Season 5, Episode 1
Romeo and Juliet and Juliet
"Dude? I have made it through all seven levels of Shaq Fu on Nintendo... and Gus can attest to that!"
Directed by Steve Franks
Written by Steve Franks
During a street parade in Santa Barbara’s Chinatown, a young woman named Becky Chiang is kidnapped by a mysterious ninja in black, right from behind her father. When Shawn and Gus get on the case, they quickly learn that her father, Arthur, is the leader of one of two Triads working in Santa Barbara. The Dragon Triad and the Golden Triad have long enjoyed a period of relative stability and peace, but if the Dragon Triad is responsible for her kidnapping, it would kick off a brutal and bloody war between the two… something neither side wants. But is this really what the kidnapper wants?... and if not, what is it?Tropes:
- Big Damn Heroes: While Teno is beating up Shawn in the climax, he surrenders when he sees Juliet come in and point a gun at him. Bekki also attempts this earlier in the fight. Doesn't work, but props for trying.
- Butt-Monkey: Poor Ken Wong. First, he takes a job as Psych’s secretary, only to get laid off after a few days because business wasn’t as hot as anyone expected. Next, his former employers show up at his house – not to give him his pay, but to ask what he knows about the Triads, purely due to his Asian ancestry. He knows enough to point them to a business that’s a Triad front, but that’s purely because his mother forbade him from hanging around there as a kid. Finally, he’s kidnapped and brought in front of the leader of the Dragon Triad with Shawn and Gus to act as a translator… despite knowing only ten words of Chinese. (and six of them are numbers). Fortunately, the leader already speaks English, and Shawn leaves Ken alone after this.
- Cain and Abel: Sang and Teno. They were the sons of the leader of the Dragon Triad, but while Sang was reasonable and a competent leader, Teno liked to start trouble and routinely kicked off fights between the two triads. The only way Teno would ever be seen as a viable heir would be if an all-out war kicked off between the two triads… a war that Teno was all-too-willing to start.
- Credits Gag: The cast's names start in Chinese characters before switching to English.
- Cringe Comedy: Quite a bit, either from Shawn making a fool of himself trying to display his knowledge of Chinese culture, or martial arts, or Triad operations, or… much of anything, really.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: At the end of the episode, Shawn has to face off against a Triad enforcer with considerable martial-arts training. Shawn is promptly kicked through a wall, and he doesn’t do any better after that. The only thing keeping it from being a complete and crushing failure is that he manages to avoid being seriously injured until Juliet arrives with a gun. Justified by his Training from Hell.
- Frivolous Lawsuit: Gus pretends to be Shawn’s lawyer, and threatens a martial arts dojo with one of these if they don’t let Shawn take a children's class. (It’s a bluff and a cover to get them inside so Shawn can investigate.)
- Funny Bruce Lee Noises: Shawn is confronted by a couple people with legitimate martial arts skills in this episode. This trope is his usual reaction to their Kiai.
- I Know Karate: In the show's Cold Open, young Shawn tries telling a trio of bullies that Gus knows karate. Gus corrects him, claiming that he's had exactly two lessons of Wushu. It does not end well for Shawn and Gus.
- The Kindnapper: The mysterious ninja turns out to be Sang, the father of Becky’s unborn child. They staged the kidnapping to keep her in a safe place from their parents’ wrath.
- Shout-Out: Quite a few to The Karate Kid (1984).
- Stepford Smiler: The episode’s B-Plot involves everyone trying to get Juliet back in the field. She was given a safe desk job to emotionally recover after Mr. Yin stuck her in a Death Trap at the end of the previous season, but it’s been long enough that everyone is starting to seriously worry about her, since she’s showing no signs of wanting to leave.
- Ninja: The kidnapper is a mysterious man with incredible martial arts skills who dresses all in black, and can run across rooftops to infiltrate buildings late at night.
- Pragmatic Evil: The Triads are portrayed like this. The idea of the kidnapper being from the Dragon Triad is immediately waved aside because of this, since neither side would want to start a gang war.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Becky and Sang were the children of the leaders of the rival Golden and Dragon triads, respectively. They fell in love, and when Becky got pregnant, Sang kidnapped her to keep her safe. Unfortunately, this gave Sang’s brother, Teno, an opportunity…
- The Triads and the Tongs: The episode is all about them. They’re the “Chinese-version-of-The Mafia” type, and there’s apparently two triads operating in Santa Barbara.
- Variations on a Theme Song: The opening theme song has the credits briefly shown in Chinese characters before switching to English.
- What the Fu Are You Doing?: After Shawn takes a grand total of one martial arts class (one for children, no less), he spends the rest of the episode claiming to have become a deadly weapon. His actual skills are… lacking, and much of the episode’s comedy comes from him making a fool of himself.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Ken calls Shawn out repeatedly for some pretty racist shit.
- With Catlike Tread: While following a ninja who’s just ducked into a building, Shawn announces to Gus that he plans to sneak into the same window as the ninja, by bouncing between the walls using his martial arts skills. He asks Gus to give him a boost. Shawn lunges off Gus’s hands, lets out a loud yell, and smashes through a nearby ground-floor window.
