Episode 3
July 22 2006
"What if you find the bible? Are you going to throw that at me too? It seems a little sacrilegious to me, don't you think?"
This episode starts (like usual) with Shawn as a child. He is playing hide and go seek, when his father stops him. Not because he is playing in the house, but because he is doing it wrong (fathers...go figure). We hear a nice description of how hide a go seek should be played before we cut to the present day.
We now see Shawn practicing his finely honed hide and go seek skills to spy on some police officers. Gus questions the wisdom of spying on police officers inside of a police station, but as we know by now, Shawn marches tot he beat of a different drummer (my guess is he plays a timpani).
Shawn discovers that the police are working on a much more exciting case than the one that he as assigned. Thankfully, Shawn decides to take the more exciting case involving a stolen engagement ring to be used in the wedding of the son of the Attorney General...since otherwise we would have been stuck with an episode about computers stolen from a high school (the secretary did it by the way). Shawn tries to get 'officially' put on the more exciting case by solving the computer caper on the spot, but the chief says no.
Gus decides to go into work (evidentially he is not confident enough in the psychic gig to quit is real job) but Shawn decides to do some investigating of his own. He walks into the room where the Bride, Groom, and Maid of Honor are waiting (and boy is the Maid of honor good looking...as is the bride, but she is getting married, it would be wrong to think of her that way, wrong I say). Anyway, Shawn talks to them a bit, and of course hits on the Maid of Honor, and even gets an invite to the wedding before the dreaded inspector Lassiter walks in. Lassiter threatens Shawn a bit (how surprising) and threatens to throw every book he can find at Shawn if Shawn gets involved in the case (which leads to the quote at the top of this recap). Though, Shawn doesn't seem all that concerned.
Shawn of course tries to get Gus to help him at this point, but Gus has other things to do...so Shawn has to fly solo. He goes down to the hotel where the other detectives are already trying to figure things out (rather unsuccessfully I might add). He gets access to the hotel by freaking out a germophopic security guard, and does a bit of digging...and even finds that Lassiter has a room there.
He later finds more information by spying on Lassiter's briefing from the air vents, and then by eating lunch with the very lovely inspector O'Hara. He decides that he really needs Gus now...and gets him by letting the ladies at work know that his (non existent cat) broke a leg and needs his moral support at the veterinary hospital. It is either help Shawn, or look like a heartless monster. Helping Shawn ended up winning out.
They go down to the hotel, where they see the chief, who wishes them luck...but said that she officially never saw them. They manage to get keys to all the rooms by Shawn posing as an interpol agent to impress a British employee of the hotel. It works rather well until the father of the groom discovers them in the room with the wedding party and tosses them out. All is not lost however, since he does have the key to Lassiter's room, and can order lots of room service...and plan a nice Bachelor party for the Groom.
Later that night at the Bachelor party, he questions the Groom, but finds that he is not the thief. There goes the idea of an insurance money scam. It turns out the Groom couldn't care less about the ring. After the Groom passes out, Gus and Shawn go to the Bachelor party. Personally, I think if you have to choose which party to go to...that is they one to be at. Choosing between a party with a bunch of drunk guys, and a bunch of girls who are feeling the need for a guy to make up for the fact that their friend is getting married, I'd choose the party with the girls. But back the the point, Shawn decides to get some alone time with the Maid of Honor (and who can blame him). They go down stair where she complains that the bouquets that they will be using tomorrow are not good enough. She said that they will have to do, since the florist quit and the bridal party had to put them together at the last minute. Shawn says that they could fix them now...but unfortunately, the doors to the cooler are locked. Gus stumbles down and gets a bit pissed that the case isn't solved yet, but Shawn insists that they can figure it out at the wedding ceremony.
The next day, we see the wedding (with both Shawn and Gus in attendance) and Lassiter and O'Hara in the back of the church. When the preacher gets to the speak now or forever hold your peace part, Shawn jumps into action. In his usual Shawn way, he tells us, and the wedding guests who the culprit was. It turns out it was the Maid of Honor. After hearing all the evidence, she bolts...but is of course caught in the end. Shawn was able to crack the case, and get the ring back, which was hidden in the bouquet of the Maid of Honor. Sadly, she did cancel her date with him though.
At the end we find that Lassiter is more than a little pissed at the room service bill that Shawn racked up...which is understandable. However, still thinking that Shawn is a secret interpol officer they back him up and tell Lassiter that they had never seen Shawn in the hotel before...so the episode wraps up quite nicely.
Wow, It was quite an episode. This show keeps getting better and better. I loved the interplay between Shawn and O'Hara, particularly when he was 'reading her palm' when they were eating lunch. It is clear that some of the cops are intrigued by his abilities, even if they are rather skeptical. Of course Lassiter hates him, but ends up looking rather foolish most of the time.
From what I have heard, it is doing rather well in the ratings as well...and the critics also seem to like it. I always feel much better when a show I love watching does well...so I don't have to worry about it getting the axe prematurely. The actors are really seeming to fit into the roles much better. I still think that James Roday (Shawn) overdoes the strange flip outs that he does when he has a "psychic experience" but it doesn't seem quite as bad as before...it comes across as funny, rather they way overdone like it did in the pilot, and to some degree the second episode. I still think it could be toned down a notch, but that is just me.
Expect this show to go far over the next couple of months. I really think it has the chance to become a very strong show for USA. Speaking of which, while I'm not usually a big fan of commercials (hey, that is what TIVO is for) I do love the promos where they mix together the cast of the Dead Zone, Monk, and Psych. It is rather amusing watching their quirks when they are together on the same screen. I hope you enjoyed the episode...I'll be back next week to recap/review the next episode of Psych.