Season 4, Episode 1
Extradition: British Columbia
Pierre Desperaux
Directed by Steve Franks
Written by Steve Franks and Andy Berman
During a ski trip to Whistler, British Columbia, Shawn notices a man on the slopes that he recognizes: Pierre Desperaux, an international art thief wanted by Interpol (among many, many others). Shawn and Gus try catching him on skis, but are grossly outmatched. They go to the Mounties, who are swiftly convinced of Shawn’s psychic abilities. Lassie turns out to have quite an extensive collection of files on Desperaux, and barges into the investigation with Jules in a desperate bid to catch him after six years of trying. While investigating the scene of Desperaux’s latest crime – the theft of an antique necklace worth millions – Shawn and Gus corner Desperaux on the roof of a high-rise. Desperaux jumps off the building and apparently vanishes, leaving everyone else unconvinced he was ever there. With priceless works of art going missing, and Desperaux effortlessly running rings around the police and Psych, Shawn’s going to have a hard time taking down Desperaux before he leaves the country…Tropes:
- Answer Cut: Shawn tells Chief Vick and Detective Lassiter at the very beginning that he and Gus have a ski vacation planned. When Vick asks where they’ll find any snow this time of year… cue “Oh Canada” playing over a shot of the Canadian flag on a Whistler ski slope.
- Affably Evil: Desperaux is quite polite to everyone, even while holding them at gunpoint.
- Anger Born of Worry: Henry flies up to Whistler to bail Shawn and Gus out of jail… and then chews him out for it.
- Broken Pedestal: Shawn is deeply disappointed when it turns out that Desperaux is a con artist running an insurance scam rather than a master thief.
- Butt-Monkey: Corporal Robert Mackintosh, of the Whistler RCMP. None of his superiors take his ideas seriously, and when he helps Shawn and Gus break into a museum, he’s fired for his trouble.
- Call-Back: Shawn fast-forwards through the events of a few previous episodes in his head when he recognizes Desperaux and is trying to remember how. Turns out he saw Desperaux’s photo in Lassiter’s apartment during the events of “Lassie did a bad, bad thing”.
- Calling Card: Pierre’s is a Merchanteuse Blonde cigarette left burning in an ashtray.
- *Click* Hello: An armed Canadian SWAT team introduce themselves to Shawn this way after Shawn accidentally trips a burglar alarm.
- Cold Open: A Psych staple: this one has Henry calling out a young Shawn for claiming his school art assignment was stolen. When Shawn claims it’s the “perfect crime”, Henry replies that there’s no such thing as a perfect crime. Turns out he’s right.
- Contrived Coincidence: The plot is kicked off when Shawn randomly recognizes Desperaux – an international criminal that Lassie’s been hunting for years - on a Canadian ski slope while he happens to be on vacation.
- Gentleman Thief: Desperaux, to a T. He’s impeccably polite, even while taunting Shawn.
- Impossible Theft: Desperaux specializes in these, slipping in and out with his prize even when the police have the area surrounded. Except maybe not: he’s running an elaborate Insurance Fraud scheme where he steals an expensive work of art with the owner’s consent, and allows them to collect the insurance money. Since this means the owner is working with him, it’s easy to “steal” it without being detected until it’s far too late. Later episodes, though, would show him to be an extremely skilled thief in his own right.
- Laser Hallway: After sneaking into a museum to make sure Desperaux didn’t steal a priceless tiara, Gus has to maneuver through one of these in order not to trip an alarm. After he succeeds, Shawn applauds him… and then walks right through the lasers. Turns out he’d already had the alarm turned off.
- Lightswitch Surprise: Shawn finds Desperaux’s hotel room, sneaks in, finds it dark and quiet, and decides he’ll pull this on him when he returns. Turns out Desperaux was already there, and pulls it on him.
- Manipulative Bastard: Desperaux fools everyone else multiple times by feeding them hints and misinformation.
- Mistaken for Romance: Gus is a little weirded out by some of Shawn’s choices in their vacation schedule, especially the nighttime carriage ride over a kissing bridge. He eventually figures it out: Shawn intended to take Abigail, but she had to cancel. Gus dumps him out of the carriage in annoyance.
- Not What It Looks Like: Shawn trips a burglar alarm while sneaking into a museum to make sure a priceless tiara hasn’t been stolen. It has, and Shawn is promptly arrested by a SWAT team for looking extremely guilty.
- Obstacle Ski Course: At the beginning, Shawn and Gus try and chase down Desperaux on skis. It ends with the inexperienced duo skiing out of control into a road, while Desperaux gets away scot-free.
- Phantom Thief: Desperaux effortlessly fools Shawn and the police, slipping in and out before anybody knows what happened. Except not; see above.
- Pretentious Pronunciation: Shawn initially overdoes it trying to pronounce “Desperaux”. He tells Corporal Mackintosh it’s spelled with eleven “O”s.
- Take That!: One to The Mentalist, when Shawn walks into the police department claiming to be psychic. He compares himself to that show, only "Not Fake", and adds that if he were fake, it'd be a virtual carbon copy.
- Themed Aliases: Desperaux usually checks into hotels under the name of a famous artist.
- Unknown Rival: Lassiter has been chasing Desperaux for six years, claims to have come closer to catching him than anyone, and believes himself to be the art thief’s arch-enemy. Desperaux has no idea who he is.
- Worthy Opponent: Shawn is very impressed by Desperaux’s antics. He seems to be the only one, though. Desperaux seems unimpressed by Shawn until the detective finds his hotel room.
