Review: Psi Cops “Faith Healer” ; “Mutant Snake”

In the 5th chapter of Psi Cops, God is real and agents Kydd and Felixx find themselves grappling with a decidedly un-supernatural threat: the faltering resolve of team leader Chief Beef, who is beginning to lose hope in the whole Psi Cops project. This doubt leads Kydd to exclaim that “if we think too much about what we do, it will all unravel and we won’t have these awesome jobs,” which feels almost like a meta mission statement from show creators Batchelor and Nielsen.

The boys also display a complete lack of conviction in their work, setting out to prove a faith healer is the real deal, even if he’s a complete fraud, just to make the Chief happy and keep their jobs.

It only takes a few minutes at a church for Kydd and Felix to fall for all of religion’s cool tricks, turning them into Psalm vamping, Joan Osborne quoting believers, despite the fact that the faith healer (veteran voice actor Alex Barima) suspiciously only heals the most minor of ailments.

The situation spirals out of control in typical Psi Cops fashion, leading to a sick child abduction, imprisonment and death, all managed by the two detectives while they suffer from self-dislocated limb syndrome – an affliction that pays homage to the most glitched out of video game characters by way of Japanese corpse dancing.

Perhaps, by the end of the season, the out-of-control antics of Kydd and Felixx will grow predictable, but at this point in these episodic adventures it’s still an enjoyable exercise in unforeseeable mayhem.

In Mutant Snake, Kydd and Felixx hit the road in hopes of proving the existence of an unnaturally large serpent (Felixx confirms – if something’s really big it’s supernatural). Chief Beef, having recovered from her recent crisis of faith, is looking for the team to bring back an intact carcass to measure and do tests on.

Skeptical whiner Eric is along for the ride again, ostensibly to keep the budget on track but ominously referred to as ‘Snake Bait’ from the outset. The three head to some approximation of Florida and team up with a swamp hag helming a shit boat to head down a labyrinthine river in search of the creature, which is certainly being worshipped as a god by a bunch of hillbillies.

A friendly mutiny, a surprise visit from a co-worker and a lot of wasted snake meat later, the team has successfully captured a number of very large hats. While the writing is sharp and the visuals are supremely silly, it is still an Eric episode, which always brings down the mood a little. Luckily, a combination of snake venom and blood loss renders him unconscious by the end of the episode.