Season 1, Episode 6
Weekend Warriors
In the present Shawn and Gus are getting ready to watch a rehearsal for a upcoming Civil War reenactment, where Lassiter is playing the part of a commander. Lassiter shouts at his men to charge which they enthusiastically do. The re-enactors crash into each other in the middle of a bridge over a river, but after a few moments of frenzied fighting Lassiter blows a horn and stops them, apparently he's been rather demanding during the rehearsals. Partly because the battle they are reenacting involved one of his ancestors, Colonel Muskim T. Lassiter, and partly because of the reenacted death of a man who was going to assassinate President Lincoln. Lassiter calls several of the reenactors forward including Sally Reynolds, a insurance rep, who didn't leave the hospital tent to shoot the potential assassin at the right time. Lassiter walks over to Nelson Poe, the man playing the “Evil Captain Quantril” and discovers that he is actually dead.
Later Shawn follows Lassiter into the Police Department, begging to be let in on the case. Lassiter, unsurprisingly, doesn't want Shawn involved. A door opens for a second and Shawn briefly sees the victims coat being examined, and notices the bullet holes. Shawn fakes a vision of the bullet hitting the victims heart, Lassiter still isn't impressed, and emphasizes that there is no way he's going to let Shawn investigate the death of “one of the men under his command”.
Shawn and Lassiter enter a room where the Chief is speaking to several of the re-enactors about the death, emphasizing that the reenactment will proceed as planned. The current theory, supported by the departments munitions expert, Mr. Mahoney, is that one of the muskets had a round lodged in the barrel, and one of the blanks shook it loose. Julie and Lassiter run through the things the police know so far with reference to a model of the battlefield, while Shawn flirts with Sally.
- Nelson was shot at the top of the east bank of the river and rolled toward it.
- The shooter was probably on the west side of the river.
Shawn steps forward and adds a third thing, that the bullet that killed Nelson is missing, and that nobody is “accidentally” shot through the heart. The chief, impressed by Shawn knowing the location of the wound, hires Shawn.
Shawn and Gus are walking around the reenactment camp later. Gus asks Shawn how he's going to prove murder with two bullet holes, Shawn isn't to concerned. Apparently nobody liked Nelson, though that is the only thing he knows so far. While Lassiter is organizing a search of the battle site, Shawn notices a clipboard Lassiter is holding with the names of the re-enactors on it, some of whom have check marks next to them. After assigning search areas Lassiter takes a moment to tell Shawn off for laughing at the reenactment, and restates the departments belief that this was a accidental shooting.
Back at the Psyche offices Shawn empty's out some toys onto a air hockey table, and says that Lassiter is holding out on them, and also suspects murder. Shawn arranges the toys, and a few other items on the table into a model of the crime scene, complete with the locations of all the re-enactors at the time of the shooting. Shawn says that a musket is accurate from 30 yards, and according to the table the only person who could have shot Nelson was also on Lassiter's list, George Cheslow, a dentist.
Shawn and Gus go to Cheslow's office to see if he's capable of murder. Shawn has set up a appointment for Gus, much to Gus's annoyance. While George is looking at Gus's teeth a blonde women walks in and asks to speak with George for a moment. Shawn watches them in the hall, and notices that the blonde is wearing several pieces of expensive looking jewelry, and that George is giving her all his money. When George comes back into the examination room he quickly admits with some prompting from Shawn that his wife was having a affair with Nelson, though he does say that he's gotten over it. Shawn then notices that George can't see anything without his glasses, and asks if he wore them the day of the rehearsal. George says that Lassiter won't let him because the glasses are inaccurate for the period. Shawn tells George that Gus doesn't think he did it, just as Lassiter walks in to arrest George for Nelson's murder. Lassiter tells George that the police discovered a stack of love letters from Nelson to George's wife, and a death threat from George to Nelson. Shawn is somewhat incredulous that Lassiter isn't treating Nelsons death as a accident any more, and Gus tells Lassiter that he's arrested the wrong man.
At the police department Shawn is talking to Lassiter and the chief insisting that if Nelson was shot by George with a period musket the wound would have been much larger. The chief says that unless Shawn can come up with a suspect the police are going to proceed with the case against George.
We cut to Henry talking with Mr. Mahoney about a engraved gold watch that he's getting for Shawn. When Mahoney asks for the content of the engraving Henry tells him to put “Shawn: Don't lose this watch. Henry Spencer.” Mahoney suggests that “Love Dad” might be a little more appropriate, but Henry seems to think that's too mushy, and decides to go ahead with the original message. Mahoney then brings up the bill, which takes Henry by surprise. When Mahoney explains that he charges per letter for engravings Henry tells him to remove the words “Shawn, this watch, and Spencer.” leaving “Don't lose, Henry.” which he says is clean and to the point.
At Gus's office Shawn arrives in a civil war uniform, and tries to convince Gus to join the reenactment. Gus is at first reluctant, but Shawn wins him over with promises of a glorious uniform. They walk to Mr. Mahoney's store to get Gus's uniform, and Mahoney invites them into his vault. Sally arrives with a extra uniform, and Mahoney mentions that she insured most of the regiment, including himself. Shawn asks Mahoney about a box of C4 in the vault, and Mahoney admits that they use it to make the cannon fire a little more exciting for the crowd. Sally asks Gus if he's ready to try on his uniform, which includes lots of gold braid, a red sash, and a huge hat. Gus seems less then impressed, though Shawn tells him that he thinks he looks awesome.
That night at the re-enactor camp Sally and Gus are walking to Shawn's tent, where Shawn has set up a number of historically inaccurate items. When Sally and Gus arrive, Shawn tells Gus to watch his stuff while he go's for a walk with Sally. Shawn and Sally flirt a little, Sally tells Shawn about her aunt who also claimed to by psychic, but tended to be wrong. Just as they kiss Shawn falls off the bridge, and rolls down the embankment, as he stops he looks up at a nearby tree. When Gus arrives to see if Shawn is alright, Shawn says he knows how Nelson was killed.
The next morning Shawn arrives at his fathers house, and tells him that he lost the watch. As Shawn searches the site with Henry's metal detector he argues with his father. Henry asks Shawn what he was doing with a antique watch in the middle of nowhere, Shawn says he was trying to clear the name of a innocent man. Henry mentions that someone who was planning to kill his wife's lover in a elaborate way probably wouldn't leave a bunch of incriminating letters where they could be found by the police. Eventually Shawn finds a button, and the bullet. He then reveals that he didn't actually lose the watch. Henry storms off shouting that Shawn still hasn't found the killer
Shawn summons Lassiter, Gus, and Julie to the place where he found the bullet. After some theatrics he points Lassiter at the bullet, but nobody is impressed. Lassiter and Julie then leave on other business despite Shawn's protests that he's not done. Shawn and Gus investigate the tree Shawn noticed the previous night. Shawn runs through the events of the killing;
- The killer climbed the tree.
- Nelson rolled down the embankment way beyond where he was supposed to roll.
- Nelson surprised the killer.
- The killer shot Nelson.
Gus tells Shawn to look for a notch so they can see where the killer was originally aiming, and Shawn discovers that the killer was originally aiming for the hospital tent. Sally was the real target!
At the reenactment Shawn and Gus explain to Julie in the parking lot that they stole Sally's dress, and are going to catch the killer when he tries to shoot Sally during the simulated battle. The plan is to have Shawn wear the dress, and Gus spot the killer before he can fire. Julie says that it's to dangerous for a civilian, and takes the dress, declaring that she'll be the target. Shawn and Gus help Julie put the dress on over a bullet proof vest, and brief her on what she's supposed to do during the battle. Things go well with Julie performing Sally's part without incident, but the tree where the killer was previously hiding in is empty. Shawn and Gus then stumble on a sewer grate, and decide to follow the tunnel. The tunnel ends at the other side of the river, where Shawn finds a pair of boots, and a tunic with a missing button, which Gus recognizes as Mr. Mahoney's. A explosion from somewhere outside the battlefield makes Shawn and Gus jump, and Gus identifies it as C4. Both Shawn and Gus say they know who did it, but Shawn says he said it first.
Mr. Mahoney is cornered by Shawn and Gus in his vault, but he pulls a real gun on them, as they back out of the vault, Mr. Mahoney follows them... right into a crowd of re-enactors all pointing muskets. Shawn tells Lassiter to arrest Mahoney. Later at the police department Shawn explains that Mahoney planned to rob his own store during the battle by blowing open the door to the vault with C4 while the cannons were firing. Sally was in on the plan, so he tried to kill her during the rehearsal to cover his tracks, and enlarge his share. Before Lassiter leaves Shawn and Gus ask if they are on the same team. Lassiter doesn't say anything.
Back in 1986 Shawn and Gus are walking through a field carrying a ball. Shawn asks Gus if he'll ever be as cool as he is. Gus asks if this is about Shawn's dad. Gus says that while Henry may like him he loves Shawn. Shawn asks if Henry said that, Gus says no. Gus asks if Henry has ever told Shawn he loves him, Shawn says “Come on Gus we're guys.” Shawn drops the ball which rolls to a sewer tunnel, the boys look at each other, and charge into the tunnel.
Tropes in this episode:
- Attack on the Heart: Nelson died from a bullet wound to the heart.
- Asshole Victim: Shawn mentions that no-one liked Nelson Poe, and the guy was sleeping with another man's wife. However, that wasn't the reason he was killed
- Distracted by the Sexy: Shawn notices Sally. "Dude, she was dressed like a nurse, and hot, what was I supposed to do, not impress her?"
- Leave No Witnesses: Nelson was shot because after his fall off his horse, he noticed Mahoney aiming his rifle at Sally. Mahoney noticed him, and shot him dead.
- Not-So-Fake Prop Weapon: Nelson Poe was shot with an actual bullet put in one of the reenactor's rifles.
- Real Men Hate Affection: Henry is shown to have always have been a little cold to Shawn, and reluctant to say he loves him.
- Spanner in the Works: Mr. Mahoney's plan was to rob his own store and collect the insurance payout, but not before murdering his accomplice Sally so he could have the whole pot to himself. Unfortunately for him, Nelson rolled much farther down the hill than he was supposed to, and ended up catching Mahoney red-handed. Mahoney panics, kills Nelson instead, and then tries to cut his losses by robbing the store anyway without the "murder Sally" part. Too bad for him that his hasty killing of Nelson left enough evidence behind for Shawn and Gus to track him down.
- War Reenactors: The entire episode involves a civil war reenactment.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Mahoney was trying to pull this on Sally Reynolds before he was so rudely interrupted by Nelson.
