Season 3, Episode 7
Talk Derby to Me
"She was pretty good for fresh meat!... That's totally a compliment."
Directed by Steve Miner
Written by Tim Meltreger
A group of highly organized thieves pull a smash-and-grab robbery at a department store, the third in as many months. Shawn notices scuff marks on the floor, and from watching the security cameras, realizes that the thieves were roller derby girls. Juliet infiltrates the local league in an attempt to root out the thieves, while Shawn and Gus pose as fans of hers. A game of cat and mouse ensues, as the thieves and the detectives try to figure out who is who, before it’s too late…Tropes:
- All for Nothing: Gus spends several days stressing out over studying for his pharmaceutical rep recertification exam. At the very end, Shawn reveals that he took the exam for Gus and (he thinks) did a good job, without telling him. Gus is ready to kill him.
- Bad Liar: One of the thieves, Rita Westwood, is almost caught stashing an incriminating clue by Juliet. She stammers out a story about needing to leave to pick up her boyfriend, and bails, clearly rattled.
- Bait-and-Switch: Shawn nearly blows Juliet’s cover by calling the cops after she’s offered a “money-making opportunity” by two of the thieves. Turns out they were all being commissioned for work in a music video.
- Becoming the Mask: Juliet gets a little more aggressive during her time posing as a member of the roller derby. Chief Vick mentions she tends to get a little too deep in her roles (bringing up the events of the season one finale ‘’Scary Sherry: Bianca’s Toast’’.)
- Crowded-Cast Shot: The entire main cast of the show (minus Henry) end up stuffing themselves into the fairly small security office to watch the security video of the robbery. It’s only five people and the security guard (Shawn, Gus, Lassiter, O’Hara, and Vick), but the room is very small, and nobody’s entirely comfortable.
- I Lied: In the Cold Open, Henry tells young Shawn that he stole something of his, and that he can have it back if he figures out what it was. Shawn figures out it was his BB Gun. When he asks for it back, Henry replies that he lied, thieves lie all the time – and moreover, it’s really being taken away because Shawn wasn’t supposed to be playing with it in the backyard.
- The Infiltration: Juliet goes undercover as a roller derby skater for most of the episode, in an attempt to fit into the local league and find the guilty party.
- Kansas City Shuffle: The thieves steal a number of expensive electronics from a number of department stores. It initially looks like they intend to simply fence them and make money from that, so the police initially take precautions to prevent that… but it turns out that they actually intend to extract credit card information from some card readers, and dump almost everything else in the ocean.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: Once the real thieves are identified, and Juliet is outed as working with the police, the thieves mark Juliet to be taken out in a brutal – and ultimately fatal – manner in the next derby.
- Male Gaze: The camera takes a long, careful look over some of the skaters as Shawn points them out to Gus. Justified, as Shawn is pointing out some minor injuries on their bodies as the camera lingers on them. Almost lampshaded when Gus starts leering at another woman, and Shawn calls him out on it.
- Noodle Incident: Lassiter apparently sticks out while going undercover; Chief Vick cites the “Prosthetic Nose Debacle of 2005” as an example.
- Protagonist-Centered Morality: Shawn finds a murder victim in the back of the thieves’ car… and is clearly relieved to see it’s not Juliet. Gus calls him out on it, pointing out it’s still a human being.
- Red Baron: One of the more intimidating skaters has the nickname “Toxic Waste”.
- Running Gag: Gus has his pharmaceutical rep recertification exam coming up, and spends much of the episode with his nose in his study guide, barely keeping up with what’s going on.
- You Have Failed Me: The other thieves kill their cohort Rita Westwood after she’s witnessed dumping some of the more worthless goods from the department store.
