Review: Psi Cops “The Djinn”;“Poppet”

This week’s episodes of Psi Cops exist in the midst of a thick flurry of callbacks to past episodes, which is a nice reward for those who’ve been following along and likely a bit confusing for any first time viewers. It also gives viewers in the alien conspiracy contingent hope that all this mayhem is leading to some kind of meaningful conclusion as the show draws ever nearer to the season 1 finale.

This week the whole team pitches in to try and spring an adorable blue monkey from a mirror locked in their own evidence room. We first encountered this wish-giving apparition early in the season during a botched attempt to summon Bloody Mary. Chief Beef, concerned about a loss of paranormal evidence leading to budget cuts from the shadowy Council that funds their various investigations.

While the blue monkey is the ostensible monster of the week, this episode is really about the monster of loneliness. Each member of the team admits to suffering from feelings of intense isolation and emptiness. Stone Faceman drinks to escape his loneliness, Eric buys way too many designer jeans, and Kydd and Felixx, assuming that agency hacker Bitsie is always taking notes on their random blabbing, accidentally learn too much about their grubby little orphan sidekick’s tragic backstory living in a witness care facility after her parents were murdered in an unspecified homeland. Kydd and Felixx also drink to escape their loneliness.

“The Djinn” is also full of extremely specific silly walks (note, bubbleblabber does not condone unnecessary references to Monty Python, but these walks are quite notably silly). The blue monkey rescue leads to some frank and open discussions about self care, and the team realizes that even Chief Beef feels alone sometimes.

The rescue ends up being a success, even though self-proclaimed “Wish Pro” Felixx wastes his wishes in a spectacular fashion.

Kydd and Felixx realize that the only special thing about the relationship is that they drink after work, Felixx adopts Bitsie, and everybody hits the bar together after work to celebrate – a surprisingly heartfelt ending to Canada’s freakiest cartoon. Also the blue monkey was just a toy and never needed to be rescued in the first place.

A high school football player with limbs gone akimbo leads the Psi Cops on a hunt for a jilted student creating Druidic cursed effigies out of his victims hair. Sure, Kydd and Felixx may hit a new low when they shave their heads and stuff clumps of hair into the mouth of a dying old woman before taping a literal calling card to her forehead, but at its heart, this episode is about one thing, and that thing is whether burgers can become tacos, and whether tacos can become burgers. Kydd flies into a rage when Felixx suggests tacos for breakfast to go along with the six beers they have for breakfast (that’s 6 beers each, 12 beers total). Kydd insists that burgers are a better breakfast food, which leads Felixx to deconstruct his burger and rebuild it in the image of a taco.

Anger about the issue simmers throughout the investigation, coming to a head again when Kydd flattens out his lunch tacos into a sort of burger while a furious Felixx and confused cop watch. Recurring characters like Cat Shirt Nerd weigh in on the issue, and it even makes the local news (“Cop’s Best Friend Eats Taco Like Absolute Moron”).

The case is actually solved by some legitimate clever thinking and crime committing on the part of the Psi Cops this time, which almost never happens. The boys agree to respect each other’s meal choices more, and a spirited debate with their young quarry about what it means to “go big” closes out the investigation in an unexpected fashion.

Bonus points for the design of the agency’s new paranormal investigating gear – it’s hard to choose if Kydd’s rotating dildo scope and pulsating nipple headgear or Felixx’s giant sniffing snout with proboscis is funnier, so bravo to the art department on that. Only a few episodes left until the thrilling conclusion of Psi Cops season 1! Will Bitsie and Felixx remain a family? Will Kydd uncover the truth about his troubled past? Only time will tell!