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

[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.