Take a Psych-Jan 25, 2010

Liz has been sick for the past four days. At first, we thought it was strep. She had all the symptoms of a classic strep case. Sore (sore!) throat. Chills. Fever. And a really bad sore throat (if I didn’t mention that already).

If I were a doctor, I would have bet my stethoscope that Lizzie was infirm with a case of strep throat. And, if I were a doctor, I would have lost my stethoscope (and probably my rolex and my timeshare at Lake Tahoe, because really, who only bets a stethoscope?). It turns out that a very competent physician (are you sure she’s competent, I asked Liz, because I knew deep down in my WebMD bones that Liz had strep. Yes, Liz assured me, she was a good doctor) diagnosed Liz’s ailment as a very bad virus. A virus? What can you do against a virus? The Cillin Brothers, Pen and Amoxo, are useless against a virus. The doctor recommended rest and fluids. (Liz—really. Are you SURE she was competent?)

As part of Liz’s Restercizes, we have been watching Psych. We’ve been a fan of the Psych for quite some time; the more we watch, the more we like it.

If you haven’t seen it, Psych is a television show that we pick up on Netflix. The show is set in Santa Barbara, California. The basic premise of the show is this; Sean, a smart-alec son-of-a-cop twentysomething pretends to by psychic in order to be hired on as a crackshot investigator by the SBPD. He works with his partner Guster, a somewhat nerdy African American (can I not say black anymore?) childhood friend who sometimes doubts Sean’s investigative instincts.

Thrown into the mix are two detectives—Lassiter, Sean’s antithesis who doesn’t think Sean should be working on SBPD cases; and Juliet, the girl who tries to stay out of any contention and who we know should eventually end up with Sean. At least, we hope so.

Sean is the world’s biggest smart alec—to the point of being annoying. But, I like it. I think Sean’s antics are hilarious. He sometimes reminds me of myself. But I’m never as quick as Sean, and I’m not as sarcastic. The writers of the show throw in enough child-of-the-90’s reference to keep me hangin’ on.

After watching two seasons, I’ve found the show’s formula to be very predictable. Sean and Guster basically solve their cases using the same sharp power of observations and the same “pretend psychic” shenanigans. But you know what…I don’t care. I love the friendship between Sean and Guster. Sean is as loyal as a St. Bernard to Guster—even if he does mock, tease, and take advantage of poor Gus.

The show is clean and there is really no graphic violence (sometimes a few bloody crime scenes, but nothing major). Give it a season. And if there are any Psych fans out there, we’d love to talk about it