Your Entertainment Corner

Review: Psych – “Juliet Takes a Luvvah”

Season 7, Episode 2

Air Date: Wednesday, March 6, 2013, 10/9c on USA

Rating: ★★★★★

“I’m Shawn Spencer, I’ll be playing myself the whole time.” – Shawn

Time to clean the fridge

Let me begin by saying “Juliet Takes a Luvvah” is a very Juliet (Maggie Lawson) centered story; hence, the title. While I love her character, she isn’t the reason I watch Psych. This is a cute episode and it has some amusing moments, but I feel it lacks real substance. Often, when watching a show, I keep an eye on Twitter to get real time feedback and it appears women seemed to enjoy this episode more than men, especially the ups and downs of Juliet trying online dating. Since I can’t relate, hopefully you’ll understand if I sound like a guy trying to review a Sex in the City type episode.

What goes around comes around. Season six had Shawn (James Roday) and Gus (Dule Hill) joining a Bachelorette-type reality TV show, much to Juliet’s chagrin, in “Shawn and the Real Girl.” The tables turn in “Juliet Takes a Luvvah,” when it’s Juliet’s turn to try out the online dating scene by going undercover in search of a killer, which doesn’t thrill Shawn at all. Making matters worse, Gus joins the same site in search of his soul mate.

Jealousy and love can make people do crazy things. Upon learning that Juliet is on a date, Shawn makes a total fool of himself when he confronts her at the restaurant. But slowly, he puts two and two together and when he sees McNab (Sage Brocklebank) is her waiter, he realizes she’s undercover. I like McNab, he tries so hard but it never seems to be enough for Lassiter (Timothy Omundson). I hope we get to see more of McNab in the future.

Did Gus find his soul mate?

My heart sank when it looked like Gus’ new girlfriend, Rachael (Parminder Nagra), was the killer. How many times can Gus fall for someone who ends up being the bad guy, or in his case, bad woman? I have to side with Shawn about Gus’ relationships; I am not a fan of Gus when he has girlfriend. I don’t know if it’s because so often she ends up being the killer or because Shawn is so distracted when he’s involved with a woman. Either way, Shawn and Gus work better as a team. My favorite quote from Psych was in season two’s “Gus’s Dad May Have Killed an Old Guy,” when Gus is finishing a speech to his parents: “Shawn may not have always been the best influence on me, but he’s always believed in me. Even when I didn’t believe in myself. And right now, I believe in him.” Throughout the many seasons of Psych, in many ways the main relationship has belonged to Gus and Shawn, and their trust and belief in each other is the essence of their friendship. Shawn simply doesn’t do well alone; he sums it up perfectly when he asks Juliet: “Do you have any idea what I’m going through? My girlfriend has a new boyfriend, my best friend has a girlfriend, my mom bought me shorts. Look I just, I need somebody to talk to here.” Shawn is a kid in a man’s body craving attention, and without that from someone like Gus, things start to feel disconnected.

Shopping with mom

What fun seeing Madeleine (Cybill Shepherd) back at the Spencer house to help take care of Henry (Corbin Bernsen). She adds an interesting dynamic to things because she still sees Shawn as a 12-year-old, doing things like putting his nickname, “Goose,” on his lunch bag, and making sure the pants she buys him fits his seat Just when Shawn starts to realize the awkwardness of it all, he gets distracted by what’s on TV. Given that some of the romance has been rekindled between his parents, it looks like she might be around for a while and I’m interested to see where they take her character.

“Juliet Takes a Luvvah” isn’t a bad episode. It has its moments, including Juliet looking absolutely stunning in an aqua blue dress. Overall, I enjoyed it but it wasn’t anything special. Between Shawn’s father being shot, and Juliet dating, this is the second ‘distracted Shawn’ episode in a row. I am just ready for a regular off-the-wall Shawn and Gus adventure.

Don’t forget to enter our Contest. The winner gets a really cool Psych prize pack valued at $134.25!  Contest ends Friday, March 8, 2013, at 11 PM EST so hurry to get your guess in.

Tune in to Psych Wednesdays, 10/9c, only on USA.

For more information on Psych, visit the official website.

Follow Psych on Twitter.

LIKE Psych on Facebook.

[nggallery id=522]

All photos © 2013 USA Network, a division of NBC Universal, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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.