Psych

Browsing through Netflix as I always do, I came across a show I had never seen before.  I've heard about it through friends and peers, all of which had pretty positive feedback about the show.  I decided to watch the pilot and I liked what I saw.

Psych follows Shawn Spencer, an unemployed young man who is extraordinarily attentive to detail.   His attention to details helps him solve crimes that he sees being committed on the news.  That is, until police start to suspect Shawn's knowledge and claim that the information he is turning in can only be known by inside sources of the crime.  When being accused of this, Shawn claims that the reason he knows the solutions to all of the cases is that he is psychic.

The show is very comedically written.  There are many one liners that killed me.  For example, when Shawn and his buddy Gus are searching through a garbage can to find some evidence, they find nothing of significance.  However, Shawn is focused on other things... "This CD case!  It's totally nice!  Put it in the car...".

In addition, there is also a scene where Shawn mocks psychics, which I found clever and funny.  He played on the fact that all psychics base their readings off of what the client wants to hear.  "Your grandma would be very proud of you" said Shawn to a police officer, trying to prove he is psychic.

Along with the comedic script, the relationship between Shawn and his friend Gus is very "superhero and the sidekick".  Shawn is gusty.  He thinks he can get away with being a psychic, but Gus hesitant at first.  He doesn't want to help Shawn open their own detective agency because he is the character with the more logical way of thinking.  I feel like the relationship between the Shawn- the main character who is getting himself into something crazy, and Gus- the best friend who is more serious and logical, creates a very nice comedic conflict between the two characters.  I'm excited to see how their relationship continues to form.

The show, in terms of aesthetics, is pretty standard.  A wide range of angles and shots are used throughout.  Quick cuts are used to create a fast paced show.  But one thing I liked that the show did was use special effects to help the viewer see what Shawn was paying attention to.  If he was paying attention to a minute detail, a quick flash of colors around the object would be used to show what he was paying attention to.  Like the name tag below...

A very nice sound effect is added also to add aural attention to what Shawn is thinking about.  In addition to the added color special effects, a nice array of "woosh" and "ding" sounds are added to draw attention to what is going on in Shawn's mind.

Overall, I enjoyed Psych.  I'm probably going to continue watching it.  It's not my favorite show, but I liked it.