Psych: Dual Spires

It’s the much-heralded Twin Peaks tribute episode, and it’s a good one. It’s much too cluttered with awesome references to hit them all individually, so I’ll just point out a few as I go, and then clump the rest together in a big coffee-and-cherry-pie-soaked wad of awesomeness at the end. Here’s the plot: Shawn and Gus receive a mysterious email inviting them to the annual Cinnamon Festival in the itty bitty mountain town of Dual Spires. Upon arriving in town, they first hit the Sawmill Diner, which is run by Bob Barker (Dana Ashbrook) and his wife Michelle (Robyn Lively), and which boasts the finest cinnamon pie and apple cider Shawn and Gus have ever tasted. Shawn and Gus also meet the town’s friendly sheriff, Andrew Jackson (Lenny Von Dohlen).

The festival is interrupted when the body of homecoming queen Paula Merral is found by the side of the river, wrapped in plastic. As Bob and Michelle grieve beside their niece’s corpse, Shawn receives a mysterious text message: “Who killed Paula Merral?”

(If I tried to individually unravel all the in-jokes, we’d be here forever. Here’s an example of the fast-and-loose nature of the references: Sheriff Jackson’s second-in-command is a Native American man with long, flowing hair named Deputy Frost, which is a reference to Twin Peaks co-creator Mark Frost and an even more obvious reference to Michael Horse’s character, Deputy Hawk. Sheriff Andrew Jackson is a riff on Michael Ontkean’s Sheriff Harry S. Truman. “Paula Merral” is an anagram of “Laura Palmer,” the dead homecoming queen played by Sheryl Lee, who, in this incarnation, is playing the town doctor, Donna Gooden, which is a reference to Lara Flynn Boyle’s character, Donna Hayward. And so on, and so forth.)
Doc Gooden rules the death an accidental drowning, which Sheriff Jackson is all too eager to accept. Convinced foul play was involved, Shawn and Gus offer their investigative services to Bob and Michelle. Sheriff Jackson’s son Randy, the town’s star athlete, was secretly dating Paula, who apparently had a wild side. Shawn calls Juliet and asks her to do some research into Paula’s background.

Shawn and Gus meet the bombshell town librarian, Maudette Hornsby. Wow, Sherilyn Fenn looks great! The whole cast has held up well -- Dana Ashbrook in particular is still a looker, even with gray hair -- but Fenn is even more of a knockout now than she was in her Johnny Depp-dating early years.

Juliet and Lassiter show up in Dual Spires to help with the investigation. It turns out that Paula Merral drowned seven years ago, though her body was never found. Bob and Michelle confess their role in this: Paula’s mother, Michelle’s sister, was an unstable and abusive drug addict, so they faked Paula’s death and secretly moved her to Dual Spires to give her a better life. Bob is actually Paula’s father, though Michelle is oblivious to this.

Shawn and Gus search Paula’s bedroom and find her diary, which is written in Latin. They call upon their old friend Father Westley (Ray Wise, Twin Peaks’ Leland Palmer, making his second Psych appearance) to help with the translation. Father Westley informs them that Laura was secretly involved with both Randy and another boy, identified only by the letter J.

J turns out to be Jack Smith, Paula’s best friend, who is both: a) an avid photographer, and b) legally blind. Jack was out walking with Paula before she drowned. He claims Paula told him of her intentions to secretly leave Dual Spires with Randy. Jack also claims someone attacked him from behind and knocked him out -- when he woke up, Paula was gone. Shawn and Gus examine the photos Jack took during his stroll with Paula and find one of Randy sneaking up behind her. When they grill Randy about this, he insists he didn’t hurt her -- he was mad at her for spending so much time with Jack, but Paula was equally upset with him for spending so much time with his secret girlfriend, Maudette. Suspecting Maudette killed Paula to prevent Randy from running off with her, Shawn and Gus charge over to the library… and find Maudette hanging from the ceiling. (Gus: “I am so sick of this town.”)

As Maudette was the only person in town with internet access, Gus and Shawn realize she was the one who secretly summoned them to Dual Spires in the first place, presumably to investigate some unknown danger to Paula. The murderers turn out to be Sheriff Jackson and Doc Gooden, who were upset that Randy, the last direct descendant of the town founders, was planning on leaving the town with Paula. They killed Paula to stop him, then killed Maudette when she uncovered their scheme. Juliet and Lassiter arrive and arrest the culprits.

And in the final scene*, Jack wears a red suit and an eye patch while doing a strange dance to the jukebox in the diner while a kid in a football helmet bangs his head on the table, Randy barks like a dog, Lassiter does a crackerjack Special Agent Cooper impression while drinking a damn fine cup of coffee, and a thoroughly creeped-out Shawn and Juliet sneak out of town.

Edited to add: For a detailed explanation of the references in the final scene, please scroll down through the comments. And if you catch any references I missed, please feel free to point them out.

Sundry awesome Twin Peaks references:
I’m missing a bunch, I’m sure, but here’s what I found:
Shawn mentions that a woman in Washington invented a silent window shade in the nineties.
The newspaper announcing the Cinnamon Festival is called the Great Northern.
The Sawmill Diner used to be the town’s sawmill, which burned down in an arson fire.
Dual Spires’ town mascot is Leo, the Cinnamon Owl.
The town mayor: Douglas Fir.
Angelo Badalamenti-inspired music strikes up during key scenes: when Paula’s body is found, during the introduction to Maudette, and during the dance in the diner.
There’s a reference to a club called the Roadhouse.
Catherine Coulsen, Twin Peaks’ Log Lady, wanders through the background of a scene, carrying a log.
Maudette Hornsby drinks Cherry Coke and confesses her love of all things cherry.
Shawn and Gus find a book on golf in the library, written by one Earl Windom.
A black-and-white photo of Paula as the prom queen is shown during the end credits.

Awesome opening credits:
Julee Cruise performs a haunting Twin Peaks-esque version of the theme song over a Peaks-inspired credits montage.

Awesome Eighties reference:
Shawn (to Randy, re: his secret romance with Paula): I get it. It’s Pretty in Pink. You’re Andrew McCarthy.
Randy: Who’s Andrew McCarthy?
Shawn: That’s fair.

Lassiter-based awesomeness:
(After predicting when and where Paula’s drowned body should wash up, in precise detail) “Well, I know this because waiting for corpses to resurface is a passion in my life.”