Season 3, Episode 11
Lassie Did a Bad, Bad Thing
"Detective Lassiter, you are the prime suspect in the murder of Ernesto Ramos Chavez, and as of this moment you are on suspension. Please relinquish your badge."
Directed by Stephen Surjik
Written by Kell Cahoon and Tim Meltreger
During a brutal thunderstorm that has the power going on and off all over Santa Barbara, Lassiter hauls in a big fish: Ernesto Chavez, second in command of the Cinco Reyes street gang. It seems that he arrested Chavez five years ago, but without sufficient evidence, and Chavez slipped away. Now, they have enough hard evidence to put him away for a very long time – or they would, if the FBI wasn’t waiting for Lassiter at the station. It seems Chavez has turned states’ witness, and will be going into a witness relocation program. Furious, but forced to knuckle under, Lassiter goes to retrieve Chavez. The power goes out, there’s a scuffle in the dark, a shot, and when the lights come on, Lassiter is standing over the dead Chavez with the smoking gun. Shawn doesn’t think Lassiter shot him, but the FBI isn’t so easily convinced. Nor is Detective Ocampo, of internal affairs. Lassiter soon finds himself under investigation, and Juliet is assigned a new partner, Officer Drimmer, of the gangs unit. With the clock ticking, Shawn has to prove Lassiter’s innocence, or a bullet might just find him, too…Tropes:
- Alone with the Psycho: Shawn realizes Officer Drimmer is the killer near the end while out on the street with him late at night. He feigns ignorance, but Drimmer isn’t fooled, and he knocks Shawn out before dragging him to Lassiter’s home and setting a trap for him.
- Artistic License – Gun Safety: Utterly averted with Lassiter at the station. When everyone walks in to see him standing over a body with his gun drawn, he's practicing good trigger discipline, with his finger off the trigger. When the Chief demands his gun for testing, he unloads the clip and unchambers the round before placing it in the evidence bag. His home on the other hand...
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: During the Cold Open, Henry blindfolds young Shawn in 1987 to test his hearing. A confused Shawn asks if he got a piñata, then if it’s the “Pepsi Challenge”, then if he’s being executed.
- Break the Haughty: Lassiter is forced to turn in his badge while he’s under investigation, half the department seems convinced that he killed Chavez out of petty spite, his only hope is his Sitcom Arch-Nemesis, and Juliet is assigned a new partner pretty much immediately. He’s a total mess before long.
- Cassandra Truth: Lassiter’s story about what happened: the lights went out, someone tackled him from behind, he lost his gun, it went off, he saw Chavez dead, and he was just picking the gun back up when everyone showed up.
- Chekhov's Gun: While searching for Kenny Loggins' fingerprints in the arrest records, Shawn gets smudges of ink on his hands. He later notices smudges of ink on Drimmer's hand, making him realize who tampered with the arrest records.
- Crazy-Prepared: Lassiter has several guns hidden in and around his home. Even when they were confiscated, it turns out they missed a few, including one at the bottom of a bowl of nuts.
- Dirty Cop: Officer Drimmer. He shot Chavez because Chavez had been paying him off, and if Chavez started talking, it would have been all over for him.
- He Knows Too Much: A vagrant named Kenny Loggins was a witness to Chavez’s death, but everyone thought he was passed out drunk and didn’t see anything. Before Shawn can question him, someone kills him, too.
- Hostile Weather: The whole plot kicks off because of a torrential thunderstorm that causes several brief power outages.
- Internal Affairs: Detective Ocampo spends most of the episode chomping at the bit to get Lassiter arrested, but Chief Vick refuses until a more thorough investigation is made.
- Karma Houdini: Lassiter thinks that Ernesto cutting a deal with the Feds is this.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Kenny Loggins, a random vagrant totally unrelated to Kenny Loggins.
- Not Helping Your Case: Lassiter’s occasional Cowboy Cop antics come back to bite him in the ass when Internal Affairs gets involved with the case. Shawn is also not exactly flattering in his defense of the detective.Shawn: At most, Lassiter would plant evidence.Lassiter: Would someone please get them the hell out of here?!
- Not Proven: Lassiter arrested Chavez five years ago, but the D.A. was unable to make the charges stick. He’s been after the gangster ever since.
- Not What It Looks Like: The entire premise. Lassiter is found standing over Chavez with the gun that killed him, but Shawn notices a few things don’t add up.
- Red Herring: At the beginning, it looks like Chavez is glaring at McNab when Lassiter hauls him in, and Shawn is slightly suspicious. Turns out he was glaring at Drimmer.
- Running Gag: "Kenny Loggins is in the drunk tank?"
- Tap on the Head: Drimmer knocks Shawn out with a "Hey, You!" Haymaker, then drags him to Lassiter’s home to lure the detective into a trap.
- Turn in Your Badge: Lassiter goes on suspension and has to hand over his badge.
- Un-person: To prevent anyone from being suspicious about Kenny Loggins' death, Drimmer removed all evidence of his arrest the night Chavez was killed.
- Witness Protection: Chavez was going into it in exchange for turning states’ witness against some of his old partners in crime.
