Psych – Tuesday the 17th

My History With the Show:
I started watching Psych in early 2020 and quickly fell in love with the show. It makes me laugh and makes me feel good, so I find myself watching it a lot.

In March, I saw a ton of Psych related posts mentioning Tuesday the 17th, an episode of Psych from the third season. I finally watched this episode in April and realized what all the fuss was about. It was a fantastic, Friday the 13th inspired episode that was a lot of fun.

What The Show Is About (Non-Spoiler):
Shawn and Gus are hired to look into a missing camp counselor from the summer camp they used to attend.

What I Liked About It:
-This was a very solid Friday the 13th homage done within the Psych world. I was stunned by how respectful they were of the tropes and how you could tell the entire episode was done with respect to the franchise and not as a parody. I guess, I shouldn’t be surprised that James Roday-Rodriguez (Shawn) wrote and directed this episode as he can be seen on the Crystal Lake Memories documentary and also wrote Skinwalkers.

-The killer was actually pretty creepy looking and inspired by Friday the 13th Part II burlap sack mask.

-The episode has some great chase scenes and some well edited tension.

-I loved the various twists, as they kept me on my toes the entire episode.

What I Didn’t Like About It:
-The storyline with Lassie meeting up with his ex-wife was touching and very useful in the grand scheme of the show, but seemed out of place in this episode.

Additional Notes:
-This episode aired on Friday the 13th, February 13th, 2009

-The camp’s name Camp Tikihama’s when said out loud sounds like the Friday the 13th score.

-This was the first episode directed by James Roday (Shawn).

-The names Jason Cunningham is taken from the killer Jason and the director of the first Friday the 13th, Sean S. Cunningham.

-The doll Jason carries is a copy of Robert the Doll, a famous haunted doll.

-The Rick Astley piñata chained to the bottom of the lake is another Friday the 13th reference.

-Sound effects and flashes from Texas Chainsaw Massacre were used in this episode.

Rating:
I loved this episode. I’m already a big Psych fan, but I never thought they’d take on a horror inspired episode and it would really work. You can tell everyone involved had respect for the horror films and they did it justice.

It’s funny, has twists, and some great chase scenes. This is fantastic episode to watch every Tuesday the 17th (like today) or even around Halloween. I’d rate Tuesday the 17th as a five out of five and say it’s a must watch.