Psych: Why Henry Spencer is one of TV's Most Underrated Fathers

I've been taking the time to re-watch the television series Psych in order whenever I have a few free minutes and have enjoyed the episodes the second (or is it tenth?) time around just as much as I did the first time. 

As is the case with most good shows, it is more about the memorable characters than the stories themselves. The one thing I realized during this re-watch is while the show is centered around Shawn Spencer (James Roday Rodriguez) and his friend, Gus (Dulé Hill), the unsung hero in all eight seasons may also be one of television's most underrated dads, Henry Spencer (Corbin Bernsen).

Here's why:

He was, for all intents and purposes, a single dad. Shawn's parents divorced when he was young and while his mom (played in later seasons by Cybill Shepherd) left Santa Barbara, Henry raised his son while also working as a police officer. That is something that had to be a hard enough job on its own and was only amplified by young Shawn's well-documented hijinks. 

While portrayed as rough and uncaring, it was clear that wasn't the case. Shawn probably didn't see it and maybe believed the exact opposite, but there is no doubt in my mind Henry would have taken a bullet for his son. This was shown in virtually every episode, with Henry offering both advice and warnings while also being willing, at times, to lie to keep Shawn's secret about not really being a psychic safe.

This is especially important when he could theoretically have faced legal consequences. I'm not a lawyer and couldn't tell you what, if any, laws Shawn was breaking when pretending to be a psychic to help the police, though I would suspect there might be some possible jail time involved if he testified to being psychic under oath on a courtroom witness stand. If that ended up being the case, Henry could possibly be considered an accomplice.

His advice and methods were strict but fair. Was having Shawn finish a doghouse he didn't finish as a child a bit much? Probably. However, the lesson behind it was on point, along with plenty of other advice he gave his son throughout the years, including lessons on how to beat a lie detector test.

Shawn's success was both the direct and indirect result of his dad. Shawn had gifts of observation and memory he likely inherited from his mom, but it was Henry who helped him hone those gifts into something special. In addition, a lot of the cases Shawn ends up solving as an adult might have gone unsolved had it not been for a well-timed conversation with his father. In other words, there are a lot of murderers behind bars because of Henry, and he received no credit for their arrests or took credit for his son's achievements.

You can't tell me that's not the definition of a good dad.

_________________________________________________________________________

Here are some similar entries:

Did The Andy Griffith Show's Mayberry Have a Serial Killer?

More Television Characters That Should Have Had Spin-offs

Four Television Series That Deserved a Second Season

Professor Proton - The Big Bang Theory Spinoff that Should Have Happened