TVSquad

(S02E14) "Fine. I don't need you and your misplaced prepositions!" -- Young Gus to Young Shawn

"My dad is a lying, liar from Liarsburg!" -- Shawn Spencer

After speculating last week about Carlton Lassiter's feelings towards Shawn and Gus we discovered them this week: he respects them, albeit grudgingly. He could have certainly hired one of the many private detectives that he deals with on a regular basis but, fully aware of the team's reputation, he decided to go with them. Mostly for their inside contacts, so Lassiter said; however, I have a feeling it was more than that.

Gallery: Psych: Dis-Lodged

This is just one of the things we learned about Lassie in this week's Psych which, even though it was a Shawn/Gus-centric piece, revealed much about our favorite Head Detective. For instance, we discovered that his (ex)father-in-law was alive, well and a member of an ultra-philanthropical society (The Monarch Club) where a member had just been killed. This was primarily the reason why Carlton hired the Psych Detective Agency in the first place -- he wanted to impress his father-in-law with how quickly he found the murderer. Unfortunately, this led to his father-in-law being charged with said killing.

The other thing we learned about Lassiter was this: he has some balls. He may be a sad, little boy inside who is a lover at heart, and he is definitely a certified blowhard, but he is not afraid to push someone close to him for information in a murder investigation; even if it is the crusty father of his someday-will-be-ex wife. Irving Parker had it coming to him anyway with his attitude of looking down at Lassiter and his career choice. The scene between the detective and Parker in the interrogation room was one of the better ones showing that Carlton deserves the Head Detective title.

Still another thing we discovered this week -- well, really confirmed rather than discovered -- was that Lassiter really knows that Shawn's 'psychic' ability is fake. I think we also received confirmation that Shawn knows Carlton knows. It all came from their opening remarks in the Psych offices. Lassiter mentioned something about Shawn being 'on' even in the safety of his own office. This made me feel that they have some sort of gentleman's agreement that they knew each other's secrets and that it would just be between them. By the way, I believe that this was the first time that Lassiter ever visited Shawn and Gus' offices.

The above paragraph brings me to this point: Shawn hasn't been very 'psychic' as of late. The only time that he revealed any 'powers' this week was during the reveal at the end of the show. Last week was just about the same. I'm curious if the writers are playing down Shawn's 'psychic' abilities on purpose because they are trying to focus on the way he investigates rather than the way his reveals his psychic visions. I'm of two minds about this: on the one hand I really don't miss Shawn's psychic spells. On the other hand, by removing that element from the show doesn't it make Psych a younger version of Monk?

Two other things to highlight this week. One, we learned more about Henry's life before his retirement. Not only did we learn that he was a former member of the society that Shawn and Gus were investigating, but that he may have had bad taste in clothing back in the 1970's (according to his portrait, that is). The other thing that was revealed by Henry, possibly for the first time, were his marriage issues. We know that Henry and his wife split (and I hope to see her on the show someday), but it really isn't mentioned that much by Shawn or his father.

The other thing that happened this week was that Gus had some serious game going on with the amount of sales contacts he received at the lodge. We rarely see Gus in his 'pharmaceutical rep' mode these days, and it's interesting to see how much different he his with clients as opposed to with his friend Shawn. We also got to see the first instance of Gus introducing Shawn with a fake name (William Zane) rather than it being the other way around.

Speaking of Billy Zane, that was just one of the pop references mentioned this week. We also had mentions of Tom Hanks in his role in the film The Terminal, an off-handed comment about Kyra Sedgwick in her role as The Closer, and a nod to the character of Chuck from The Wonder Years. The best pop moment was Henry and Shawn's brief portrayal of the Tom Cruise-Jack Nicholson 'You Can't Handle the Truth' scene from A Few Good Men.

Next week -- Shawn and Gus on the runway.