Psych plays at Indiana Jones in mid-season premiere

USA's Psych resumes its sixth season with the episode "Indiana Shawn and the Temple of the Kinda Crappy, Rusty Old Dagger." Shawn (James Roday) and Gus (Dulé Hill) fail to safeguard the art they are tasked with protecting. To get it back, Shawn calls old friend and art thief Pierre Despereaux (Cary Elwes) in to help. Despereaux has a break in his trial, and so accepts. But during the case, Despereaux is blown up by the real crook (Mädchen Amick, Damages, Californication). Can Shawn and Gus finish solving the mystery by themselves? And will Shawn ever learn to deal with death? 

Psych is a comedy series, and thus, Despereaux's death is unexpected. When Shawn hangs onto the notion that Despereaux somehow fakes his demise, it's easy to believe him. Until Henry (Corbin Bernsen) presents Shawn with a positive DNA match. Of course, Despereaux really is alive, but kudos to Psych for creating such a wonderfully played fake out.

The tale of Despereaux's death is meaningful because it address how Shawn cannot deal with losing anyone. In flashback, viewers see this begins with pets in Shawn's childhood. In the present day, he has a very difficult time accepting grief. It's a character element not played up until this episode, and an interesting one. It can be extrapolated that much of Shawn's cavalier attitude springs from his resistance to real emotion, and is a coping mechanism to avoid pain. Faced with the possibility that Despereaux is actually dead, Shawn flounders.

Psych is big on referencing pop culture in its episodes, and "Indiana Shawn and the Temple of the Kinda Crappy, Rusty Old Dagger" continues that proud tradition. Obviously, the big reference here is to Indiana Jones. Some famous scenes and props are recreated, at least partially, in the episode. Also, the great John Rhys-Davies (Lord of the Rings, Sliders), who plays Sallah in two of the Indiana Jones films, guest stars this week in Psych as a museum curator.

The only real complaint to be had with the latest Psych adventure is that it, once again, skirts around the larger character arcs. There is a short scene at the beginning of the episode in which Gus confronts Shawn about an engagement ring. Shawn deflects, per usual, and while Gus seems annoyed at the time, he doesn't bring it up for the rest of the hour. Fans want to know the meaning of the ring! Does Shawn intend to propose to Juliet (Maggie Lawson)? Is he discouraged because she isn't ready yet? Sure, cases of the week can be fun, but for goodness sakes, get to the meat of the character relations more than twice a season, Psych!

A more minor gripe is Lassiter's (Timothy Omundson) utter disregard for Shawn's feelings at losing his friend, Despereaux. Sure, Lassie can be callous at times. But when things get dark, he tends to be human and sympathetic. That is not evident in this episode at all, as he continues to jibe at Shawn and say cold things about Despereaux's death. It's a little too much, even for Lassie.

All in all, a decent return for Psych, though one wishes this installment took a touch that was a little less light. Watch Psych Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on USA.

MORE: If you like my reviews, please follow me on Twitter! Please click here to get DVDs and streaming episodes of Psych. Article first published as TV Review: Psych - "Indiana Shawn and the Temple of the Kinda Crappy, Rusty Old Dagger" on Blogcritics.

Next time it will take more than children to save you

     After a fourteen month wait, not atypical for this particular show, Adult Swim’s The Venture Brothers premiered Sunday at midnight (or Monday?). Though this was merely the fourth season, the show has been around since 2004. Thankfully, this season will have sixteen episodes, instead of the usual thirteen, split into two runs, so a wait for season five, if one is ordered, should be shorter.

      The premiere episode was confusing as all get out, jumping around over several months without any obvious way to determine scene order. West Coast viewers had it even worse, because of a mis-airing by the network. For those who saw the full episode, the premise seemed to hinge on whichever superhero Brock most resembled at the time, ordered by value of the original comic book. One of the show’s creators, Jackson Publick, advised viewers to watch the length of Hank’s hair to determine the timeline.

      Because bodyguard Brock Samson quit at the end of season three, the theme song was changed to show a new character filling his role, though long-time fans will remember that the theme song to season two’s premiere was also changed when the Venture Brothers were still apparently dead, but it reverted back to
normal the following week. Because of the plot of this week’s episode, it seems likely this will happen again.
      Overall, the episode was interesting. They used many comic references, again, and paid a wonderful tribute to Raiders of the Lost Ark (see this article’s title). The only disappointment was that, because of the meandering timeline, the villain’s story of cloning Hitler was lost amid the things happening to the principal four characters over the months since season three ended.

      A convenient subplot of The Venture Brothers is that whenever the brothers die, their father just clones them again. While this has been used sparingly up until now, the cloning process was integral to this week’s story. This is important because of the tragic loss of Henchman 24. While Dr. Venture says he can clone him only as a baby, which may provide an amusing plot for 21 for a time, let’s hope 24 returns intact soon.