Set in Santa Barbara, Psych revolves around a young police consultant, Shawn Spencer, who solves crimes with his 'heightened observational skills'. These powers are so acute; the precinct detectives think he's psychic... at least that's what he lets them believe...

Psych is a comedy series that follows Shawn Spencer (James Roday) and his partner Burton "Gus" Guster (Dulé Hill) who run a psychic agency and regularly help the local police department to solve mysterious crimes. In reality Spencer is a fraud - he's not psychic at all, he's just got heightened observational skills. Spencer and Gus normally work along side Carlton "Lassie" Lassiter (Timothy Omundson) the local head detective and Juliet "Jules" O'Hara (Maggie Lawson) who is the junior detective.

More often than not Shawn begrudgingly has to see his dad (Corbin Bernsen) for advice. His dad is a retired police officer and their relationship is a little rocky.

Most episodes start with a flashback to 1987 when Spencer and Gus where young boys. This flashback helps set up something for the episode (like, for example, how a little lie can lead to a string of much bigger lies).

Highlights in this collection include:

Meat Is Murder, But Murder Is Also Murder: When Gus's uncle Burton comes to town Gus has to come clean to Spencer. Gus has told his uncle that the psych agency is his and that Spencer is his assistant. When Burton wants to tag along on a case Spencer and Gus have to make everyone believe that it's Gus that's in charge.

Rob-A-Bye Baby: The acting chief of police hires Spencer to use his powers to screen a nanny for her. This quickly leads to Spencer on the tail of a string of house robberies - and a murder. There's a particularly interesting scene when Spencer visits Star Tech Security. Their offices are laid out like the bridge of the Starship Enterprise and there are even Star Trek bridge-esque sound effects in the background.

Bounty Hunters!: Back in the '80s Shawn and Gus were in awe of a bounty hunter, and now they are up against the same man in their latest case. This episode introduces us to the fact that Gus has a heightened sense of smell.

Gus' Dad May Have Killed an Old Guy: When an old man is found dead Gus's parents (played by Phylicia Rashad and Ernie Hudson) are amongst the prime suspects in his murder. Gus's parents have never approved of their son's friendship with Spencer, who they think is a bad influence. Spencer sets about proving they aren't killers, as well as trying to show them he has been a positive influence on their son.

Black and Tan: Spencer and Gus pose as two models in order to crash a private function. While there the head of the company is electrocuted. At his funeral, his wife dies. The company passes to the dead couples assistant, but is she capable of murder? Spencer makes it his job to find out.

Extras include audio commentary for almost every episode; Deleted Scenes; Gag Reel (7 min, 34 sec); Where's the Pineapple? (3 min, 38 sec clips which include a pineapple in them); The Name Game (2 features: Shawn Montage 46 sec worth of clips with Gus saying "Shawn", And My Partner is... 58 sec montage of Shawn introducing Gus with various silly made up names); Psychouts (three strange ad libbed scenes - more gags than deleted scenes); and The Big Adventures of Little Shawn and Gus (6 min, 32 sec animated shorts).

This is an enjoyable and very funny series with plenty of obscure '80s and movie references.

7

Darren Rea