I know I am eighteen years late to the party, but I just finished the entirety of Psych including all eight seasons and all three movies and it may be the greatest time I’ve ever had watching a sitcom. I am not shooting in the dark here either, I have watched my fair share of sitcoms, and something about this one is just different.
Psych follows main character Shawn Spencer who is a lazy guy in his upper twenties, doesn’t have a job, and is a womanizer. We find quickly that he makes some extra cash by calling in tips to the police station and solves investigations just by watching the news. When the police find this suspicious, they bring him in and interrogate him where he ends up revealing he is a psychic, and goes on to prove it very well. He then starts to work his own private investigative practice out of his own company Psych with his best friend Gus.
The kicker here is that Shawn is not psychic, but rather grew up with a detective cop dad (him and Gus are the only ones aware of Shawn’s fraudulence), and although it’s never said outright through the series he is blessed with a bit of photographic memory. Each episode he solves a new crime by using his keen observation skills, the lessons his dad taught him when he was young, and the help of Gus.
Not only is almost every episode super intriguing, but the entire series does these characters so well. Shawn, his dad Henry, Gus, his love interest/detective Juliet O’Hara, and her detective partner Lassiter. They all are given beautiful plots over the eight seasons which include a lot of self-growth and emotional vulnerability. On top of these main characters, the side characters and recurring characters are also very seen; even if they are an awful person (or in some cases a literal murderer– looking at you Yang) they still are shown a sort of growth and understanding that is very vulnerable for a sitcom to be achieving.
Psych will give you the funnies, it will give you the awwws, it will give you the plot, it will give you the most movie references you have ever seen in a show, and it will give you honest relationships between family, friends, and coworkers. This is one of those shows that I know I will be watching at least twelve more times in my lifetime, so why don’t you give it a shot and thank me later. And remember to keep an eye out for those pineapples.
