DVD/TV Series Review: Psych Season 8

 

The 8th (and final) season of Psych was a shorter season (just ten episodes) that aired in the winter and spring of 2014. The show received the shortened season to wrap up the various storylines. Unfortunately, it seemed like the writers wanted to jam everything they could into the season at the expense of some of the things that made the show great to begin with, namely, the relationship of the characters. Chief Vick and Juliette were absent for most of the season, just making what amounted to cameo appearances. The writers really just went with every novelty episode that they still wanted to do, like a remake episode, in which the episode "Cloudy... With a Chance of Murder" from the first season is remade (with different twists) using the same cast members. We also get to see Gus geek out over Harry Potter in a Harry Potter-themed episode and there was an episode that was an homage to A Nightmare on Elm Street. The DVD set also includes "Psych the Musical," which is the musical episode that aired between the seventh and eighth seasons of the show. 

The DVD set is a three-disc set and, like the prior season DVD releases, includes many extras for those who like to watch them. The extras include deleted scenes, several commentary tracks, montages, a gag reel, and a making-of/farewell featurette. Overall, the season is good, but not as good as it was in prior seasons. As I said above, it seemed like the writers just wanted to jam a bunch of stuff into the show before the end but did not focus as much on writing a fitting end to the series. Of course, the show would be resurrected via now three TV and/or streaming movies, so it is not totally the end of the show. The show did have another great slate of guest stars (as well as bringing back some of the recurring characters). The guest stars this season included Dana Ashbrook, Katharine Isabelle, Carlos Jacott, Ed Lover, Ralph Macchio, Lindsay Sloane, Janet Varney, Alan Ruck, Ray Wise, Tom Arnold, The Bella Twins, Corbin Bleu, Yvette Nicole Brown, Dean Cameron, Bruce Campbell, Olivia d'Abo, Loretta Devine, Sutton Foster, Vincent Gale, Kali Hawk, Vinnie Jones, Val Kilmer, Floriana Lima, Peggy Lipton, Deon Richmond, Peter Stormare, Vincent Ventresca, Vincent M. Ward, Celia Weston, William Zabka, and Billy Zane. Yes, Kilmer and Zane finally made appearances after being referenced multiple times over the course of the series. So, even though it is not as good as it was, it is still worth watching to see how the series ended.