Monsters of Television

“I am very offended.”

The little girl in the front might soon regret being a part of this contribution to stereotype and tired chicanery.

When I first watched this episode, I had very little to say about it.  I knew the concept of “rules” and “breaking them” would be the subject of my post but I had very little else to discuss.  And that disturbed me a little.

I love Psych.  If there was any team I would like to support/hang out with/get paid to work with, they would be at the top (maybe tied with Chuck).  So, like many of us, I looked forward to the return of the USA summer season (a subject receiving quite a bit of media and academic buzz recently) and watching Shawn and Gus quickly put to bed the dramatic ending of last season.  And they do.  The effects of the Yin-Yang plotline appear thinly in this episode and are resolved at the end (more or less), predictably in a way that we don’t have to worry about them again until, oh, let’s say the fall hiatus.  Not that that’s necessarily a bad or good thing.  But, if you watch the show, you know that’s just what they do.  Psych is not a soap opera and emotional crises don’t last long.  This is a show that pops in the summer.  Who wants heavy emotional intrigue in June-July-August?  This is beach reading, my friend.

That being said, the show has also matured over the last few years (now being the veteran series in USA’s stable) and has introduced new elements into the dynamic between characters (namely Henry becoming officially responsible for Shawn’s actions rather than working pro bono and making Shawn free to officially woo Julliet).  Although, with so many things trying to happen in the opening episode (sweeping the old under the rug while establishing the new), the season premiere didn’t have the pop that Psych is known for.  Instead, we get thinly-veiled stereotypes (with a dash of minor racism) and a lot of set-up.

Rules (and breaking them) are the big theme for this episode.  Obviously, Shawn and Gus constantly break rules (investigating a case they aren’t assigned, trespassing, various forms of lying/withholding evidence) but that’s really the core of the show.  Instead, this episode also focuses on various forms of construct and how they can be shirked.  The most apparent is the plot of the episode: two members of the rival Triad gangs (Seng Ten* and Becky) with a Jets-and-Sharks-but-with-Guns tension between them fall in love and, therefore, forget how to use a condom (how are you supposed to remember these things?) and get pregnant.  She goes missing for a little bit while they figure out what to do (the “kidnapping” is the case) and the Seng Ten’s jealous older brother (who was passed over for being the heir-apparent to a large crime syndicate) uses their indiscretion as a way to start a war between the rival gangs.  Titular alert all over the place.

Of course, love is supposed to break the rules.  But what about poor Juliet (the actual Juliet, not the metaphorical one)?  After her brush with almost falling off a clock tower last season in the Yin-Yang plot, she decides to take a breather by working in city hall doing — something.  Whatever it is, she is apparently doing some filing, something on the computer, and under the jurisdiction of the least-understanding chief of police in all of Santa Barbara.  Juliet was almost dropped to her death an indeterminate time ago and, instead of letting her ride it out until she feels comfortable, the chief brings her a ton of painful busy work.  That doesn’t seem right.  Between her and Lassiter bringing her case photos and Shawn giving her a hard time, no one seems to be very compassionate about PTSD.  Too bad Juliet doesn’t work in SVU. Benson and Stabler would understand.

She does, however, discuss with the chief the construct of healing.  “They say to take some time,” Juliet tells the chief when she pulls up with a cart of files.  “It’s recommended.” The PTSD she was bound to suffer from such an event, indicated by her sobbing into Lassiter’s shoulder last season (a great moment for them, by the way), is reduced to a “what they say” construct, as if she’s not really traumatized but just fulfilling arbitrary rules of a bureaucracy. Shawn reaches out for her help near the end and Juliet pulls through from him, pulling a gun on a martial arts master (by the way, all the Triad are apparently martial arts masters) to stop him from pulverizing Shawn.  All she needed was a little push and she’s all better.  Breaking the rules, consider that plotline swept under the rug.

Between [Chief Vick] and Lassiter bringing her case photos and Shawn giving her a hard time, no one seems to be very compassionate about PTSD. Too bad Juliet doesn’t work in SVU. Benson and Stabler would understand.

Lastly, we have to discuss Shawn’s new dynamic with his father and how he breaks those rules. Typically, Shawn and Gus shirk all sorts of procedures in order to solve their case of the week but this was never really a problem since Shawn never really regards Lassiter or Vick as actual authorities, just means to his end (that end being doing solving crime, getting accolades, and fulfilling his House-like craving for solving puzzles, without having to suffer the stigma of being a police officer). Adding Henry in an official capacity complicates things a little bit, since he is the only man with any true authoritative sway over Shawn. And pops doesn’t waste time in trying to keep Shawn in line, putting restrictions on him immediately and requiring a check-in process. Who caves first in this scenario: Shawn and his disdain for procedure (the core of this show) or Henry and his police ideals (unlikely for his character)? I feel the latter, which would be a little disappointing and a bit out-of-character but not without precedent (he did help Shawn out all these years, after all).

All in all, the episode itself wasn’t terrible. It mostly set up the rest of the season (Shawn and Juliet making love-love faces at each other, Henry trying to come down hard on his boy, tying up loose ends with a certain Psych-like curtness) and leaned on stereotypes for its humor, usually at the expense of the Asian assistant they hired and fired in the same episode. It was weird for Gus, usually the one trying to keep Shawn from embarrassing himself in sensitive situations, to ask Ken the assistant to explain the ending of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which made me feel like it was more about rattling off a string of borderline-at-best racial slurs than keeping true to the character. The season shows promise, maybe even some depth, but hopefully they don’t lean on the crutches of bad comedians to get them through. I’d rather them lean on ’80s and ’90s pop-culture references. Maybe a Miley-roll or two.

* It sounds like “Seng Ten” to me but could be “Tseng Tan” or “Sing Ten” or any variations of spellings. At the time of posting, the guy’s name wasn’t on IMDb so, if you know for sure what it is, let me know so I don’t look so much like, you know, an American.