Psych Redux

I have a crush on Simon Baker (then again, who don’t I have a crush on). I will pretty much watch anything he is because he exudes a charisma and screen presence that I find fascinating. He features in my dreams of zombie apocalypses…well him and Jake Weber and occasionally Gerard Butler whom I think would do well during a zombie invasion apparently. In the cancelled show ‘Smith’ (which was a shame cause I kinda liked it) he played a very sexy, very convincing and very scary psychopath and adorable in Something New. Add the Guardian, another tv show I enjoyed, and the aforementioned zombie apocalypse film of Land of the Dead and I have been smitten for some time which is why I started watching The Mentalist.

When I first heard about the show all I could think of was that it is a Psych rip-off without the pop culture references and highly memorable dialogue. The similarities are there. Shawn Spencer pretends to be a psychic to solve crimes in Psych. Patrick Jane used to pretend to be a psychic and now solves crimes in the Mentalist. Both use their keen powers of observation and memory that apparently the rest of the crime units don’t sue. Both are a bit snarky. Both…are fun to watch, but in different ways. Psych is a comedy with crime thrown in, whereas The Mentalist is going the CSI route when it comes to the crimes. There is humor, but is definitely more of a drama.

As I said Simon Baker has charisma and he steals the show whenever he is on the screen which thankfully for me…is a lot. However, two episodes in and the rest of the cast hasn’t gelled as well with him thus far. I think the problem is they’re not making the other characters useful enough yet. I do like the fact that it is both cynical and snarky, but that maybe there might be more to Patrick Jane than everyone thinks. I think you really are psychic. You just don't want to admit it, one person says to Patrick and he has a way of saying ‘that’s one way to do it, but is this really how I did it’ when it comes to his little tricks.

In the end I figure any show that gives Simon Baker a job makes me a happy camper. Of course because I kind of like it, it is doomed for cancellation.