Psych 4.02...
"The good news is, this happened soon enough for your mother and I to start over again. Maybe this time we'll have a girl." I stand by my "Henry is disturbing" sentiments from a week ago. I feel like the more we see of Henry in these late 80s scenes, the more we understand that Shawn is actually surprisingly sane compared to how he could be.
Erm. I didn't love this episode. I tend not to love episodes where Shawn is so aggressively obnoxious the idea of strangling him with my bare hands is appealing (we haven't seen this Shawn since 'Ghosts', I don't think.) I mean, sure, Shawn is a twerp A LOT. But usually this gets balanced out by something else --- a kind action or sympathetic glance.
There were some
great lines, fun moments, but overall I was annoyed with Shawn for most of the episode. I hate it when that happens.
I like Henry at the begining. I agree that, yeah, he's a bit strange, (obviously the intensive training of his son, but also I remember the ep that begins with him explaining where babies come from, and making it sound like a massive industrial operation). But I liked that upon hearing they'd have vegan food, he joined in the fake sickness with Shawn. I liked seeing that actually, Henry does lie in front of his son too. The whole "maybe this time we'll have a girl" is the kind of thing my dad would do, so that just amused me.
The other thing that I really enjoyed, purely for the personal reason that I'm learning Spanish, is the maid calling the lady of the house "puta" XD
I love Henry, don't get me wrong. I like him for his foibles and flaws as well as despite them, but 'soon enough for your mother and I to start over again' is a fairly creepy thing to say, even when you're just teasing/winding your 11 year old kid up. Placed on top of all the training and myriad other creepy things, it puts together a relatively creepifying picture of him as a father. So, whilst I think Shawn absolutely has to get over it, especially since he now knows the truth that Henry didn't leave Madeline, but vice versa, I do understand why Shawn's a bit of a headjob. I wasn't impressed with Shawn's behaviour at the end and may have given a little, "oh :(" at Henry's unheard "I love you".
puuta is a word in Pitjantjatjara that sounds the same, and it means 'shoes', so that wigged me out a bit. I see that the Spanish version does not mean shoes. Huh. :D
Also Lassie gives Shawn such an adoring smile when they're in the chief's office that I can't not love this ep. !!!. But one thing I'm not a fan of, that seems a little contrary to the whole mood of the show, is his thing with Abigail...
Er, when does Lassiter give Shawn an adoring smile? I may need to rewatch that.
Btw do you know where the Lassie opening credits scene comes from, where he catches the bullet? is that from a prior episode, or is that brand-new? I'm afraid I've not got all the episodes etched in my memory...yet....
It's from "Lassie Did a Bad, Bad Thing" which I rate as one of the best Shawn/Lassiter episodes ever. (Lassiter wears Shawn's shirt! Shawn smiles at him adoringly. There's a line about them being former lovers!)
That sort of took the edge of annoying!Shawn for me. And it did have some awesome lines. Not enough Lassiter, though. Oh, and, yeah, Gus totally kicked ass this episode. Like. More than usual.
(Except every time Gus mentioned bears the only thing I heard in my head was 'the number one threat to America'. I have a condition. :D)
I loved the Leverage take on the Madoff scandal. It was really very satisfying seeing someone suffer for their sins.
I think partly the reason Shawn was pissing me off so much was that Gus was calling him on some of his shit and he was still doing it. It's like, if even Gus, who just a second ago was asking a dying guy about market advice, is telling you you're being insensitive, something is wrong, Shawn.
He just seemed like series 1 Shawn, when the same time last year we had a much more rounded character.
And... yeah. The plot was good, I liked the commentary on real world issues, there were some great lines, but I wasn't feeling the gooey, juicy love that I usually do.
"You think of me as some random black dude?"
"I'm really quite shocked, it just doesn't show because of the years of botox"
In saying all of this, I just can't wait to see Shaun in a cowboy outfit!