(no subject)

[skygiants]

Okay, hands up everyone who watches Psych! I had a conversation earlier that made me curious and now I have a question for you all.

[Poll #1462077]

Further discussion welcome in the comments!

Comments

[darthrami.livejournal.com]

Shawn and his dad make me embarrassed. Okay, Shawn always makes me embarrassed. Except when he's making me laugh. Sometimes at the same time.

[skygiants]

Shawn often makes me cringe, but I love his dad! That's why I'm curious - I always want to be like "SHAWN BE NICER TO YOUR FATHER." (There goes any illusion of impartiality in this poll.)

[darthrami.livejournal.com]

Heh. See, I don't mind his dad, but I definitely don't LIKE him.

[villainny.livejournal.com]

there was never any illusion, sorry.

[skygiants]

SHUT UP I AM A NINJA

A DEADPAN, IMPARTIAL NINJA

[e-mily.livejournal.com]

*dies laughing at the distribution of votes*

SO TRUE.

[skygiants]

*cracking up* Man, I shouldn't have included Gus! He is totally skewing the results.

[e-mily.livejournal.com]

BUT IT'S SO TRUE.

Maybe after this poll is over you could do a new one that is just Sean vs. Henry.

[skygiants]

I guess if all my SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH turns up is the conclusion that Gus is amazing, well, who am I to argue with SCIENCE?

[e-mily.livejournal.com]

>.>

Well.

[ceitfianna]

I only watched I think the first two episodes and never really cared that much to watch more but I liked Gus.

Also you have to find and read Gates of the Owl, there's growing, a dead beat dad and cultural issues handled well and an awesome fairy tale with captured souls.

[skygiants]

Gus is best! I am certainly not arguing with this thesis. :D

Also best: LAURENCE YEP. My eventual goal is to read all the way through his books, but he has written a lot of books so this will take me a long time! (I am not unhappy about this.) If you are looking for Laurence Yeps to read next, I recommend the Dragon of the Lost Sea books and the Aunt Lil books.

[blacksheep91.livejournal.com]

...."Don't you go boneless on me!"

[skygiants]

It seems to be a truth universally acknowledged that Gus >>>>> everyone!

[blacksheep91.livejournal.com]

Seems to be the collective agreement.

[oneechan19.livejournal.com]

I don't know which to pick! I want to pick Gus, because he's completely surrounded by crazy people!

[skygiants]

It has become clear that you are very much not alone in this feeling! *laughing*

[nextian.livejournal.com]

It depends on the fight but generally they're both being fools, so ... Gus. I think there was a shift in S3 to make their childhood arguments more rascally child & long-suffering dad, and in those cases my sympathies were with his dad, but when they're truer to their characterizations my sympathies are more with Shawn because ... he's not obsessively trying to control every facet of his dad's life?

(I like that my non-paid account preserves my Shawn/Gus icon.)

[skygiants]

I think (and perhaps this poll proves!) I am kind of alone in the universe in that I never read Henry as that much of a control-freak dad even in the early days of the show. I mean, yes, in some ways he is a freak obviously, but even in the beginning I always felt like Shawn's reaction of "I cannot cope with my dad, I never want to deal with him, he does not accept meee" was not quite justified, and so my sympathies tended to be with Henry because I always felt like he was at least trying harder to have a normal relationship. But this may possibly have something to do with the fact that Shawn often annoys me violently, uh.

[villainny.livejournal.com]

I LOVE YOUR ICON.

[shati.livejournal.com]

Note: I have never actually seen Psych. I just decided to identify with Gus anyway.

(I have no idea who these people are.)

[skygiants]

(You are succumbing to peer pressure Shati! :O)

[shati.livejournal.com]

Wait wait! I think I do know who they are! They're the nerd bromance, right?

[skygiants]

There was a vid about Gus! I believe it was to 'White and Nerdy'?

[shati.livejournal.com]

Yes! I have seen it. Does that validate my identification with Gus?

I also read a post about Gus/Shawn one time long before that. I am bursting with knowledge.

[skygiants]

Totally! Gus is so the audience stand-in anyways. Of "look, this person is both sane, and not incredibly annoying!"

[villainny.livejournal.com]

WHERE DO I FIND IT?

[skygiants]

You can find it here in all its glory!

[kattahj.livejournal.com]

Well, DUH. :-)

Taking away the Gus option, I still couldn't answer the question, because it depends on the situation. Sometimes I think Shawn's got a point, sometimes I think Henry's got a point, and a lot of the time they're both being jerks. But I love them anyway.

[skygiants]

Hey, that's why we watch the show!

- well, I mean. We watch it for Gus, obviously. But other reasons too. :D

[villainny.livejournal.com]

I've worked it out! I have sympathy for Henry because there's this whole 'man not actually built for fatherhood but doing the best he can' thing which I inherited from due South. And I think part of the delight of the programs is that the evolving father-son relationship over the course of the show kind of lets you know that, although you initially thought that the father was to blame, there're so many complex issues feeding into it that you can't help but feel sorry for both of them and hope they work it out.

I am so in love with Shawn, though. His brain works like mine.

[skygiants]

Oh, yeah - I really like the focus that the show does put on their relationship. Even from the beginning there were a lot of moments where I really just wanted to give Henry a hug, because he is trying so hard to be a good dad! Like, I never got the feeling, even from the beginning, that he was really as strict or judgmental as Shawn thought he was, you know? But maybe that's just because Corbin Bernson is cuddly and hilarious.

[rushin-doll.livejournal.com]

It makes me feel warm and fuzzy to know that I have contributed TO SCIENCE.

Gus 4eva!
Ana