Of all the ways Psych could choose to deal with Juliet finding out that Shawn isn’t actually a psychic detective, and is instead simply a very observant private investigator who’s been duping the police department for seven years, a private dramatic scene with tears culminating in a glass of Prosecco to Shawn’s face is not a good choice.
Gus knows Shawn isn’t psychic, Henry knows, Shawn’s mother knows, and Lassiter—while he mentions Shawn having “visions” tonight—has always remained extremely skeptical of the validity of Shawn’s methods. Which leaves Juliet—a highly intelligent and decent woman—as the rube. This has always been my problem with the prolonged delay in explaining Shawn’s act. Psych has so thoroughly worn out its original premise at this point that continuing to enforce an enormous blind spot on an otherwise smart character is detrimental to the show and weakens Juliet’s character.
The premise is so entrenched that best possible way to deal with it would be to act as though it wasn’t a big deal. Shawn, comically racked with guilt at the end of a case, does the usual James Roday thing and goes crazy with being overdramatic; maybe Jules and Lassiter look at each other, perhaps the Chief as well, and they just shrug their shoulders and go, “Yeah, we know.” Problem solved, onto other things.
But Psych chooses to treat the revelation as a dramatic violation of trust instead of playing it for a laugh, something that Juliet completely missed throughout seven years of previous investigations, presumably because romantic feelings obscured her bullshit detector. This time, either Juliet happened to realize the coincidence of her boyfriend’s guesswork, or Shawn just got a little sloppy leaving evidence of his inferences around, but it’s difficult to see this reveal as anything other than another harbinger that this is a long buildup to the end of Psych, positioned for prime midseason conflict and a major relationship stumbling block on the way to happiness for the central couple.
That final scene is most disappointing because it brings down what is to that point a silly and enjoyable supporting-character wedding episode—if one that is still chock full of ludicrous shootouts. It doesn’t ruin the episode, but it’s an unfortunate tack for the show to take with a long-kept secret that hasn’t been an important issue for a long time. Sure, Shawn still covers up that his abilities aren’t real, but the physicality of his psychic performance should’ve turned somebody onto the truth a long time ago.
But enough about that final scene—Lassiter and Marlowe get married! After a hail of gunfire, just the way Lassiter would want. In keeping with the bizarre nature of his relationship with Marlowe, they plan to get married quickly thanks to a convenient late cancellation, which inspires hurried bachelor/bachelorette party plans.
The girls get drunk, find out that McNab moonlights as a stripper cop, and Juliet and the Chief start to loosen up a bit. Marlowe shows signs of cold feet, and Juliet demonstrates once again how wonderful she is by comforting her. As for the guys, Shawn and Gus get Henry and Woody together, along with an old childhood friend of Lassiter’s, to take a party bus to the wedding for an impromptu bachelor party. The funniest bits involve the two parties meeting, or rather, Woody and Marlowe’s friend Big Wendy getting friendly with each other.
To build in a case, there’s a mob accountant on the loose, and he happens to flee from his boss to the exact casino where both the bachelor and bachelorette parties are being held the night before the wedding. Lassiter finds the guy, loses the guy, double crosses the mob boss in a prisoner exchange, recaptures the accountant—while making good use of the party bus’ stripper pole and a pair of fuzzy handcuffs—all leading up to a wedding ceremony that puts Lassie in a white suit and Marlowe in a character-appropriate red dress.
The mob shows up to try and recover the accountant to shut him up—an unwise move since it’s broad daylight in front of scores of witnesses, but hey, this is Psych. A shootout ensues, ends with no damage done to the heroes, and the wedding continues, combining the two things Lassie loves most: Marlowe, and the Second Amendment. Lassiter is my favorite character, the guy whose lines I laugh at the most, so it’s nice to see him get personal satisfaction, and even to finally appreciate Shawn and Gus, despite throwing things at them at the beginning of the episode. Still, that final scene really sours a well-meaning and uplifting episode—albeit one with a lot of unbelievable action sequences.
Delayed answers on a television show threaten to balloon in importance to the point that they threaten to overtake everything else. How I Met Your Mother has dealt with this problem more intensely because the title of the show implies a reveal that seems impossible to satisfy the wait—but it’s more of a “journey is the destination” series at this point. Suits has a real problem on its hands with its protagonist threatening to bring down the entire environment of the show with one false move, thanks to the big contrivance in the pilot. But Psych has been in the unique position of cultivating a tone that would allow it to brush off that initial premise as high-concept and contrived but easily accepted as unstated fact by all the other goofy characters. Instead, Shawn’s big lie will be the temporary wedge that complicates his relationship with Juliet until they reconcile sometime before the end of the season and probably get engaged before the show finishes up its run.
Stray observations:
- Funniest moment of the episode: Woody in the wrong kind of suit.
- Now that most of the other characters have paired off, Woody is around to clean up with the single girls.
- I assume the priest didn’t show up to the wedding on time because of the transgender prostitute the party bus dropped off outside of the church.