‘Psych’ series finale: We look back at our five favorite episodes

With “Psych” ending on Wednesday night, this allowed us to have a moment or two of reflection at all of the good stuff the USA series has brought us over the years … and there is tons of good stuff. This is a show that has been heartfelt, moving, hilarious, wacky, and quotable … and often all in the same episode. It was never respected enough for bringing entertainment, but we are glad that the show had a great eight seasons and over 100 episodes in which to shine.

Now, we come to what was an extremely difficult challenge for us as a member of the Psych-O army ourselves: Picking five episodes we loved the most. We thought at first about trying to rank them, but that in the end was impossible for us. These also all differ (surprisingly) from the ones that the cast shared during the recent marathon special. (You can see all of their picks over at the link here.)

“Lights … Camera … Homicidio” (season 2) – A completely silly episode, but one that was absolutely hilarious from start to finish. Before he made “Dual Spires” (now his favorite), James Roday told us that this riff on telenovelas was his favorite episode that had aired to date.

“Lassie Did a Bad, Bad Thing” (season 3) – Some of our favorite episodes are the ones that really force some of the characters out of their normal situations, and while the tribute episodes often do that, we do at times find some of the homages to be a distraction. This episode, which was all about Shawn and Gus trying to clear Lassiter’s name, was extremely funny and the sort of change-of-pace we live for.

“An Evening with Mr. Yang” (season 3 finale) – Undoubtedly one of the most serious episode of the entire series, and we were completely terrified of the Yang character when she spent more time lurking in the shadows. Never felt like “Mr. Yin Presents” fully lived up to this, but it was pretty hard to.

“Shawn and the Real  Girl” (season 6) – The thing about “Psych” episodes is that they are so subjective, especially those who choose to spoof something else for effect. This wasn’t an episode that tried to create an entirely new feel for the show, but it was a great send-up of “The Bachelor” that did to that show what “Lights … Camera … Homicidio” did to soap operas in Spanish. This was just pure fun from start to finish, and one of those episodes we’d watch a dozen times over.

“Right Turn or Left For Dead” (season 7) – Our final favorite episode is a little different than all of the others here. It’s a high-concept “what if?” story designed around the convention of solving a case with the main device being whether or not Shawn told Juliet the truth about him being a fake psychic. We probably couldn’t watch it more than a few times (it’s too sad), but it remains one of the most-important hours of the entire series. Plus, it was so well-written from start to finish.

What was your favorite episode of the entire series? Let us know in the comments, and head over here if you want to get updates on all of the good stuff we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter.

Photo: USA