Psych is back! Psych is back!Excuse me. I’m a little excited about this. Fall television has been pretty dismal thus far, but Psych rarely disappoints.
Shawn and Gus head up to Canada, land of “smoked salmon, poutine, and Coffee Crisp,” to visit dashing art thief Pierre Despereaux (Cary Elwes), last encountered in the fourth-season episode “Extradition: British Columbia.” Despereaux, who is serving out his sentence in a minimum-security Vancouver prison, has footed the bill for their entire trip. Gus is suspicious about his motives in wanting to see them, but Shawn claims they’ve become friends: “I follow him on Twitter.”
Despereaux makes bold claims about his intention to prove to Shawn that he’s the world’s greatest criminal. Shawn and Gus scoff at this, but as they drive away from the prison, Despereaux pops up in the back seat. He steals their rental car, luggage, wallets and passports, and leaves them by the side of the road.
Shawn and Gus hightail it to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police headquarters, where they run into their super-agreeable friend, Corporal Mackintosh (Peter Oldring), and his gruff boss, Commissioner Dykstra (Ed Lauter). Shawn claims his psychic powers have warned him of Despereaux’s jailbreak, but when Mackintosh calls the prison to check, his absence hasn’t even been noticed by the cheerfully lax guards (“They do a rough numbers count in the A.M.”).
The RCMP respond to a report of an art theft at the home of Crown Prosecutor John Santee, who was responsible for sending Despereaux to prison. Shawn and Gus tag along. They find Despereaux’s signature lit cigarette at the crime scene… as well as Santee’s dead body.
Furious that Despereaux apparently used them to break out of jail so he could murder Santee, Shawn and Gus return to the prison… and find that Despereaux broke back in and returned to his cell before his disappearance was even discovered. Despereaux is initially smug about having pulled off the perfect crime, though he’s genuinely shocked to find out about Santee’s death. He admits to stealing the artwork, but claims someone is framing him for the murder. Shawn is highly skeptical about this: “I don’t love you anymore.”
Anxious to clear his name, Despereaux breaks out of prison again. When Shawn and Gus return to their hotel room, they find him sipping a martini and frolicking with Valeria, the beautiful wife of a man he met in prison. Despereaux wants to hire them to prove his innocence.
Lassiter and Juliet pop up in Canada, prepared to extradite Despereaux to the United States to stand trial for his past crimes there. Juliet drops by Shawn’s hotel room, anxious to have a private word with him about the status of their relationship. After impulsively kissing Shawn at the end of last episode, she broke up with Declan Rand (does this mean no more guest appearances by Nestor Carbonell? Say it isn’t so!) to investigate her feelings for Shawn. Afraid she’ll find out he’s helping Despereaux, Shawn abruptly dismisses her.
Shawn and Gus discover Despereaux was hired to steal the artwork by Frank Crossley, noted crime lord and Valeria’s husband. Crossley is the main suspect in the murder of a Mountie named Breitling, who had sent evidence of Crossley’s criminal deeds to Santee right before his death. When Shawn and Gus arrive at Crossley’s house, suspecting him of murdering both Santee and Breitling, they find him dead in the swimming pool, with Despereaux’s signature cigarette left at the scene.
Shawn and Gus head off in pursuit of Despereaux, who is being held at gunpoint by Valeria. When Breitling discovered she was the true mastermind behind her husband’s misdeeds, she murdered him and Santee, framed Despereaux for Santee’s murder, and killed her husband for good measure.
The usual joyously messy climax ensues. Shawn manages to overpower Valeria and rescue Despereaux. While Lassiter prepares to extradite Despereaux, Shawn tracks down Juliet to apologize for blowing her off. And they end up kissing. A whole lot.
Nice to have you back, guys.
Gus’s Shawn-granted alias:
Yasmine Bleeth
Awesome Eighties reference:
(Shawn, after Despereaux fires a grappling hook up to the top of a building and whisks himself to safety, Batman-style): “Where does he get those wonderful toys?”
Lassiter-based awesomeness:
Lassiter: I swear, I’m going to leave you to rot in this backward, rain-drenched den of politeness. No offense.
Mackintosh: None taken. I like your suit.
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