During a bird watching excursion, Henry discovers a body. The woman is discovered to be Shelly Aaronson, a victim of botulism, and Woody recognizes her plastic surgery incisions – they match the style of Doctor Joan Diamond, who also does forensic work. Shawn and Gus team up to ensnare her – and discover in the meantime that their doctor-quarry was once a girlfriend of Henry’s, a woman with whom he shared one magical date years ago. A battle of wits thus sets in between Shawn and Henry (with Gus and Lassiter along for the ride), each of whom are respectively determined to prove Dr. Joan guilty or innocent of Shelly’s death. But which team is in the right, and will Henry’s resurgent feelings for Joan get between him and the truth?
Generally an excellently written installment, “Nip and Suck It” is loaded with funny, snappy dialogue. After a season of decent to so-so episodes, this one finally produces the best slice of comedy-heavy, slapstick-leaning Psych we’ve seen in a while, nearly topping “Deez Nups” and “Lassie Jerky” as my favorite episode of the season – were it not for an unfortunately artificial final scene.
It’s been a long time since Shawn and Henry have overtly competed with one another, and the show has a lot of fun when it pits them against each other and lets them go at it. Gus is also used to good effect, though the show has fallen into a pattern of using him as physical comic relief.
The episode is terrific in nearly aspect…except for its mystifying tag scene. I’ll go into detail about my disappointment in the way they handled Shawn and Juliet’s official reunion below, but cramming in a painfully obvious plug for the show’s new companion book volume, as well as Gus’ break-up with Rachel, into that short chunk of time felt wildly awkward. For all of its fun, “Nip and Suck It” falters under its burden, but not enough to deter me from recommending it.
LOOSE ENDS:
- * Lori Laughlin looks great as Joan, though perhaps a tad too young-looking for Corbin Bernsen’s Henry.
- * Oh show. You did not solve Shawn and Juliet’s beautifully acted break-up by having Shawn walk into the Psych offices and have him just tell the audience he and Juliet are officially back together. It’s possible to argue that the quasi-reconciliation they had after Santabarbarian Candidate, followed by their sleeping together and Juliet’s lying for Shawn in Office Space, counts as a slow reconciliation, but neither episode provided the audience with proper emotional resolution, and while each showed Juliet softening a bit more toward Shawn, neither showed Shawn’s true remorse, nor Jules reaching a moment of forgiveness. The show didn’t properly linger on Juliet’s feelings of betrayal, and allowed Shawn to karma Houdini his way out of more extensive consequences. A rushed, awkward disaster that should have been left out of the episode.
- * Might Henry’s case-related enthusiasm be a hint that we’re going to see him back on the force some time soon?
- * The running gag about Henry’s new cell phone (which, naturally, was pre-programed by his son) was hilarious. Sadly “Mr. Booty Man” is not available for download on USA’s website.
- * It was hard to pick out my favorite line this episode, by my favorite moment was definitely Shawn introducing Gus as ‘his brother Daryl and his other brother Daryl” (Henry driving by with a “suck it” sign while Shawn and Gus fueled up at the food truck was also a highlight).
- * And Gus and Rachel “need to talk.” A true break-up? Will Rachel return next season?
And next week’s episode is the season finale, in which another Brat Packer – Anthony Michael Hall-joins the series as Trout, who’s there to evaluate the entire SBPD.
