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White Chocolate. Review: Psych – “Dead Air”

Season 7, Episode 12

Air Date: Wednesday, May 15, 2013, 10/9c on USA

Rating: ★★★★★

“You’re live on Spence-Air.” – Shawn

You’re live on Spence-Air.

When Crock Daniels (Brent Chapman), a popular morning radio DJ, is shot while on the air, it’s up to Shawn (James Roday) and Gus (Dulé Hill) to not only find the killer, but to take over the radio show. Shawn as a radio DJ? How hard could that be?

Shawn: “Phew, man, I’m exhausted. I guess now that we have the first hour under our belts, it’ll get easier, huh? Sea legs and whatnot.”

Syd: (Haig Sutherland), the producer: “You’ve been on for seven minutes.”

Shawn: “What? We have four hours and 53 minutes to go!?”

The opening scene fits the story but I wish the writers would stop using flashbacks. They are a constant reminder that after six seasons of having young Shawn give us a lesson that turns out to be the theme of the episode, the powers that be have decided it’s too expensive to recast young Shawn. It simply tells me you’re losing faith in Psych and cutting corners.

Giving someone like Shawn a radio show is like giving a kid the keys to a candy store. Shawn’s “Spence-Air” radio show is fun and exciting especially how he prank calls his father Henry (Corbin Bernsen). Unfortunately his newfound career is short-lived. I would have liked this to play out longer instead of having a few scenes with Gus as he is hit on by Miranda (Garcelle Beauvais), the station owner.

It’s funny to see Gus take over the radio show, and Shawn demoted to a sidekick cowbell player nicknamed “White Chocolate.” Usually, when Gus is in more of a player mode, he comes across as creepy, to the point where I start to feel uncomfortable. But in “Dead Air,” I didn’t mind Gus referring to himself on air as “a player named Gus.” I enjoyed watching him, as he sits there in a dimly lit studio wearing dark sunglasses, with incense filling the room as he smooth talks the callers. His on-air hug, however, reminded me of the Gus I was uncomfortably used to.

Although I enjoyed watching Shawn and Gus on-air, I was nevertheless disappointed in “Dead Air” because so many scenes feel like they were added to merely fill up space, which is ironic given the name of the episode. Things like Gus’ girlfriend Rachael (Paminder Nagra), who we haven’t seen  in a while, showing up just so we can learn she’s leaving for six months to go back to London, is annoying. Maybe this will have an effect in a future episode but here, it just feels like filler.

Beautiful but such a waste

One thing that is emphasized by this episode is the lack of  strong female characters in the series, other than Juliet (Maggie Lawson). Too bad they wasted Miranda, who could have been a much better character. Here is a beautiful, smart woman, owner of a radio station, reduced to playing a horny office tramp. Shawn’s mom Madeline (Cybill Shepherd) only shows up in episodes to take care of Shawn or Henry. Even Chief Vick (Kristen Nelson)—sure she’s the chief but can you really call her a strong female character?

The ending of “Dead Air” feels forced, almost like once they were done filming the original ending and revealing the twist, they realized they were about five minutes short with the episode so they threw in another quick twist to fill the last five minutes. Unfortunately, all that does is make everything feel rushed.

With only one episode remaining before the Psych season finale, this penultimate episode didn’t provide any kind of buildup to anything; rather, it was an attempt to coast into the finish line that marks the end of a very disappointing season.

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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.