Day One Hundred and Fifty - Psych: Season 6, Episode 10, "Cary... you make everything better."

If nothing else, Psych is silly fun... usually. Sure, there are the occasional episodes that just don't have much of anything, but most are pretty entertaining if you ignore the actual mystery and focus on the referential and self-referential humor.

I'd say that wasn't the case here, but it's true that the mystery itself is blah. Especially in comparison to the fun, almost-genius bits of meta-humor and guest star chemistry.

Firstly, the episode starts off with the old black and white Universal logo. I mean, that's genius right there, isn't it? Making a pulpy adventure story and starting off with that?

Secondly, to get you in the Indy mood, the first guest star that we're treated to in the episode is perennial Indiana Jones (and general Sci-fi and Fantasy) supporting actor John Rhys-Davies. Sallah from the Indy series, Paladin from Wing Commander, Gimli and Treebeard from LotR. Put that Welshman on any program and you've got my attention. Get him for an Indy-themed episode of Psych? Gravy.

Third, finally, and perhaps most importantly, is Cary Elwes. Reprising his role as the master thief Despereaux, Elwes swaggers through the episode doing his best Dread Pirate Roberts while Shawn fawns and Gus grumbles. Despereaux was a novelty when he first showed up in the series and, perhaps, just a fun bit of continuity when he returned the second time. This guest recurrence, however, felt just right as the pressure to capture him was off and the entirety of his bits were all charm and snark... which, really, is pretty much the whole appeal of Psych as a show.

The throwaway villainess (played by Madchen Amick) really doesn't present much of a threat or alluring charm and that's my one main disappointment with the episode, but with Cary there I'm well enough sated to enjoy myself. I was kind of hoping she'd be in a second Twin Peaks episode, but you can't always get what you want.

I do think that both Rhys-Davies and Elwes looked surprising trim here... especially the latter, who was noticeably pudgier his last two appearances. While I'm not unimpressed by Rhys-Davies dropping down in size, it was particularly distracting to have Wesley looking roundish previously.

One last thing to note, I really like how supportive Jules (Maggie Lawson) is towards Shawn and his grief when his hero Despereaux notably dies in a vivid boat explosion. Similar to last episode when she was off on a date and out of her normal detective motif, her sympathy here is more interesting... as is Lassiter's tacit glee over the same death.

All it all, this is one of the stronger episodes that I've seen of late and I enjoyed myself immensely. It's just too bad that Gus couldn't hook up with that overzealous tour guide (and that they couldn't use Hearst Castle for the backdrop of the epi).

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~