Details of the rankings below:

• S5E01 - Romeo and Juliet and Juliet
  • Nice take on Shakespeare.
  • But also - a lot of cringey moments. Great fight scenes, but just not my speed for everything else.
  • Shawn's racism with his 3 day assistant was extra cringey. At least the guy pushed back and called him out on it, thus highlighting the stupidity. Kind of funny, but I didn't like seeing Shawn being that ignorant.
  • C tier

• S5E02 - Feet Don't Kill Me Now
  • Good episode. One of the main plot points where Lassie dances to clear his thinking is an endearing kind of ridiculousness.
  • Loved the partner switch (Gus & Lassie, Juliet & Shawn). Fist Fives!
  • And of course, we get to see Gus do a great tap number, and Lassie does a more basic one after, but, in true Lassie fashion, he ruins it by figuring out a case while on stage.
  • A feel good episode.
  • A+ tier (possibly A)

• S5E03 - Not Even Close... Encounters
  • I don't have many notes for this. Loved the Freddie Prinze Jr. cameo. Nerd love!
  • A tier

• S5E04 - Chivalry Is Not Dead... But Someone Is
  • So many funny moments!
  • All the guest cast were brilliant in their roles and perfectly cast.
  • Great and funny homage to The Graduate by Carlton (which was Tim Omundsun's idea).
  • Loved the sniping back and forth between Shawn and Clive.
  • Great ending in the jail with Gus still trying to figure out why Eugenia wasn't into him.
  • A+ tier

• S5E05 - Shawn and Gus in Drag (Racing)
  • A lot funnier than I remembered it.
  • Lassie's danger music!
  • Shawn's face as he gets hit in the face by Lassie!
  • Shawn channelling Lassie's danger music! And perfectly on pitch with the recording.
  • The Shawn and Gus back and forth throughout this episode is hilarious.
  • Adam Rodriguez is great in this role.
  • But overall, something was just off with this one. Barely A tier.
  • A tier

• S5E06 - Viagra Falls
  • I loved all the callouts of Peters and Boone, then the realization for Shawn and Gus that they too are in fact that obvious or ridiculous.
  • Good misdirection on the actual murder mystery, and just great fun all the way through.
  • Bark and Mark!
  • S tier

• S5E07 - Ferry Tale
  • Chi McBride as Craaiiigg.
  • Little man gotta pee! These are felons, not animals.
  • "C'mon son!" - but not by Shawn and Gus, rather by Craaiiigg.
  • Friday impression!
  • Tsk noise! First?
  • Gus' row of seasickness patches.
  • B tier

• S5E08 - Shawn 2.0
  • Nestor Carbonell as that guy that I think is from something, but is in fact a different guy.
  • Curt Smith intro song! Curt Smith outro song! and acting! and acoustic set!
  • All the snide remarks and other comedic timing in this one was impeccable.
  • Shules relationship - are they, aren't they? Shawn is soooo close.
  • Only negative was how mean Henry Spencer was to young Shawn
  • Also, a lot of Shawn boozing in this one for some reason.
  • Other than that, spectacular episode.
  • A+ tier

• S5E09 - One, Maybe Two, Ways Out
  • German actress who is supposed to be Russian?
  • Is it Strabinsky or Stravinsky? Both pronounciations were in use by different cast members.
  • One of the weaker episodes. I would have skipped except for the Shules relationship progression.
  • C tier

• S5E10 - Extradition II: The Actual Extradition Part
  • Despereaux!
  • Generally top tier, except for the "Gus slams on brakes to stop the car at a random spot and, whoops, turns out that's where Despereaux and the villian are." Seems a bit too much of a Deus Ex Machina type force.
  • Shules becomes a thing!
  • S tier

• S5E11 - In Plain Fright
  • Not a lot of notes.
  • Trying to keep Shules a secret.
  • B tier

• S5E12 - Dual Spires
  • The new music in the credits was great, but it didn't fit the usual opening shots.
  • Great homage to Twin Peaks.
  • Even without getting all the references, it still was a great episode, and the slightly weird tone was a great change.
  • Lots of funny bits setting up the weird town, and then lots of funny bits even in the weird town.
  • Great episode, would have been A+ without getting the references, S-tier now that I know some of the references.
  • S tier

• S5E13 - We'd Like to Thank the Academy
  • C'mon son! First Gus usage.
  • "For the 10 hours or so that we retain the stuff you teach us" - such a perfect Shawn quote.
  • Shawn: "How come when it's my fault it's mine exclusively, but when it's your fault, we share it equally?" Gus: "Because I went to college."
  • Gus high pitch "I know"
  • Be-loo-berry
  • S tier

• S5E14 - The Polarizing Express
  • Whereas Dual Spires was a good kind of weird, this one was just... off.
  • A Wonderful Life homage, sure, but a lot of the weird elf interactions just didn't land.
  • Lassiter's comedy lines were gold. But not enough to save the episode.
  • Worst case of ADR matching ever here (10 seconds in) and here (2 seconds in). And there's more, but these two examples should be enough.
  • Least appealing episode of Psych for me. Of all time. Retroactively promoting all other C tier entries to B because of this one. May it rest in piece. Unlike Sweet Uncle Lou, this one did not have a thousand jokes about hemorrhoids.
  • C tier

• S5E15 - Dead Bear Walking
  • Lassie's baby sister ("I was an accident?"). Very photogenic.
  • I also love the switching perspectives from the "real world" to Lulu's camera.
  • Just a lot of fun, great back and forth between Shawn and Gus, Gus trying to be a player!
  • Rain! Too much rain! Inescapable in Vancouver, I guess.
  • Woody's distorted voice live on camera. Ha!
  • "I have a motive, the bear went bear!"
  • Jules making awkward jokes on camera.
  • I want to just quote this one every 10 seconds.
  • Shawn saying "C'mon son"!
  • Gus sniffing Lassie's sister. And then seeing Lassie's head!
  • Lassie's closing speech.
  • Plus the closing camera interviews! Promoted up to S tier because of this. Was high A+ until that button.
  • S tier

• S5E16 - Yang 3 in 2D
  • Yin/Yang episodes are always top tier. No notes.
  • S tier

Season 5 finito!

A note on my tier list levels - S tier is reserved for something special, something extraordinary. The default Psych episode tier is A. A better than average Psych episode is A+. Something that doesn't quite live up to the high standards of most Psych's is set to B or C tier. C tier will only show up if needed. And none of these tier lists have D or F grades, because I just couldn't do that to a Psych episode.