March 7, 2013  /   2 Comments

Why he thinks it’s OK to refer to someone he loves as a Biblical trouble-maker (Jezebel) or the titular character of porn movies is beyond me. Juliet is far more patient and forgiving than I am. We would have re-enacted another bible story and removed one of Shawn’s ribs had that been me.

This week on Psych: Did someone on the writing staff have a bad breakup or something? Because dating, online and long-term, took some skewering in ‘Juliet Takes a Luvvah’ (and if you want to see Mr. Tobey squirm, say it, just like that, ‘luvvahhhhh.’ He hates it. So I do it all the time. I’m a jerk.)

And it’s not just in the expected and typical barbs tossed at online dating, like when Gus tells Shawn he’s signed onto a dating site, “Oh well, by all means, let’s scour the internet, a place where everyone knows it’s just decent, normal, sane people looking for true love.” (I think that’s OK Cupid’s new slogan) but also in how Shawn treats Juliet when he finds out she’s listed on the same site, for an undercover assignment, trying to track down a killer of women.

Let’s get it out of the way, first, that I find it hard to believe that Juliet didn’t tell Shawn she was going undercover in this role as Helene and being set up as bait. They’ve been dating for awhile and both work for the Santa Barbara Police Department. There’s no reason for her not to tell him, except to make the contrived crashing of Juliet’s first date possible, and the only reason that was necessary was to garner cheap laughs and to introduce the nebbishy seahorse fancier with whom she was having dinner. There must have been a better way to accomplish that.

While I can understand Shawn’s discomfort with Juliet ‘dating’ a string of men in order to track down a killer from the point of view that her safety is being compromised and he loves her, making that concern completely natural, Juliet is a professional and extremely good at her job. She’ll be fine. Unfortunately, that’s not the issue. It’s Shawn’s jealousy that’s the issue. It’s a testament to Shawn’s immaturity more than anything else that he’s bothered by this particular assignment.

Digs at Juliet including that she’s “Jezebelling” around town to solve the case and referring to her as ‘Debbie Does Santa Barbara‘ aren’t funny and are, in fact, offensive and indicative of Shawn’s lack of awareness/maturity. Why he thinks it’s OK to refer to someone he loves as a Biblical trouble-maker (Jezebel) or the titular character of  porn movies is beyond me. Juliet is far more patient and forgiving than I am. We would have re-enacted another bible story and removed one of Shawn’s ribs had that been me.

Honestly, Juliet doesn’t do herself any favours when she can’t get a date with the last suspect on the list, ‘Mr. Possibilities’ (Barf), who, on paper is ‘Mr. Perfect’. Juliet can’t figure out what’s wrong with ‘her’ that Mr. P isn’t returning her emails, and is actively jealous of the girls he took out and possibly murdered. The Hell? She goes so far as to say she ‘hates’ them, which is such a stereotype of girl-on-girl crime that it is almost painful.

Juliet, smart, kick-ass, independent, beautiful, amazing, on top of her career Juliet, ‘hates’ the girls Mr. Perfect chose over her? No. Juliet’s self-worth is not caught up in some man’s opinion of her. Juliet says, “Screw him,” and goes on with her life. This is just poor writing, that Juliet would turn into a middle-school girl over some boy.

The reveal of the murderer’s identity is equally problematic. Not so much the reveal, per se, as it did take me by surprise (I thought it was the tech guy from the dating site sent to help the Santa Barbara PD with their investigation) but with his motive for murder. Apparently, Seahorse Guy had set up the Mr. Possibilities (barf) profile as bait, sort of.

He’d date a woman as himself, and if she declined his request for a further date, and contacted Mr. Possibilities (barf) he would show up and kill her. The logic being, that the lying tramp claimed she wanted a ‘nice guy’, but really, all women really want is a good-looking successful guy, so she totally deserved it.

Mr. Possibilities (barf) seemed to miss the inherent hypocrisy in the fact that he himself was picking his dates based on the societal standard of acceptability: blonde, slim and attractive. Murderer and a hypocritical jerk. No wonder he doesn’t get any second dates.

Even though I found this episode to be fairly flawed, I still managed to enjoy it for the most part. The subplots with Gus’s date, Rachel, and Shawn moving back in with his parents were enjoyable. Shawn, finally, realizes that his maturity is taking a hit by living with Mom and Dad (Mom moved back to take care of Henry, post gunshot) and, even though getting his laundry done is nice, walking in on his parents having sex definitely is not.

His speech to Juliet is surprisingly sweet, that she’s his home. It’s almost enough to make me forgive him for the Jezebel comment. Almost. So they, and eventually an army of pugs will be sharing a place to live. Welcome home, Shawn. It’s about time.

 

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