Season 5, Episode 16
Yang 3 in 2D
"Well the background is simply that... it's changeable. This image has been laid on top of a fixed pixel array. It's "fake". These pixels, however, are rendered from the same set of subpixels. They're undeniably connected. You were definitely standing next to the woman in the photo."
Directed by Mel Damski
Written by Andy Berman and James Roday Rodriguez
A college student named Allison Cowley is in the police station, in tears after being kidnapped by the infamous Serial Killer known as Mr. Yin. Nobody has seen Yin since last year, but there have been plenty of nuts and false leads… but Cowley provides them with something she grabbed on the way out: a disturbing photograph of Yang smiling for the camera with Shawn as a child. The police storm the house where she was held captive, but it seems to be an ordinary place – though Allison knows enough about the house itself that Shawn is convinced of her honesty. Shawn puts her up at Henry's house for her own safety, but she's soon kidnapped again, from straight out of Shawn's old bedroom. With the clock ticking, and Mary Lightly dead, Shawn and Gus get Mr. Yang out of the psychiatric prison to help find the notorious Mr. Yin, and take him down once and for all...Tropes:
- Apocalyptic Log: Mary Lightly left a videotape of his musings and poetry regarding the case before he was killed. Yin stole it, but left a box for the police to find. It's mostly rambling, but near the end – only two days before he was killed – he leaves two important bits of information: Yin seems to be building up to a major finale to his career, and the more he looks into Yang, the more convinced he's become that she's just as much a victim of Yin as anyone.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Allison Cowley turns out to be Yin’s newest apprentice after Yang was jailed. She pretended to be another one of Yin’s victims in order to lure Shawn and Gus into a trap.
- Complexity Addiction: Yang is less-than-helpful to Shawn, and seems to be psychologically compelled to be as roundabout as possible with her assistance. When we meet Yin, we see It Runs in the Family.
- Designated Girl Fight: Juliet is ambushed by Allison, they beat the hell out of each other, and Allison is eventually arrested.
- Distressed Dude: Shawn and Gus spend roughly the last third of the episode tied in chairs, talking to Yin.
- Dying Declaration of Hate: As Yin lies dying, he tells Yang he never loved her. Yang knows.
- Emerging from the Shadows: Yin gets this treatment; his back is to Shawn and Gus when they first meet, and the audience can’t see anything but shadow over his face, but he soon turns around to reveal himself.
- Emotional Regression: Mr. Yang was already a Psychopathic Womanchild, but meeting with Yin seems to make her act even more childish than ever, a hint to the abuse she must have suffered at his hands.
- Evil Mentor: Yin turns out to be this; Yang was his apprentice and daughter, and he was very interested in manipulating her to be as much of a serial killer as him. When she became obsessed with Shawn and his seemingly-perfect childhood, he used that against her, too. He was outraged at her capture, not only because of her failure, but because he was envious of the resulting fame that her book brought her. Later, he became the mentor to Allison.
- Evil Teacher: an unusual variant. Yin is a well-known professor at a local university, and is also an Evil Mentor to Yang and later, to Allison Cowley, but nobody else at the university had any hint of the depths of his depravity.
- The Family That Slays Together: Yin isn’t just Yang’s partner… he’s her father, he was very interested in seeing her follow in his footsteps, and he's very disappointed in her.
- Forgotten First Meeting: Yang first met Shawn as a child, but as he never saw her again until she resurfaced a couple years ago, Shawn had almost completely forgotten about her. Yang, on the other hand, has been obsessed with Shawn for years, and has been stalking him for quite some time.
- For the Evulz: Shawn accuses Yin of doing his thing for some Freudian Excuse, like a hard childhood. Yin denies it and replies that he could have turned out either way, but chose to be evil.
- Freudian Excuse: Shawn guesses this is what drives Yin. Yin rejects this, calling him "Freud-zeud".
- Yang, on the other hand, has this in spades. However, Yin's the first person she's ever killed.
- Godzilla Threshold: Near the end, as Shawn and Gus are being held captive by Yin in his reinforced home, the police bring Yang in to help them inside, since she’s the only thing that Yin could not prepare for.
- Guest Star: Peter Weller is Mr. Yin.
- History Repeats: As Allison is driven away in a squad car near the end, she gives Shawn a crazy-eyed look as it drives off, an eerie Call-Back to a similar scene near the end of “An Evening With Mr. Yang” with Yang in the back of the car that time. The only difference is Allison’s Death Glare compared to Yang’s Slasher Smile.
- Hypocritical Humor: When Juliet notices Allison's I Never Said It Was Poison slip, Allison replies, "Not bad for a blonde."
- I Call It "Vera": Yin plans to murder Gus with a syringe filled with a lethal concoction of various nasty poisons he calls “The Last Kiss”.
- I Never Said It Was Poison: Juliet figures out Allison is up to something when she mentions she’d just awakened after Yin kidnapped her, but she already knows Shawn and Gus are inside the house.
- Kubrick Stare: Allison's Death Glare as she's taken away in a squad car.
- Nothing Is Scarier: Yin claims that after killing Gus with a lethal injection, he has something far more “colorful” planned for Shawn. We never do find out what it is…
- Not So Stoic: Played for Laughs. At the very end, Lassiter seems to be the only member of the main cast who was directly involved with the case who wasn’t traumatized in some way by Yin’s actions. However, when he discovers Shawn and Juliet are dating, he’s practically rendered catatonic.
- Oh, Crap!: As befits the Yang trilogy, we get a lot.
- Shawn gets one in the show's opening when Allison pulls out a photo of Shawn and Yang.
- Henry gets one when something wakes him up, he explores the yard... then runs upstairs to check the room Allison is sleeping in.
- Patricide: Yang, recognizing that her father Yin will never change, puts a poisonous syringe meant for Gus into his chest.
- Previously on…: The episode starts off with a brief recap of the events of the two previous Yin/Yang Killer episodes.
- Put on a Bus: After the last three season finales, Allison is set up perfectly to be another season finale boss in the same vein, but the show finished its eight seasons without her coming back. It comes back in Psych: The Movie.
- Retirony: For Yin. He'd intended this job to be his grand finale. He burns his identity as a highly respected professor and intended to kill Shawn and Gus rather horrifically, then disappear.
- Shout-Out: Lassiter directly mentions Se7en, complaining that finding the bag of video tapes in an open field is a blatant ripoff of the film. Gus says they're lucky it wasn't Gwyneth Paltrow's head, referencing the famous ending of the film.
- Soft Glass: When Juliet slams Allison down onto a glass-topped coffee table in the basement, it should leave her back a mess of ground beef.
- Spanner in the Works: Yang’s obsession with Shawn apparently threw a massive curveball into Yin’s career plans, especially with her arrest two seasons prior.
- They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: Little Shawn meets and takes a photo with a seemingly normal, affable middle-aged woman. Said woman becomes obsessed with him to the point of stalking him for an unknown length of time, and eventually puts his mother in danger.
- Villain Ball: After luring Shawn and Gus into a trap and legitimately having them at his mercy, Yin grabs it near the end when he decides to lecture them with some Evil Gloating – after they beg him to do it. Yin even realizes they’re just stalling for time, but decides to go through with it anyway, since it’s the only way he can really satisfy himself. This gives Yang enough time to get to them.
- Villainous Legacy: Yin’s troubles with deliberately setting one up have driven his actions over the last few years. Yang proved a disappointment due to her obsession with Shawn, even deliberately allowing herself to be arrested to keep Shawn happy. He’s decided to replace her with Allison Cowley.
- Wham Line: Two, in particular:
- "Hi, daddy!" - Yang, to Yin
- "I never thought you'd show up... but he did. I guess that's why he's the master... and I'm the apprentice." - Allison
