Season 4, Episode 8
Let’s Get Hairy
A desperate, erratic man named Stewart Gimbley comes into the Psych office claiming to be a werewolf, and he asks Shawn and Gus to keep an eye on him tonight, claiming he was responsible for killing a sheep and fears a person could be next. Apparently, Lassie directed Gimbley to Psych when he asked the police for help. Shawn and Gus are skeptical but agree to keep an eye on him when he offers to pay triple their usual rate. They duct-tape him to a chair and fall asleep watching TV – only to wake up when their front window is shattered. Gimbley is gone, and Shawn finds a tuft of animal fur stuck to the broken window. Two hunters are torn apart in the woods that night, and Gimbley has disappeared. As Shawn, Gus, and the police look for Gimbley, conflicting evidence begins to mount, and the third and last full moon is tonight…
Tropes:
- Affectionate Parody: Of werewolf movies, in particular Teen Wolf and An American Werewolf in London .
- Cold Open: A Psych staple, this one has a young Shawn and Gus wandering off into the woods during a full moon and being pursued by something unseen.
- Creepy Doll: Shawn and Gus get a couple of these early on, to dress up as their favorite wrestlers. They’re mentioned as being a little creepier than they expected, but forgotten about when the werewolf plot kicks in.
- Literary Allusion Title: Not strictly literary, but the title is a modification of pro wrestling’s “Let’s Get Ready to Rumble”. Appropriate, since the wrestling match Gus and Shawn are watching at the beginning is forgotten when the werewolf plot shows up.
- Naked People Are Funny: Stewart tends to lose his clothes on the nights of the full moon. Swerves between being played for drama and humor.
- Not Helping Your Case: After being caught, Dr. Tucker admits that on the second night, he only wanted to kill a deer - the hunters were a "happy accident". Naturally, this does not make him look better to anyone.Lassiter: Oh, that's worth absolutely nothing.
- Nothing Is Scarier: The Cold Open has a young Shawn and Gus wandering off in the dark woods during a full moon. They hear something stalking them, only to run into Henry, who was out looking for them. Sounds like a standard opening… until all three hear something growl in the bushes nearby. Henry ushers them off, looking genuinely nervous himself. We never find out exactly what it was.
- Perky Goth: Stewart’s sister Willow is pretty laid-back and affable when she’s not worrying about her brother.
- Psycho Psychologist: Dr. Ken Tucker. He’s carrying on an affair with one of his patients, and she’s threatening to expose said affair if he tries to end it. This is what inspires him to murder her and frame Stewart.
- Rule of Three: Stewart fears he’ll turn into a werewolf on the three nights when the moon is fullest.
- Sassy Secretary: Dr. Tucker has one of these.
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Henry’s B-Plot is an endurance match against an old rival from his time on the force. We never saw said rival before, and we never see him again.
- Slipping a Mickey: Dr. Ken Tucker replaces Stewart’s medication with horse tranquilizers. This knocks him out while the doctor is free to plant his naked, unconscious form next to his victims.
- Take That!: Dr. Tucker is based on an Entertainment Weekly critic that had criticized the show in the past.
- Taxidermy Is Creepy: Dr. Ken Tucker has taxidermy as a hobby. His office is decorated with a stuffed owl and a beaver. He also has a nicely-preserved wolf pelt that he keeps hidden.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: The episode’s B-Plot has Henry trying to win a pickup truck in a “Keep-your-hand-on-the-truck-the-longest” contest.
- Unwitting Pawn: Stewart Gimbley is set up to look like a lunatic who thinks he’s a werewolf.
