Season 3, Episode 3
Daredevils!
"Dude, you don't remember Dutch the Clutch? He was on Thats Incredible once, when we were kids - and he jumped Springfield Gorge!"
Directed by John Badham
Written by Anupam Nigam
While visiting a stunt show, Shawn notices that the show's headliner – a motorcycle stunt rider named Dutch "The Clutch" Jenkins – has had his gas line cut while jumping through a fiery hoop. While Dutch survives, Shawn is concerned that someone may have it out for him. They meet with his son, Louis, who claims that similar "accidents" happened to Jenkins during his last two stunts. He hires Shawn and Gus, under the guise of being their new stunt testers, to find out who might have it in for Dutch the Clutch… before another stunt goes wrong.Tropes:
- Affectionate Nickname: Dutch "The Clutch" Jenkins – everyone calls him that.
- Armor-Piercing Question: How Shawn convinces Dutch to stop sabotaging himself: "Which do you think they'd rather have? One million dollars, or 6 more months with you?"
- Attention Whore: Dutch is a more affable example of this; he hints at the end that it's at least partly why he got into being a stunt rider.
- Amusing Injuries: Dutch keeps randomly dislocating things.
- Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Dutch's suicide attempts were foiled by… Dutch himself. His years of being a stunt performer gave him some impressive subconscious reflexes, which kicked in to save his life every time he tried a stunt that would kill him.
- Driven to Suicide: After Dutch was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer, he decided to die in one of his stunts. He had a life insurance policy that would go to Viki and Louis if he ever died in a stunt accident, and he wanted them taken care of when he was gone.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: Lassiter says he's not lonely, he's fine. So what if he sleeps alone? So what if he saws a frozen dinner in half before cooking it? So what if he seriously contemplates planting evidence on his ex-wife's new boyfriend? Oh god...
- Fair-Weather Friend: In the show's Cold Open, little Shawn tries jumping over a classmate on a ramp on his bicycle. Henry grabs him off his bike before he can go through with it. Shawn is not happy with Henry, but when he sees all his classmates who were watching have disappeared, Henry explains they just wanted to see Shawn crack his head open.
- Good Ol' Boy: Dutch has a southern accent, country music often playing nearby, and has "Badass Southerner" as his chosen professional aesthetic.
- Hot Paint Job: Worn on the helmet of a rival daredevil named El Diablo. His Secret Identity is unknown because he always wears it in public.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: Whoever is trying to kill Dutch is doing this, generally by trying to make it look like he finally got killed in a stunt.
- May–December Romance: Dutch and his much younger wife, Viki. Very much Happily Married, as she's also concerned with his latest rash of "Accidents".
- No Antagonist: One of the few episodes with no actual villain. Dutch himself is causing the "accidents", no one is trying to kill him.
- Noodle Incident: Shawn and Gus get into Dutch's inner circle by posing as his new "Die-Hards", or stunt testers. Dutch is impressed that Louis got two new ones so quickly, especially after what happened to the old ones. He jokes that, "It ain't decapitation if the head don't come off all the way", but exactly what really happened to them is never explained.
- He and one of his entourage bust out laughing after Shawn and Gus react with trepidation. It was most likely just a joke.
- The Power of Family: The Jenkins family really love one another. Dutch is trying to kill himself during a stunt (rather than pancreatic cancer) so his family will get the insurance payout and refuses to let his son follow in his footsteps because of what the job does to you, while his son goes out of his way to provide Shawn and Gus a cover so they can protect his dad.
- Ramp Jump: Dutch does a few of these stunts, generally through hoops of fire.
- Red Herring: "El Diablo", an up-and-coming rival daredevil who always wears a helmet. He's been following Dutch's route, and taking on jobs that Dutch couldn't or wouldn't. It initially looks like he wants Dutch out of the way, but Shawn soon discovers the truth – El Diablo is actually Louis, who was keeping his identity a secret because his father didn't want him to follow in his footsteps.
- Take That!: A line from Shawn giving out his and Gus' identities:Shawn: Actually, I'm Die Hard, and he's Die Harder. We have two other guys in our crew but they aren't nearly as good as us.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Dutch fires Shawn and Gus later on, despite their saving his life from murder attempts several times. Justified near the end when it's revealed they were actually suicide attempts.
- Vehicular Sabotage: The first stunt gone wrong involves puncturing the gas tank on Dutch's motorcycle, nearly setting him on fire and crashing. It turns out Dutch did that himself with a hidden blade.
- Wearing a Flag on Your Head: Dutch's outfit is red, white, and blue with stars.
