TVSquad

(S03E07) As we sometimes do with our reviews of Psych, let's start at the end rather than the beginning. No, not at the reveal, because that would be utterly daft of me. The end I speak of is the next to last scene of the episode. I don't know about you, but as soon as I saw Shawn wearing skates, waiting for Jules in the empty roller derby rink, my first thought was 'couples skate'. Lo and behold, a couples skate was announced, the spotlight was turned on, and 80s music began to blare from the speakers.

It immediately threw me back to my halcyon days at the Roll-a-Round in Bloomingdale, NJ, where I would spend countless Saturdays rolling around the rink while Cyndi Lauper, Phil Collins and Quiet Riot emanated through the sound system. It was a time when one person's goal, beside getting the high score on Zaxxon, was to find the right girl (or boy) to couple skate with. If you could reach that pinnacle it was, for some reason, the highlight of your day. Then the roller-bullies would come by, push you into the wall, and ruin that time for all eternity.

Ah, memories! Still, it was great to see that scene because it ended a very good episode that was fast-paced, full of quips from Shawn Spencer, and spotlighted Maggie Lawson's character of Juliet O'Hara. Plus, we got to see Jules in a roller derby outfit. A win-win situation all around.

Where we delved into Chief Vick's life last time, we got to see more of Jules in this installment (can a focus on Lassiter be far behind?). She had so much screen time this week that it almost felt that Shawn and Gus were secondary characters in some scenes. That's okay because she is a fan favorite and we haven't see much of her at all during the summer season. In addition, it gave the producers a chance to revisit the relationship-that-isn't-a-relationship between her and Shawn.

Oh, deep down Jules does have a thing for Shawn. It's hard to tell sometimes because she doesn't wear her emotions on her sleeve like Shawn does. When the young Mr. Spencer likes a girl he lets them know right up front and then days and weeks afterward. When he "really" likes a girl, like he does with Jules, he goes out of his way to impress her. As he did in this week's installment when he prepared a lovely meal (complete with endive) for Jules when she told him she would be stopping by the office.

Thing is, Jules is too oblivious to Shawn's flirting in many cases. Not oblivious in a "dumb blond" way, but more to the fact that she is so dedicated to her work that it's just not something she thinks about. She is totally into her role as a Santa Barbara Police Detective...more than Lassiter in some cases. Due to the fact hat she is so immersed she can get too wrapped up in what she does. An example is her undercover case at the Derby this week. Other detectives wouldn't bother to purchase a $800 pair of roller skates and dislocate someone's nose in order to get the criminal.

Moving onward to Shawn...he was on his game this week. And, pretty much running solo as Gus was busy studying for his pharmaceutical representative certification. That was due in most part to his interactions with Jules. For some reason his quips come much faster when she's around: probably trying to impress her in some way. He doesn't need to that, though, since she is already impressed with his detective skills. I guess you could chalk it up to that competitive edge that guys never get rid of, no matter how old they are.

Shawn was also on the ball with his detective work this week, and even became the cautious one when it came to solving the case. I've noticed as of late that he doesn't really go all "psychic" on Lassiter, Jules or Chief Vick any more when he does his evidence reveals. It's possible that he knows that they know he really isn't a psychic, so he tones it down. Will there ever be a time where they all confess to each other that they all knew the "psychic" abilities were a farce? Probably not until the end of the series -- an earlier reveal would really destroy the flow.

This week's case was fairly intriguing, though we knew who did it at the very beginning of the program. Oh, that's no insight on my part. The show pretty much pointed to Jules' Derby counterparts during the second act of the show. This season of Psych has been different when it comes to its cases as many of the mysteries Shawn and the rest of the Scooby gang try to solve do not involve someone's death. Many times the death's have taken place much later in the episode.

Before I leave you a brief mention of this week's pop culture references. What would an epsidoe of Psych featuring girls on roller skates be without a reference to Xanadu? It certainly would have made its fans wonder why the writers and producers didn't think about it. Also mentioned were the Kids' Choice Awards, the movie Spanglish, Speed Racer (when Shawn mentions that Lassiter is 'a demon on wheels'), the song "One way or Another" by Blondie, and MySpace. By the way, Shawn's statement that Gus is still number one on his MySpace page is true. Just another example of the television world encroaching upon the real world.

Next week on Psych's summer season finale -- Gary Cole guest stars as Shawn and Gus get taken hostage at a bank.