TV-Reviewed

This week’s PSYCH had one of my favorite guest characters return: Abigail, Shawn Spencer’s new girlfriend. As you may remember, Abigail was ‘the one that got away’ from Shawn during high school when he passed up a date with her on account of him being more nervous than any other moment in his life.

I’ve always enjoyed Abigail’s presence on the show. She hasn’t been featured very often, but all of her appearances were memorable. Rachael Leigh Cook is adorable and plays the character perfectly. She really won me over in last season’s high school reunion episode.

Abigail’s return in “He Dead” seemed a little off, however. She only appeared in a couple of scenes and in each of them, Shawn took the spotlight. In the past, they managed to share it, allowing for Abigail to come through. It made these scenes feel somewhat awkward. Abigail was almost an afterthought with Shawn talking and acting obnoxiously.

Dule Hill as Burton ‘Gus’ Guster, James Roday as Shawn Spencer

As for the big case of the week, Shawn and Gus had to try and find out who killed a super-rich hedge fund manager. They were involved in a manhunt when the billionaire’s plane went down in the wilderness. Shawn and Gus were the first to the plane and got to hear his last few words.

The PSYCH writing staff did a crack job of introducing a lot of misinformation. We had half a dozen possible murderers, but we all knew it could just be one. Who was it? The cheating spouse? The space cadet of a son? Or how about the estranged daughter who may or may not have been sleeping with her father?

Yeah, that last one threw me off too. It was quite shocking when that theory was put out there, but at the time, we didn’t know she was the billionaire’s daughter.

Through all of the artfully crafted twists and turns, we learned that it was the son in law who was responsible for killing the old man. My only complaint with the murder plot was that we’ve seen too many ponzi schemes on television since the Bernie Madoff scandal. Honestly, I’ve grown tired of the whole thing. I hope PSYCH stays clear of this from now on.

While the ponzi scheme details and the fact that Abigail wasn’t handled properly this week, I still have to give the gang credit for doing an excellent job. I thoroughly enjoyed this episode. They brought the funny and even delivered an excellent murder mystery.

One of my favorite scenes was that ‘checking in’ scene where Gus suggested Shawn check in with Abigail because that’s what guys are supposed to do when they’re in relationships. Shawn’s reaction was great and ultimately showed he would like to see this thing work out, as would I. Rachael Leigh Cook is excellent in her portrayal of Abigail and I would love to see this work out, even though I’m sure that Juliet will be the girl Shawn ends up with.

Rating: 8.5