I actually registered just to talk about this. I've seen nearly every Psych episode. I recently watched the 3 brand new episodes on my tivo back to back, and I must say I was extremely pleased with where the series is going.

I see many threads saying that Psych is getting worse, or that it's becoming less family oriented. Personally, I think the recent level of character development and serious themes is a vast improvement for the show. It seemed that before this season, the show was something simple, quirky, and fun. While non of these are bad things in themselves, it had about as much depth as 30 Rock.

Yet with these recent episodes, we have seen a drastic change in the amount of actual characterization put into the show. Emotional conflict and backstory has been filled in to allow Hughes to bring Spencer to life on the screen. One of the most striking scenes was the recent flashback where Henry arrested Shawn when he was a teenager. Another gem was when Shawn was talking with his dad in the beaten down car (in the reunion episode) - where the conversation implied that Shawn has a few regrets and isn't sure if he took advantage of the right opportunities in his life.

It seems clear to me that the writers are striving to bring more color to Psych, to allow the show to mesh comedy and drama together to start a dialogue on things such as love, family, friendship, and other various themes. Personally, I'm happy the vanilla version of Psych is gone, and that we are seeing these wonderful characters evolve and take life on screen so convincingly. The show is leaving generic comedy land and taking off to follow in the footsteps of other great comedy dramas such as Scrubs.

I hope that the show continues to have set story arches, where one episode is reliant on a previous episode's events. While it is obvious that in a mystery/crime solving series, this is impossible to do with the actual crime solving, I would like to see less of a disjointed feel with the characters between episodes. If Shawn has a revelation that he likes Jules in one episode, I would hope the writers don't put that story arc on the shelf for half a season before reusing it again when they run out of new ideas.


On a side note: The only character I am currently disappointed with is Gus. It seems that the writers are more inclined to keep him as the sidekick instead of fleshing him out as a character. However, it is nice to see Lassater finally showing some emotional turmoil.


tl;dr version:

The series has seriously vamped up their character development and is beginning to flesh out more serious themes. It's nice to see episodes have morals and emotional values put into them. I hope that the writers continue to use story arcs instead of treating each individual episode as a separate entity. The writers need to give Gus more character development.

nicely said! i'm glad you made this thread b/c we have had a lot of...negative threads. i agree with you 100%, especially about gus. i wanna see him in a bigger role.

YES YES YES!!! this thread has been made!!! hurrah!!! thank you vcloki!!! AWESOME!!!



YES YES YES!!! no not deja vu i just REALLi agree!!! if it becomes like scrubs then the best is yet to come =D i love scrubs (not as much as psych but...) it's a FANTASTiC show!!! and scrubs is serious and yet still REALLi dramatic sometimes you have to read between the lines for it but sometimes its right there and thats whats great...VARiETY and psych after two seasons is showing us the dramatic side and i LOVE it =)

I love you so much for saying this. I agree 110%! It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who loves season three!

I agree, Psych is great still (in areas better!). However, I pray to God it doesn't end up like Scrubs. I loved Scrubs in the first three seasons, but in the fourth something went wrong, like they'd run out of ideas and it just ended up going between ludicrous and melodramatic. I do, however, agree that it's nice to see James Roday really flesh out Shawn's character. They've always been silly and kind of cartoonish in a way. But I think they're really adding something to the characters. Only problem I see is that the plot is getting kind of rushed (probably to do with the fact the writers are trying to form and solve five different character arcs in one episode and don't have enough air time to fit it all in perfectly).
If you watch the end of the last season it was sort of the same. In "Black and Tan" Shawn actually *gasp* doubts himself and gives that sad look in the mirror. I thought that the moment in the broken down car with his dad was kind of the same but less obvious (I never did believe in subtlety). I, too, would like to see something deeper in Gus. Everyone else gets their deep introspective moments why can't Dulé Hill?

Anyways, I'm very glad to see other people like this season. I can't wait for "Gus Walks Into A Bank"!

haha yea! i can't wait for that ep! (yea, i know i say that with all the new ep, but this one especially ) hopefully gus saves the day...

Well done. Psych is great. There's no need for all these negative threads. The writers are doing an excellent job. The cast is amazing as well. Just because a little bit of background is being added to the characters, and with that some drama is coming along doesn't mean the show is going down the drain. It shows character development from the writers and the actors both. I am loving this season.

I actually registered to find people who loved this show but felt just the opposite of your post. I am dismally unimpressed with this season. I'll stick around on the hope that it gets better but the writers seem to have had some ridiculous life changing experience which made them think we want seriousness out of our quirky detective show. We already have that thanks very much. We have it in abundance. If they continue down this utterly cringeworthy path then they'll lose viewers. I'll stick around for now but I'm far more loyal than your average viewer. A few more episodes of Shawn crying like a little girl at the end and you'll lose your entire audience...and eventually me.

...maybe you should have posted this in the thread where people feel the need to post their negative comments. Just saying.

I, for one, look forward to more awkward scenes centered around product placement, like hearing about Dunkin Donuts.

More signs of the product placement apocalypse

I agree that season 3 of psych is at least as good if not better than previous seasons so far. I posted my own Psych review on my blog.
http://wandererthoughts.blogspot.com/2008/...t-tv-shows.html

I like your signature

tonights episode was proof

Yes, The Greatest Adventure was the best of Season 3 by far, and back to Pysch's top form.

yea, i agree! for the people who thought psych was going downhill, i think this ep changed it for them.....hopefully

yes i love the new season of psych!! i really want jules and shawn to be together!! they are so perfect for each other!! haha but yeah i think the new season is great!!!!!!

haha aw thank you!!!


it was fantastic but i think idk if it was best yet...well...i think the new ep is always the best yet so yeah i guess i agree =D

My personal opinion is this....With the type of show that Psych is, each season will never be the same as the last. Season one was great because it was new and the whole psychic thing was new to the people around Shawn so the show really focused on that. Now, season 2 was different from season 1 just a bit because Shawn was still a bit new with his "gift" yet the people around him were used to it and etc. Now season 3 has a mix of seriousness and funny because the characters are developing. I have said this before, we will never have the new freshness like season one because the Shawn and Gus were having so much fun with testing out the psychic thing and they were so new to crimes and investigating. So each season has to be different or it would be the same old thing over and over. I love the new shows and think they are great.

I liked season 3 now that I am getting use to it. It take awhile to get use to the change and once you are use to it you can enjoy it.

okay, I was on vacation, so I missed last friday's episode, daredevils and I caught this fridays's episode on the second showing at midnight. I didn't laugh much at this one, with Steven Weber, but I was 1/2 asleep. Well, I watched both online here at USA and I LOVED THEM BOTH>>>>>Psych is NOT getting worse. You have to watch, and see every single moment. The episodes were great. It just proves my point. I watched the recent episode last night and thought it was so-so. Then watched it again and thought it was a thousand times better. You have to READ BETWEEN THE LINES. The writing is incredible. I don't care what anyone says that is negative, this show is awesome with a capital A!