Line #216 Headscratchers/Psych


1	New examples on the bottom.
2
3	[[foldercontrol]]
4	[[folder:How did Shawn follow Lassiter's finger?]]
5	* When Shawn, Gus, and Henry are being interrogated, Shawn stands next to the one-way glass with a [[Main/CheshireCatGrin big, creepy smile]] on his face to freak out the detectives. Lassiter tests him by leaning forward, then moving a finger to one side, and Shawn follows it effortlessly until Vick tells him to stop fooling around not questioning Shawn's ability (she does think he's psychic, after all), and the incident is never mentioned again.
6	** I wondered the same thing and the closest I can come to is that as the son of a police officer (and merely by being media savvy), Shawn would know that he is being watched from outside the interrogation room and that it was simply a lucky guess that Lassiter would test him this way.
7	** Those mirrors work because the reflected image of the (brightly lit) interrogation room is significantly brighter than the image getting through from the (dim) hallway outside; if you cast enough of a shadow on the mirror, you could look through it and (faintly) make out things on the other side. Probably. Not sure if you could do it as shown without Shawn Spencer Überperceptiveness, though.
8	** Lassiter's just so predictable, Shawn can even make an educated guess about what he's doing behind a mirror. Or alternatively; Shawn really ''is'' psychic. Just a little bit, anyway.
9	** I figured it was a combination of science and psychology. Two-way mirrors only work if one side is bright and the other is dark; by casting enough of a shadow, anyone can see through. Shawn's previous experience with Lassiter would clue him in on where Lassiter would be standing and what Lassy would be likely to do in order to test Shawn's psychicness.
10	** But his smile turns to a frown at the exact moment Lassiter rebukes O'Hara for thinking Shawn can see them, which was he decided to test him to begin with. And he somehow knew the phony agent was also there with them.
11	** You can see through two-way mirrors if you're close enough and especially if there's too much ambient light on the other side or you're casting a shadow on your side. You can't see much, mind you, but you'd be able to follow a finger on the other side.
12	** Why can't it just be RuleOfFunny?
13	** As somebody who has spent the last 10 years in the glass industry, I assure you-- Transparent mirror (as its called in the industry) can be seen through. It depends on factors listed above- light, distance etc.
14	[[/folder]]
15
16	[[folder: A new solar planet? What the hell?]]
17	* And an ''inner'' planet? How could we have just missed that for, I don't know, ''all of human history''? This would be egregious enough if not for the fact that it's ''never mentioned again''.
18	** It was an extrasolar planet - that is, one around a star other than the sun. Of course, I'm not sure why anyone thought that would be a big deal as, by the time the episode was written, over a hundred extrasolar planets were known (some for over a decade), and none of their discoverers ever got rich or famous.
19	** I believe there are no known ''solid'' extrasolar planets, probably because they're smaller and harder to spot than gas giants. A solid planet would be exciting because it could support what we think of as life--maybe that's what was found.
20	** Nope. While we have found significantly more gas giants, there's a substantial-sized class of exoplanets called 'Super-Earths' that have densities that mean they must be made of solid material like rock. They'd be many times the mass of the Earth, but they'd definitely be solid.
21	** If you listen to the back ground the scientist explains that the planet is exactly like Earth and may infact be able to support life.
22	** Also, RuleOfDrama. It ''is'' a comedic mystery series, not an astronomy lecture. They just needed the kind of big astronomic discovery that might justify a murder-for-credit.
23	[[/folder]]
24
25	[[folder:Who broke the window?]]
26	* In the fourth episode of season 1, a pair of convicts are released from jail, and the wife of their partner, fearing for her life, hires Shawn to contact her dead husband so he can find the hidden money. During the phony seance scene the window behind Shawn shatters. He decides it was the convicts, trying to scare them. Except that the convicts aren't really after her, the husband isn't really dead, and the wife was after the money for herself the whole time. So who broke the window? It wasn't the convicts, because they didn't even know about Shawn, would have no interest in breaking the window if they did, and Lassiter was tailing them at the time. It wasn't the husband, he didn't know about Shawn or his wife's plans anyway. It wasn't the wife, she was in the room at the time. And although he appreciated the effect it gave the seance, Shawn admits it wasn't him either. What happened, exactly?
27	** It was an unnamed accomplice of the wife. She wanted the psychic on the case and decided it would be best to convince him of the seriousness if someone smashed a window. Maybe?
28	** Why? They were already having a seance. He ''was'' on the case. And according to the convicts, she really believed in that stuff quite strongly. Why interrupt him doing his thing with a rock through the window? If anything that would prevent her from getting what she wanted.
29	** She wanted to convince them that the convicts were guilty, and how better to do this than to give Shawn first-hand experience with their supposed violence and threats?
30	** Again, why? This woman actually believed her husband was dead, actually believed they were having a legit seance, and actually believed that Shawn was a psychic who could ask her dead husband where the money was hidden. Why try to frame those guys? She didn't care. She just wanted her dead husband to cough up the location of the dough, and as far as she knew he was about to before the window shattered.
31	** A wizard did it.
32	[[/folder]]
33
34	[[folder: Why didn't Shawn just say that he ''saw'' a body rather than psychically sensed one?]]
35	* In the high school reunion episode, he sees a body fall past the window when no-one is looking, and then starts to talk about how he sensed a body falling there. Why not just say that he ''saw'' someone falling? It's not like you'd need his incredible powers of observation to see a body falling, and it would be a better way to convince the skeptics.
36	** He always keeps the best stuff for himself though. If he told everyone up front that he saw someone falling, how could he keep up the psychic act? A lot of what he saw at first -- the letter jacket, the pin, the body -- is firmly anchored to the fact that he saw the body... (I hope I'm making sense.)
37	** Less specifically, why does Shawn sometimes (more recently, ''often'') do the psychic act to people who could (and possibly already did) find out how he got his information? The second episode of season... 4, I think (with the guy who died in the plane crash) was the most painfully egregious case i've seen so far, with him bluffing people whose immediate family members and/or coworkers told him the relevant info, and could easily have expressed their annoyance about it to each other without prompting.
38	** Possibly because he's a complete and utter ham.
39	** This is what "real" psychics do all the time. You've probably heard of "cold reading" (where a psychic speaks to a crowd and makes educated guesses until he lands?) - this technique is called "hot reading," where you claim to psychically see things that someone just told you, abusing a psychological phenomenon known as source amnesia (where people remember they learned something, but not where they learned it from - i.e. they remember that Shawn knew a piece of information, but not that they TOLD him that exact information.) Of all of the show's liberal use of artistic license, this is actually rather realistic, and exactly how many cons and fake psychics work in real life.
40	** RuleOfFunny. Same reason why Gus never just firmly corrects Shawn every time he smooth-talks Gus into some hilarious hot water, or introduces him with some wacky or stupid name even when Gus has a vested interest in not looking stupid.
41	** It may have simply been force of habit. Shawn has trained himself to never reveal the actual source of information, so he said "I sensed it" without thinking, and had to stick to the story.
42	[[/folder]]
43
44	[[folder: Does anyone really believe Shawn?]]
45	* I mean, does anyone else in the main cast actually believe he's a psychic? Gus and Shawn's father ''know'' he's lying, Lassie admitted in one episode that he knows Shawn's putting on an act, but respects him anyway. Jules appears to flip-flop on the issue. Only Chief Vick seems to buy it: she asked Shawn to use his "abilities" to read potential nannies for her newborn, after all. So Vick's the only one?
46	** A seventh season episode confirms that Juliet really did believe Shawn was psychic and was terribly hurt to learn he'd been lying to her for six and a half years.
47	** The problem with ESP and science is that science is supposed to be based on fact that you can replicate. Unless the person has a near %100 accuracy rate they can neither prove or disprove ESP. Unless Shawn confesses they can neither prove or disprove his abilities.
48	** In any case, Vick's the Chief, so if she believes in Shawn and wants to keep him around, there's not a lot her juniors can really do about it. Furthermore, psychic or not - he gets results.
49	** In an interview Creator/MaggieLawson, the actress who plays Juliet, said that her character ''does'' believe in Shawn's abilities. Whether or not this counts as WordOfGod, however, is debatable.
50	** In one episode, Shawn gives her a message from her dead cat as a Christmas gift. Her grateful response suggests she believes him.
51	** If nothing else, Jules is also a pretty nice woman who tends to believe the best in people. Given that Shawn is, for the most part, a nice guy himself, she frankly has no reason to question him since he's only doing good.
52	** There is one early episode that suggests that Juliet knows he's full of it. In "Cloudy... With a Chance of Murder" (1x12) she drops papers on wet asphalt in front of him, which he quickly reads as they turn see through. It's made clear that there was no real reason for her to do that and Shawn even says something like "I'll be damned." It's never ever mentioned again after the episode, and she never does anything else like that, but it's pretty clearly written to interpret that she knows he's just hyper-observant and gave him just the briefest of hints to use.
53	** Even if Chief Vick did ask him for psychic help once, in a non-official capacity, she had (according to her) not slept in over three days. So even though everyone believes in Shawn's abilities, psychic or not, Vick could have been half out of her mind with stress anyway, and saw, not "Shawn, he can help" but "Psychic guy! He find Film/MaryPoppins!".
54	** Chief Vick almost certainly doesn't believe Shawn. In one early episode Shawn starts to offer a logical and evidence based solution to a case, then realises what he's doing halfway through and switches to his usual psychic schtick. She doesn't react at all. She did ask him to psychically find her a nanny, but she may have simply reasoned that she was too tired to make a good choice, she couldn't use abuse city resources by asking any of her underlings to do it, and Shawn was available.
55	** In "Mr. Yin Presents," Chief Vick comments that no one could have known about the passageway when Yin took Juliet. Shawn then says "Unless you're a psychic" with a guilty look on his face. He and Vick share a look that implies she knows he's been lying.
56	** This troper's best guess is that Chief Vick realizes that Shawn is a valuable asset who solves crimes other people can't, that he would never have the discipline to work for the force in any legitimate official capacity (or even as a standard private detective), and that her being able to continue employing him depends on her credibly appearing to buy that he's a psychic. This troper bases basically all of this on the strained and deliberate manner with which the chief always seems to refer to Shawn's supposed abilities, well, and also that she's probably the smartest character on the show with the lowest tolerance for bullshit.
57	** I suspect that only Jules (and [=McNabb=] and the other second-tier characters) really believe Shawn. Chief Vick acts like she believes Shawn because it gives her plausible deniability about the various crimes and civil rights violations Shawn and Gus commit while solving crimes (like breaking in to people's homes and snooping through their offices). Most of the time, these cases would be almost impossible to solve while operating "by the book", since it would be too hard to get search warrants for all the information Shawn gets by flying under the radar. So Vick can pretend they got crucial information "psychically". Vick gave Shawn the nanny job because she knows Shawn has a talent for reading people--remember, he was able to determine that the three nannies that Gus approved of were bad choices (slob/psycho/slut).
58	** Even if Chief Vick really believes Shawn is psychic, she's also aware of his background as the son of a cop, and he spends a lot of time working closely with the department. A psychic with skill in police procedure and evidence collection is even more valuable than a psychic without those skills, so even if she buys his line completely she'd likely take any display of real detective skills as another note in Shawn's favor.
59	** The theme song kind of spells it out, doesn't it? If you listen to the theme song while reading this part, you'll see a lot of these theories addressed in the song, albeit vaguely.
60	[[center:In between the lines there's a lot of obscurity. ]]
61	[[center:I'm not inclined to resign to maturity. ]]
62	[[center:If it's alright, then you're all wrong. ]]
63	[[center:But why bounce around to the same damn song? ]]
64	[[center:You'd rather run when you can't crawl...]]
65
66	[[center:I know, you know, that I'm not telling the truth. ]]
67	[[center:I know, you know, they just don't have any proof. ]]
68	[[center:Embrace the deception- learn how to bend, ]]
69	[[center:Your worst inhibition's gonna psych you out in the end.]]
70
71	[[center:I know, you know....]]
72	** Another hint of Chief Vick's attitude: there's an exchange between Vick and Juliet in "Shawn Rescues Darth Vader" when Lassiter decides he can't trust Juliet (since she was hiding her relationship with Shawn during the second half of season 5) and wants a new partner; Juliet tells Vick there's something she needs to "come clean about" and before she can say anything else, Vick responds that unless it would affect Juliet's ability to do her job, she [[PlausibleDeniability doesn't want to know about it]]. That suggests as long as Shawn is getting results, she isn't too bothered how he's getting them, except when he and Gus do something really stupid—see "We'd Like to Thank the Academy," and even then she gives up on house-training Psych since they were actually more effective (and, in Shawn's case, less embarrassing to the department) ''before'' being sent to police training.
73	[[/folder]]
74
75	[[folder:Why wasn't Lassiter arrested for keeping a hidden gun when he'd been supposed to turn them all in?]]
76	* Or at least censured. I mean, he ''killed someone'' with it...justifiably, but police do get a bit annoyed at justifiable homicide with an ''illegally owned gun''. He was the one who gathered up his guns; wasn't he obligated to tell the police about the one in the snack bowl?
77	** He didn't kill anyone, he shot ''the real killer'' in the shoulder. His gun permit was never revoked, his guns were merely confiscated for the duration of the investigation by the police not Lassiter. He didn't even know initially that any of the guns had been removed from their hiding spots. So, no they weren't illegally owned guns and he hadn't been obligated to tell anyone where they were. I think everyone was rather glad of his paranoia which allowed him to save his own and Shawn's lives and to catch a corrupt cop.
78	** The gun was his personal property. The police didn't actually have any right to take it, unlike his issue weapon (which is SBPD property). Realistically, the FBI should not have been able to seize his other private guns as well until he was actually ''indicted'' for a felony - he was placed on administrative leave while he was ''investigated'', but since he was never formally charged with the crime he has the same right to bear arms as any other citizen and the only gun the SBPD could've taken was his duty weapon (which they would've taken anyway for being evidence in an investigation, that being the alleged murder weapon.)
79	[[/folder]]
80
81	[[folder:What life insurance company writes a policy that pays more for being killed in the line of a dangerous profession than of natural causes?]]
82
83	* It doesn't make sense.
84	** But not actually uncommon. Accidental death "bonuses" are fairly common in life insurance policies. Similarly, many life insurance policies pay for suicide if the policy has been in effect long enough. This is often mandated by law, in fact.
85	** It can also depend on how the insurance was gained. If the company bought it then they might want to make sure of high payouts to act as an extra incentive to potential employees. And in some cases there are policies that provide great coverage for accidental death that a person has before they take up a dangerous profession.
86	** And if you can imagine a contingency, you can find an insurance company willing to insure against it. True, it may cost more (possibly a good bit more) than a standard policy, but you can get coverage. And if you work in a dangerous profession, the extra cost may be well worth it.
87	[[/folder]]
88
89	[[folder:The season finale (Season 4)]]
90	* Ok, there were a number of things wrong. First of all, they don't keep track of the crazy chicks visitors? Or note that the crazy chick [[spoiler:has a son]]? [=McNabb=] is [=KOed=] from behind by unknown methods, but [[spoiler:Abigail]] has an inhalant shoved in her face. The sheer GenreBlindness (Spiting up? Closing the car door behind you? Psych tends to make fun of that kind of behavior). [[spoiler:Juliet's kidnapping seems [[FauxActionGirl very fishy]] as well. Yes she lost her gun, but she shows 0 signs of a struggle... And why the hell is she wearing heels, when she is planing to chase someone? Oh and why did she feel need to start what she knows isn't going to last long with "Shawn" instead of yelling "clocktower!"]]. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking I am also sure I have seen that stairwell before]]. Stock footage? Reused set?
91	** Well, for the first one we don't know yet that the ENTIRE thing wasn't planned. It's very possible and even likely (seeing as Yang SAID she was going to write a book) that the drawing and such was planned beforehand and even the kidnappings. Ergo, Yin wouldn't have had to visit nor would have at all. [[spoiler:We don't know that the crazy chick has a son do we? That picture is of Yang and a young Shawn not a young random boy.]] As for [=McNabb=], [[spoiler: He was injected by something through a needle.]] When she had fallen, Yin waits with a blunt object and BOOM, no struggle. Or Yin could have used Chloroform or injected her with something. She is wearing heels because she has to be dressed like the character or Yin won't play and they'll have no chance of catching him. I don't see how Abigail's thing bothers you. Yin had two separate ways to knock someone out. The clue was VERY obvious as far as it being a clock. Come on that's such an old riddle you could have googled for the answer she might have wanted to say something else/Intense situations often cause people to not think quite as clearly as any of us. Yin clearly wasn't trying very hard on that one. I really don't see what's wrong with any of this though. This episode had me on the edge of my seat the whole time.
92	** No no, ''her job'' has her regularly chase people, you don't wear heels on that job.
93	** Except that, in this exact case, the only way they could think of to close in on Yin was to dress up like the characters he had assigned to them and play along, and IIRC, Juliet has had some impressive showings with heels on, so it might not have been that much of a hindrance to her in chasing someone down. As for not putting up more of a struggle, I'm betting she was drugged before she knew what was happening, but in all fairness, we don't really know anything about Yin, so he might just be that much more awesome than her in a straight fight. I agree about the car thing, and I'd imagine that Henry at least would be able to break out of a car a lot faster than that. As for yelling out her location, she's a lot more conscientious about her role as a cop than Lassie is (he's takes things way more personally, even though he's a lot more by the book), and as the chief said, the first priority of the police is to save the civilian first. The thing that REALLY bothered me about that episode was how Lassie quite reasonably pointed out that there were other cops that could be sent after Abigail so that he could go after his own partner, but in the end its only Shawn and Henry who go after her. A few cops around to secure the perimeter and provide back up to the guys who don't seem to have any guns would have probably resulted in an imprisoned Yin.
94	** The stairwell was a Hitchcock reference. And if not a Hitchcock reference, then an [[NewerThanTheyThink accidental]] Creator/MelBrooks/[=Hitchcock parody=] reference.
95	** I don't think Juliet wanted Shawn to save her. The last thing she said to him on the phone was "You can still save Abigail". If she knew where Abigail was, she would've yelled out that location and not "Clocktower".
96	** The riddle to Juliet's location was also incredibly simple. It took Gus, Vick, Henry, and Lassiter all of fifteen seconds to solve it--Shawn could have cracked it instantly. Juliet probably knew Shawn didn't need any help finding her, but he might not know that there was still time to get to Abigail. She chose to give him information he didn't have rather than the solution to a riddle that he didn't need help with anyway.
97	[[/folder]]
98
99	[[folder: Who Ya Gonna Call (Season 1)]]
100	* How could Regina possibly be seen as a good guy? Yes, in compared to Brody, but she ''still'' wanted give Robert cosmetic surgery without his consent just so she could feel better. If she'd gotten someone to act as an intermediary, perhaps their psychiatrist, someone could have helped them work things out, but as it was she was going to effectively mutilate Robert for her own (admittedly reasonable, barring the context) reasons when he didn't even know she existed.
101	** You have to pass a psychological test before sexual reassignment surgery; the nature of the test has changed greatly over the years, but it's inconceivable that Regina could pass it. There are also waiting lists, batteries of tests, months to years of medication treatments with visible side effects, and required preparatory hospital stays before surgery -- and this isn't even mentioning the ''incredible'' financial costs. There's ''no way'' she could keep all of this, or likely ''any'' of it, concealed from Robert.
102	** The fact that she ''couldn't'' have done it doesn't mean that she didn't ''want'' to. She clearly had the intent to alter Robert's body to make herself comfortable without ever even telling him that she existed. While it's not murder, it's still messed up for her to even attempt to do that.
103	** It's less to do with trans issues and more to do with multiplicity. Despite how television likes to portray it, there isn't always a single "real" person amid "delusional" ones. Which person is "most real" may be debatable, or change over time. (In some systems the "original" no longer exists.) In a functional multiple system Robert would have known everything, but this is pretty obviously not a functional system and [[MissingTime that can have consequences]].
104	[[/folder]]
105
106	[[folder: Cutting the brakes on Henry's truck]]
107	* How did he get the truck to the race without knowing the brakes don't work? Also the way Shawn describes it makes him a ''lot'' stupider than he used to be.
108	** Which brings up the annoying and emerging point of Shawn's yo-yoing intelligence. Throughout the series, he's been shown to have GeniusDitz tendencies, often overlooking simple things because he has a short attention span. Up until the fifth season, though, he never came off as completely idiotic. Some episodes have him back to his intelligent-but-easily-distracted ways, but a disconcerting amount have had him acting flat-out stupid. Hopefully this is just some bad writing and not the more ominous CharacterDerailment.
109	** It's totally possible he doesn't know enough about cars to identify the brake line but was sure he needed to install nitro in order to win. I don't think its that far out of character for him to get so caught up in winning that he didn't consider the potential danger of altering the car. Still, none of this answers the original question, how ''did'' they get that far without the brakes working.
110	** Potentially, Shawn's notable absent-mindedness and lack of finesse might be a ChekhovsGun and explained later as a plot device leading up to development in the Ying/Yang arc or the Shawn and Juliet arc.
111	** Well, Henry specifically mentioned in "Shawn 2.0" that Shawn had been getting sloppy lately, so it's at least been addressed in-show.
112	[[/folder]]
113
114	[[folder: The bullet in the tree in "A Very Juliet Episode"]]
115	* Gus points out that Shawn's not looking high enough for the bullet, because the trees would have grown. Except...I thought trees always grew out from the top?
116	** They do. Somebody on the writing staff Fails Botany Forever.
117	[[/folder]]
118
119	[[folder:Why doesn't Shawn have a gun?]]
120	* Okay, so I just saw the Pilot episode, and in it, when he's talking with Lassiter's partner about the case in the shooting range, he perfectly mimics her shots on the sheet, just to show how awesome he is. So clearly, he can fire a pistol very accurately. And while I know California is a hippie liberal state that does not like guns, but Shawn is closely associated with the PD, frequently in cases with dangerous criminals. Surely he could get a permit and a weapon without to much trouble, and it would really save him a lot of trouble in the long run.
121	** Perhaps for one reason or another he simply doesn't like guns? I don't know if it's appeared on the series, but I can easily imagine Henry training Shaun to shoot at a young age and ultimately going a bit over the top with it as he usually did with the end result that Shaun, while coming out of it a highly-skilled marksman, is completely sick to the teeth of guns or anything to do with them.
122	** Shawn is established as being unable to join the police force because he is a felon (stole a car, likely for the entire purpose of having a felony record and being unable to be forced into joining the police force). Now why Shawn needs to improvise stupid weapons when he is established as carrying a Swiss army knife with him...
123	** Also, as we've been shown, Shawn is almost pathologically incapable of keeping track of anything that doesn't stay in the pockets of a pair of jeans. If he carried around a gun, it'd be about fifteen minutes before it was in the possession of some murderer/petty-crook/bystander/child/dog/puppet/etc.
124	** This is mentioned briefly, actually. Shawn asks about the status of his and Gus's badges, to which Lassie responds, "You're not getting badges." Shawn: "What about guns?" Lassie and O'Hara don't say anything, but exchange exasperated/frightened looks. It's likely that the police know better than to let him have one.
125	** The show is set in California, and while permits to ''carry'' would be hard to get in Santa Barbara (being a police investigation consultant would actually be a good way to get one), merely ''owning'' a weapon doesn't require police approval. However, Shawn is a convicted felon (he stole a car at 17), and so he's barred from owning firearms.
126	[[/folder]]
127
128	[[folder:Scarry Sherry Craddock]]
129
130	* Why didn't Henry ever tell the boys that he saved that woman's life twenty years ago? I get why he didn't want them to see her attempt to kill herself, but why not tell them afterwards that he saved her from inevitable death? Henry was always trying to show Shawn about how police officers are hard workers and should be respected and are heroes, it seems that he would not pass up a chance to reinforce this with such a perfect example.
131	** He didn't know they saw her.
132	** Yes, that explains why he never reassured them that she was fine. Still, it doesn't explain why he didn't tell them anything at all. And given that this is ''Shawn'' we're talking about, why would he trust him to close his eyes? Gus knew better.
133	** I imagine that Henry probably ''suspected'' that Shawn opened his eyes but there's no possible way he could know for sure without Shawn actually telling him. Assuming Shawn and Gus never said anything about what happened, since even a disciplinarian like Henry can't actually scold or punish Shawn for something without any proof he presumably just decided to give Shawn the benefit of the doubt and let it lie. Either way, he certainly had no way of knowing that Shawn and Gus both opened ''and'' closed their eyes, thus seeing Sherry about to jump but missing the crucial bit where Henry actually saved her. He probably didn't mention what actually happened because he assumed that either Shawn had his eyes open the whole time and saw the whole thing (in which case there was no need, since he'd seen it), or that Shawn had his eyes closed the whole time and thus didn't see what happened (in which case there was no need, because he didn't see it). As for why he doesn't say anything at all, unlike Shawn Henry's not the kind of guy to blow his own trumpet, and remember that he didn't want the boys there to witness anything to begin with. He probably figures (again assuming they never revealed they opened their eyes) that they didn't see anything anyway, they're too young to fully understand what was happening and he just wants to get them home and move on.
134	** Henry asks Shawn and Gus "how much" they saw. He probably assumed that Shawn (and maybe Gus) did look, but also that they ''kept looking'' and saw the whole thing. They would have seen Henry pulling Sherry back inside, and thus ends the tale. Henry probably thought that the two options were: 1) Shawn and Gus saw nothing, and no explanation is necessary, or 2) Shawn and Gus saw everything, and no explanation is necessary. He didn't consider that they would have missed part of the incident.
135	[[/folder]]
136
137	[[folder:The Tikihama Song]]
138
139	* In the episode where Shawn tries to pass the criminal he's harboring off as his old Camp Counselor, how did the criminal know the Tikihama song? At first I thought it was just a joke when they ran it over the credits, but then in episode 15 of Season 3, the song is used again when they show Shawn's pinata at the bottom of the lake. So, how is it that a song that the guy supposedly just made up off the top of his head, turns out to be the real thing?
140	** He went to Camp Tikihama as a kid and vaguely remembered little other than "This is what a camp song sounds like"? Or it ''wasn't'' the real song, since nobody in-show actually sang it?
141	** I was under the impression that it isn't real in-universe. Since it's part of the episode soundtrack both times, and (like the rest of the soundtrack music) not audible to the characters. It's just become a running gag.
142	[[/folder]]
143
144	[[folder: Shawn not remembering Yang]]
145
146	* Shawn forgets things. He doesn't have an eidetic memory, just a talent at concentrating and remembering details when he chooses to. I'm not bugged by that. However, the actress in the flashback does a good job of showing great sadness in Yang's body language. It's implied the reason Shawn stopped was because he was actually being nice; he saw the sad lady, probably helped her with the groceries, and talked to her. Shawn's mother said Yang seemed so sad and adoring towards Shawn. Flashforward to the present day, and Yang is creepily cheerful, body language totally different, but she has obviously done her homework towards Shawn. He never once stops to think, a memory of an adoring woman (which Shawn, at any age, would take pride in) who wanted a picture of him and her, who obviously bears a large resemblance towards Yang, popping into his head? If the experience had been traumatic, that would be one thing. But I doubt the show would go down the route of having her had done anything that would cause trauma in a 12-yr-old boy, especially after they made it where she never actually murdered any of her father's victims and tried to portray her in a more sympathetic light than originally presented.
147	** Who lived three doors down from you when you were twelve? Memory is a very fluid thing. He did a favor for a woman when he was 12 and she took a picture of him. I can understand him remembering the event, but the actual face of the person whom he only met for about two seconds after she's aged 17 years? Remembering something that happened two days ago is completely different from remember something that happened two years ago. I would even go so far as to say it is ''harder'' for someone like Shawn to remember what happened years ago because his brain is processing so much information about what is happening ''now.'' Try remembering the faces of people you met in high school ten years later - that's difficult and you actually spoke to those people on a daily basis. Your brain prioritizes information based on importance and Shawn places importance both almost everything - being extremely observant, and on the ridiculous- having extreme ADHD. For all we know he was going to meet Gus to get cupcakes and his brain didn't even focus on the memory.
148	** Shawn remembered new details about something that happened in about third grade (The incident with Gus shooting a spitball and blaming it on a bully.). So obviously time isn't really a factor to him. Although he does get things wrong all the time ("Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Marzcipan"), initially storing memories wrong from lack of focus at the time being a symptom of ADHD, so having not initially focused on Yang or any of her identifying features is a plausible explanation. Still wish the show had at least ''tried'' to explain it, though.
149	** But Shawn was ''trying'' to remember that spitball incident, and it still took him the entire episode to piece together what really happened. Shawn was never ''trying'' to remember the random lady he took a picture with when he was twelve and he was never trying to remember meeting Yang years before he thought he did. When his mother mentioned the picture he immediately remembered that moment and said "That was Yang?" Had he had nay reason to think about that moment earlier than that odds are he might have realized it was her, but he had no reason to be focusing on that.
150	** Shawn remembered meeting a woman when he was a kid, but didn't remember her face to match it up as Yang. Since this seems to be the only time the actually were together, it's not shocking that he doesn't remember her face.
151	** Even Shawn's memory isn't 100% perfect. He forgot someone who he briefly met and interacted with as a kid. Even for Shawn, that's entirely possible.
152	[[/folder]]
153
154	[[folder: Nobody in the police department recognized Yin when they were chasing him.]]
155
156	* [[spoiler:He's the father of Santa Barbara's most famous serial killer, and they never bothered to interview him about his daughter's associates after they found out her partner was on the loose? Or find out his '''name'''? Maybe check up on past addresses? Anything?]]
157	** [[spoiler: The SBPD is apparently unaware that Yang used to live in the area-- otherwise, they would have used it to jog Shawn's memory or perhaps even checked up on it to see if Yin was holed up there. I know this show takes a lot of liberties with policework, but come on; the local and perhaps national media would have been all over her past and probably uncovered that much. And nobody in "Mr. Yin Presents" decides that maybe they should check up on Yang's dad, if for no other reason than his own safety? Added to the photoshopping explanation for the photograph we saw at the end of "Mr. Yin Presents," it seems like they wrote themselves into a corner and didn't have a satisfactory answer to the puzzle.]]
158	** There's a very good possibility that he's not actually [[spoiler: Yang's father]]. He's a serial killer, he has antisocial personality disorder, severe narcissism. He could have [[spoiler: kidnapped her and raised her ''as'' his daughter]] far more easily than, you know, actually [[spoiler: ''being'' her father]].
159	** Yang describes herself as Yin's "own flesh and blood," so this is unlikely. It's more plausible that Yin took on a false identity under the name Karl Rotmensen, and they simply didn't know Yang's identity at all, since they only ever refer to her as Yang.
160	** Also, IIRC, we were never actually told her real name. It's completely plausible that she made up a new identity when she began serial killing, or even earlier. Same with her father.
161	** It's possible they don't even know her identity. Yang has never been called anything else. If they had a real identity for her, she probably would've been called that other than Yang at some point.
162	[[/folder]]
163
164	[[folder: "Who Ya Gonna Call" resolution.]]
165	* Martin Brody killed one doctor and tried to kill another because Regina tried to get a sex-change operation (and apparently didn't care that she'd be screwing over poor Robert who didn't even know she existed). How long was Regina seeing that first doctor? Martin was willing to kill the second at the first appointment. Regina's medical file apparently didn't have any other name, an address, any sort information that doctors require (even billing information) and yet she had a patient file. It would only make sense for her not to have more in the file if it was her first appointment. Sure, Martin could have tampered with the file but if he did that then why not just take the file completely? And if it was her first appointment, it's a bit premature to resort to murder, especially since Regina had no idea why the doctor died so it's not going to do a damn thing to deter her. You can't just announce you want to change sexes and have surgery in a week. It's a very lengthy process that could be sabotaged much easier (maybe by cluing Robert in or letting the doctor know that Regina was just a personality although that would run the risk of integration) than outright murder.
166	** Given how dysfunctional Brody's system is, I have real doubts he'd be able to get therapist approval in the first place. A functional multiple, sure (all you have to do is not mention it) but not Brody.
167	[[/folder]]
168
169	[[folder: Gambling]]
170	* Shawn's dad stops him from playing poker, telling him never to gamble and eventually "the house always wins". Five episodes later he is complaining that Shawn has never joined him at the horse track. What the hell is up?
171	** Maybe he sees a difference between gambling with only other people and maybe a casino, and gambling on animals. After all, Shawn could probably spot every little clue to which animals are going to do well, while in any card game, dice game or anything else from a casino, you will end up relying at least a little bit on luck of the draw.
172	** Because no matter how good Shawn tries to be in horse racing, there are way too many elements at play to win consistently. He might figure out which horse wins before the finish line, but it's already too late in putting down one's bet. Compare that to poker, which half the battle is reading your opponents' idiosyncrasies before you decide to play or fold. Shawn has an unfair advantage with his heighten sense of perception (and no one knowing about that) that he probably would win close to 100% of the time. If played honestly. That's why Henry commented with "eventually the house always win because casino aren't above to cheat a little to protect the house's money. Plus Henry was determined to steer Shawn from abusing his gift like that.
173	** My theory was that Henry wanted to spend more time with his son and teach him patience and research, not just reading the man in front of him.
174	** It's been mentioned that Henry didn't want Shawn to turn out like his Uncle Jack. Setting him up as a gambler seems like it would be more likely to have that happen. Shawn was also expected to [[ComesGreatResponsibility use his powers for good.]]
175	** It's also possible to enjoy watching horse-racing just for the thrill of the race, and as an opportunity for a father and son to spend some time hanging out together in the same place (similarly to why he tries to press Shawn on coming fishing with him every so often). Gambling adds an edge, granted, but it's like any kind of racing or athletic display really; there's the thrill of the sport by itself. Casinos, however, are pretty much all about gambling and nothing else.
176	** It's clear from the dialogue, e.g. the way Henry brags about picking winners, that he goes to the track to bet, not just to watch. His main objection in the poker flashback seemed to be his son's age ("No gambling. You're too young."). He then lectured Shawn on just what a big risk he was taking. Looks like he didn't want Shawn gambling when he was a kid and too young to know what he was doing or understand how abruptly a winning streak can end. Once Shawn was an adult, though, and could not only legally gamble but understand what he was doing, that's not only okay but a great way to use your Holmesian skills in Henry's eyes.
177	** To be clear, I wasn't saying that Henry didn't bet ''as well''; just that there are added pleasures at the ponies that aren't necessarily at a casino.
178	** Central Kentuckian (horse capital of the world) here: Betting on horses is legally not considered gambling. It is called "parimutuel wagering," in which the pot is split among all winning bets. Wagerers are betting against each other, not against the house, which is why it's legal in the US even though most forms of sports gambling are (as of now still) illegal. The "house always wins" concept doesn't exist in horse betting, and therefore Henry's lesson doesn't apply. Simple matter of definition.
179	[[/folder]]
180
181	[[folder: Why didn't Lassiter just say "there was a knife wound" when the reporters were making fun of him?]]
182	* I know Lassiter is the ButtMonkey, but he didn't even say it for it to be dismissed - he found there was a knife wound, told Juliet, and said ''nothing'' when he was talking to reporters. Shawn, when he's hung up like this, has the issue of blowing his cover, but for Lassiter, it's the question of lying vs. making himself look ''smarter'' in the press. Why would he stay silent and remain "Detective Dipstick?"
183	** The wound matched closely to that of a shark bite, so they were still wondering if it actually was a knife wound. I think Lassiter is usually someone who wants to be sure before releasing a statement to the press. Also, he became flustered due to going out of his character and going on what he thought was a guess.
184	[[/folder]]
185
186	[[folder: Why did he tell the cops about the call in "This Episode Sucks?]]
187	* Spoilers, by the way. In the episode, the bartender (who, by the way, committed the crimes the police are asking him about offers a very specific detail to the cops (completely unprovoked, they were on their way out) that he had received a call asking him if they knew where to find real blood. This call leads them to his sister (and accomplice) and puts them on the path to him. So... why would he offer that bit of info? To throw them off his track and onto... also his track? He didn't want his sister to go down for it, he was protective of her, so why did he mention it at all? Hell, why did she even call about it?
188	** The bartender didn't do it. It was the guy Lassiter interviewed about the necklace at the haberdashery shop.
189	[[/folder]]
190
191	[[folder: How did Shawn know what pitches would be thrown in "Dead Man's Curve Ball?"]]
192	* In one scene, Shawn predicts which pitches will be thrown by observing what signals the opposing catcher is receiving from the manager and sending to the pitcher. This seems to make sense on it's face, given Shawn's gift for observation, but the problem is this: Signals in baseball aren't universal. Just because a certain signal means "slider" or "curveball" on one team doesn't necessarily mean that that's what it means on another. Theoretically, the opposing team could have been using a set of signals that no other team was using, so how did Shawn know for sure that a certain signal indicated a certain pitch?
193	** If I recall correctly they never said what inning it was. Shawn's certainly good enough to make the connection between signals and pitches and track them, and once the team needed them Shawn could call the pitches. Heck, I don't know.
194	** Figuring it out a team's unique signals isn't necessarily uber hard (IRL, it is not uncommon for a baserunner to crack the catcher's signs and signal back to the dugout who signal to the batter), it's quite possible Shawn already had noted the signs and resulting pitch before and noticed they were using it consistently.
195	[[/folder]]
196
197	[[folder: Why if Shawn has ADHD did he not calm down when on stimulants?]]
198	* Have not seen the episode but, speaking as someone who come from a family where ADD and ADHD is not uncommon, I can assure you not everyone reacts the same way on medication. in fact, in some people, medication can make their symptoms worse depending.
199	** Has it ever been officially established that Shawn has ADHD? From what I understand, it's just a fan theory. In-show, I think Shawn is just a scatterbrained, hyper observant DitzyGenius.
200	*** It hasn't been officially established as far as I know, but if I remember correctly, James Roday Rodriguez has ADHD and he said himself he played Shawn as though he had ADHD. So still not outright confirmation, but close enough.
201	[[/folder]]
202
203	[[folder: (This is basically the whole show, but:) Why can't Henry or Gus just explain to everyone about Shawn's real ability?]]
204	* I know the outside answer is: 1. RuleOfFunny to allow Creator/JamesRodayRodriguez do so silly things, 2. the show would end or just be ''Series/{{Monk}}'', ''Series/TheMentalist'', or ''Series/{{Unforgettable}}'', and 3. MST3KMantra and BellisariosMaxim applies. But what's the InUniverse reason?
205	** It's HandWaved in the pilot: if he doesn't prove ''immediately'' how he provided all that info, he's going to jail. And now he's claimed he's psychic, so he can't stop because reason reason reason go to jail.
206	** After seeing a lot more episodes, I think I'll try to provide one answer to my own question: He frequently illegally obtains evidence and breaks into places of interest, so by claiming he's psychic, he can exit the scene and pretend he "sees" it in his mind.
207	** He's in too deep to back out now--he's solved a lot of cases under false psychic pretenses. Every case that he's solved would be called into question, leading to a lot of dangerous people going free, perjury (or worse) charges being brought against him and others, and the wholesale firings of Juliet, Lassiter, and Chief Vick.
208	** Technically, only Henry (presuming he's ever testified under oath in a case Shawn has worked, not unlikely with how often he's involved personally) and Juliett would actually be in danger of perjury charges - Vick and Lassiter could fairly claim that they were deceived by Shawn. Prosecutors would probably have a difficult time proving Juliett knew, since she's only known since Season 7 and as of yet has never revealed that knowledge to anyone else. Remember, mistakenly believing something to be true isn't perjury. It might still give a lot of convicted killers an opportunity to demand a new trial, but it's not like they'd just up and let them waltz out of prison, especially not after having been convicted or pleading guilty.
209	** There's also another reason given in-character: Private detectives have to be licensed and their activities are regulated. Psychics are under no such restrictions. As an ex-felon (remember the stolen car? That he specifically stole to get a felony rap so he could never be a cop, to get back at his father?) Shawn might not even be ''able'' to be licensed as a PI - or if he is, he might be disqualified for police contracts. Again, psychics are under no such regulation.
210	[[/folder]]
211
212	[[folder: What happened to the female officer?]]
213	* In the episode "Lights, Camera... Homicidio", what happened with the female officer Jules was being nice to? Granted, Jules did come on a little strongly, but she did nothing unreasonable once you remember they work in the same building and Jules is a detective, meaning she has to be an observant person by nature. She talks to the female officer twice, and the woman files sexual harassment charges against her. Chief Vick then lectures Jules on the hardships of being a woman in the workforce (along the lines of "You were being NICE? To a WOMAN?"), tells her she's lucky it's only a harassment charge, and nothing is ever mentioned again. The woman is never seen again, no one brings it up, and seriously, what?
214	** To be fair, Juliet did come on a bit strong to the woman (which is completely in-character for Jules as she is exasperated in the same episode that Shawn can make friends so easily). The chief was harsh but not entirely incorrect: Jules' rather trusting nature could be easily misconstrued (which it was) or manipulated by someone in the department. As for why we never see the woman again, it could just be that she avoids being near Juliet or transferred to a new department.
215	** It feels as though they added the new officer as a potential side character, but for whatever reason, they didn't bring her back, so we were left with a one-off. It's a shame we never got to see where that sub-plot could've went.
216	[[/folder]]
217
218	[[folder: Shawn can't understand the basics of controlling a boat in "Indiana Shawn and the Temple of the Kinda Crappy, Rusty Old Dagger"]]
219	* When being able to competently do so '''was a major plot point''' in an early episode.
220	** He was pretty miserable at it in that episode, too. ("Six Feet Under the Sea.") And he didn't have to work the boat in and out of a dock; Henry had handled all the docking duties before he left and was there waiting for his boat when Shawn came back.
221	[[/folder]]
222
223	[[folder: What was with the "real" psychic in "Autopsy Turvy"?]]
224	* Every other time the show has introduced supernatural elements, they've turned out to have a scientific explanation. For example, it's made very clear that the mummy, the werewolf, the aliens, Gus's boss's haunted house, Robert's haunted house, Lassie's haunted condo, the carnival ghost, the other psychic detective, and of course Shawn's own psychic abilities were/are completely faked. It seems out of place for this random tarot reader to read Shawn's thoughts so accurately and specifically that he calls her "the real deal."
225	** There are a couple of vaguely supernatural elements that turn up in later episodes. After Mary Lightly's death, he appears to escort Yang into the afterlife, and Lassiter's hallucinations of his father in the second movie are presented as MaybeMagicMaybeMundane. It seems actual supernatural phenomena are extremely rare and subtle in the show's universe, but not completely absent.
226	[[/folder]]
227
228	[[folder: Concerning the climax of "Lassie Did a Bad, Bad Thing"]]
229	* Why did [[spoiler:Drimmer]] decide to call Shawn and Lassie exes in [[spoiler: Lassiter's "suicide note"]]? [[spoiler: Drimmer's]] trying to fool the people who know Lassie the most in the world, especially Juliet, into thinking Lassiter wrote the note. Why would he state something like that if he didn't have any proof? Shawn being Lassie's ex isn't the only logical reason Lassie [[spoiler: would shoot himself after shooting Shawn.]] [[spoiler: Drimmer]] and Lassiter know each other--wouldn't he know that Lassie would be the type to fall into despair after [[spoiler: supposedly shooting a crime lord, then an innocent bystander, then a friend and colleague]]? It's evident that Shawn and Lassie care about each other--the plot of the episode proves that--but [[spoiler: Drimmer]] should know they're not involved ([[spoiler: he could've easily asked Juliet for the relevant information]]). Why take that leap and include something that can be easily disproved, thus rendering the rest of the setup suspicious?
230	** The people who know Lassiter most wouldn't be involved in the investigation - it's common procedure to exclude officers who have a particularly personal interest in a case. They would probably not believe it, but to people who don't know Lassie (like the detectives on the case, or anyone in any court trial), the "former lovers drama" trope is only enhanced when they were SECRET former lovers.
231	** Just because the people investigating him would not be involved in the investigation doesn't mean that they would not be interviewed and explain all of this.
232	[[/folder]]
233
234	[[folder: "Someone's dead and we don't know who killed them and took their money! Case closed!"]]
235	* In "Psy Vs. Psy" the person they're hunting down is found dead, shot during a scuffle and his counterfeit money is missing. Yet... everyone treats it as though it's simple case closed. I can... sort of seeing the Feds going away, since the counterfeiter is out of the picture, but there's still $500,000 of funny money sitting about. You'd think they'd follow that at least until the trail got cold.
236	** Considering the Fed's fake psychic was the one who killed him to steal the counterfeit cash and flee, it's likely she leaned on the Federal agent to drop the case since "the problem had taken care of itself," and he then put pressure on Lassie's division to move on from it. The guy came off as very pompous and liked abusing his authority over others, so it's not too hard to believe he let an attractive coworker talk him into forcing a bunch of officers who he saw as beneath him into looking the other way.
237	[[/folder]]
238
239	[[folder: So is "Cloudy with a Chance of Improvement" canon or not?]]
240	* And if so, why were Ralph Macchio and Ray Wise playing the attorney and judge? They had both appeared on Psych as other characters.
241	** Since either way it's the same basic story outlining the same basic events occurring at the same point in the show's run, it can be reasonably surmised that at least one version of these events happened to Shawn and Gus at some point. It's simply up to the viewer which version of events they'd prefer to consider as the "canonical" version (although given that the episode has "Improvement" in the title, presumably the producers of the episode lean towards the latter version than the earlier one). The fact that Ralph Macchio and Ray Wise (and others) show up as different characters is just a cute little inside joke, really; presumably if the circle really has to be squared beyond RuleOfFunny, you can simply assume that the "Absolute Canonical" version involves the events in the latter version of the episode being the "true" version, but the characters were actually the actors who portrayed them in the earlier version (that is, to take one example, the judge was the Donnelly Rhodes version, not the Ray Wise version, but he did the things that the Ray Wise version did).
242	[[/folder]]
243
244	[[folder: In what universe is buying someone a cupcake grounds for a sexual harassment charge?]]
245	* Seriously, how is that a reasonable or proportionate response? Noticing that someone seems a little lonely and doesn't often make eye contact, and buying them a cupcake has absolutely no sexual undertone that I can detect.
246	** Juliet had already spent considerable time trying to get close to the new detective. The cupcake was the last straw.
247	** Nobody called it ''sexual'' harassment. Vick describes it only as an "interdepartmental harassment" complaint. She felt harassed by Juliet's unwelcome attention.
248	** It wasn't. Vick even agreed it wasn't and told her she'd do what she could to get the charges dropped. It was likely just a very stern hint never intended to go anywhere.
249	** Strictly speaking, while the other woman filed a complaint Juliet was never actually charged with anything. The requirements for filing a harassment complaint are simply that the person filing the complaint feels harassed for whatever reason; it's up to the officer / superior in question to determine whether any further action needs to be taken. Which was presumably what O'Hara was scoping out; having assessed the situation, she no doubt realised that Juliet's intentions were good and she never meant to harass anyone and was willing to act accordingly, while simultaneously taking the opportunity to warn Juliet to back off a little.
250	[[/folder]]
251
252	[[folder: Can't keep my hands to myself... Unless my parents tell me to]]
253	* In the third Christmas episode, Shawn came to stay with the Gusters for a while because, quote, "[Shawn] cannot be held responsible for infesting the ENTIRE [apartment] building [with fleas]!" Basically, he had a little 'fling' with Gus' older sister Joy 10 years ago and they've still got the hots for each other. You can see where this is going.\
254	Fast forward to Christmas morning, Everyone (except Gus) confesses to something, and Joy tells them about Shawn and her. The Gusters get mad, they kick Shawn out, yadda yadda. In the end, they forgive him, stating "We realized you frustrate us in only the way family could."\
255	Anyway, they end up saying that Joy & Shawn can't see each other. But hold up. As Joy stated MULTIPLE TIMES DURING THE EPISODE, she's perfectly capable and mature enough to choose who she sees, and it's really not their place to say whether or not they can, especially not her little brother's. Am I the only one that's a little surprise that Shawn and Joy actually obeyed it? I mean, they could literally barely keep their hands off each other every time they were together in the episode, can someone please explain how things changed?
256	** The answer to this one just seems to be that neither Joy nor Shawn feel strongly enough about each other to find continuing their relationship -- which seems to be based primarily on basic sexual attraction more than anything deeper -- worth continuing, especially not at the risk of creating a familial rift. Joy's entirely right that it's within her choice who she sees, but presumably she just doesn't feel strongly enough about sleeping with Shawn again to feel it worth potentially creating a rift with her family over, and vice versa. It's not like they're deeply in love or anything, each can presumably get sex elsewhere if they want it, so for the sake of familial harmony they just go along with it.
257	** In addition to the above, presumably the fact that the Gusters genuinely value Shawn as a ''de facto'' member of the family is a key part of the reason ''why'' they're opposed to Shawn and Joy continuing a sexual relationship. They're essentially admitting that in emotional terms they consider Shawn a son and brother, which would in a way make Shawn and Joy brother and sister... and if you'd be okay with one of your brothers sleeping with one of your sisters (or one of your children sleeping with another one), then you're way more open minded than I am. They're simply saying that because of the close familial bond they feel they have with Shawn, they find the idea of Shawn and Joy sleeping together off-putting and weird and would rather they didn't do it. And if/when put like that, I'm not entirely surprised that Joy and Shawn might agree to back off a bit.
258
259	* Also in that episode, they kinda just arrested the murderer and wrapped stuff up in a neat little Christmas forgiveness bow... Except the reason Ted, Carl, and wats-his-face started robbing peoples houses because they owe a shit ton of money to a bookie, but as far as I know, how Carl was going to pay him back WITHOUT robbing someone was never resolved at all... Did I miss something or did it just slip the writers minds the confirm what was happening with that?
260	** I assume that they are simply going to try and find another way to pay back the bookie without resorting to ruining other people's Christmases in the process. After all, while they're in a tricky situation, it doesn't give them the license to steal from other people in order to fix it.
261	[[/folder]]
262
263	[[folder: Why was Gus so upset that Shawn didn't tell him about the engagement ring?]]
264	* In "Indiana Shawn and the Temple of the Kinda Crappy, Rusty Old Dagger" Gus is so butt-hurt that Shawn didn't confide in him about buying a ring for Juliet, even though he never told Shawn about his marriage to Mira Gaffney back in college. I get that the writers probably wanted to give the episode a dramatic start, but it always bugs me that Gus's own actions were overlooked.
265	** In fairness to Gus, his marriage was a impulsive drunken mistake that he ended after a handful of days, whereas Shawn's relationship with Juliet is the show's Romance For The Ages. Gus didn't tell Shawn about his marriage because it was a short-lived embarrassment he wanted to completely forget whereas given how significant and important both Shawn's relationship with Juliet is and how close Shawn and Gus are, Gus might have felt a little slighted that Shawn didn't confide in him about how he was planning to take things to the next step. I dare say had Gus been in a significant relationship with a woman he was planning to marry and didn't tell Shawn about it, Shawn would have been similarly justified in feeling a bit snubbed.
266	[[/folder]]
267
268	[[folder:What was the deal with how the car was stolen twice in "Shawn and Gus in Drag... Racing" (5x5)?]]
269	Shawn says the victim stole the car to gain some kind of leverage over Tommy, but the original owner of the car says he hired the victim to steal it back. On a related note: What kept the owner from reporting the theft to the police?
270	[[/folder]]
271
272	[[folder:Why was the first (shown) victim killed in "There Might be Blood" (3x6)?]]
273	Shawn does a SherlockScan that shows that guy murdered the geologist to keep him from exposing how the oil rig was drilling on a fault line. So why would the killer then murder that guy to protect that same secret when he was already invested in keeping it? Was the killing to silence a man who knew too much or out of anger and fear toward the guy after he killed the geologist? As funny as that episode is, the ending makes very little sense to me.
274	[[/folder]]
275
276	[[folder:How was Shawn planning to explain away having a number admitting he fakes his visions for the musical he wrote in ''Psych the Musical''?]]
277	[[/folder]]
278
279	[[folder:What parts of ''Psych the Musical'' is Shawn most likely to have made up?]]
280	* The only confirmed change Shawn made from what really happened (aside from the songs, presumably) is an oil lamp being used for the FieryCoverUp of the critic's murder. Is it possible that that's the extent of his artistic license, or is the whole event only VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory? I personally felt that Z was too mellow after reading the script for a man who had really lost the love of his life in addition to being re-institutionalized and having the play he wrote possibly ruined for a second time.
281	[[/folder]]
282
283	[[folder:Why wasn't Betty killed instead of or along with Bianca in "Scary Sherry: Bianca's Toast?"]]
284	* Sure, Alice had reason to hate Bianca, but her spying showed her that Betty was just as complicit in Doreen's death as Bianca and was less remorseful. Nonetheless, Alice spends days tormenting Bianca before killing her (and then trying to kill undercover new sorority member Jules despite her having only arrived after Doreen died). Even if she was planning to kill Betty before she got arrested, it seems odd that she left Betty alone with her ScoobyDooHoax while putting Bianca through borderline mental torture before killing her.
285	[[/folder]]
286
287	[[folder:How was Lucy able to contort her body so well without training in "The Devil's in the Details...And the Upstairs Bedroom"?]]
288	* Her mother specifically says that Lucy has no experience with yoga or gymnastics, and an internet search suggests it would take weeks to master those moves. It would be deliciously ironic if she really was possessed by a demon the one time Shawn is a completely inflexible AgentScully, only with her possession causing her to commit the crimes against poor Agatha rather than beginning after Agatha died.
289	[[/folder]]
290
291	[[folder:Scam artists not knowing who's after them in "Christmas Joy"]]
292	* The episode's plot kicks off because "Santa" got arrested for getting into a fight while on duty. Later, it turns out "Santa" is a con man, the man who attacked him is a former partner he turned against, and is now out to kill him and his partner (and succeeds in killing the latter, resulting in the con man turning himself in.) Well, then why did the episode still need Shawn and Jules to go through the con-man's records to find out who the killer was? The "Santa" had already turned himself in by that point to save himself from an unknown killer, the flashbacks show he almost certainly saw his attacker's face, and who else does he think killed his partner besides the former partner they both betrayed and attacked him less than 24 hours ago?
293	[[/folder]]

Context Headscratchers / Psych