Psych – “Dis-Lodged”
This was an improvement on the previous episode, the How was detectable from the clues, the Who less so. The sudden drop in of ongoing sub-plots that have gone unmentioned for episodes, was a little jarring but it all worked. There definitely is a slacking off of the fake psychic schtick happening, Shawn and Gus could almost just be ordinary consulting detectives now. That’s possibly a mistake, one that can be avoided possibly by having more cases where they are hired by a private citizen rather than the cops.
Psych – “Black and Tan: A Crime of Fashion”
That slacking off the psychic schtick was particularly evident here, where Shawn and Gus go undercover as fashion models. However, the actual whodunnit was particularly strong. Clear suspects and clues were presented, as opposed the relatively anonymous nature of the culprits in the previous two episodes. Also the sub-plot with Henry hopefully has an ongoing effect on the series. They seem to be foreshadowing something involving Shawn’s mother, as over the last two series they’ve slowly drip fed us information about her status.
The Rockford Files
I’m a big fan of the Rockford Files and recently they’ve been running on ITV3 over here, in particular showing a lot of episodes from the last season where David Chase was doing a lot of the writing. And turning the show into a proto-Sopranos on occasion. These episodes are fairly jarring and somewhat mawkish. They tend to force the show out of it’s Malibu setting and into something involving New Jersey in someway, and guest starring a future Sopranos actor. They are fine for what they are, but what they are doesn’t feel like The Rockford Files.
On the other hand I also caught the second Lance White episode, which was absolute gold. It’s a really great send up of bad television detective behaviour, and I really want to catch the first one now.
Oh! Edo Rocket
I’m halfway through this now, and I’ll write more when I’m done, but I have to say the opening half of episode 12 was some of the best and possibly meanest digs at the anime industry I’ve seen. Some of it was intimation, but some was just the outright insulting of other productions by name. I also liked the FMA voice actor gag later on.