I haven't had Deep Fannish Thoughts like this in ages.

[luciazephyr]

Initial reactions to the latest Psych episode are very positive, I notice. I have to say, FList, I'm wondering if we were all watching the same show. I'll take this time to emulate miriam_heddy, the woman who made me hate Numb3rs, and tell you what I thought of this episode.

Miriam, if you read this, I am totally kidding. I love your reviews and would still read them if I hadn't totally given up on N3.


The Good
-Opening scene of the episode was very good. Shawn playing rebound for the poor gal, then turning it around for her so she didn't lose her soon-to-be-fiance? Excellently done, and I tend to roll my eyes at Shawn's rapid solutions. This one was sweet and his little self-depreciating, "well, I'm not getting any tonight" smile was... I was impressed for some reason that he let the pretty girl go so easily. He was being a Good Guy, and in this episode? That just doesn't jive with me, but more on that later. I'm trying to go in order here.

-Lassiter. Oh, Lassiter. Someone give TO a prize for, in one short scene, showing so much about his character. Oh, I luff. He's the kind of drunk who can carry on perfect conversation and probably complete a cop's line test until he just has that one too many and he's suddenly very open about his troubles. Oh, I love. Sitting on his own and the bitterness but cold-hearted acceptance in his voice. Lovely. I got the impression that despite being in what should be his prime on the police force, he's just tired. Maybe move back to New York, back new his family, start over, open a bookstore. But the insanely complex backstory I have in my head for Carlton is not the point. Leave that for another time.

-Shawn commenting on Lassiter's eyes. THANK YOU. TO has fucking gorgeous eyes. Love.

-The running gag with stalking was very fun to me. Gus being sneaky is fun and the rapport between Gus and Shawn was in top form. Shawn just loves to drive Gus nuts and Gus is so lassiez faire about it at this point, it kinda rolls off him.

-Janitor Guy was just fantastic. Heh, he's weird so obviously he killed the guy? And he's a kleptomanic! And he's all cute and fits the Socially Awkward Scientist mold more than the actual scientists.

-RICHARD EFFIN' KIND. HAHA. I did not know he'd be in this episode, but was so happy to see him. Yeah, he can be annoying and (especially to SGA fen) creepy as fuck, but I liked him here.

-Final scene between Shawn and Lassiter in the office. I'll contradict myself when I start on about the Bad in this episode, but one thing I did like in this scene was, again, Lassiter. When he hauled Shawn aside, I immediately thought back to my favorite scene in the series thus far in "Woman Seeking...", when Lassiter grabbed Shawn and literally yanked him out of the office. This time, though, shows a great deal of growth for Carlton and a HUGE change in his relationship with Shawn. Sit down, slashers, that's not what I meant. I mean he's not intimidated by Shawn anymore. He doesn't look at Shawn and think "MUST ARREST THIS LITTLE BASTARD, RAWR" anymore, but actually has a calm, collected conversation with Shawn concerning both his wife and how he's warming up to Juliet. If it escaped your attention... *smacks all of you* Lassiter confided in Shawn, ya'll. Ladies and gentlemen, we have Character Development. YAY.

-Gus solved the case. Kinda.

The Bad
-This episode upset me, from it's set-up to it's ending. This entire episode revolved around Shawn's increasingly annoying God Complex. Let's go through what happened, without the show's usual rose-tinted lenses, shall we?

+Shawn finds a discouraged, sloshed Lassiter and does his best to cheer the man up. While that is very sweet, we discover that the case Lassiter considers his latest great success was solved by Shawn. Before they even worked together, Shawn was controlling the cases. After, Shawn reassures him again, but the writers just have to dig that knife deeper by making Lassiter's work seem even more pointless (re: "all those numbers and letters" comment from Shawn).

+Shawn takes it onto himself to solve Lassiter's case, but do it in such a way, Lassiter thinks he solved it. Okay, back the fuck up. One, since when is a veteran police detective that gullible? And two, the big one: Shawn's playing the role of a well-intentioned god. This'll be fun.

+Episode passes with Juliet and Shawn playing Lassiter, someone we are supposed to assume they care about, like a two dollar banjo. All the major breakthroughs are fed to him through the dynamic duo, leaving him with little of his own work. This greatly upset me because, really, the writers need to back the hell up before I smack them the hell up. You do not Do This. Not to Lassiter. It's the equivalent of a vote of no confidence, saying he can't solve anything without Shawn's help.

+Now, after talking to Chris, she pointed out that, hey, Shawn's trying to do something nice. And, yes, the cause he takes up in this episode is great in theory, with the whole working for free, doing it just for Lassiter, and so on. But the road to Hell is paved with frozen door-to-door salesmen^good intentions. He may mean well, but he still completely screwed Lassiter over here by taking his job away from him, as if it were something fragile and Lassiter were a two-year-old. I really don't like that, especially how pleased everyone was with the outcome. Speaking of which...

+Juliet has never impressed me and anyone who reads my fic might know that already, but this was really low for her. Again, she's pandering to Shawn's whims and even lets him off the hook about another unsavory deed. For the love of Christ,, Juliet, you are an officer of the law. ACT LIKE IT.

-Shawn messing up Gus's date. I'd have punched him and I want Gus to, in any upcoming episode, snap and totally pwn Shawn. Please.

Final Thoughts:

I desperately want to think that the TPTB are intending to take Shawn down this path, but I highly doubt it. Chris said that there needs to be an episode around season two in which Shawn's constant manipulation completely and totally backfires. I'm prone to agree because, really, the show needs to stop pimping Shawn out as the panacea to all problems. He's not. I'd appreciate the writers treating me with an ounce of respect.

That said... if next week has an awesome, smart, clever Lassiter who's rebounded from his depression well? I'll forgive this episode. I want my Lassiter to rock the cashbah, plz.


^ = if you get this joke, lemme know. I'll he utterly floored if anyone catches the reference.

*steps off soapbox, has a cup of tea*

-Luce

Comments

[chi1013.livejournal.com]

OK it's 12:55 am and I'm tired. Here goes nothing.

Luce, dear, I respectfully disagree with some of this. or at least will stand up for the writers.

Before they even worked together, Shawn was controlling the cases. This is ONE case. Shawn has called in many tips I'm sure. It just so happens that this one case was Lassie's. If he talked to other cops, I'm sure he'd run across one or two that he helped solve. The Writers prolly used it to make drunk!lassie feel even worse about himself. I mean, really, they did it for laughs but also cause Lassie's feeling down. They need to establish that he's at a point of his life where he IS tired. You said it yourself. Here's this young hot upstart of a PSYCHIC, and not only that, a fake psychic. This guy comes in and takes Lassie's hard work and makes connections faster or is able to get to evidence easier because of his "status". And Lassiter, even tho he will occasionally bend the rules, still follows them and respects them. That has to be maddening. That with the anniversary of his wife's... something. divorce? wedding? culminates into Lassie getting drunk. He's having a shitty day, of course you want to dig the knife deeper. that's just writing. Go for the laughs. It happens in lots of shows/books.

Now, here's where I'm gonna get flamed. *deep breath*
From the beginning, I always felt like they were trying to portray Lassiter as smart, but so full of himself as to hold himself back. His ego got in the way of him being a good detective. In the early eps, he was so bent on proving Shawn wrong that he missed things. My first impressions of him, and this lasted for awhile, were of a slightly bumbling detective.

Lassiter, while smart and a great cop, allows himself to be swayed by ego-stroking. That's the kind of guy he is. That's the key to manipulating him. When he gets on the trail of a hot case, he gets blinded. If it were another situation, I think he would have questioned more about what "he" said. But we also didn't see a lot of the police work behidn the scenes. We followed Shawn and Gus. but they arrived at the scene of Richard Kind's character on their own. That's not stupidity. The two detectives, with some help, arrived at the same conclusion. Lassie wouldn't have started the investigation without help tho, because he'd follow the rules. The writers are still finding their way a bit with Lassiter and giving him new depths. But he still has that ego that, when stroked, let him be manipulated. No one is saying he's stupid. We just follow Shawn's pov because this is Shawn's show.

And Shawn didn't treat him like a 2 yr old, that's just how Shawn is. He likes to have fun at Lassie's straight-laced expense. It's the only way he knows how, really. There was no handholding here. With a few well-placed comments, Lassie got to the conclusion. AND without Lassiter's detective work, they would have never found out about the affair the dead dude was having. Shawn and Gus would have never gone down that road and found out another key clue to the case. In this case, there was mutual sharing but behind the scenes.

As for Juliet, eh. she's ok. Bit whiny tho. don't care much for her so I agree there.

I think this is a good direction for Lassiter right now. Gives us a chance to see character growth for him and also to see his depths. We see that for his intelligence, he has flaws, as Shawn does. And that he's not this cop who only believes in rules and justice and stuff. He has feelings too. He just has to be drunk for them to come out (can we say, repression?). I don't think he was dumb at all in this ep. On the contrary, while we didn't get to see much of him, he showed his intelligence and passion for the job in the brief snippets.

omg wtf did i just type. sorry if that was rambly.

[lucia-tanaka.livejournal.com]

I very much doubt it was ONE case, Chris. It just so happens that Lassie's Big Case was solved by Shawn? That was way too much for me and as I was watching, I was wondering just how incompetant the SBPD was and that should not have crossed my mind.

And... you're Lassiter is different from my Lassiter. I should have realized before. My Lassiter has a long history that makes me not think of him as egotistical, though you have the canon on your side. I have only hints and fanon. So... *concedes the Win to you (for now)*

And the TPTB does make it the Shawn Show, which is another thing that irks me because they have (sans Juliet) and really great cast that could take on some more, but maybe that'll come later.

I'm not going to flame you, so chill, yo. I'll just say "I disagree" and move on. 'Cause this is not something we will ever agree on. I'm biased towards Lassiter because I have a thing for underdogs and right now, he is the underdog.

[sleepyheathen.livejournal.com]

I just needed to take a moment to fangirl at you Eddie icon.

...That is all.

[lucius-admirer.livejournal.com]

I second your comment. I'm too lazy (and my English is not that good) to write a whole review myself.

And yes, Lassie has a big ego (even bigger than Shawn's IMO), and it gets in his way a lot (he also refuses to let people help him, e.g. Juliet who's his partner - or Shawn, though he's usually right).

[zero-dances.livejournal.com]

I had mixed feelings about how they were leading Lassi around too. It annoyed me because it made him seem incompetent, but at the same time Shawn WAS trying to boost his morale so he could, conceivably, go back to solving cases on his own (when Shawn doesn't need a case??), but it still had the underlying tone of "Lassi is a complete failure."

But of course he couldn't be where he is in teh police department without being a good officer, so I fully agree we need to see some kick ass Lassi at some point. (I was hoping Lassi at the end was gonna tell Shawn he knew Shawn helped him and they'd have some moment or another but it looked like they were hinting Lassi thought he only got help from Juliet the way he was looking at her, which gave me an onimous feeling.)

Which brings me to agreeing COMPLETELY with there needs to be an episode where it backfires on Shawn and Lassi shows him up. There NEEDS to be one, just to give Shawn some humility and hopefully more character developement (because again you're right about the Shawn and Lassi thing. if I wasn't spazzing out like a complete girl about handcuffs I could only hope to have put my similar feelings as nice as you did).

Juliet's starting to annoy me too, I didn't mind her so much last season, but this half of the season she needs to DO something...well, police officery. I was so angry last episode when I saw her taking off high heels. HIGH HEELS. WHAT. And then Shawn grabbed her and carried her and akshdaskhd just terrible.

[chi1013.livejournal.com]

I dunno if I agree with the bumbling part. mmaybe I'm too naive and think the best of everyone. I don't think that was the writers'... writer's.... their intention.

But I totally agree that there needs to be a backfire episode. Shawn has been right too many times. It'd be great to see him wrong and maybe even have consequences to his action. that could make the show go a bit darker than usual and wouldn't be right for it now. But he definately needs to mess up somewhere. He's working on inferences, not true fact.

Or something like that.

[lucia-tanaka.livejournal.com]

(OMG, cute icon)

Yes, exactly. He's NOT a total failure (except in my head where Lassiter's been kinda ostracized from his family because of an Incident many years ago that lead to him becoming a cop, but that's all fanon). He's the Head Detective of the SBPD, so he's supposed to be the best they've got. He needs to be portrayed as such, plz.

God, that omnious, het-feeling? YES. God, make it stop. It's SOWRONGEW. Jules/Gus otp?

*giggles* I forgot about the cuffs. Heh.

[lucia-tanaka.livejournal.com]

ew, broken HTML. Stupid Lucy needs her sleep.

[soi.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I completely agree with this.

Detailed response, liekwhoa.

[magickaldreamer.livejournal.com]

Loved Shawn's kind deed to the woman with the now-fianceé. I like to see the little moments that show that Shawn's really not that much of a bastard.

Someone give TO a prize for, in one short scene, showing so much about his character.

Couldn't have said it better myself. This short scene is quite possibly my favorite moment in all of Psych as far as character development goes.

Oh those eyes...there is often swooning involved.

The stalking. I was amused.

Janitor guy was hilarious. For some unknown reason, I loved him.

Richard Kind is oddly awesome. Creepy, as you said, thanks to SGA, but oddly awesome.

He doesn't look at Shawn and think "MUST ARREST THIS LITTLE BASTARD, RAWR" anymore, but actually has a calm, collected conversation with Shawn concerning both his wife and how he's warming up to Juliet.

Oh my god, yes. I love you for pointing this out.

Gus totally solved it. Erm. I mean...Lassiter's deduction skills were totally awesome...yes...*shifty eyes.*

the writers just have to dig that knife deeper by making Lassiter's work seem even more pointless (re: "all those numbers and letters" comment from Shawn).

That line annoyed the frick out of me. So much.

Shawn's intentions were good, but, as you bring up later, road to Hell and all that.

I do wish they had left much more of work for Lassi to do and more for him to find out on his own.

he still completely screwed Lassiter over here by taking his job away from him

I admit to wearing the rose colored glasses through this episode, and upon taking them off, I do see what you mean by this, because he did, essentially, do Lassiter's job for him. Which is quite sad.

Juliet needs to do something awesome. She's really kind of a 'meh' character to me.

It was quite low of Shawn to crash Gus' date. Gus has always sort of been in Shawn's shadow, which is something they don't really use that much in their relationship on the show. It's something I'd like to see at some point: Gus wigging out on Shawn after he, once again, screws something up for him.

I would kill for an episode where Lassiter solves a case by himself, even without Juliet. Maybe at the same time that Shawn's manipulation backfires.

[sleepyheathen.livejournal.com]

First off: Pratchett reference=you win at life!
Second, you bring up many good points. I do want to see Lassiter bringing it as far as being a kick-arse detective; I want Juliet to either gain an interesting personality or leave; I wish Gus didn't always get either one-upped by or completely sabotaged by Shawn.
I do thing that you left out an important good part though - the parts with Henry, it gave us a little more of what is a v. holey background and I tend to adore the father-son dynamic on this show.
Excellent meta for the most part, I'm still going to fangirl over the slash potential, but it's good to see a slightly more level headed view.

[lucia-tanaka.livejournal.com]

SOMEONE GOT IT. *in utter shock*

Thing about Henry is mainly that I Don't Like Him. The way he raised Shawn, quite frankly, freaks me the hell out and while if he didn't do all these things to Shawn, we wouldn't have a show... still. There's something wrong about conditioning someone from birth.

Oh, yes, it was an incredibly slashy episode and my Psych plot bunnies are hoppin' again. I must finished that Lassiter-gets-shot fic eventually. *rolls eyes*

Good Omens, right?

[evagalli.livejournal.com]

Um, hi? Random Psych fan, popping into read your review and comment...

I love how this episode highlighted so many relationship changes. Henry is concerned and respectful when it comes to Shawn, Lassiter and Shawn are becoming friends...! It's so cute!

But about Lassiter being stupid--I don't think that's what was happening. I think this episode was about Lassiter needing an intervention: he'd been struggling so long with thinking that he'd failed in his marriage, and he thought he had to be perfect at his job to make up for it. But really he needs to realize that he can't do everything on his own, and if he accepts a bit of help here and there, he can still be amazing--in both professional and personal settings.

Shawn's comment about numbers and letters--I think that was to show that Shawn still felt weird about Lassiter. He always picks on Lassiter, because that's how their relationship started. So he can't change instantly to caring and considerate, partly because Shawn is a smartass, and partly because he's entirely thrown by a drunk, vulnerable Lassiter. So he acts like an ass like he always does.

I don't think the writers were trying to show Shawn as Smartest! and Lassiter as Dumbest!, or that Shawn and Juliet were leading him around by the nose. Shawn and Juliet were helping Lassiter in the only way Lassiter allows himself to be helped--without Lassiter's knowledge. Besides, it's been said above, but while you can feed a detective clues, you can't feed him solutions. So what if someone solved the case before him? That doesn't mean he solved it any less. He had to put the pieces together. That's how it works, anyway: detectives talk to witnesses, to experts who have deciphered the evidence, and to each other. They put it together. The only thing Shawn handed him on a plate was the poison, which Lassiter would have found out anyway, either by further investigation or by interrogation.

But I, too, hope this is the upswing of Lassiter's depression. I think, though, if you look at previous episodes, you'll see that Lassiter was depressed for a long time. At least, that's what I'm seeing. But I think he needed to be upstaged to realize that burying himself in work wasn't solving anything.

Shawn, on the other hand... I think he's already getting his comeuppance, as shown by Henry. He thinks he controls everything, but little things are starting to happen that are making him uncomfortable, and he's going to need to rely on his old friend and his new ones to see him through. I think Shawn's used to running away when things get weird, but now he actually has something to lose by running away.

But after all the setup, the writers can't just chuck Shawn's crazy ability to get out of trouble. That wouldn't be respectful to the watchers.

p.s. what's the problem with Juliet? I think she's cute.
p.p.s. omg, sorry for the essay!

YES! Here, have a prize! *gives*

[lucia-tanaka.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's possible for me to disagree more with you. *laughs* *hands you a cookie before she begins*

he'd been struggling so long with thinking that he'd failed in his marriage, and he thought he had to be perfect at his job to make up for it

Not the way the episode screwed it up. If they left it at him being seperated for just about ten months now, then fine, he depressed over his divorce and it's hurting his job performance. But, alas, we find out it's been TWO years instead of one and there is no way in hell he could have been screwing up so long and still kept his position as Head Detective.

I don't think the writers were trying to show Shawn as Smartest! and Lassiter as Dumbest!, or that Shawn and Juliet were leading him around by the nose

Irrelavent. I'm not judging what the writers are trying to do, I'm judging how the situation comes across. And it comes across that in this and in many other episodes, Lassiter is a second-rate cop. If the writers didn't intend that, then that's great, but it doesn't matter. What is this, the tenth episode of Shawn being the wonderboy to end all wonderboys?

If we've never seen Lassiter solve a case on his own without Shawn's help, it's very easy to assume he doesn't, and the TPTB need to change that.

And we totally agree on Henry's role in this episode. Shawn's got himself pinned in this life now and he's losing his grip over everyone he'd like to control because, well, now he has too many people to worry about.

the writers can't just chuck Shawn's crazy ability to get out of trouble

I think it's be respectable if Shawn wasn't always right about everything, personally, and he doesn't screw up enough in my opinion.

P.S. She's completely unprofessional and it bugs me.

P.P.S. Don't worry about it.

Okay, re-reading this, I may have given the impression I hate the show. This can't be more wrong. I loooove Psych to death, think it's wonderful, but for some reason, it makes my mind think meta-y thoughts. Hence my over-complicating the characterizations in all my fics and the above essay.

I'll definitely take that cookie~

[evagalli.livejournal.com]

Hee, well, concerning Juliet, I know way too many cops who are similarly unprofessional, so I guess it never bugged me. I hear too many stories about one department stealing the lone stapler of another department...

About Lassiter, I don't mean he was failing as a cop for 2 years. He was failing at his marriage for 2 years, and he tried to be the perfect cop to make himself feel better about himself. Like, I may suck as a husband, but it's okay, because I am a kick-ass detective. But his self-confidence was shaken enough that it depended entirely on being a kick-ass detective, and every little upset was pushing him further down the slippery slope to thinking he was incompetent at everything. It doesn't require that he mess up everything, just that things start getting messed up (even outside his control) and that he can't deal with it. So it wouldn't matter how long ago the divorce or separation were, or when the problems began; it matters how long the little things took to build up. And being told to sit down and shut up when he knows there's something odd about the man's death is getting closer to the straw that broke the camel's back.

Yeah, Shawn is the wonderboy... but he's supposed to be. If he gets pwned, it's going to require a little setting up, I think. And maybe that's part of the reason we get to see him freaking out over Henry dating again. I think Shawn getting totally pwned and accepting it would be entirely out of character. He'd spin it, because that's what he does. He has screwed up in miniscule ways, and I know they aren't big enough to count, but part of this canon is that Shawn can charm his way out of anything. I think you're going to need fic to have him admit to pwnage for a while longer, at least.

See, there I go again! And meta is part of the fun. We wouldn't spend so much time analyzing characters and scenes if we didn't love the show!

[cinaed.livejournal.com]

Another Psych fan, wandering in, but I do actually agree with you. I mean, so this episode was supposed to be all about Juliet and Shawn boosting Lassiter's self-esteem. Oh, well, sure, the deception works until someday Shawn slips up and Lassiter finds out about this, and then what'll that do to his self-confidence?

Except for the first ten minutes of the episode, I really wanted to thwap Shawn. Hard. The whole Lassiter thing, and when he wasn't manipulating Lassiter, he was lying to Gus's crush and making things really, really awkward because, hello, he's creating a relationship based on lies. Even if Shawn hadn't really screwed it up in the end, it wouldn't have worked out anyway. *shakes head* And Shawn was honestly confused that Gus was mad at him at the end?

Oh, and is it just me, or was the janitor the guy who plays Ladon Radim on Stargate: Atlantis? I know the one guy played Lucius *shudder* but the janitor looked so familiar, and I swear it was Ladon without a beard. ...But I could be oh so wrong, and IMDB doesn't have any info on the episode. *grin*

[lucia-tanaka.livejournal.com]

IAWTC, yes, yes, yes. *applaudes you* You are far more succinct than I am.

AND YES. LADON. The Royal Canadian Recycled Actors Union strikes again! Psych is like one big SG reunion.

[cinaed.livejournal.com]

*grins* Thanks. Normally I can't pull off succint, so it's good to know I did this time. ;)

Ah, the Royal Canadian Recycled Actors Union. *grin* One of the many reasons I adore Psych. *grin* They've had Radek, Brendan Gall, Lucius, Ladon, and I haven't seen the latest episode but have been spoiled about JANET. *cheers* I think every SG actor should try and get onto Psych.

[lucia-tanaka.livejournal.com]

The ep with Janet also has Major Davis. *winks*

[cinaed.livejournal.com]

Excellent! *actually watches the episode* ...Okay, Psych FTW. Oh, Major Davis and his lepruchan suit. And Lassiter being amusingly evil (okay, I was cackling with him during the questioning). That was such a good episode. *laughs*

[melrichards007.livejournal.com]

I know this was a while ago, but I just had to comment and say YES. I agree with your first point. Throughout the whole episode I was waiting with a queasy feeling in my stomach for Lassiter to find the whole thing out so Shawn could do his pseudo-modesty routine and Lassiter would look like an idiot and feel like one, too. I was (pleasantly) surprised when that didn't happen.

[vickygal.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry... Could you tell me how to find the fic you mentioned, "Woman Seeking..."?

Oh, back to the main topic here, I do see your point, but at the same I think they WERE just trying to have Shawn help Lassiter. There are some moments - like when Gus is so skeptical about helping Lassiter, and Shawn's just like, 'we should do this' - where you can tell that was the message they wanted to come across.

That said, I agree; I don't like how Lassiter was so easily led, etc., but in my mental little behind-the-scenes world, Lassiter DOES have a big enough ego/he was feeling so bad that he just didn't question anything. But I also think he figured it out later... End of "Cloudy...Chance of Murder" Lassiter buys Shawn his bike back, leaving everyone stunned? I think that was his way of saying 'thanks for helping me out'.

And yes, Shawn HAD to treat Lassiter like that, because there really is no other way he CAN treat him. Did you see at the beginning of the ep, it's so HARD for Shawn to say "Carlton", because that means he's being serious, which he NEVER is with Lassiter. I mean, we've only seen Serious!Shawn a few times in the entire 3 Seasons so far, and at that point they NEVER conversed really seriously. The drunken-confession was the point where the occasional confiding and stuff begins.

(Oh, and Shawn can't treat Lassiter seriously because if he stops mocking him, he'll be forced to admit his CRUSH on him, and he can't do that!) - Sorry, that was my slash-brain speaking. I agree with it, but that's not the point I'm trying to make right now.

The Blue Sedan tipoff thing (BTW, for MONTHS I thought they were saying Belusa Dan, which had me very confused until I saw someone commenting on the BLUE SEDAN, at which point I felt very stupid) - the writers of the show have to add that funny in there. This show IS amusing and generally has a very lighthearted view towards - well, everything. Yes, in Season 3, it's been getting more serious, but way back in S1? No way. They might have chosen a better way to make a joke in that situation, but they needed a joke, and since the entire ep had a Poor-Lassiter kind of mood, they just went with that. And come on, they arrested Shawn in the first ep because he was solving so many important cases with what they thought had to be inside info! You have to expect a few mentions to that, and from the above POV, this was the perfect time to add that in.

So yeah, this ep is both one of my favorite (because Drunk!Lassiter? SO lovely. Just amazing - oh, and "The Jackal has arrived" can't ever be beaten), but at the same time one of my LEAST favorite because of the way it treats Lassiter.

Wow, I just meant to ask how to find that fic. Oops...

[lucia-tanaka.livejournal.com]

..... "Woman Seeking Dead Husband - Smokers Okay, No Pets" is episode 1.04. It's not a fic at all.

Aaaaand I disagree with a lot of what you said. Especially one point in particular: That Shawn has to act a certain way to even talk to Lassiter. That's contradicted by their semi-serious conversation at the end of "Woman Seeking...", the final bust in "9 Lives" (though Shawn kinda breaks the moment with a cat joke), the fashion advice in "He Loves Me...", and other S/L bonding moments as S1 goes on.

Yeeeeah, to this day, I still can't watch more than the first few minutes of "From Earth to Starbucks". Lassiter is my favorite character and I hate seeing him being treated like a fool.

[vickygal.livejournal.com]

Okay, I feel very foolish for not realizing that.

And, yeah... They do have semi-serious conversations, but it just seems to me that they don't really actually have SERIOUS conversations, ones where they actually confide and you don't get the impression they're kind of mocking each other underneath it all. But it's been a while since I've watched early episodes, and since you have examples, I guess I'll have to defer to them.

[xiilnek.livejournal.com]

Once again, commenting on a post long-past and not having much to say, but you had a plea concerning the reference so I wanted you to know that it made me very very happy. I pimp that book out to everyone, whenever I possibly can. I even converted somebody, and now she pimps it out to people, too. *grins with pride*

Also, this is all very interesting and well thought out and I will mem it in a moment. The impression I get is that... I think the writers are just having fun, and not putting nearly as much thought into characterization (or the development thereof) as you are. I would LOVE for people who think of it like you to balance out the original writers, but alas. No one in power is likely to think it an issue, so I doubt things will change. That's why I chose to stop watching Psych. I mean, I'll watch it if I see it on, but I don't go out of my way to see it.