Everyone’s favorite fake psychic is back. Shawn, Gus, Juliet and the others all return for the newest season of Psych. Will this be the year Yin is caught? Will Shawn and Juliet finally get together? Will Gus go a whole episode without squealing? Well at least the first two questions at likely to be answered.

Everyone knows that Psych has a great history with comedy in all its episodes. This episode does not lack in that department. It provides great humor even in the face of danger. Shawn (James Roday) uses his quirky humor to bring light to dangerous situations; however, at some points it feels that his humor easily slows a bad guy. Gus (Dule Hill) shines a little more in humor this episode. His rant against the man at the front desk of the karate dojo had me laughing the whole time. However since Shawn is usually the point man of funny, Gus usually takes a back seat for humor.

The episode does not try to distance itself from the past seasons finale. This episode picks up about a week after Juliet and Abigail are rescued from Yin. Many references are made to last season’s finale and it really helps with the general story arch over seasons. The affects of Yin are evident as Juliet has shied away from police business since her incident. This creates some slow working for Shawn/Gus and even Lassiter. Luckily, Juliet will return to the SBPD soon.

As for the episode, the plot was slow at points. The story is one that has been told many times before. It’s basically Romeo and Juliet (the episode is titled Romeo and Juliet and Juliet), but using two rivals Chinese gangs instead of feuding French families. With a story this old, the plot becomes a little boring. However, the writers were able to pepper in some hilarity to give the plot some flavor. It works but only to an extent.

With this being the season premiere, my only hope is that it can only go up from here. USA still has a lot of potential with Psych and hopefully a few more seasons. B

Psych 5.01 "Romeo and Juliet and Juliet" Review

First, I need to apologize that it took me so long to get this recap up. I had a hard time with this one, people! This was a really odd episode. There was precious little of the wacky hijinks we have come to expect from our favorite fake detectives. I wasn’t sure how to approach such a serious episode (something very abnormal for this show) and try to write a funny recap.  I guess the best I can do is try, and hope to get at least a little chuckle out of you!

I’m thrown off right from the beginning of this episode because they do NOT start with Little Shawn and Little Gus. Where are they!?! I’m concerned!

So instead of LS and LG, the episode starts with Shawn and Gus ordering lunch in a restaurant. I wish they had restaurants with nice outdoor seating like that where I live. And ocean views. Perhaps that’s something to add to the pro column of my West Coast move pro/con list? They seem to be everywhere out there, unless TV has been lying to me all these years.

Sorry, I need to get back on track… this episode is going to be hard enough to recap, I need to stay focused if I’m going to get anywhere. Gus leaves the table for a minute, giving Shawn an opportunity to flirt with the waitress. They discuss his breakfast-for-lunch proclivities, and he finds out she drives a black jeep (you’ll know why that’s worth mentioning later).

PCA!! (That’s “Pop Culture Alert” for those who did not read my last recap) Pinkberry

When Gus arrives back at the table from his potty break, he calls Shawn out on his shameless flirting. He’s certain Shawn will still be using the same tired lines when he’s 80. To prove him wrong, Shawn calls Abigail, who we met in the high school reunion episode at the beginning of this season. Remember her? She’s all that!! Shawn asks her out, and it seems no one is sure this is a good idea besides him. She warily agrees.

PCA!! Shawn calls Gus “Hitch” and says, “you want to see some Will Hunting action?

Meanwhile back at the police station, the chief receives an envelope with a Yin Yang symbol on the back.

Cut back to Shawn and Gus and another Good Will Hunting reference. The writer of this episode must have JUST seen that movie, because they reference it a lot. It makes me really want to watch that movie again. I haven’t seen it in ages. Shawn gets a call from the Chief, who orders him down to the station immediately.

Once everyone is gathered, the Chief shows them what arrived in the envelope we saw earlier. It’s a letter from the Yin Yang killer, done in classic ransom letter style (i.e. letters cut from magazines… which also, incidentally, is how I decorated my notebooks dedicated to New Kids back in the late 80’s/early 90’s). The letter reads, “Hey everybody I’m back for one night only. I’m going to kill someone tonight. Guess who, guess where, guess how. This is going to be so much fun. Mr. Yang.”

The Chief explains that the YY killer only comes out of hiding when he finds a challenger who is a worthy opponent, and it seems he has his sights set on Shawn. The police have absolutely no idea who the YY killer is, and the only choice they have is to play along with his game.

Right off the bat, Shawn says he knows who the killer is and points at a guy in the policy station that we’ve never seen before. What Shawn doesn’t know is that the man he has just accused is actually Mary Lightly, a serial killer profile they will be working with on the case. Man, is this actor capable of playing anything other than super creepy weird guys? First his character in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and now this. I don’t know how I’d feel about being typecast as a weirdo.

Mary (it’s a family name) fills us in on the YY Killer. He first appeared in 1995, when he killed six victims, and has resurfaced twice since, each time killing just one person. He gives the police clues in the forms of riddles, giving them the opportunity to possibly save the victims. Mary explains that the Yin Yang symbolizes the unity of opposites, such as “dark vs. light, killer vs. cop, Kramer vs. Kramer.” *hee* Creepy dude made a joke!

The first riddle is as follows:

SHE SERVES THE GENERAL WELL TODAY
WHOSE SOLDIERS WAIT TO DIE - -
IN A WHITE RIVER THEY SHALL PAY
FOR THEM SHE WILL NOT CRY - -
WHO IS SHE?

Each riddle comes with a stop watch already running, letting them know how much time they have to solve it. In this case, they have 1 hour and 10 minutes. Lassie assumes the victim must be in the military, but Mary points out that the riddle will relate to Shawn personally, since he is the chosen opponent.

Shawn’s father, Henry Spencer, bursts into Chief Vick’s office and demands that his son not be used “as a pawn” in this case. He remembers what happened the last time someone went up against the YY Killer, and he doesn’t want the same to happen to Shawn. Vick implores Henry to not interfere, insisting that he’s their only chance to beat the YY Killer, but Henry says that’s not his problem and storms out.

Henry tries to reason with Shawn, explaining that this killer knows everything about him, his friends, and his family. He says, “you don’t catch this son of a bitch, kid, you’re never going to sleep again.” I don’t know that I buy this scene. Henry has always been painted as the kind of guy who bleeds blue. A cop through and through. I don’t know that I believe he would try to pull his son off the case, especially knowing how good he is at what he does. But then again, I’m not a parent, and I assume the parental part of his brain, and the desire to protect his son, is really what is working here. I don’t know, it just didn’t seem quite right to me.

PCA!! After telling his father to leave, Shawn goes back into the station and says, “dad was just dropping my Zodiac DVD.”

Back to trying to solve the riddle. When Lassie tries to link something in the riddle to a past victim, Mary gets exasperated and says, “there’s never a repeat performance.” He tells Shawn to think back over the last 24 hours. A little too quickly to be believed, Shawn figures out that the “General” is General Mills, the “White River” is milk, and the “Soldiers” are cereal. The police rush to the restaurant where Shawn had his cute “breakfast for lunch” flirtation that afternoon, only to find that the waitress is missing. There they find another stop watch, with just 18 minutes on the timer, and a message, this time written out in Alpha-bits.

OH RATS SHAWN, SO CLOSE!
TOO BAD SHE HAS TO DIE BUT HOW?
AND WHEN AND WHERE?
DON’T BOTHER ASKING WHY.

Shawn once again jokes about breakfast for lunch (which I, personally, believe strongly in, btw), and Gus pulls him aside. He wants to know what’s going on – why he’s making jokes and acting like an ass when a girl’s life is on the line. Shawn explains that he has to treat this case like he does any other – with his “fanciful rhetoric” that helps to diffuse tense situations, even when no one else is laughing. And he needs Gus’ help to keep things light. And herein lies the difficulty in recapping this episode. Even when there is silliness, it is intensely awkward because of the situation. I like that they had this scene, or we would have just thought Shawn was being an ass. Kudos to the show for finding a way to keep some humor in an otherwise very dark episode, but it’s making my life awfully difficult! Don’t they know it’s all about me?

Lassie discovers the next clue:

LITTLE LEAGUE IS OVER
YOU JUST BECAME A PRO
SCORE A RUN WE’LL HAVE MORE FUN
BE SURE YOU BEAT THE THROW

With less than 18 minutes, they’re not going to have much time to solve this, and Shawn is feeling the tension. Gus makes his first attempt at lightening the mood with some talk of pancakes, which confuses everyone, but Shawn seems to appreciate it.

Shawn deduces that they need to go back to the police station, since that’s their “home plate,” and you need to touch home plate to score a run. When they arrive there, Shawn finds his mom, who tries to convince him to step away from this case. As a psychiatrist for the police department, she evaluated some of the officers involved in the last search for the YY Killer. Go back up and read the paragraph about Shawn and his dad’s conversation, and you’ll basically know what happens here.

Shawn heads to the conference room and finds everyone standing around a mysterious box. Mysterious in that it wasn’t delivered, but just appeared outside the file room. Mary opens the wrapping and finds a rat in a cage, along with another riddle:

MEET MY LITTLE BUDDY BEN
PITTER PATTER IS YOUR HINT
IF YOU CAN’T REMEMBER WHEN
JUST READ THE FINE PRINT

PCA!! Ben!  Does this song still make anyone cry?  Just me?  Alrighty.

They have less than one hour. Juliet suggests that Shawn “speak to” the rat. Once again, Shawn is stumped and feeling the pressure. You just gotta love Gus here. He knows exactly what his friend needs – what anyone would need in this situation – a Michael Jackson impression. A really good Michael Jackson impression, in fact. Gus rocks.

The others aren’t quite as impressed with Gus’ mad improvisational skills, but Shawn (on the down low) loved it. And once again, the distraction has allowed Shawn to figure out a part of the riddle. “Fine print” refers to the newspaper lining Ben’s cage. Upon further investigation, they find that the classified ads are full of references to past cases.

PCA!! When Mary compliments Shawn and Gus on the success of a past case, Shawn says, “Thank you, Willard.”  I know I'm linking to the remake there, and not the original, but I find Crispin Glover kind of fascinating.  So suck it up.

One ad says, “SNARKY PSYCHIC seeks Ferroequinologist for help with killer smile.” Gus points out that a ferroequinologist is a train enthusiast (a fact he knows because he himself is a ferroquinologist). Other ads refer to a “tender” and a “black snake,” which leads them to the conclusion that they’re looking for the car right behind the engine of a coal train (just go with it… that’s what I’m doing).

The good news is that there is only one coal train in Santa Barbara. The bad news is, it doesn’t actually stop in the station, so Shawn and Gus have to pull a full on hobo and run after the train. Abigail picks that very moment to return Shawn’s call, and Shawn says he still wants to see her tonight, but he may have to push the time back a bit. Damn, that Shawn is ambitious! Catching a serial killer and getting the girl all in the same day. I can barely work up the energy to get off the couch after working at my considerably less taxing day job all day.

Poor damaged Abigail is sure she’s going to be stood up again, but Shawn insists he’ll be there.

When Shawn and Gus finally make it onto the train car, the find the following riddle:

A MOVING PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS
SO READ THE STORY AND FOLLOW THE BIRDS.
ONCE YOU’RE THERE, YOU’LL HEAR A PHONE.
YOU HAVE EIGHT RINGS TO PICK UP OR THE GIRL IS DEAD.
SHAME ON ME THAT DIDN’T EVEN RHYME

They have 27 minutes. Inside an envelope, they find a stack of pictures. Mary comes trotting up to the train car.

PCA!! When Shawn mocks Mary for taking so long to catch up, Mary pulls up his pants leg, revealing ankle weights. He says “I always wear them, even when I sleep. I read about it in Men’s Fitness. It totally reinvigorated Ryan Reynolds’ career.”

So it seems that any silliness helps Shawn, whether it’s provided by Gus or not, because he has a brainstorm. He grabs several pictures, puts them in order, and flips through them like a flipbook. Ah, a MOVING picture! I get it! The pictures show Gus throwing away a gum wrapper in a garbage can earlier that morning. CREEPY! That means the killer was there, watching them!

Once they’re back at the trash can in front of Psych, the next clue of “follow the birds” leads them out on to the pier, where they hear a phone ringing. Shawn finds the phone on a homeless man who is sleeping under a blanket with the Yin Yang symbol on it. Man, the YY killer really thought ahead! Having special blankets made and everything. That’s impressive forethought.

Shawn realizes that the phone didn’t start ringing until they were close to it, deducing that the YY killer must be close by. He refuses to play the killer’s games anymore, and throws the phone into the water. Wow, I would not want to be that waitress right now.

While everyone is staring at him in disbelief, Shawn looks back toward Psych and sees a weird flash in the window. He leads them all back to the office, where (of course) the killer is now no where to be found. I think this may be the most intense scene ever of Psych, and certainly the most serious we’ve ever seen Shawn.

And you know what that means! Silly Gus! He grabs a plane, and pretends he’s King Kong, batting at it. That’s pretty funny. Well, to me anyway. Lassie asks him what the hell he’s doing, and Shawn says, “seriously, man, I need you to pull yourself together.” *wink* Awesome. He just winked at him. I love those two.

Juliet is glancing at pictures of the boys when she sees one of the waitress, bound, gagged and terrified. Either the boys have some seriously screwed up fetishes or that was not there before. Mary breaks the glass, and behind the picture he finds a message that begins with, “You are a naughty, naughty boy…” He doesn’t finish reading the message out loud, but says that the YY killer is giving them another chance.

An aside: I just used the word “fetish” and the phrase “naughty, naughty boy” in the same paragraph. I don’t even want to know what kind of internet searches this recap is going to show up in now. Move it along, pervs, nothing to see here.

Shawn cracks. He’s sick of being this killer’s puppet, just following instructions and playing along. He knows the killer is too good, and will probably just kill the girl no matter what happens. Juliet, Lassie and Mary storm out, disgusted that Shawn would give up.

PCA!! Shawn tells Mary he has a “fey name and [a] weird Ken Burns haircut.”  He may have funny hair, but the man makes a mean documentary.

PCA!! Shawn tells Gus not to be “the last of the famous international playboys.”  I assume this is the reference, right?  I don't see how it relates.

Once they’re gone, Shawn reveals the real plan to Gus. He just wanted to get rid of the cops, and drop off the killer’s radar. He wants YY to think that he’s given up, when in reality, they’re going to go back to the beginning and walk through it one step at a time.

Back at the police station, another riddle has arrived:

I’M NO DOUBTING THOMAS
I PUCKER UP TO FIGHT
FOR YOU TO SHAKE MY HAND
YOU’D HAVE TO USE YOUR RIGHT
WHO AM I?

Now that Shawn is gone, this clue could be directed at anyone. Lassie, a Civil War buff, tells this long story from ye olde days that helps lead them to The Stonewall Hotel. No, I’m not going to explain how. Just trust me, it made sense at the time.

PCA!! Mary cracked me up when he said, “hey, you guys remember that Pat Swayze mini-series North and South? Talk about Civil War buff, huh?” That creepy Mary is growing on me.

Shawn and Gus are back at the restaurant from this morning. Shawn notices that the waitress’ black jeep is missing (see, told you that was important). This means she and the killer must have taken her car. Just then, Lassie calls to tell Shawn that they found the jeep at the hotel, and that he needs to get down there. Well, them working on their own didn’t last long, did it?

They find the girl, alive but probably in need of some serious, intense therapy. Inside the girl’s mouth they find a crumpled up riddle:

SHAWN NO LONGER WANTS TO PLAY
STAKES TOO LOW TO MAKE YOU STAY?

When Shawn discovers his mom’s purse in the hotel room, he knows the YY Killer has upped the stakes significantly. His, “He’s got her, Gus. He’s got my mom” just breaks my cold, black heart.

On the bathroom mirror is written the following clue (in lipstick, natch):

YOU SHOULD BE MOVING,
AS MOST PEOPLE DO.
INSTEAD YOU SIT AND ENJOY THE VU.
PS MOMMY SAYS HI.
AND BYE.
JUST IN CASE.

Shawn flashes back to a newspaper (not really sure where this flashback is from… the paper in the rats cage, maybe?) and sees an ad for the local drive-in. Someone has crossed out the “e” in “Cinema Vue Drive In.”

Once they arrive at the theater, they set about looking for Shawn’s mom’s rental car, a blue sedan. I love how Shawn almost always addresses Gus, not the rest of the group. He clearly relies on him more than anyone else, especially when things are tough. The way they write this friendship is really quite nuanced for such an oddball show.

Shawn finds her first, sitting in her car with tape over her mouth and a sign around her neck that says, “Mommy says pretty please don’t squeeze.” Henry (Shawn’s dad) runs up. They notice a red laser dot on the back of her head, and the cops go running after the source. Shawn, genius that he is, knows it’s just a decoy. What’s not a decoy, however, is the flashing red light on a bomb in mommy dearest’s popcorn bucket. I know that stuff will kill you (seriously, do you know how much saturated fat is in that?), but come on.

James Roday really impressed me in this episode. I already loved him as a comedic actor, but he did a really good job with the serious stuff too. When he looks down at his dad and says, “dad, she’s strapped,” you could really sense the fear and despair. Well played, Roday.

Shawn asks his mom where the YY killer is, and she gestures toward the car next to them, where there’ a woman eating popcorn and watching the movie. Not just any woman, though. It’s Ally Sheedy! You gotta love Brat Pack cameos!! She glances over at Shawn, holds up the detonator, and nods him over to the car.

Once he’s in the car, Ally gushes about how he was her “most admirable foe.” Her Yin, if you will. Shawn frankly doesn’t give a crap what she thinks of him, he just wants her to let his mom go. He did beat her, after all. Fair’s fair. Oh, and by the way, they’re surrounded by cops.

Ally babbles for a bit about how she may be a killer, but she completes things, which is all people really want. She makes sure Shawn realizes she still has the power to blow up his mom (OT - I can’t type that without thinking, “Gee, I'm real sorry your mom blew up, Ricky.”), and he gets the cops to stand down. Shawn pokes the bear by calling her “a cliché – a knock-off of a knock-off.” Not really sure what the game plan is here, but I assume he has one. Ally tells Shawn that she’s torn – she really wants to blow his mom up, but on the other hand, she needs Shawn to like her, because they’re “going to be working together again.” You see, she’s going to write a book! And she wants Shawn to write the forward.

He passes on the job offer.  She hands the detonator over to Shawn, who jumps out of the car, and the cops swarm. I have to assume this isn’t the last we’re going to see of Ally. There’s really no resolution here. It felt a bit rushed.

Shawn goes and finds his mom, who is being comforted by Henry. Sweet. Shawn says he’s going to cancel his date tonight to stay with her, but she says, “now it’s time to go see about a girl.” Seriously? Again with the Good Will Hunting?

Abigail comes to meet Shawn for their date… at the Drive-In. Wow, dinner, a movie, and a crime scene, all in one. Romantic.

Shawn is in the concession stand getting snacks. I guess catching a serial killer has some perks – free snacks! Totally worth it. That crap is expensive, yo! Juliet walks in and pours her heart out to him. It’s actually quite lovely, all about how the best things in life don’t come easily, and how much he impresses her. Finally she gets to the point and asks him out.

AWKWARD, considering he’s already on a date. This makes me sad! I like Abigail, she’s funny and cute and might be good for Shawn, with all of her vaguely quirky normalness. Then again, it’s Juliet! She and Shawn have been dancing around this for three years. I’m torn!!

I really don’t know how to do this scene justice in a recap. It’s touching and sad. I’ll just tell you, if you don’t remember it, go watch it again.

There’s a little more cuteness Gus Shawn tagging along on Shawn and Abigail’s date, but that’s pretty much it.

Oh, Psych, why did you have to leave me with such a dark episode? How am I going to make it through the Spring without your silly antics? And why did the Psych-Out have to be Lassie singing “Private Eyes?” I mean, it was hilarious, but now that song is going to be stuck in my head until you return this summer!!!!

Well, that’s it, folks. I promise to be better about getting these recaps up on time when the show comes back in a few months. Until then, check out the official Psych website for full episodes, and lots of fun time wasters. See you all this summer!

Psych 3.16 - "An Evening With Mr. Yang"

An episode of Psych sending up horror movies?!  What's not to love?

The episode, as always, starts out with a flashback to Little Shawn and Little Gus.  This time it’s 1988, and Mr. Spencer is picking the boys up from summer camp.  Shawn is pissed (and rightfully so, I think) because Gus paired up with “Golden Boy Jason Cunningham” for the piñata contest (PINEAPPLE!), leaving Shawn with an unfortunate boy who wore a down coat the whole week.

POP CULTURE ALERT!! (heretofore known as PCA!!):  According to my Tivo, we are exactly 0:00 minutes into the show and we already have our first pop culture reference.  Shawn tells puffer jacket boy, “It’s a million degrees out!  Why don’t you go live on Hoth, you freak!”  (BtheW, that link?  Wookiepedia?  How cute is that??)

After leaving Jason with a super special secret handshake (just stick a knife in Shawn’s back, why don’t you??), Gus gets in the truck and asks Shawn what happened to his clown piñata.  Shawn:  “It’s not a clown… and wouldn’t you like to know.”  Cue the creepy kids singing and zoom in on the lake, where we find Shawn’s not-clown has been whacked Soprano’s style with a rock tied around its foot.

In the present, a girl with cute short blond hair is watching some incarnation of Friday the 13th.  She stuffily explains to the about to be dead actress in the movie that “that’s what you get for being a harlot!”  I’m not going to call them out on the misogyny, because I really like the word harlot.  I’m easy to please.  Blondie hears a noise, grabs a bat, and goes in search of her own bloody death.  Upon finding that it was just a banging window, she drops the bat, showing us that the cute blond hair is certainly not topping off an abundance of brains.  Wouldn’t you figure out WHY the window was open before dropping your weapon?  I know I would.

Blondie looks out the window and sees… something.  Not really sure what, and since it’s gone a second later, she’s not really sure what either.  The now on edge girl is startled by a whistling teapot, then the phone when the unfortunately named “Sissy” calls.  While she’s on the phone, we see that there is someone peering in her window wearing a mask .  And he does that classic creepy psycho killer wearing a mask head tilt thing that always freaks me out.  Yeah, that’s really creepy.  I’m going to be using the word creepy and its many variants a lot in this recap.  Get used to it.

Of course she doesn’t see Psycho Killer, because what fun would that be?  She drinks her tea right after pouring the water from the kettle.  I only mention this because 1. that would burn the crap out of your tongue and 2. you have to let that steep, idiot.  This further proves my more hair than brains theory.  She goes over to the fridge, where she finds a sign that says “I SEE YOU” written in some sort of runny red substance, presumably blood (along with a PINEAPPLE!).  Psycho busts through the window, and I’m thinking that’s the end of Blondie.

Shawn and Gus are walking toward Psych, discussing the finer points of Mexican cuisine.  Upon reaching the front door, they find what’s left of Shawn’s Rick Astley piñata (See!  Not a clown at all!) hanging from a noose.  Yeah, that’s messed up.

PCA!!  Rick Astley

Bonus PCA!!  Gus tells Shawn it looks more like Ann Margaret, who will always be Medda, the Swedish Meadowlark to me.

Pan over to the bench, where OMG IT’S MACKENZIE ASTIN!!!!  *pause for nostalgic squee*  I can’t be the only one who’s Friday night was totally made by Mackenzie Astin being on my TV screen.  This rocked!!

Anywho, Mackenzie is actually an all grown up (and adorable) golden boy Jason Cunningham, who thought the not-clown was either Eric Stoltz or Boris Becker.  Jason explains that he bought their old camp, and found piñata Rick when they dredged the lake.  Shawn is shocked that Jason would even go back there, and is less than psyched to find out that he’s there to ask for their help finding a missing counselor (Annie, aka Blondie).  Did something happen at camp that summer that they’re not telling us about?  Something even more insidious than dumping one’s best friend just to win a piñata contest?

When Shawn tells Jason that he should go to the proper authorities, Jason refuses, saying that if the press catches wind of it, the “camp murder stories will start all over” (hmmmm?) and his newly purchased camp will fail before it even opens.

PCA!!  Shawn’s gut is saying no in THX.

Well, despite really, really, really not wanting to, Shawn agrees to help.  You know… for the kids.

Our subplot this week deals with Detective Lassiter (Lassie from here on out) possibly reconciling with his wife.  He adorably bought several bouquets of flowers and boxes of chocolates so that he’d “have options” and is now dumping the rejects on various women in the office (including the lady down in fingerprinting who, he discovers, “is a man… from birth!!!"  *hee*). More on Lassie and his quest for love later.

Shawn and Gus are in the Blueberry (which is how I refer to Gus’ car, thanks to that hilarious episode with Tim Curry).  They are heading back to their old camp, still arguing over the Piñata Incident of 1988, when they nearly run over a dude with only one tooth, but a jaunty hat and chipper outlook on life, who exclaims “You’re all doomed!”

PCA!!  When Gus tells Shawn that jaunty hat guy is just kidding, Shawn says, “He has a folksy sense of humor.  The Garrison Keillor of Camp Tikihama.”

Garrison rides his little bike back into the woods, and WOW, if Shawn didn’t want to leave before, he really does now! But Gus, once again, convinces him to keep going, and they arrive back at their old camp of DOOOOOOOM.  We’re introduced to a few of the counselors: Clive, the funny guy who’s in charge of “all water activities or anything wet”, whatever that means, and Billy, “fitness, nutrition, body sculpting.”  HA!  Billy makes me laugh.  And he has his shirt off for most of the show, so he can stay.

Hot chick counselor walks out of the lake in slow-mo in a bikini.  Obviously.  I always make sure everything I do in a bikini is in slow-mo.  It minimizes the jiggling.  Shawn tells Gus not to act like an idiot just because there is a cute girl around.  I’d take bets against that happening.

Jason walks out and… what the hell happened to him since the last time we saw him?  He’s wearing nurses shoes (both left feet) and carrying a large, creepy doll as if it was a baby.  He greets Shawn and Gus as, “Burton and Shane” and tells them he tried to make biscuits but forgot to light the pilot.  Yeah, I don’t think the stove is the only thing with the pilot light out, if you know what I mean.  Shawn knows exactly what I mean, and asks Jason if he’s feeling okay.

Hot chick counselor walks up and Gus introduces himself as “Gus… but you can call me Slicks.”  Well, there goes the whole not acting like an idiot thing.  Turns out the hot chick is Sissy, who made that last fateful phone call to Annie.  When Shawn tells the counselors that they’re there to help find Annie, they freak out.  Seems Jason had lied and told them that she had called.  He mumbles something about thinking she would call, but she never did, then wanders away from them in a daze, dragging his creepy doll behind him.

Shawn and Gus go into Annie’s cabin, and Shawn does his trademark “looking everywhere, seeing everything” thing, zooming in on a small piece of broken glass near the now repaired window that the killer came through at the beginning of the show.  After looking around a bit more, the boys leave with Sissy, and we finally learn what happened at the camp all those years ago.  Apparently, a repair man was electrocuted in the pool and the camp closed early.  Yikes.

The trio wanders over to the laundry shack where, despite the fact that no one is supposed to do laundry there, the dryer is running.  I’ve seen enough horror movies to know that if the dryer is a-rocking, you do NOT want to go a-knocking.  Thankfully, there are no dismembered body parts (this is basic cable, after all), but they do find poor Annie’s pjs covered in blood.  SCREAM!  And cut.

When we return from the commercial break, all of the counselors are in the laundry shack.  Shawn accuses Garrison of being the killer, and we learn that our favorite toothless optimist is actually the janitor, Irwin.  Billy the Body Sculptor notices that the cycle on the dryer just started, and thinks they should go out looking for the killer.  Clive the water dude, not wanting to “lose any of [his] extremities,” politely refuses, but Billy is having none of that.  He hands Clive a pair of garden shears, grabs a big piece of pipe for himself (yeah, phallic much?) and hilariously says, “lets twist this” without a hint of irony.  Awesome.

Sissy doesn’t want to go alone, so Gus volunteers to go with her.  Shawn tries to talk some sense into him:

“We’ve never met Annie.  She could be a terrible person.  We’ve suddenly fallen into some kind of slasher movie scenario and we’re making all of the classic mistakes.  We stay here.  Shut the door.  Wait for help.”

Makes sense, right?  But remember that whole Gus-acts-like-an-idiot-around-pretty-girls thing?  Yeah, that urge takes over and Gus heads out with Sissy, leaving poor Shawn alone.  He pulls out his cell phone.

OOH!  Killer vision!  Gus and Sissy are talking about… something… when we are suddenly watching them through two crudely cut holes in what I can only assume is a very foul smelling mask that is now caked in poor Annie’s blood.  Gus is telling Sissy that they call him “fearless Guster” when he hears a bird caw and chucks the shovel that he’s carrying as protection at a tree.  “And there’s plenty more where that came from!”  HA!!

Over to Billy and his pipe of manliness, falling into a large hole and presumably getting chopped up by PK, who at that very moment has arrived with his axe.

Subplot!  Lassie arrives at the restaurant where he’s meeting his wife.  He’s two hours early and thoroughly creeps the poor maitre-d out by telling him that he’ll wait.  Standing.  In the lobby.  You see, as a peace officer, he’s trained to “remain motionless for 8 hours if need be.”  The maitre-d wonders if he might be more comfortable in the bar, which is open.  Upon walking into the bar, he finds his wife, Victoria, already on her second martini.  Seems she was nervous too.  Aw, cute!  Oh, and Victoria is Justine Bateman, who is looking a little worse for wear.  Although she looks great in the pic at her wiki, so maybe it’s just the lighting.

Back at the camp, Juliet (Detective Juliet O’Hara) walks in and finds Shawn hiding in a closet.  Understandably embarrassed, he asks her to go back out and come back in so she can catch him doing something much more manly, like inverted sit-ups or anvil lifting.

It’s 6:00, which is when everyone agreed to meet back at the cabin after searching for the killer.  Since we were privy to the whole ineffective pipe/ large hole/ scary dude with an axe debacle, we know that Billy won’t be making that appointment.  But everyone else is worried.  Juliet yells at everyone for being idiots (see Shawn’s “classic slasher movie mistakes” quote above), and ushers them all back into the cabin.

Sissy tries to explain that there is something Jason hasn’t told Shawn and Gus, but he creeps creepily in and stops her.  He then goes ape shit when he finds out that Shawn called the cops.  He calls Shawn “Iago” and stomps out.  Seriously why isn't anyone else noticing that he's acting so weird?  Only Shawn is calling him out on it.

PCA!!  Shawn asks, “What does the parrot from Aladdin have to do with this?”  *hee*

After a brief argument, where Gus explains that “[he’s] seen enough slasher movies to know that when the brother goes off to the woods, he doesn’t even sort of come back,” Shawn decides to man up and go after Jason himself.

PCA!!  Shawn tries to refute Gus’ claim about black guys in horror movies by referencing Deep Blue Sea.  It doesn’t work.  Shawn is still going alone.

"You can call me slicks"

Shawn trudges back to the laundry shack, where he sees a blond girl sitting in a chair and assumes it’s Annie.  When he touches her shoulder, her head drops back at an unnatural angle (*shudder*), and at the same time, the killer appears in the doorway.  This is the first good look we’ve gotten at the mask.  It’s burlap, with two holes cut for eyes (though if I’m being honest, the holes are not nearly the same size as the ones we were looking out during Killer Vision earlier) and X’s where the mouth would be.  It’s creeptastic.

How much do I love when Shawn screams and runs away like a little girl?  I prefer when Shawn and Gus do their girly screaming and running together, but this is good too, for the sheer speed of the running and volume and timbre of the screaming.

Despite the aforementioned impressive girly running, the killer is having no trouble keeping up.  Whilst running, Shawn is flashing through the things that he’s seen since coming to the camp, finally figuring things out (wait, isn’t it a little early for this scene?).  He sees the empty pool, the shard of glass from Annie’s cabin, and Gus wiping the blood from Annie’s pjs onto his pants.  In classic slasher movie style, Shawn trips.  However unlike most slasher movies, when the killer reaches him, he’s smiling.  When Juliet goes all super cop and threatens to shoot the killer, Shawn jumps up and blocks her shot.

PCA!!  Shawn explains that this is not Friday the 13th, it’s April Fools Day.

So it turns out it was all a joke.  Ha-ha!  Jason is the one in the mask, but the knife he’s wielding is fake.  Now that the jig is up, Billy comes running up the path with Annie on his back.  Seems Jason is planning on opening the camp again, not for kids, but as a “Murder Camp” for adults.  I don’t know… would that be fun?  I prefer my faux-danger in small increments – a 2 hour movie or a short roller coaster ride.  Not sure I could handle having the ever loving crap scared out of me for a whole week!!

And Gus was in on it!!  Remember the flash backs during the run from the psycho killer?  Gus wiping the blood on his pants was suspicious, considering he has an intense fear of blood.  Turns out Jason called him a week earlier, and Gus grabbed the opportunity to get back at Shawn for all the times he scared him.

PCA!!  Shawn says that Gus and Jason are his least favorite tag team of all time.  Clive says, “Really?  With Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff on the table?”  Yeah, I obviously had to look that one up.  Shawn can’t believe he made that reference either.

Jason apologizes to everyone for scaring them, a big storm suddenly blows in (ruh-roh), and we have a montage of champagne drinking and photo taking to the song “Paranoia” by Harvey Danger.  Perfect horror movie song.

Juliet is less than amused, but decides to stay due to the impending storm and Shawn’s offer of Chocodiles, which I’ve never had, but they sound really good.  I’ll have to add these to the pro column of my pro/con list re: moving to the West Coast, along with great weather and flip flops year round.

I bet you thought the episode was over, considering Shawn figured everything out, right?  Well, not so much, considering we’re only 32 minutes in and everyone’s favorite fake psychic just discovered poor Garrison/Irwin floating face down in the lake.  And guess what!  The road out of camp has been blocked by an overturned logging truck.  OH!  And the cell phone reception is down due to the storm.  They’re pulling out all the stops here, folks!

Back to the subplot.  Lassie and Victoria are sitting in the restaurant, and Lassie is talking about seizing the moment and not analyzing everything to death.  He tells her he wants a second chance and gives her a necklace, which he was able to buy after selling some confiscated knives on Craigslist.  Heh.  I love unintentionally funny Lassie.  Alas, poor Lassie is about to have his heart ripped out, when Victoria reveals that she only wanted to meet to give him the divorce papers.  Aw!  Sad Lassie!

Back at Camp Tikihama, Juliet doesn’t see any clear signs of foul play in the death of crazy old Irwin.  The counselors decide to play a game of strip cribbage which, as Clive the water guy points out, “seems appropriate…with a dead guy on the porch.”  He opts out and goes to play video games in the other room.  Annie is also out, as she heads back to her cabin to take a shower.  Again, with the stupidity!!  Dead guy = do not go off by yourself.  I’d ask if she’s ever seen a scary movie, but she was watching one at the beginning of the episode!  Pay attention, woman!!

PCA!!  When Shawn tells Juliet that he’s still getting bad vibes about this whole thing, she asks “can’t you do better than vibes?”  Shawn says, “Jeff Goldblum and Cindy Lauper couldn’t.”  OMG, I’ve never heard of this movie, but now I MUST see it!  So much cheesy 80's goodness!

Shawn and Juliet head back out to see the body.  Shawn notices a few marks on Garrison/Irwin’s neck, but isn’t sure yet what that could mean.  Meanwhile, we watch Annie walk back to her cabin via Killer Vision!!   If you’ve ever seen a horror movie, you’ve seen this scene.  Chick gets out of the shower, wipes the fog off the mirror, sees scary killer in the reflection, gets axed.  And despite the fact that it’s a total cliché, it’s still creepifying.

Back in the main cabin, Billy is naked.  Apparently he’s not very good at cribbage.  Remind me of this fact the next time Billy is at my house, because DAMN that dude has a nice body.  Just as he’s about to put his clothes back on (NOOOOOO!), the lights go out.  Thinking it’s just a breaker, Billy heads out to fix it.

Subplot:  Poor sad Lassie is sitting alone at the table.  Victoria comes back from the bathroom, and he hands her the signed divorce papers.  He tells her he’s letting her go, because he knows that’s what she wants, but he still loves her.  Man, I just want to cuddle the crap out of poor Lassie!!  Y’know, if he wouldn’t arrest me for assault and throw me in the pokey.

Billy, who is now only shirtless, has gone to check on the breaker, which sparks when he touches it.  He looks up to see the killer in the doorway, picking up a wet mop.  Electricity + water = a shocking end for Billy the Body Sculptor.  HAHAHAHAHAH!  Ahem.

Apparently the shock of Billy’s untimely death flipped the breaker switch, because the lights come back on in the main cabin.  And it must have flipped a switch in Shawn’s freaky psychic/hyper aware brain too, because we’re treated to another series of flashes as he pieces the puzzle together.  He remembers:

1.  The ring Clive was wearing on his thumb, whicht could easily match up to the marks on Garrison/Irwin’s neck.

2.  The creepy way Clive was not smiling during the obviously fun Paranoia champagne/photo taking montage.  Who doesn’t love a good montage?  Clearly he’s the killer!
But he’s the funny guy!  He can’t be the killer, right?  Wrong!  When the gang goes to find him, he’s no longer playing video games, having put the creepy doll that Jason was carrying around when they first arrived at the camp in his chair so no one would notice he was missing.

Juliet and Shawn go to look for Clive, telling everyone else to stay together and not to open the doors for anyone but them.  Sadly, this is bad advice, considering Clive is actually still in the cabin and jumps out as soon as Juliet and Shawn are gone.  Much screaming ensues, as Clive grabs Jason.  Gus and Sissy make a run for it.  Juliet and Shawn discover what’s left of Annie and Billy (ick).

Now I’m not really clear on the details here, because the last time we saw Psycho Clive, he was in the cabin with Jason, but now he’s near the pool with Gus.  Lightning flashes and Shawn thinks he sees Gus face down in the rainwater at the bottom of the pool.  He rushes down there only to discover it’s actually Clive.  Oops!  Turns out the repair man who drowned in the pool 20 years ago was Clive’s father (Me: “OF COURSE he was.”  Shawn:  “OF COURSE he was.”)   Naturally, Clive isn’t cool with the fact that they’re taking his father’s death and making a game out of it with all of this Murder Camp nonsense.  There's a lot of soggy fighting, including some silliness with a pool skimmer and a water noodle, before Juliet finally shoots Clive – through the hand.  OUCH!

It’s the next morning, and…well, there’s Jason!  He’s being wheeled out of the cabin on a stretcher, but there doesn’t really seem to be anything wrong with him.  Based on their reactions when Juliet and Shawn found Annie and Billy, I have to assume they were GOOD and dead.  Like really, really dead.  One would think Clive would have had a field day with Jason, considering the whole Murder Camp thing was his idea.  But whatever, I’m going to look past it, since this episode amused me greatly.  Plus, I would have been super bummed if they had killed one of my original childhood TV boyfriends.

In the last scene, Shawn, Juliet and Gus are standing looking out over the lake, wondering how something so ugly could happen in a place so beautiful.

Okay, surely someone out there recognizes what horror movie this scene is lifted from.  It's driving me crazy!  If you recognize it (or any of the other zillion shout-outs to slasher films sprinkled throughout the episode), let us know in the comments!

Well, there you have it... my first recap.  Considering next week is the finale, I guess my timing’s not the best.  But feel free to leave me some comments!  We can talk about the recap, the episode, the many pop culture references I’m sure I missed!  Go nuts!

Psych 3.15 "Tuesday the 17th" Recap