Season 4, Episode 10
You Can’t Handle This Episode
"Thanks for scoring us these dope army costumes!"
Directed by Mel Damski
Written by Andy Berman
Lassiter, Jules, Shawn and Gus arrive at the scene of a John Doe’s apparent suicide by hanging in a motel room. Shawn has brought Abigail, for reasons that baffle basically everyone, for probably one of the worst dates of her life. Shawn and Lassiter both notice some odd discrepancies in the room, heavily suggesting that this was not a suicide. Shawn notices a lump in the victim’s throat: military dog tags, identifying the man as Private Starks. This is bad news, since a soldier’s murder means the military has some jurisdiction on the case, leading to a lot of headaches. Fortunately, Juliet knows someone who might be able to smooth some things over: her older brother, Ewan O’Hara, an ex-military man who the U.S. Government now hires for covert missions. Ewan is polite, professional, friendly, and very helpful to the department in their investigation into the case. However, Shawn has his suspicions about Ewan, who seems to be taking orders from someone else…Tropes:
- The Ace: Ewan O’Hara. Huge, smart, professional, affable, and a very capable black ops agent for the US Army.
- Actor Allusion: This show already makes its fair share of 80's wrestling jokes, but with John Cena as a guest star, there's even more than usual today.
- Arms Dealer: Turns out Lt. Wallach was one of these, selling military-grade weapons to the highest bidder on the side.
- Big Brother Worship: Juliet adores her brother.
- Bittersweet Ending: Lt. Wallach was caught, and will stand trial for his illegal weapons sales and the murder of Private Starks. However, Abigail is still leaving for Uganda. Worse, Ewan vanishes without a trace, any record of his arrest has been purged, and he's never seen in the series again (though he does make a quick cameo in Psych: The Movie, showing he's at least still alive).
- Blunt "Yes": Shawn jokingly asks if O’Hara ran a marathon this morning. O’Hara replies with this. (Though he then shakes his head and winks at Gus, suggesting he’s just messing with Shawn.)
- Broken Pedestal: Juliet is horrified that her older brother, who she looked up to for years, was willing to quietly kill Lt. Wallach without trial in order to spare the army from bad publicity.
- Call-Back: Juliet is furious at Shawn for suggesting that her brother is involved in the murder. Gus points out that the previous year, she had no problem arresting his parents as suspects in a murder case on Christmas (In “Gus’s Dad May Have Killed an Old Guy”).
- Classified Information: As Shawn and Gus and the police go through their usual routine on and around the army base, a mysterious figure assigns Ewan to make sure the people responsible for Private Starks’s death are eliminated without the news ever getting out to the public. At the end, Ewan vanishes from the list of people scheduled to stand trial, and he isn’t seen again in the series.
- Cold Open: Little Shawn’s having a lazy day plopped in front of the TV. As his dad tries talking him into getting up and being productive, an ad for the army comes on.
- The Comically Serious: Major General Felts.
- The Conspiracy: A mysterious figure tasks Ewan with keeping the investigators in the dark to spare the army from bad publicity, and finding out who killed Private Starks at the same time.
- Convenient Escape Boat: Ewan is introduced by having him jump obstacles and dodge bullet fire while being chased. He runs onto a public beach, jumps into the water, knocks a civilian off of a Jet Ski and zooms off to safety. All while having a conversation with Juliet on the phone.
- Crazy-Prepared: Ewan O’Hara has eleven weapons hidden on his person... while on a quiet visit to the police station.
- Dramatic Irony: Shawn and the investigators are unaware that Ewan's actions are because he was under orders by a mysterious black ops group. Even worse, they never find out, leaving Juliet to think that her brother was merely taking the law into his own hands.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: Abigail blows up Shawn’s phone after the miserable motel date, and then gives him the cold shoulder when he has to leave to go on a case. Shawn thinks she’s feeling crowded out by his work. Turns out it’s actually a different sort of discomfort – she’s leaving for Uganda in a few days to help establish a school, and has been having a hard time trying to tell him.
- The Faceless: We never fully see the mysterious figure giving Ewan his orders to keep the investigators in the dark.
- Four-Star Badass: Major General Felts.
- Gilligan Cut: Shawn suggests he and Gus sneak back onto the military base “under the radar” at one point. One cut later, it turns out the duo were caught almost immediately.
- Had the Silly Thing in Reverse: Naturally, Shawn's the one who screws up.Shawn: [holds up a rocket launcher] What is this?
Ewan: That is an anti-tank weapon...and you're pointing it at yourself. - Have You Told Anyone Else?: Private Starks found out about the people on the base selling illegal weapons, and reported it to Lt. Wallach. Unfortunately, Wallach was the one behind the whole thing.
- I Did What I Had to Do: O’Hara is willing to quietly kill Lt. Wallach without trial in order to save the army from bad publicity. This is in response to the massive What the Hell, Hero? reaction from Shawn and Juliet when they find out.
- Jurisdiction Friction: Ewan is brought onto the case to try and minimize this. His success is pretty hit-or-miss, not least because his superiors order him to interfere in the investigation.
- Never Suicide: The death of Private Starks. Lassiter and Shawn both notice that the chair he apparently used to hang himself was knocked over the wrong way.
- Put on a Bus: Abigail heads off to Uganda to help found a school.
- Right Behind Me: Shawn mentions his suspicions to Lassiter, who sounds incredulous at the idea that Ewan is responsible for the murder. Seconds later, a nervous look crosses his face, and Shawn turns to see Juliet glaring daggers at him.
- Shout-Out: The title is one to A Few Good Men, but there are lots of military film-related references sprinkled around the episode.
