9 votes

Recommendation: Psych (2006-2014 + Movie)

Previous recommendation on Tildes: Person of Interest

Light spoilers: Psych - S01E01 - Pilot

It's hard to convey how much I love Psych. It's one of those series that, like The Office, P&R, Community, Arrested Development etc develops its own community, through a very vivid style of comedy.

Psych goes back and forth across the series between light-hearted fun and serious episodes. The series follows Shawn, son of a retired police officer, who was taught by his father to be hyper-perceptive, and his best friend Gus. Shawn finds himself having to fake "Psychic powers" to justify his perceptiveness and ends up working for the police.

What makes the series so good is the top-notch chemistry between Shawn and Gus. Psych is one of my top "comfort" series because of this. It got me through my hardest times and it's my second-favourite full-rewatch series (first being The IT Crowd).

It's also littered with references poking fun at The Mentalist, another great TV series with a much more serious tone and a similar plot line (Fake psychic helps police force).

Psych's main flaw I would say is that it suffers from Flanderization. Over time, both Shawn and Gus become exaggerations of themselves. But as much as I wish they'd be more subtle about it sometimes, it doesn't detract from the overall quality of the series.

All in all, Psych is, in my opinion, USA Network's best work and the embodiment of their slogan "Characters welcome", with strong similarities to Monk, Suits and White Collar.

The Psych Movie, which follows the end of the series, is excellent as well. I recommend watching the series before, however. I also generally recommend watching the series starting from the beginning. My first encounter with Psych was with a Season 2 episode and turned me off for a while. There's a second movie currently being filmed. Hopefully it's good!

6 comments

  1. NoblePath
    Link
    Well said review. I love psych. I have trouble with many sitcoms because the social tension used to drive the stories cause me too much stress. But psych is much less situational and much more...

    Well said review. I love psych. I have trouble with many sitcoms because the social tension used to drive the stories cause me too much stress. But psych is much less situational and much more heady.

    Spoilers
    Spoilers
    Spoilers

    My only complaint is i wish s and j had never hooked up, honestly, s shouldn't really ever explicitly hook up on screen, it's more fun that way.

    4 votes
  2. oden
    Link
    Psych is great! I'd recommend Monk too.

    Psych is great! I'd recommend Monk too.

    3 votes
  3. thisonemakesyouthink
    Link
    This exactly. Psych and these are some of my all time favourite shows. 100% backing on this recommendation, if you like comedy give it a try. It was removed from Netflix unfortunately, I honestly...

    The Office, P&R, Community, Arrested Development

    This exactly. Psych and these are some of my all time favourite shows. 100% backing on this recommendation, if you like comedy give it a try. It was removed from Netflix unfortunately, I honestly almost cried.

    2 votes
  4. [2]
    temporalarcheologist
    Link
    Mr. robot would like a word with you. is psych available on Netflix or hulu? I'd love to check it out

    Psych is, in my opinion, USA Network's best work

    Mr. robot would like a word with you.

    is psych available on Netflix or hulu? I'd love to check it out

    1 vote
    1. Adys
      Link Parent
      Ah fair, Mr. Robot does hold a candle to it, I did forget they were behind that. At the same time that is such a ridiculously out-of-character series for them! Psych is available for free on...

      Ah fair, Mr. Robot does hold a candle to it, I did forget they were behind that. At the same time that is such a ridiculously out-of-character series for them!

      Psych is available for free on Amazon if you have Prime.

      I tend to just torrent since I'm never in a country publishers give a shit about. If you're into that, all of it is on rarbg (.to).

      2 votes
  5. mrbig
    (edited )
    Link
    The one thing preventing me to watch this show is that it's not on my region's Netflix, and it's not easily downloadable via alternative means. I've seen the pilot, but I think this is the kind of...

    The one thing preventing me to watch this show is that it's not on my region's Netflix, and it's not easily downloadable via alternative means. I've seen the pilot, but I think this is the kind of show that grows on you, not the kind you invest 30GB to get into.

    1 vote