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It’s Semantics. Review: Psych – “No Country for Two Old Men”

Season 7, Episode 4

Air Date: Wednesday, March 20, 2013, 10/9c on USA

Rating: ★★★★★

How could you not trust a face like Lloyds (Jeffrey Tambor)

In “Lassie Jerky,” I expressed my dislike for Psych episodes that pay homage to a movie. But, given how much I enjoyed that episode, I found myself having to reevaluate my feelings. That thought lasted for one week, until this episode, “No Country for Two Old Men,”  which honors the 1979 movie The In-Laws. Is there such a shortage of writers that new and original ideas have run dry? Don’t get me wrong, homage episodes can be cute every now and then but it’s starting to look
like Psych is a show that only does homages of other shows. Last week’s episode paid tribute to Blair Witch Project; a few weeks earlier, it was Lethal Weapon; this week, it’s The In-Laws; and next week, it’s Clue. Psych has such strong characters and funny writing that it should be able to stand on its own. Part of the problem is when doing a homage episode, sometimes you have to fit a square peg into a round hole in order to make the story fit. In this case, how do you honor a movie revolving around In-laws when your show doesn’t have any?

Shawn (James Roday) is moving in with Juliet (Maggie Lawson) now that his lease is up. For some reason, this warrants a big house warming party involving both families and friends who bring the couple presents to celebrate. This allows the two fathers, Henry (Corbin Bernsen) and Juliet’s step-father Lloyd (Jeffrey Tambor), to meet for the first time. Shawn is so excited that his father might have a new friend, he arranges for them to have lunch together, setting up their adventure in “No Country for Two Old Men.” My issue is, something is missing in the premise, like, say, an engagement? Shawn moves in with Juliet and I’m supposed to believe Lassiter (Tim Omundson) is going to get Shawn a gift? I could not find one person who thought this setup worked, let alone anyone who has brought gifts to a house warming party when a boyfriend moved in.

Once you get past the basis of the episode, it becomes, in many ways, a Lloyd-centric episode guest staring the cast of Psych. When we were introduced to Juliet’s real father Frank (William Shatner) in Season 6’s “In for a Penny,” it was well written with everything fitting perfectly into the story. I enjoyed Frank and would not mind seeing him again, which is something I can’t say about Lloyd. The writers seem to be more concerned about a checklist of things they wanted to cover from The In-laws rather than making a truly entertaining episode:

-Introductory gathering….. check

-Mystery package……… check

-Chase and shootout……. check

-Flight over the border…… check

-Engraving Plates……. check

Sometimes, they were trying too hard to mimic the movie making the episode feel forced. “No Country for Two Old Men” didn’t feel like an episode of Psych because it was trying too hard to be something else.

Another fine mess Lloyd has gotten Henry (Corbin Bernsen) into

I enjoy keeping an eye on Twitter for real time feedback on how fans feel about an episode. The best tweet came from Kurt Fuller (@TheKurtFuller), who plays Woody on the show: “Where is Woody? Why are other bald, funny men taking his place?” Speaking of bald funny men, given that the episode was a homage to The In-Laws, I think it might have been funnier had they gotten Alan Arkin to play the Lloyd character. Arkin is older than Tambor but I think he could have pulled it off, allowing for some winks and nods along the way. But who knows? Maybe they tried and his schedule didn’t permit his participation.

The one element I did find enjoyable was Gus (Dule Hill) and his newfound role as a father figure. I love how Gus tries in inject words of wisdom into each situation by comparing it to being a father even though he only met his girlfriend Rachael’s (Parminder Nagra) son Maximus (Mateen Devji) a week ago. Having dated someone with kids, I can relate to Gus’ feelings. A woman and her child/children are a package deal, and sometimes, you end up loving the kids as if they were your own. As Gus learns, though, kids don’t always see you the way you see them. It was a funny running gag but I’m starting to worry whether the writers know when a bit has dragged on long enough.

“No Country for Two Old Men” marks Psych’s 99th episode, I know no show is perfect and despite my disappointment in this episode, I continue to be a fan. But as a fan, I hope the writers start writing for their own characters with their own original ideas instead of trying to be something else with all the homages of late.

 

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Greg Staffa

I provide testosterone to the site. You won’t be reading about how nice a actress looks in a dress or how much of a hunk Matt Bomer is in my reviews. I describe colors using words like brown, not taupe. My twitter name is @staffaroadtrip because I love road trips and have done two different 48-state road trips since 2008. My favorite show is White Collar.

Greg Staffa

I provide testosterone to the site. You won’t be reading about how nice a actress looks in a dress or how much of a hunk Matt Bomer is in my reviews. I describe colors using words like brown, not taupe. My twitter name is @staffaroadtrip because I love road trips and have done two different 48-state road trips since 2008. My favorite show is White Collar.