#and lassie and gus both have Staring A Family arks | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

thoughtfulfelony · 18 days ago

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Interesting thing about Psych that I noticed while rewatching

The show puts a lot of time and effort to show Shawn's father/son relationship, especially in the early seasons( while we still had flashbacks), which, in a way, parallels with the very first two episodes, because, in them, the bad guy IS the father

the pilot- the father shoots his son, the spelling bee- father pushes his son to succeed, to the point of committing a crime

like. it's wild to see the ep start with a father/son flashback -> see how tense Shawn's relationship with Henry is -> the main villian of the two episodes in a row is the father, who, in some way, harms his son

and the way it's set, you'd think it was foreshadowing to Shawn and Henry

and it's not! I don't even think it was done on purpose?? the narrative basically says "Father Figure Is Always The Bad Guy" , and to have that plot while also showing viewers how Henry treats Shawn?? Like, I'm not sure if the takeaway "well at least Henry's not a criminal" or "yeah fathers are just like that" or neither, but it complicates the plot for sure

#also. Juliet's father kinda gets the same treatment? even if he does get some sort of redemption ark #and same with Lassie's father later in the movies #and it makes Karen's husband bit??? like it's so funny. we just never see him. but also. Is he too a Bad Absent Father??#probably not but we also can't exclude that completely #bc historically Father Figures in psych haven't been. the best.#it's not the case in later season of course #henry kinda loses his father role when he starts working in sbpd again and we don't see him raising shawn in flashbacks #and lassie and gus both have Staring A Family arks #but still it's an interesting two-episode running pattern #ok im done deeping it #psych #psych tv #shawn spencer #henry spencer

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