rionaleonhart | Entries tagged with psych

It's time for another dream roundup!

( Dreams from October and November. )

I haven't even posted this entry yet, and I'm already regretting the terrible pasta pun I'm planning to use for the title.

Our household's Glee rewatch is now up to the Dalton Academy arc in season two, i.e. the point at which I abruptly became extremely emotionally invested the first time around. I don't have the same intense emotions on revisiting it, but Kurt and Blaine are still really cute.

That said, the Dalton Academy Warblers do feel a lot like a cult. Why do there never seem to be any teachers or lessons at their school? Why are they run by a council of teenagers obsessed with tradition? Why, rather than having scheduled rehearsals, does Blaine suddenly burst through the door singing, with everyone in the room immediately joining in? (I love Kurt's 'Jesus Christ, I was just trying to do my homework' face throughout this performance.)

Rereading the psychological horror Kurt/Blaine fic I wrote in 2010, it looks like I picked up on this weirdness even back then. (It holds up better than I thought it might! I'm glad I've reached a point where I can look back at my older fanfiction without cringing.)

There are some points, early in Kurt and Blaine's acquaintance, where they display more emotional maturity than I thought Glee was capable of. A few points that particularly stood out:

- Blaine, realising Kurt doesn't know anything about sex and worried he might one day go into something without protection, goes to Kurt's dad and goes 'look, I know he's gay and you're not, but I know you have a good relationship and I think he would really benefit if you did some research and made the effort to give him the talk.'

- Blaine mentions being in love with a guy. Kurt incorrectly assumes he's the one Blaine's talking about. On learning that it's actually someone else, Kurt is devastated but decides to help Blaine woo this other guy. It's such a contrast with season one, where Kurt realised Rachel was interested in Finn and tried to sabotage her chances with him. Actual character development! In Glee!

- After Blaine's chances with the other guy fall through, Kurt actually outright tells him 'hey, look, I thought the guy you were in love with was me' and Blaine goes 'oh, wow, I'm so sorry, I had no idea you felt that way' and they have a conversation about where they both stand and what their relationship is. Clear communication about feelings! In Glee!!!

The majority of the time, of course, Glee is still an absolute disaster. I can't believe there's an episode where the moral is 'if you're sad that your friend persistently cancels your plans so he can spend time with the friend he has a crush on instead, you're just USING YOUR FRIEND AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR A BOYFRIEND; why would anyone ever want to hang out with someone else for non-romantic reasons?'

I've slowed down on Psych, but I've now finished the fifth season, so here are a few notes on that as well!

I haven't really been feeling much in the way of romantic chemistry between Shawn and Juliet, but I did really love the kiss at the end of 'One, Maybe Two, Ways Out', and the fact that they don't have the opportunity to talk about it afterwards, so it's just going to hang over them, fucking them both up. Shawn looks like his entire operating system just crashed.

That said, of course, Shawn/Gus is still the OTP. 'Of all the relationships in my life, ours is easily the most stable and the only one I haven't screwed up. If I hadn't come back to Santa Barbara, I don't know what you'd be doing, but wherever I was, I'd be wishing I had you there to lean on.'

'Yang 3 in 2D': Gus thinks he's about to die, and all he wants to do is make sure Shawn knows he doesn't blame him! My heart! It's really, really important to him not to let Shawn feel it was his fault.

I love Shawn pulling Gus into his family group hug at the end, too.

I sort of feel that Lassiter should meet J Jonah Jameson. They'd just get into arguments over whether Spider-Man or Shawn Spencer is more of a nuisance.

Crossposts: https://rionaleonhart.livejournal.com/516783.html

I've now finished the first (and currently only) series of The Politician!

A while back, I saw a YouTube video on Life Is Strange that concluded, 'I can't say if this is a good game. I can't even say if I liked it. But I think I loved it?'

That's The Politician. It's absolute nonsense. The pacing's a wreck. I don't particularly like or care about any of the characters. But I wasn't bored for a second.

I enjoyed Payton's I'M NOT A GOOD PERSON, EVERYTHING I DO IS CALCULATED meltdown in the principal's office. I think that's probably the closest I've come to actually liking anyone in this show.

Payton's kind of a disaster and has occasional hallucinations, and usually that's the sort of thing that has me going 'I must write fanfiction immediately.' I don't really feel I'd be able to write fanfiction for The Politician, though, because everyone in that show is just such a weirdo. Half of them act like robots and the other half act like aliens. I can't get inside their heads; I cannot begin to understand what it's like in the perspective of any of these people.

The cinematography is interesting and unusual; shots are often symmetrical or place the focus directly in the middle, a bit like a Wes Anderson film. It's only just occurred to me: is this to reflect how tightly controlled so many of the characters are? I wonder whether the centred shots are generally used for the more controlled characters and omitted for the more 'human' ones.

'Feet, Don't Kill Me Now' is a great Psych episode. Gus teaching Lassiter to tap dance is cute as hell. It's interesting to see them have some one-on-one interaction. (Lassiter is supportive of Gus and Gus isn't used to it!)

Shawn can't believe Gus is cheating on him with Lassiter. (I wrote this before Gus, later in the episode, explicitly said that doing things he'd usually do with Shawn with Lassiter felt like cheating.)

Shawn set up a system to alert him if Gus buys condoms, as normal friends who aren't secretly in love with you do. Later, Juliet objects to Shawn's request for her to distract a woman by flirting: 'I am not hitting on a girl.' He wants to know why she's refusing. 'Why? Does that scare you? Or does it not scare you? And does that scare you?' I choose to conclude that Shawn is speaking from personal experience here.

Shawn is a fan of both Phineas and Ferb and The Mentalist. Is Shawn me? I hope Shawn isn't me.

'People have sex and they kill each other. That's the real world. Not some magical feelings place.' Lassiter is incredible sometimes.

The moral of the episode is that the Shawn-Gus and Juliet-Lassiter teams will always gravitate back together, because they are the correct pairings. I'm right.

'Of course you fell for him; he was your partner,' Shawn says to the murderer. Excuse me?? Shawn, whose partner is Gus, outright says 'of course you fall for your partner'?? If Shawn and Gus don't get married by the end of Psych, it is a flat-out sin.

Gus and Lassiter having a silent, supportive exchange during the 'pinning the killer' scene: adorable. Shawn being incredibly proud of Gus at the tap show: also adorable. This was such a cute episode.

'Chivalry Is Not Dead... But Someone Is': a case gives Shawn the excuse to flirt with a middle-aged woman! He must be so pleased!

He's so into it when she starts petting his hair! Later, he outright says, 'I can imagine a world where I get a little frisky with her'! I'm delighted that my sense that Shawn is into older women consistently holds true. (I'll be honest: I was a little sad that they didn't bang.)

Crossposts: https://rionaleonhart.livejournal.com/513593.html

Delightful comment on my 'Price and McKinley having shared dreams of Hell' Book of Mormon fic: I had to google what 'onanism' is and uh - I learnt a new word I guess.

I started watching The Politician with Rei, not knowing anything at all about it, and shrieked 'WHAT?' when the creators of Glee showed up in the opening credits.

The Politician, it turns out, is all about how student president elections are the most serious thing in the world. So serious. You cannot imagine how serious they are. Absolutely grounds for smear campaigns and murder. IF YOU'RE NOT SCHOOL PRESIDENT, YOU'LL NEVER BE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

It's exactly as bad and compelling as its pedigree might lead you to expect. There's one bit where the protagonist and his Mandarin tutor kiss, and it's meant to be very emotional and serious, but it's absolutely hilarious because they literally met three minutes ago. The scene is their first real conversation; there has been no room for timejumps. Here's the scene. (The show's failure to include room for time to pass also means the Mandarin lesson itself lasts approximately thirty seconds.)

Rewatching High School Musical 3 was a very weird experience after encountering The Politician.

Riona: Holy shit, Taylor's the student president.
Rei: She must have killed so many people.
Taylor: My future? I'm going to be the president of the United States.
Riona and Rei: OH NO

In better television news, I've finished the fourth season of Psych!

'Shawn Takes a Shot in the Dark' is a top-quality episode. Shawn spends most of it bleeding, scared, alone, in pain and/or tied up. At one point he's also being choked. I love this show.

'You Can't Handle This Episode': Shawn can't consider going to Uganda with his girlfriend because 'Psych is here and Gus is here'. (I hope that, in Uganda, she runs into the Book of Mormon characters.)

I love that, when Ewan says he'd usually 'take out' the men in their way on the investigation, Shawn assumes he means 'take them out on a date' (and is up for the concept) and is deeply shocked to realise he means 'kill them'.

'Thrill Seekers and Hell Raisers': Gus takes Shawn to cuddle rabbits to soften the blow of the news that Gus has a girlfriend. He knows Shawn's going to take it hard.

'Oh, obviously you're jealous because Gus is in a healthy, stable relationship and you're not.' You're not quite there, Shawn's dad. You're thinking in the right area, but you're not entirely there.

'The Head, the Tail, the Whole Damn Episode': I enjoy Lassiter being a great big weirdo whose solution to any obstruction at all, including 'the boat rental place is out of boats', is PULL OUT YOUR GUN, although the amusement is tempered by the fact that, by all accounts, far too many armed police officers are actually like that.

'Mr Yin Presents...': Mary jumps on the idea of marrying Shawn and Yang so they can have conjugal visits! I'm a little sad Shawn didn't go for it. Come on, Shawn, you'll probably get some information out of it. Information and nightmares.

Lassiter sacrificed his gun to save Juliet! He loves that gun more than anything! Lassiter/Juliet is such a great ship and I'm sad it's clearly not going to be canon. (I almost said 'the same applies to Shawn/Gus', but Shawn/Gus is canon, frankly.)

Crossposts: https://rionaleonhart.livejournal.com/513512.html

Someone has done an incredible animatic to 'You and Me (But Mostly Me)' from The Book of Mormon. I love the expressions. I love Elder Price so much. What a magnificent, perfectly earnest little shit. He's so self-obsessed, exhausting himself chasing after God's attention, while simultaneously being absolutely well-meaning; he doesn't wish any harm to anyone.

This musical was so much less cynical than I was expecting it to be.

My favourite bit of character detail in the entire musical, and the moment I fell in love with Elder Price: when God fails to answer his prayer in 'Two by Two', he stands there shellshocked for a few seconds, and then he pastes on a smile and joins in the cheerful dancing that everyone else is doing. He's really trying!

why did I get so invested, this wasn't supposed to happen at all

Also incredible: this animatic for a snippet of 'Spooky Mormon Hell Dream', and this one for 'Turn It Off', which perfectly captures the experience of watching the number. ('Turn It Off' gets pretty dark; warning for grief, domestic abuse and internalised homophobia.)

Musically, Hamilton is still my favourite musical. I listened to the cast recording of Hamilton long before seeing it in the theatre, and that was fantastic on its own; if I'd listened to the cast recording of The Book of Mormon without seeing it, I don't think it would have clicked for me. But, in terms of staging and sheer enjoyment (and unexpectedly catering specifically to my tastes), The Book of Mormon is probably the best musical experience I've had.

There's still a part of me vaguely pondering the possibility of fanfiction, but I don't have any concrete ideas. Religious guilt does seem like a rich vein of suffering I haven't exploited much in my fanfiction, although I did touch on it when writing about Jacob of Life Is Strange 2. But I don't know how well I'd be able to write a character for whom religion is a large part of their life.

It's entirely possible I'm giving this more thought than the writers of the musical did.

There's also a part of me that's slightly concerned parts of fandom will judge me for writing Book of Mormon fanfiction, but, let's be honest, I've written more than enough to be judged for already.

After I posted my entry on the Psych episode 'Extradition: British Columbia', it occurred to me that it's entirely possible this is what happened:

Gus: Hey, this is really romantic! You actually booked this trip for you and your girlfriend, didn't you?
Shawn: ...
Shawn: ...
Shawn: ...
Shawn: Yes.

'High Noon-Ish': I love Shawn and Gus persuading themselves that Lassiter is going to kill them.

To be honest, America's such a strange and mysterious country to me that for a moment I was entirely prepared to believe the Old West place was an actual town, rather than a tourist attraction.

'Bollywood Homicide': Shawn wrote a Valentine's Day card to his teacher when he was a kid! His interest in older women evidently started young.

'Let's Get Hairy': I love that Shawn tells Gus his romantic dreams about men.

Gus is intrigued by femdom. I'm just making characterisation notes.

Crossposts: https://rionaleonhart.livejournal.com/512710.html

Once upon a time, my brother Fred said to my dad, 'Let's play Bulls and Cows. I'll think of a four-digit number; you throw out guesses; I'll tell you how many numbers in your guess are correct.'

As they played, my dad had the gradual, terrible realisation that the number Fred was thinking of was my dad's PIN.

I feel this is exactly the sort of bullshit Shawn Spencer would pull.

I've now seen the first episode of Psych's fourth season, 'Extradition: British Columbia'.

Gus calls Shawn out on staring at girls. Shawn's response: 'Okay, first of all, the person I'm staring at is a man. He's handsome - dimples, brooding eyebrows - but a man nonetheless.' I love that Shawn's consistently happy to talk about men being attractive, without ever feeling the need to go 'oh, but I'm straight, of course'.

One of my favourite moments in the entirety of Psych so far:

Shawn: The thing is this: I am a psychic. You've seen The Mentalist, right?
Robert: Yes.
Shawn: It's like that.
Gus: Except that guy's a fake.
Shawn: Right. If I was a fake psychic, it would be eerily similar.
Gus: Exactly the same.
Shawn: A virtual carbon copy.

This show is an absolute masterpiece. I love The Mentalist dearly, but that was incredible.

Gus is disconcerted by the fact that Shawn made them a reservation at a romantic restaurant. Shawn's going 'hey, it's fine, don't worry about it, let's just have a nice date.'

This is the second episode in a row where a criminal's tried to play games with Shawn. It's a less murderous criminal this time, at least, but it might have been nice to have Shawn react to the echoes of the Mr Yang case.

Rose petals in their hotel room! I suspect Shawn booked this holiday to go on with his lady friend and then invited Gus when she wasn't available (this is later confirmed), but I'm still delighted that it means their holiday has such a romantic tinge (and that Shawn went 'I'll just do all the romantic stuff with Gus instead' rather than 'let's cancel the intimate restaurant and moonlit carriage ride and do something else').

Shawn, walking alone at night, trying to ease his nerves by talking to raccoons! I still want to work out a way he can interact with Nathan Drake. They share the habit of rambling nervously to themselves in stressful situations!

Juliet: Don't you think it's odd that you're in a relationship now, yet you're inviting me to maybe the most romantic place on Earth?
Shawn: Look, Jules, listen, I made these plans weeks ago. And Gus refused to come, on account he's a man and I'm a man, or some nonsense like that.

Shawn 'Fuck Heteronormativity' Spencer really wasn't what I was expecting when I first started watching this show, but I love it. (Also, I continue to career inevitably towards writing fanfiction about Shawn being in love with everyone. 'Everyone' definitely includes Mr Yang.)

I don't often get really inflexibly rooted in an interpretation of a particular character's sexuality, but I think Shawn Spencer may have joined Shuichi Saihara in my personal 'he's bisexual and I'll fight you if you tell me I'm wrong' corner.

Crossposts: https://rionaleonhart.livejournal.com/512021.html

Gus: You know how fire's attracted to me.
Shawn: Can you blame it? Man, look at you!

I've just finished the third season of Psych!

'Tuesday the 17th' is all about Shawn being jealous because there's another boy Gus likes. Gus even calls him out on it: 'You're trying to interpret everything as creepy because you're jealous of Jason.'

Oh, Lassiter has so many feelings about his ex-wife!

Interestingly melancholy tone to the end of that episode. 'Tuesday the 17th' generally feels a little more serious than most Psych episodes, even if Gus attempts to defeat a murderer by throwing a pool noodle at him. (The episode that follows, 'An Evening with Mr Yang', is also pretty serious for Psych.)

'Tuesday the 17th' feels a lot like a potential Dark Pictures Anthology game, actually. It sort of makes me want a choose-your-own-adventure fic in the style of a Dark Pictures game, narrated by the Curator. Gus, Shawn, Juliet, Lassiter and Vick find themselves in a horror situation, and, depending on your choices, any combination of them can survive or die. But it seems far too ambitious to attempt.

'An Evening with Mr Yang': according to Gus, Shawn hit on an eighty-year-old woman. My 'Shawn is entirely up for it with much older women' suspicion holds true.

Shawn is so, so upset and violated to realise that a serial killer broke into his office to screw with him. It's really interesting to see him like this; he's been afraid before, he's been pissed off, but this is something completely new.

'An Evening with Mr Yang' is a very traumatic episode for Shawn, and I, predictably, am highly in favour of this. I said in my first Psych entry that I didn't like Shawn because he wasn't traumatised enough; evidently the writers travelled forward in time, saw my complaint and decided to fix it. I'd already started to like him, guys, but I appreciate the effort!

Gus is just there on Shawn's date! Shawn just brought him along! You're not fooling anyone, Shawn; we all know you have Gus third-wheel your dates because that way it's kind of like you're dating Gus.

Crossposts: https://rionaleonhart.livejournal.com/511818.html

I continue to thunder through Psych at an alarming rate. How am I halfway through season three? I've been watching this show for about a fortnight!

I would watch Shawn's film about a motorcycle that comes to life at night and solves crime and does sweet wheelies.

When a former classmate assumes Shawn and Gus are dating:

Gus: We are not dating.
Shawn: You kidding? He was voted most likely to succeed. You think he's gonna date me?

Shawn's actions fall so consistently into my 'Shawn is in love with Gus; Gus has no idea' headcanon that I'm starting to think the show was written with that in mind.

Is... is Chief Vick instructing Juliet to date Lassiter? It's good to know a character in the show is supporting me in my shipping. (Juliet, alas, interprets it as 'find Lassiter a girlfriend'.)

Holy shit, the ending of 'Daredevils!!' shattered my heart. I wasn't prepared for that. I really liked the way Shawn approached it. Goddammit, I think I like Shawn.

Shawn was already reminding me of Nathan Drake in some aspects, and then 'The Greatest Adventure in the History of Basic Cable' was basically just an Uncharted game from start to finish. I want to speculate on how Shawn and Nate would interact, but I can't envision it. I feel they'd just repel each other like matching poles of a magnet. They wouldn't be able to get close enough to have a conversation.

'Gus Walks Into a Bank': Shawn is a bit of a coward most of the time, and yet his automatic reaction to learning Gus is a hostage in a bank hold-up is 'try to run into the bank'. The Shawn-and-Gus relationship continues to be my favourite thing.

Shawn's so upset!

I'm glad Gus had that 'I love you, Shawn' moment. It's very, very clear that Shawn adores Gus, but I feel I can't always tell how much Gus actually likes Shawn.

(And Shawn has no idea what to do! He can't handle sincere expressions of emotion at all. You're so bad at feelings, Shawn. This is exactly why you're not going to end up with Gus romantically; you'll never be able to express yourself to him, and he's never going to realise how you feel if he doesn't have it spelled out.)

Crossposts: https://rionaleonhart.livejournal.com/511331.html

I can't believe I forgot about Beatrice/Battler when I was doing that 'list your top five canon and non-canon OTPs' thing. I am a fool.

Major Umineko spoilers; highlight to read: It's the most incredible enemies-to-lovers story I've ever experienced. She murders his family repeatedly in front of him while he screams and cries! She uses him as a footstool! She strips him and leads him around on a chain and feeds him alive to goats! She's simultaneously his aunt and his cousin! Later they get married!

I'm still having a great time with Psych. By this point I'm most of the way through the second season.

Juliet trying to mimic the dancers in the background during 'American Duos': extremely cute.

Shawn and Gus, simultaneously, when they're offered a couples' massage:

Gus: No.
Shawn: That's fine.

I'm increasingly suspecting that Shawn is in love with Gus while the possibility just doesn't occur to Gus. Poor Shawn. (I'm shipping Shawn/Gus so hard and I'm sad that it's not going to be canon. Well, not intentionally canon, at any rate.)

'It's been a long time since we napped together,' Shawn says to Gus. Please let me see Shawn and Gus napping together. I was sad when they were presented with an 'OH NO, THERE'S ONLY ONE BED' scenario and Gus rejected the idea of sharing it. (Whereas Shawn seemed fine with the prospect. There's a pattern developing here.)

Whilst I'm very much a Shawn/Gus and Lassiter/Juliet person, and I'm a bit dubious about Shawn/Juliet when he spends so much time hitting on her and being rebuffed, I did really enjoy the Shawn/Juliet 'very close talking' scene in 'Bounty Hunters!'. And Juliet disassembling and reassembling her pistol to settle herself afterwards! I still have such a weakness for moments that go right up to the 'unambiguously romantic' line without technically crossing over it.

'The Old and the Restless': Shawn dancing the tango with a much older woman is kind of... worryingly... hot? He seems really into it; there's no hint that he's repelled or not taking it seriously. I get the sense that, if she tried to kiss him, he'd just go for it.

Nobody seems to have uploaded the dance to YouTube. You've failed me, Psych fandom.

Shawn seems like a good candidate for my addiction to writing fanfiction about one character falling in love with everyone, actually. I'm not saying I'm planning to write Shawn/everyone fanfiction, but I'm looking at myself and seeing a real risk that I might.

Crossposts: https://rionaleonhart.livejournal.com/510776.html

More Psych! I've just finished the first season.

I feel a disproportionate number of the women Shawn or Gus are interested in end up being involved in murders, although I suppose between them they manage to be interested in just about every woman in this show.

I was really hoping that the culprit in the convention episode, in which George Takei appears as himself (and is the most incredible sport), would just be George Takei.

I enjoy the opening scene of 'From the Earth to the Starbucks', where Lassiter confides in Shawn at a bar and Shawn is just so uncomfortable. 'Shit, Lassie's in a really bad way; I guess I've got to be... nice? H... how? Just... compliment his looks a lot?'

Kind of shipping Lassiter/Juliet. I was pretty delighted when he tried to escape her at the speed-dating event and ended up cornered into sitting down, and then they just spent six minutes in awkward silence.

Gus, watching a sex tape featuring a man and a woman, is clearly focusing on the man ('This high-def plasma really makes a difference. I can see the beads of sweat on his neck. Look at his hair!') and then asks Shawn, 'Do you make noises like that?' I'm just saying.

I'm delighted by Shawn and Gus running in terror from the 'haunted' sorority house in 'Scary Sherry'. I really enjoy male characters being huge cowards, particularly when they tend to be cocky in non-scary situations (see: Patrick Jane).

Shawn had a sincere moment of emotion about Gus! He started saying 'I know if anything happened to Gus, I...' and couldn't handle finishing the sentence! I am increasingly invested in this relationship.

I love that Shawn and Lassiter were both rushing to rescue Juliet, and she just ended up rescuing herself. Even better: she physically extricated herself from the situation but was in an extremely unsettled psychological state and needed someone to gently take the axe away from her.

I am here for Gus being trapped and terrified in a creepy mansion. Sorry, Gus.

My heart broke slightly at Lassiter awkwardly trying to join in with his colleagues' socialising at the end of the episode and not knowing how.

'Scary Sherry' is probably my favourite episode so far. I feel it's the first time the show has really gone 'yes, this premise is ridiculous and we're having fun, but these characters are also human beings and we can dig into their feelings'. I wasn't sure whether I'd end up having emotions about Psych, but here we are!

Crossposts: https://rionaleonhart.livejournal.com/510414.html

A long time ago, I posted here to say 'should I watch The Mentalist?' and half the comments said 'NO, WATCH PSYCH INSTEAD' and I went 'screw you, I'm watching The Mentalist.' One might wonder why I bothered asking the opinion of my flist if I was just going to ignore it.

I don't regret my decision to watch The Mentalist at all, but all the enthusiastic recommendations for Psych stuck in my mind, so I'm checking it out at last. Only took me a decade.

Riona: I'm not sure about Shawn. I think he's a bit too much of an arsehole for me.
Rei: He acts exactly like Patrick Jane. You love Patrick Jane.
Riona: Maybe I just don't like Shawn because he's not traumatised enough.

I've heard the character dynamics of Psych compared to Scrubs, and it was slightly weird to go in with the set of expectations that that creates. I wanted Shawn and Gus to love each other as much as JD and Turk do, and of course I was inevitably to be disappointed, because nobody has ever loved anyone as much as JD and Turk love each other.

'Turk, we're not married.'
'Dude, we're a little married.'
'I know. I love it.'

(There's a late Scrubs episode where JD says 'I love you more than Turk' to Elliot and I yelled 'NO YOU FUCKING DON'T' at the screen. While I do enjoy the implication that 'I love you more than Turk' is the most romantic thing JD could possibly say, that was absolutely, one hundred percent a lie. No question about it. I defy anyone to watch Scrubs and try to claim it was true.)

Given the JD-and-Turk comparisons I'd heard, it was a bit of a surprise that Gus plays the longsuffering straight man to Shawn's wackiness, whereas JD and Turk are both ridiculous and cheerfully enable each other in their ridiculousness (and JD would never delight in Turk's suffering the way Shawn does in Gus's). I am sort of shipping Shawn with poor longsuffering Gus, though.

Shawn and Lassiter's dynamic is also very different to JD and Dr Cox's. Lassiter genuinely seems to dislike Shawn; JD is important to Dr Cox, although Dr Cox would never admit it. Shawn enjoys pushing Lassiter's buttons; meanwhile, JD adores Dr Cox, craves his approval and pushes his buttons without intent, because Dr Cox is a man made entirely of buttons.

A cat features prominently in the fifth episode of Psych, and Zuko watched the episode in fascination for twenty solid minutes. Then the episode froze and he wandered off while I was restarting it, and I genuinely felt bad. He'd been enjoying the episode so much, and now he wasn't going to find out how it ended! Riona, Zuko is a kitten and he's not that invested in following procedural plots.

To be honest, I'm disappointed that the episode didn't end with Shawn deciding to keep the cat. I'm enjoying the show so far, but it was improved immeasurably by Shawn carrying a cat into all the crime scenes.

Crossposts: https://rionaleonhart.livejournal.com/510009.html

I have watched the second episode of The Mentalist! Still using a computer with tremendous amounts of slowdown. Still enjoying it so immensely that I barely care.

Oh, I do love Patrick Jane. I love his 'THIS IS THE BEST PLAN TO CATCH A MURDERER EVER :D :D :D' face. I love how overly free he is when looking around places for the investigation, lying down on the victim's bed and making himself tea. I love it when he totally knows who the killer is but doesn't tell the team anything because he wants to extract a particularly dramatic confession. I love the inappropriate amount of fun he has with murder investigations.

Also, I am beginning to 'ship Jane/Lisbon. Maybe. A little. Patrick Jane's heterosexuality bewilders me somewhat, because he is still totally Derren Brown in every other respect (that rock-paper-scissors sequence was oddly familiar, although Jane's hypnosis technique is more 'JUST SAY "SLEEP" A LOT' than the 'as you listen to my voice...' leading of Brown's), but I can forgive him when he and Lisbon are being argumentative and flirtatious and totally cute.

(Hmmm, I seem to have got over the weirdness of calling Jane 'Jane' rather quickly.)

Van Pelt is awfully pretty, isn't she? For some reason, I'd thought Van Pelt was the guy who totally has a crush on actual Van Pelt, but I think I managed to work it out in the second episode. Although I still don't know Guy Who Is Not Van Pelt's name. (His crush on Van Pelt is pretty adorable, whatever he's called.)

Oh, I love the experience of falling for a new fandom. This is a slightly unusual case, admittedly, because the protagonist is essentially the central figure of one of my other fandoms and so it's more like falling for an epic AU fic than something entirely fresh and new, but I still love it. (Seriously: had someone posted the first two episodes of The Mentalist to

derrenbrownfic (rewritten in prose form and with Patrick Jane's name changed to 'Derren Brown', obviously) as an AU, would I have had any complaints with the characterisation? I dare say I'd have had very few.)

People are still recommending that I watch Psych, and from what I've heard it sounds like what would result were Scrubs and The Mentalist to have a baby (although of course it came before The Mentalist). I can't say I'm not intrigued. I'm concentrating on The Mentalist at the moment, but I'll keep an eye out.

The general message I received from the comments to my earlier 'should I watch The Mentalist?' entry was 'NOOOOOOO RIONA WATCH PSYCH INSTEAD'.

Fair enough, I thought, but as I had access to the pilot of The Mentalist I'd give it a try. Just a couple of minutes. It would be unfeasible to watch more anyway, as for the moment the only computer to which I had access was the very old, very overloaded desktop, so the video quality would be irritatingly jerky.

Two minutes in, I entirely failed to hit 'stop'.

Ten minutes in, I paused, grabbed a notebook and wrote 'THIS IS ESSENTIALLY A SHOW ABOUT DERREN BROWN USING HIS ABILITIES TO SOLVE CRIMES UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF LISA CUDDY. I AM ALREADY IN LOVE.'

And then, of course, I watched the rest of the episode, ignoring the rubbishness of this computer.

I'm sorry, Psych fans. I've let you all down.

Thoughts!

- Patrick Jane is so clearly based on Derren Brown that I am amazed they're not paying him royalties. There's the mentalism, obviously, but then there's the arrogance, the suits, the disdain for genuine belief in the paranormal, the turning against his earlier life, the smirks, the delight in theatrics...

- Lisbon is probably not actually based on Lisa Cuddy, but I cannot stop thinking of her as 'Cuddy' anyway. I do not have a problem with this.

- Patrick's backstory made my heart hurt. (I actually feel oddly as if I should apologise to Patrick for calling him 'Patrick' so soon in our acquaintance, but I feel weird calling him 'Jane'. STOP HAVING A FIRST NAME FOR YOUR LAST NAME, JANE.) AND THE FINAL SCENE. OH.

- Actually, Patrick's backstory completely freaked me out, and it took me some consideration to realise that I was actually thinking of him as Derren Brown, and so horrible things of that magnitude happening to him make me recoil for the same reason that I have trouble reading real-person fiction in which anything too awful happens. I had to help myself handle it by reminding myself firmly that Derren Brown was unlikely ever to have a wife.

- I was going to say that I love Patrick's smugness and arrogance, and then I thought 'wait, they already know that', and then I realised that I was thinking of Derren Brown.

This is going to be so confusing.

Er. Hmm. Now I'm trying to think of something I like about Patrick Jane that you won't already have guessed from my ramblings about Derren Brown.

I love his smile! There we go. That's something they don't share, because Patrick Jane is not, in fact, played by Derren Brown. (Although I bet the writers wish he were.)

- ...that said, when I play scenes from the episode back in my head, Patrick Jane is played not by Derren Brown but by Robert Downey Jr.

I have no idea why.

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Entries tagged with psych

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I Never Told You That The Victim Wasn't A Sea Lion.

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Act Natural.

I've Got A Mobile Phone And I'm Not Afraid To Use It.

I Am Already Gleefully Exclaiming 'WAY TO GO, PATRICK' At The Screen.

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