Review: Psi Cops “Crop Circles” ; “Invisible Man”

For our first Psi Cops of the week, Kydd and Felixx head off to Chilliwack, BC to investigate some mysterious crop circles. The boys start off far more disconcerted by the fact that Chief Beef and Bitsy have left the office than they are about any possible extraterrestrial communication (crop circles – they’re just a bunch of o’s). Bonus points go to the show for their depiction of Chilliwack – one of Canada’s most polluted cities is shown in all its hazy glory, and Kydd’s ‘allergies’ have him hacking up a lung all episode.

The sense of unease deepens when they learn that Beef is not only making them bring Bitsy along to analyze the patterns, she is making them responsible for the 10-year old’s well being. What may be bad news for our boys is good news for us – of all of the agency employees, Bitsy has the most complimentary energy for a Kydd and Felixx road trip. Nothing against the rest of the Psi Cops crew, but Beef’s unbridled enthusiasm merely fuels the already crackling fire of mayhem, while Eric’s constant naysaying serves mainly to slow things down. Bitsy, being both 10 and a genius, oscillates between confidence and self-doubt – she knows how to use a laptop to topple a government, but she gets her lefts and rights mixed up. She thinks she knows that the Psi Cops are bad role models, but listening to them against her better judgement almost always yields very positive results. A genius child influenced by a pair of maniacs could grow up to be any number of interesting things.

While the totality of their past actions would make you think that neglecting the child would be Kydd and Felixx’s go-to move, instead they go above and beyond in their Bitsy-sitting duty, dipping French fries in the blood of wounds both minor and mortal to shield her from the violence of the world. They keep the investigation brief by abbreviating words to the point of incoherence, learn that the signs on the road mean something, and even teach Bitsy how to drink and drive.

The episode has a sharp, unexpected ending that is either a clue towards the show’s overarching story, or just another random dalliance, signifying nothing.

The second Psi Cops of the night starts off with a series of porch packages that mysteriously float away, inciting an interview that gets the whole team whipped up over possibly nothing or potentially something. The moment Chief Beef sees the levitating deliveries, she becomes sure that it is the work of an invisible man, and is willing to draw the silhouette of a man directly on a state of the art computer to prove it.

One of this show’s core strengths is in its ability to escalate a situation. When Chief Beef jumps to conclusions, the Psi Cops always ask ‘how high?”. Capturing the invisible man becomes a matter of waving their arms around an empty chair, which leads to a long interview process with what may or may not be an empty chair.

It takes a fair chunk of the episode’s run for the team to realize the error they’ve made – assuming that the invisible person is a man, when it could just as easily be any gender. Moving forward with ‘proof’ that the invisible person is a smart, stylish woman, every adult team member becomes romantically entangled with said empty chair, save for Eric who is obviously being sexist.  While Psi Cops frequently walks the jagged edge of post-modern adult animation, this episode has the classic comedy vibes of a Sid Caesar sketch.

While I’m normally on Team Kydd, this is really a strong showing from Felixx. From his plan to be like a “bullet sprinkler” to his instant pants pissing, (not to mention his pocket donut),  Felixx is the standout loose cannon of the episode. He is also certain that invisible women wear invisible fishing line for clothing, which makes a lot of sense.

Also very amusing are this episode’s background randoms. From a man who can’t stop screaming with unbridled rage over his ruined date to the most polite man in the restaurant, the visible people are as interesting as the invisible people. We’re halfway through the first season of Psi Cops, with no sign of slowing down. If anything, the escalations are escalating. Plus, episodes where everybody rags on Eric are always a cut above.