The fine folks over at USA Network have allowed me to view tonight’s all new PSYCH season finale, and I’m so glad they did.  With Fridays being as busy as they are, there are times when I have to put off watching USA until Saturday morning because the weight of the dramas make me more tired than I thought!  But tonight’s finale, co-written by one of my favorite people on the planet, James Roday, is really great, and should be on your must watch list. 

USA’s official description is as follows:

Psych’s season three finale is “An Evening With Mr. Yang.”  After eluding capture and disappearing years ago, the famed Yin Yang serial killer is back, and he’s set his sights on Shawn (James Roday).  Yin Yang was active when Henry (Corbin Bernsen) was a cop but now he wants to toy with the department again and specifically Shawn.  He sends one of his famous riddles and Shawn has just an hour and ten minutes to solve it and save his latest victim.  Shawn figures out the riddle plus two more until he quits the case. Or does he?  In a game of cat and mouse, Shawn and Gus (Dulé Hill), plus Shawn’s mom (Cybill Shepherd), his old girlfriend Abigal (Rachel Leigh Cook) plus dad, Lassiter (Timothy Omundson) and Juliet (Maggie Lawson), are all caught up in the hunt until they corner the Yin Yang killer and reveal Mr. Yang for who the killer truly is: A surprise guest star.

Follow the jump for minor-spoilerific reactions to what you’ll see tonight!

First things first, when this show is on, it is way on.  I have felt that this season meandered a bit, but this season finale is fast-paced, whip smart, really funny, really touching, and I am so sad that we don’t have new episodes again until the summer.

Things I loved in this episode:

• Shawn Spencer.  I mean, he’s the biggest draw on the show for me anyway, but James Roday is fantastic in this episode as he gets to show his dramatic and vulnerable side.  He’s still caustically funny, but he lets Shawn get scared, too, which is something that you don’t see very often.
• Gus.  Shawn gives Gus some advice on how to lighten the mood at a crime scene.  This leads to some great prop work by Dule Hill.  Plus we get to see him do a little Michael Jackson dancing.
• The mystery of the Yin Yang killer.  For a “character” that I don’t remember them ever mentioning before, I suddenly was as invested in this decades old case as the team, and I wanted them to capture him from minute one!
• Guest stars.  Other shows, like LOST, for example, put the name of their “surprise” guests in the opening credits (I mean, we totally knew that Ana Lucia would show up in hour 2, because Michelle Rodriguez was listed in guest cast).  But this show truly pulled off a brilliant surprise when they did not give away the mystery guest that they’re touting in the description.  It was shocking and awesome, so kudos to you, PSYCH people!
• The ending. After the mystery is solved, the story is far from over and the final scene BEFORE the final scene, featuring Shawn and Juliet, is one of my favorites from the show so far. 

Things I didn’t like about the episode:

• That it had to end.  I literally did not know if they were going to solve the case, how they were going to do it, that they were going to do it without getting anyone we loved killed, and I was sad to see it end.

Be sure to tune into tonight’s Season 3 Finale, and come back here to let us know your take!