through flashbacks the
structure
of the story is interesting and it also makes the episode suspenseful.
The cases that are unraveled are fun but generally not that
gripping or mysterious. They are more of
a reason to see Shawn and Gus do their thing.
As with the previous seasons main attraction to the show is the
fast-paced humorous dialog filled with obscure references.
It's sort of like Mystery Science Theater 3000
without the movies, and it works quite
well. When Shawn asks a client to
describe a person (Lassiter as it happens to be) he replies "Imagine
Robert
Goulet dressed liked Mr. Bean playing the Scarecrow in a Summer Stock
production of the Wizard of Oz
dedicated to Tony Randall." Though my
kids were scratching their heads my wife and I were laughing. Another great section is this hilarious (and
accurate) slam on another show from a competing network that they
slipped in
when Shawn was explaining what he does:
Shawn: You've seen The
Mentalist, right?
Cop: Yes!
Shawn: It's like that.
Gus: Except that guy's a fake.
Shawn: Right. If I was a fake psychic, it would be eerily
similar.
Gus: Exactly the same.
Shawn: A virtual carbon copy.
The DVD:
The 16 episodes that comprise season four come on 4
DVD. The case matches the cases for the
previous seasons, which is nice. (I hate
when they change styles half way through.)
Audio:
The program comes with a DD 5.1 surround audio track that
fits the show well. There are a couple
of loud and impressive audio scenes through the show, but mainly it's
dialog
based and that comes through loud and clear.
Video:
The anamorphic 1.78:1 image looks pretty good overall.
The colors are bright and the lines are
tight. The level of detail is fine. There is a bit of mosquito noise through the
show, especially in areas where one color is predominant.
While it was evident, it never became
distracting.
Extras:
Like the previous seasons, this set has a good amount of
bonus material. There are deleted scenes
to just about every episode and audio, video, and podcast commentary
tracks to
many as well. In addition there's a gag
reel that's pretty amusing and some funny montages.
Final Thoughts:
Season four of Psych contains 16 fun, hilarious, and
sometimes intriguing episodes. With some
great parodies and a few thought provoking mysteries not to mention the
rapid-fire amusing banter between the leads, this program is a winner. Highly Recommended.
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