Season 8, Episode 4
Someone’s Got a Woody
"Go ahead and take him, I don't care!"
Directed by Mel Damski
Written by Andy Berman
With Chief Trout still on a moratorium on hiring Psych, it’s been months since they’ve had a case, and Shawn’s getting desperate enough to consider faking a crime to solve. However, fate takes an unexpected turn when a gunman somehow gets into the coroner’s office and takes Woody hostage while attempting to remove a body. It seems the gunman is an ex-con named Cyrus Polk, who’s insistent that someone framed him for murdering Greer Wilson, the most recent John Doe on Woody’s table. After a conversation with him, Shawn is convinced he’s telling the truth. Unfortunately, Trout doesn’t particularly care, and is preparing to storm the coroner’s office, an action that will probably get Woody and Cyrus both killed. Psych now has to race against the clock to find the real killer, before anyone else dies.Tropes:
- A Day in the Limelight: Woody the Coroner finally gets an episode revolving around him.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Woody proves to be one when Juliet poses as his daughter. He tries giving her The Talk, despite Juliet clearly being an adult and her obvious discomfort.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: At the beginning of the episode, Shawn wishes for a situation that will get him back in the SBPD’s good graces. He gets it, all right.
- Break the Haughty: At the end of the episode, Trout finally gets shit-canned. In the midst of firing everyone, to boot.
- Clear My Name: Cyrus initially tried to steal the body from the police station to hide it, knowing all the evidence would point to him.
- Cop Hater: Cyrus doesn’t like or trust the police, and only works with those he believes aren’t direct members of law enforcement.
- Dirty Cop: The actual killer is Edward Tripp, Cyrus and Greer’s parole officer. He was part of Greer’s black market electronics scheme, and when Greer decided he wanted to go clean, he killed the con and pinned it on Cyrus, who had a beef with him.
- Frame-Up: Cyrus found Greer’s body in his house with knife wounds from his kitchenware, after getting in a fight with him and threatening to kill him.
- Hidden Depths: Trout is surprisingly good at negotiating with Cyrus in the first few minutes of the hostage situation, successfully defusing the initial aggression and keeping Woody alive.
- Hostage Situation: A rare example of one in the middle of a police station.
- Kick the Dog: The writers are determined that we absolutely will hate Trout.
- Mistaken for Gay: Just as he's leaving, Trout tells the group "I never got you two as a couple." It's clear he's talking about Shawn and Gus rather than Shawn and Juliet.
- Rabid Cop: Most of the episode’s tension revolves around Trout preparing to go in and take Cyrus down without listening to anyone else, which will probably get Woody needlessly killed.
- Skewed Priorities: Woody begs Cyrus not to kill him, citing his 43 Twitter followers… and then remembers he has a daughter as an afterthought.
- Spy Cam: Trout hides a mini-camera with a wireless feed inside a bottle of Woody’s medication that he has sent in.
- Wig, Dress, Accent: Shawn breaks out the “Soupcan Sam” disguise for the third time on the show to sneak into the police station with Gus as “Satchel Gizmo”. It doesn’t work nearly as well this time, and they’re both thrown into the cells.
- Ungrateful Bastard: After Shawn and Gus find the real killer with Lassiter and Juliet’s help, Trout decides he values loyalty to his leadership over results. Lassiter and Juliet are fired, and Shawn and Gus are permanently banned from the station. Fortunately, Trout himself is fired just a few seconds later for mishandling the situation.
