Season 5, Episode 7
Ferry Tale
"I don't know what happened in there, but I do know this much: it was that jackass Spencer's fault."
Directed by Reginald Hudlin
Written by Saladin K. Patterson and Kell Cahoon
Shawn and Gus board a ferry headed for the Channel Islands to volunteer for environmental clean-up. On the way, they learn that four dangerous convicts are on their way as well, assigned to work duty. The convicts eventually overpower their lone guard, a man named Craig Snowden. They steal his gun, and try to escape. When Shawn overturns their lifeboat, the whole thing turns into a Hostage Situation. Two of the convicts are recaptured by the police, but two others – including their de facto leader, Dane Northcutt - manage to escape in a police boat. Now, it’s a race against time to recapture them before they make good their escape. Meanwhile, Craig has been fired, and Psych teams up with the former guard to recapture the felons before they can get to their real goal… a stash of over a million dollars from a robbery executed by Northcutt’s now-dead cellmate…Tropes:
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Gus distracts Shawn long enough to keep him on the boat for the environmental clean-up event by giving him a Snickers bar.
- Ask a Stupid Question...: When Shawn and Gus find Craig tied up, Gus asks where Craig's gun is. Craig's response:Craig Snowden: Oh, [the convicts] probably turned it in for some books at the local community center- where you think it's at, man?!
- Bound and Gagged: The convicts manage to knock Craig over the head, then do this to him before stuffing him in a supply closet and trying to escape.
- Chekhov's Skill: The Cold Open shows young Shawn and Gus practicing for a three-legged race by duct-taping their legs together, and actually getting pretty good at it. This comes in handy at the climax, when they manage to outrun the also-taped felons by a considerable margin while their legs are similarly taped together.
- Duct Tape for Everything: Shawn, Gus, and the two escaped felons all end up tied up in duct tape at one point. Deconstructed when it doesn’t work very well, and they all escape in a matter of minutes.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Northcutt’s girlfriend and son. Northcutt gave them some things he looted from hostages on the ferry. He also seems to be on good terms with Lorraine Dunn, his old cellmate’s mother.
- Face–Heel Turn: Craig, having recently been fired, decides to tie Shawn and Gus up so he can get the money for himself. Fortunately, he’s still a generally decent person, and Shawn and Gus manage to talk him back to a Heel–Face Turn.
- Fake Kill Scare: Two of the convicts take two people into a dark area of the ferry during the Hostage Situation, and pretend to shoot them before swapping clothes with them and throwing them back out when a SWAT team boards the boat. The unfortunate hostages are (briefly) arrested, and the convicts escape on a police boat in the confusion and clouds of tear gas.
- Granola Girl: Gus has a few friends on the ferry who are going to the environmental clean-up event with him. They very much act like this.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Shawn overturns the inflatable raft the convicts intended to use to escape the ferry. As a result, the whole thing turns into a Hostage Situation.
- Placebo Effect: Gus needs a seasickness patch to get on the ferry, but unbeknownst to him, it falls off before he even boards it. Gus practically collapses only after he learns about it. When Shawn gets him to a nurse, they put three small band-aids on his neck that have him back on his feet.
- Posthumous Character: Percy Dunn, Northcutt’s former cellmate. Before he died, he told Northcutt where he hid a huge stash of money from the robbery that put him in prison.
- Prison Escape: The four dangerous convicts had been planning this all along: having good behaviour so they could get perks like furlough which they could use for the escape.
- Pronouncing My Name for You: Craig’s very particular about how people properly pronounce his name… which just sounds like a more drawn-out version of “Craig”.
- Throw the Book at Them: Shawn ambushes one of the convicts, and clobbers him over the head with a bible.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Shawn and Gus talk Craig down from running off with the stolen money by using one of these speeches. It works.
