This column follows the USA show “Psych,” which airs at 9 PDT on Wednesdays. Check here regularly for a synopsis and commentary on each episode.
Late Night Gus (Ep. 2)
After attending a department party held at a bar for Jim Dubois (Allan Thain) a retiring member of the police force, Shawn, Gus, Lassiter and Woody the coroner wake up in the Psych office in an incredible state of disarray, with no recollection of the previous night. Gus?s car has been wrecked; Lassiter?s car is missing and he suffers from a black eye. Shawn, who is wearing someone else?s sandals, discovers a video of a stranger in a Hawaiian shirt on his phone. Lassiter notices his gun sitting in the office fish tank and pulls it out to find that it has recently been shot three times.
A call from the chief brings the four confused men to the morgue, where they see a John Doe who washed up onto a beach after receiving three bullet wounds to the chest; this man is the same as the one who was recorded on Shawn?s phone. Shawn notices Gus?s phone in the pants pocket of the body and alarmingly realizes that the sandals on his feet also belonged to the deceased man. The deceased man?s phone is obtained by Lassiter, who discovers what appears to be pictures of a blonde woman being stalked.
Circumstantial evidence leads Lassiter to believe that he is responsible for the murder, so the quartet scrambles to ascertain what occurred the previous evening so they can simultaneously solve the murder and clear their own names. Of course, the latter of these endeavors must be accomplished in secret because if the chief knew of the curious circumstances that seemingly incriminate them, they would become the number one suspects in this investigation.
As Shawn is leaving the morgue, Juliet mentions something about the very serious phone call she received from him last night and tells him that they need to discuss it further because it is very important. Shawn has no idea of what she is referring to and manages to postpone their conversation.
The four guys head back to the bar to question the bartender, as they have just been informed by Woody that they all have drugs in their systems, which is why they cannot remember anything. Their questioning is interrupted when an attractive woman Jessica Lucaswalks into the bar looking for her credit card and kisses Gus. Evidently they became better acquainted the previous night, although this information is news to Gus since the happenings of the past 14 or so hours are void from his memory.
A ?vision? from Shawn sends the guys to a donut shop that they visited last night. Here they conclude that the ?stalker? pictures on the victim?s phone are really surveillance photos he was taking for a case he was working on. Just as they conclude that they must have been helping the victim with his case and there is no possible way they could have killed him, an irate and burly man points a huge gun at them and accuses Lassiter of ?killing Bobo.?
Video surveillance tapes from the preceding night reveal that Bobo is the huge blowup donut mascot and Lassiter shot it three times before engaging in a fist fight with a random man. This evidence explains Lassie?s black eye and almost proves that he did not murder the man with the Hawaiian shirt, however, their happiness and peace of mind is short lived because Chief Vick calls to notify them of a new victim. This man, Scott Williams (David Scheelar) has also been shot thrice in the chest. Shawn, Gus, Woody and Lassiter recognize him as the man from outside the donut shop who gave Lassie his black eye.
Juliet takes the opportunity of seeing Shawn to bring up the serious question he asked her last night and after some confusing banter in which Shawn admits that it looks as though Lassie is responsible for Williams’ death, she reveals that Shawn asked her to move in with him. This comes as a complete surprise to him because he is not quite ready for such a big step, but doesn?t want to hurt Juliet by taking back the offer he unknowingly made. After some discussion, they decide not to live together because Juliet says she does not want such a big step to be made today based on something Shawn accidentally said last night.
A search of Williams? house brings a wedding portrait to light; the blonde woman in the picture is the same one in the photos found on the first victim?s phone. From this evidence Shawn theorizes that Williams hired the first victim to follow his wife, Gloria, to see if she was cheating on him. Gloria must have found out and killed both her husband and the private investigator who was trailing her.
While in the second victim?s house, Shawn receives a call from his father, who has awakened in a room at the Suncrest Motel. He also has lost all ability to remember how he arrived there and what exactly happened last night. Shawn realizes that his dad accompanied them to Bobo?s Donuts.
Shawn, Gus, Juliet and Lassiter drive to the motel, where they encounter Jim Dubois and the owner of Suncrest Motel, who happens to appear in some of the dead P.I.?s pictures. He lets them into the room Mrs. Williams checked into while cheating on her husband but before they have a chance to thoroughly investigate, Shawn warns everyone to clear out. They leap off of the second story balcony into the motel pool just before an explosion destroys the room.
Back at the police station, Shawn, Juliet and Lassiter pour over the evidence, racking their brains for something they might have missed. Shawn remembers that one of the men in the P.I.?s cellphone pictures bears a striking resemblance to Leroy Jenkins (Peter Kent), a very dangerous criminal whose picture was displayed at Bobo?s Donuts. After scrutinizing the photograph, they discover that it is indeed of the evasive criminal. Jenkins has one living relative: an adopted daughter named Lilly, who is the same girl Gus supposedly hooked up with last night.
The puzzle pieces fall into place as the group realizes that the relatively harmless photographic evidence of Jenkins and Gloria?s affair could potentially notify the police of Jenkins? whereabouts. His daughter, who saw the members of the department fraternizing with the P.I., found Gus?s phone in the investigator?s pocket and assumes that the incriminating phone is now in Gus?s possession. The purpose of her hooking up with him is to take the phone away and save her father from being discovered by the authorities.
The police and Shawn rush to Gus?s house, where he is being drugged by Lilly and faces execution at the hand of Jenkins, who is also responsible for the murder of the P.I. and Williams. Juliet and Lassiter intervene just in time and with the unexpected assistance of a very intoxicated Gus, Jenkins and his daughter are captured.
Episode two was full of cleverly written twists and turns that thoroughly intrigued me. The writers? ability to incorporate so many puzzling elements that wrapped up concisely at the close of the show is a testament to their talent.
Although this episode was not necessarily the funniest, it was probably the most interesting one I?ve seen due to all of the unexpected directions it took. Psych is definitely in my top three favorite television shows and I am never disappointed and always amused by its content.
For the previous week’s article on Ep. 1, read last week’s commentary.
