History Recap / SouthParkS8E13CartmansIncredibleGift

-->'''Murphy:''' How do we know this kid is really psychic? I mean, this boy is certainly no Eric Cartman. ''(Kyle clenches his teeth in frustration)''

-->'''Murphy:''' How do we know this kid is really psychic? I mean, this boy is certainly no Eric Cartman. ''(Kyle clenches his teeth in rage)''

* TooDumbToFool: Kyle tries to convince Yates and his partner that he is a psychic like Cartman by imitating the latter's stunt so they would finally listen to him. Of course, they immediately forget the reason they believed Cartman in the first place and still act skeptically with Kyle.

* DevilInPlainSight: Michael Deetz is the obvious killer, as he shows up at the crime scenes and behaves in a very disturbed manner, but everyone (especially [[PoliceAreUseless the cops]]) is just too stupid to notice.

* PoliceAreUseless: In his efforts to find the Left-Hand Killer, Officer Harrison Yates becomes convinced that Cartman is a psychic and hires him to be their psychic detective. Cartman makes him think that Tom Johannsen, owner of the local ice cream shop, is the killer and Yates has him arrested. When the killings continue unobstructed, rather than thinking that Cartman was simply wrong, he presumes to think that it is a copycat killer. As Cartman uses his "psychic abilities" to have them arrest the "copycat killers", it never occurs to Yates that Cartman was simply wrong the first time. When the [[FailedASpotCheck actual killer is there at the crime scene, covered in blood and rambling like a madman]], they overlook him, brushing off Kyle's attempts at directing their attention toward him because he wasn't a psychic. It takes Kyle injuring himself and convincing him that he is a psychic for him to even consider looking into it (even then, Yates and Murphy initially dismiss Kyle once again, since he ''isn't'' a professional like Cartman). When he investigates his house, Yates dismisses the actual killer because he mistakes the various human hands he has as being ''right'' hands. After that, it takes an extensive criminological montage at the police station (even forgetting what he was doing halfway through) before he ''finally'' realizes what's going on.

* SelectiveObliviousness: Even with all the evidence staring right in front of him, Yates ''still'' cannot figure out who the left-handed killer is. It's only at the end that he ''finally'' can put the pieces together.

* SuicideDare: Kyle encourages Cartman to perform his flight stunt knowing that it will fail, and that Cartman will just fall off the roof and seriously injure himself.

* DisproportionateRetribution: After the Psychic Detectives threaten Cartman with a class action lawsuit for refusing to join them (and pay royalties), he promptly claims they're responsible for the mass serial killings to the police, who promptly arrest them with heavy amounts of PoliceBrutality and NoKillLikeOverkill.

* NoKillLikeOverkill:
** The South Park P.D.'s SWAT team promptly riddles one of the Psychic Detectives with bullets when he pretends to use his powers on them, despite it being pretty obvious he's faking any kind of ability.
** After shooting Deets three times to save Cartman, Yates shoots him a couple more times while he's down on the ground.
** During the arrest of Tom Johannsen, the police heavily battered him and electrocuted him multiple times with a taser, despite the guy being unarmed and no threat whatsoever.
--->'''Officer:''' [[BlatantLies He put up a hell of a fight]], but we got him!

* BreakingTheFourthWall: When Veronica Crabtree turns out to be one of the Left-Hand Killer's victims, this trope is milked for all its worth. When one of the detectives at the scene noting that she was "[[CListFodder an ancillary character, one the fans wouldn't miss much]]", and Yates lamenting her death by remarking "I know she hadn't been in any recent episodes, but dammit, she deserved better than this!"
* CassandraTruth: Stan and Kyle know who the serial killer in this episode is, but the police refuse to believe the two of them and only listen to fake psychic Cartman, who's just using them to arrest anybody he has a grudge with. Kyle realizes that the only way the idiot police will listen to him is if they think he's a psychic as well and repeats the same accident that gave Cartman his "powers" on himself. Even then, the police are ''still'' skeptical of Kyle since he isn't as "professional" as Cartman.

* JackTheRipoff: Subverted. When the Left-Hand Killer keeps killing despite Tom Johannsen (the guy Yates assumed to be the killer on account of Cartman's "premonitions") being arrested, he presumes it to be the work of a copy-cat killer. When Cartman provides a suspect for that, Yates presumes there is a ''second'' copy-cat killer when ''that'' doesn't work, and so on and so on.
* MailOrderNovelty: What do the Psychic Detectives have that legitimizes them in a way Cartman doesn't? A $25 PhonyDegree advertised on the back of a comic book.

** The South Park P.D.'s SWAT team promptly riddle one of the Psychic Detectives with bullets when he pretends to use his powers on them, despite it being pretty obvious he's faking any kind of ability.

** During the arrest of Tom Johannsen, the police heavily batter him and electrocute him multiple times with a taser, despite the guy being unarmed and no threat whatsoever.

* PhonyPsychic: Cartman, Kyle and the other Psychic Detectives. Although in Kyle's case, his powers might be genuine.
* PoliceAreUseless: In his efforts in finding the Left-Hand Killer, Officer Harrison Yates becomes convinced that Cartman is a psychic and hires him to be their psychic detective. Cartman makes him think that Tom Johannsen, owner of the local ice cream shop, is the killer and Yates has him arrested. When the killings continue unobstructed, rather than thinking that Cartman was simply wrong, he presumes to think that it is a copycat killer. As Cartman uses his "psychic abilities" to have them arrest the "copy-cat killers", it never occurs to Yates that Cartman was simply wrong the first time. When the [[FailedASpotCheck actual killer is there at the crime-scene, covered in blood and rambling like a mad man]], they overlook him, brushing off Kyle's attempts at directing their attention toward him because he wasn't a psychic. It takes Kyle injuring himself and convincing him that he is a psychic for him to even consider looking into it (even then, Yates and Murphy initially dismiss Kyle once again, since he ''isn't'' a professional like Cartman). When he investigates his house, Yates dismisses the actual killer because he mistakes the various human hands he has as being ''right'' hands. After that, it takes an extensive criminological montage at the police station (even forgetting what he was doing halfway through) before he ''finally'' realizes what's going on.

* PsychicChildren: When Cartman was able to guess what the hospital was serving for dinner, Harrison Yates thinks that Cartman gained psychic powers and hires him to be their psychic detective.

* SelectiveObliviousness: Even with all the evidence staring right in front of him, Yates ''still'' cannot figure out who the left-handed killer is. It's only at the end that he ''finally'' is able to put the pieces together.

* FailedASpotCheck: The police were so stupid that they didn't notice the actual killer at the crime scene, even when Stan and Kyle try to catch their attention.

* TimePassageBeard: When Cartman wakes up from his coma, it is shown that he has grown a beard... only for the Doctor to ask the nurse to remove the face warmer and that he was only in a coma for two days.