Season 3, Episode 8
Gus Walks into a Bank
"We came here to make a deposit. That's not really a two-man job. What, we both should have grabbed a corner of the check and then gingerly walked it in together?"
Directed by Eric Laneuville
Written by Andy Berman
While Gus is taking care of some business at the bank, an attempted robbery ends up with everyone in the bank in a nasty hostage situation. The SBPD SWAT team shows up, and the sole thief, Phil Stubbins, starts making demands to try and get away. Cameron Luntz, the commander of the SBPD's SWAT team, takes over as chief negotiator, and Shawn finds himself more than a little annoyed when he discovers that Luntz is dating Juliet. However, while Shawn is poking around looking for clues, he discovers that there’s more to the situation than meets the eye, and the thief may actually be the victim of a larger conspiracy…Tropes:
- The Ace: Luntz is a smart, relentless, experienced hostage negotiator who keeps everyone in the bank alive until a sniper can get into position. He would have resolved the entire situation without a single casualty except for Stubbins. Shawn gets in the way because there’s more going on than meets the eye. His Big Entrance is intended to drive this home, with The Slow Walk and White Zombie's "More Human Than Human" playing.
- Actually Pretty Funny: Lassiter smirks when Shaun mocks Luntz's slow walk entrance.
- Ambiguously Bi: After Shawn talks Lassiter into ditching protocol and going to find Stubbins's wife, Shawn declares, "Oh, you are so sexy right now."
- Bank Robbery: An attempted one kicks off the plot.
- Big Entrance: Luntz gets one, complete with the SWAT team showing up with him, loud music, and the donning of some Cool Shades.
- Bound and Gagged: Stubbins' wife is found like this.
- Caught Up in a Robbery: Gus becomes a hostage during a bank robbery. Shawn tries to help from outside while keeping the SWAT team from busting into the bank.
- The Glomp: Stubbins hugs Shawn in relief when Shawn reveals he knows there’s more going on to the hostage situation. He clearly doesn’t like playing the big, scary bank robber, and hates keeping the charade up. Gus later gives Shawn another hug out of fear when he fears he might be saying goodbye.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Shawn is grumpy and critical about Juliet dating Luntz, and grumbles about it throughout the episode.
- Hostage Situation: Most of the episode is this. Shawn got involved because Gus is one of the hostages.
- I Have Your Wife: Stubbins’ real motivation. He was blackmailed by a couple people working at the bank into robbing it for the diamonds in a vault after they kidnapped his wife.
- Jurisdiction Friction: Lassiter isn’t particularly thrilled to have SWAT get involved, calling them “adrenaline monkeys” and showing little sympathy for Luntz. There seems to be a personal rivalry between the two.
- Later, when Shawn gets himself out of the bank to find Stubbins's wife, both Lassiter and Vick step up to say Shawn's their man, they will be debriefing him. Doubles as Found Family.
- Mundane Made Awesome: The arrival of the SWAT team is punctuated by slow-motion low-angle shots of the team exiting the back of their mobile command unit and the hostage negotiator putting on his sunglasses and striding towards the camera, with the only sound being a heavy metal track ("More Human Than Human" by White Zombie). Once the negotiator starts barking out orders, Shawn says "and... cut" and suggests they do the scene again with a little less swagger.
- Potty Emergency: Shawn gets Stubbins alone and reveals he knows there’s more to the situation than meets the eye by staging one of these, suggesting Stubbins follow him to the bathroom to guard him. After learning what’s really going on, he then admits it was very real, and slips into the bathroom.
- The Rival: Lassiter clearly sees Luntz as one. Luntz... may not return the sentiment.
- Rivals Team Up: Lassiter clearly sees Shawn as the lesser pain-in-the-ass between him and Luntz, and the feeling is mutual for Shawn. Since Luntz won’t listen to Shawn, he goes to Lassiter for help. At the end, Shawn tricks Luntz into heading into the sewers, leaving Lassiter to arrest the real villain.
- Romantic False Lead: Luntz is set up as one. Juliet is dating him.
- Running Gag: A while back, Shawn asked the bank for a loan to construct a zipline pulley system in the Psych office to retrieve snacks for him. They turned the loan down, but Shawn hasn’t forgotten, and he brings it up several times to different people throughout the episode.
- Skewed Priorities: Shawn pretends to have these in order to get into the bank. One of the hostages is diabetic, and needs to eat soon. The police send in some pizzas, and Shawn volunteers himself to deliver them to the door, since he’s technically a civilian. At the door, he bitches Luntz out for his decision of toppings until Stubbins gets impatient and drags him into the bank.
- He also quite literally keeps derailing the serious bank robbery in order to criticize Juliet for dating Luntz.
- Spanner in the Works: At the beginning, the initially-quiet robbery attempt is foiled when one bank customer notices Stubbins has a gun, and begins to panic and scream. The situation goes downhill rapidly from there.
- Stating the Obvious: Luntz immediately pegs that Shawn is freaking the fuck out. Intended to prove he's good at reading people, but Roday Rodriguez has dialed his body language up to eleven, has been shouting that "SOMEONE NEEDS TO GO IN THE BANK", and is covered in sweat.
- SWAT Team: Luntz is in charge of one. They’re tough and no-nonsense, despite Luntz himself being somewhat obstructive.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Shawn decides he’d rather sit in the car than accompany Gus into the bank out of pure laziness, and doesn’t realize there’s anything wrong until the police show up. When he learns about the hostage crisis, he almost runs right into the bank to get Gus out.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Luntz gives Shawn a few. Such as when he criticizes Luntz's pizza choices.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Henry, watching the situation unfold on the TV, has this reaction when he hears that Shawn’s involved.
