TV Recap: Psych Season 7 - Episode 14 - “No Trout About It”

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Psych No Trout About It 2


After Shawn, Gus, Lassiter and Juliet ruin a marathon with a high-speed car chase, the entire group along with Chief Vick and Buzz, are called in for a meeting with Trout. A police consultant from Brooklyn with a terrible family background, Trout’s abrasive ways soon earn him the entire group’s enmity, but he’s their only ticket to keeping their jobs. But why did the gang break up the race?

“No Trout About It” is a funny and perfectly outlandish episode of Psych with a dash or two of drama thrown in, though as a season finale it doesn’t match up to any of the Yang episodes. The central mystery unfolds enjoyably, though this is the fourth time this season where the central mystery starts out with one death, then gradually reveals more hidden bodies.

Psych No Trout About It 1

A lot of credit should be given to Joey Slotnick, who does quite well with the pale, sweat-coated visage of our slippery main antagonist. Shawn and Gus’ repeated but well-meaning attempts to both find his killer and put his remains to rest are funny and an enjoyable watch, but not the most exciting plot development we’ve ever been exposed to.

But the episodes’ best moments definitely revolve around Trout, and more specifically, the pressure cooker atmosphere his presence brings about. Every member of the gang ends up blurting out some strange secret to him, and everything from Carlton’s marriage to ex-felon Marlowe and Shawn and Juliet’s inter-office romance to Buzz’s job moonlighting as a stripper is raked up for ammunition. I almost resented the mystery for intruding in on the character interplay. Anthony Michael Hall’s performance is delightfully straight-faced and he creates Trout’s character in an incredibly enjoyable manner.

LOOSE ENDS:

  • * • And the theme of Henry flirting with young women continues in the season finale. You’d think that his encounter with Chelsea in the aftermath of his coma would have taught him a lesson.
  • * • Shawn and Juliet’s tendency to sweet-talk one another over the phone continues on. At least their togetherness has been cemented by this episode.
  • * • Kudos to whoever wrote the Samsung Galaxy commercials; they were amusing and properly ridiculous.
  • * • The show’s stated goal to feature every Brat Pack actor in a guest spot continues to come to fruition, as Anthony Michael Hall takes on the multi-episode role of Trout. Previously, Judd Nelson appeared in “Death is in the Air”, Molly Ringwald in “Shawn, Interrupted”, and Ally Sheedy has essayed the recurring role of Yang in several episodes. That only leaves Emilio Estevez out of the circle. The show, of course, parodied the Breakfast Club itself in “Murder? Anyone? Beuller?”
  • * • And that “we need to talk” basket of cookies Rachel sent Gus last week did indeed indicate the need for a talk; Gus refers to himself as single again.
  • * • The Chief mentions her daughter, Iris, who was born during season one’s “Shawn versus The Red Menace” and seen as an infant in season 2’s “Rob a Bye Baby.”
  • * • After seven seasons, Lassiter finally loses it and chokes Shawn. And it only took having powdered human remains dumped on him to trigger his anger!
  • * • Thanks to the reader who pointed out to me that Henry’s ringtone last week was also heard as the music Buzz strips to in “Deez Nups.”

I’ll be seeing you this December, with my review of Psych: The Musical!

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About Author

Staff Television Critic: Lisa Fernandes, formerly of Firefox.org, has been watching television for all of her thirty-plus years, and critiquing it for the past seven. When she's not writing, she can be found in the wilds of the Northeastern United States.