Psych – Shawn fools around with Gus’s sister

(Season 3, Episode 10 – “Christmas Joy”)

It’s that time of year. Time to be thankful, and be rewarded with a fresh new installment from the fine folks down at Psych HQ. Truth be told, I’m never going to like the whole ‘split season’ thing, and I’d prefer that all the NBC/Universal channels just knock it off.

That said, with Stargate Atlantis and Sanctuary making way for Mork & Mindy on Sci Fi this week (WTF?!), it was nice to surf on over to USA and find Shawn and Gus taking on a new case. And it wasn’t just any case, it was murder (In your head that murder bit should sound like Max from Hart To Hart).

I’m probably playing that whole murder angle up a little too much. The case really took a back seat to the shenanigans at the Guster family Christmas. And that’s OK. The cases are fun, but what makes the show is the relationship of Shawn and Gus, and those they surround themselves with. With that in mind, it was a very good episode.

I hope the appearance of Bill and Winnifred Guster for the holiday episode becomes a tradition. Phylicia Rashad is great. And while it was disappointing to not see Ernie Hudson, you really can’t complain when Keith David takes over. I was actually expecting a soap opera voiceover, “The roll of Bill Guster is now being played by…” I would also welcome a return of Joy (Faune A. Chambers). She fit in perfectly right away, as she started giving Shawn & Gus the third degree.

Even better though, Joy’s hectic travel schedule for work would allow her to start a relationship with Shawn, but still be off camera most of the time, not upsetting the balance. It could even set the stage for a road trip episode. Perhaps Joy gets in a jam in, I don’t know, Mexico City? So Shawn & Gus have to go bail her out. And just because nobody else did, not even Jules, I’m going to take Shawn’s side in this one. Gus was away at college!

Getting to the case, it was better than I initially expected. The con with the addresses for photos was obvious as soon as they showed the list, but the murder, and the third team member, made it much more interesting. Unfortunately, all the fun and games at the Guster house didn’t leave as much time as the case really needed. It felt like there could have been another entire segment built around Moncrief and how he played into everything, especially considering that he was the guilty party.

Despite quickly tying up those loose ends, we did see two fun performances from Don McManus and Cassandra Sawtell as Carl and Britney. I got a little chuckle from the fact that McManus was playing Santa here, and just last month he was in the Halloween episode of Supernatural, playing Samhain. Sawtell was very funny. I especially liked her reactions to Shawn when he started asking about her video game.

Along with all that, there was the usual collection of gags, pop-culture references, funny quotes, and hidden gems. More than I can list here, but I had a few favorites. The hallway bit with Shawn, Joy, and Gus all going in and out of the various doors was well done, as was the Peanuts dance. I also liked Shawn’s “Kung-Fu Fighting” vision, “I’m seeing hands, fast as lightning, it’s more than a little exciting.” And his description of the slap in the face after Carl and Britney had them booted by security. “Not a Rhett Butler slap. An Ike Turner slap.”

The quotes were plentiful.  You had the Chief with, “You ever see a movie about High School? Then you’ve pretty much seen what they do.” Gus asking Lassiter, “What’s the deal with you and people’s sisters?” Britney showing her gratitude, “Thank you Scrooge Jones!” And Bill, laying down the law, “You don’t have to go home, but you got to get the hell up out of here.”

Some fun trivia. If you do a little digging with the names from the Santa’s Village page, you’ll find Christine Stringer, who is the assistant to Mel Damski, executive producer/director for the show. You also have James Steuart, a Psych art director. And Morgan Reynolds, a clearance coordinator. Now, I might be reaching for this one, but the name Moncrief Johnson just sounded too odd to not be a reference. It turns out that there is a law firm in Monterey County, Johnson & Moncrief, and Moncrief graduated from UCSB. Either that’s where the name came from, or it’s a really weird coincidence.

At the end of the day, it’s another solid entry that hit all the notes that make the show unique and fun. It might have been a little ambitious, trying to get too much into the episode, but that is a small complaint when so much of it worked so well. I’m looking forward to the show returning on January 9th.

Clacked by Brett Love
on Nov 29, 2008 @ 09:30 EST5EDT