(S0E06) Victim's Wife: I never broke two stars.

I realized something just as this week's episode of Psych was about to air. We were looking at a mini (and I mean mini) West Wing reunion with John Amos appearing as Gus' Uncle Burton. For those who don't remember, Amos had a recurring role on The West Wing as Admiral Percy Fitzwallace. His character met an untimely end during Wing's fifth season when his vehicle was caught in an IED explosion. I don't recall if Fitzwallace or Dule Hill's character, Charlie Young, ever spoke to each other while on Wing, but at least they were on the show together.

The past is past, so let's focus on the present. Overall, I found this week's episode very enjoyable. That was probably due to the fact that more of the focus was turned to Burton "Gus" Guster and the relationship with his uncle. As I mentioned before, I really enjoy James Roday in his role as Shawn Spencer, but I would like to see some of the other characters fleshed out as well. We got that this time around with our pal Gus and his turn at being a "psychic".

Gus as a "psychic" is different than Shawn as a "psychic". Where Shawn is into the showmanship of the fake powers that he has, Gus is a bit more subtle, more direct. Shawn is all for the crazy references (somewhere in this episode one of his psychic spells featured a mention of Shelia E.) while Gus gets right to the point. Or, as much as the point he can get to with proper guidance from Shawn.

This proves that, while he pimps it up for all to see, Shawn's real abilities are very unique and are hard to follow. Even though Gus has known and worked with Shawn for awhile now he still doesn't have prowess to be a "psychic". I don't think their relationship will be any different on the show, because that would throw off the comedy dynamic that they have, but it would be interesting to see if Gus has a bit more reverence for what Shawn does.

There was plenty to enjoy in this week's episode. Shawn's very detailed horoscopes come to mind. How they specifically targeted Lassiter, O'Hara, and Henry Spencer is beyond my imagination (by the way, does anyone know why Lassie's arm was in a sling). Then there was the montage of Shawn, Gus and Uncle Burton eating their way through various restaurants to find out who killed the critic. That actually made me hungry watching it all. Of course, the real teamwork between Gus and Shawn was nice to see as well.

Over to the mystery. I had thought that it was the restaurant critic's assistant who was the murderer. I mean, he worked for the man for years and was probably tired of receiving all of the complaints. I didn't realize it was the Editor's assistant until Uncle Burton was talking about the Hippo shirts that he bought. The best part of this week's mystery, though, had to be the reveal. It was Gus and Shawn, back and forth, telling everyone how and why the murder happened while physically abusing each other with the "magic hands". Gus got in a really nice kick to Shawn's knee that brought the "psychic" down. Quite funny.

Finally, the review of this week's retro references. Actually, most of them came from Uncle Burton, who seems to have seen every criminal drama on television. Shows referenced were Hill Street Blues, Diagnosis Murder (referenced as a person, not as a show), Ghost Whisperer (pluralized), Rockford Files, Matlock, and Murder, She Wrote. Also referenced, seen or heard this week were: Manimal, the song I Want Candy by Bow Wow Wow, Fall Guy and star Lee Majors, Rubik's Cube, and Cabbage Patch dolls.

Next week, Shawn and Gus to back to school. See you then.