Season 6, Episode 10
Indiana Shawn and the Temple of the Kinda Crappy, Rusty Old Dagger
"Wait a minute... they're leaving all the paintings? Why are they abandoning the expensive stuff?"
Directed by Steve Franks
Written by Steve Franks
While at an art museum, Shawn and Gus inadvertently allow a group of thieves to make off with a crate filled with priceless paintings. The paintings belonged to the collection of the late eccentric billionaire Harrison Yerden. Shawn realizes he's in deep this time, and calls for help from someone who knows all about art theft: Pierre Despereaux. The notorious thief is out on bail during his trial, though his assets are frozen. Hunting down the thieves, Shawn, Gus, and Despereaux manage to steal back the one thing the criminals - a group of thugs led by the deadly Jacqueline Medeiros - are actually interested in: an antique Civil War dagger. Despereaux theorizes that the dagger is involved with Yerden's "Core Collection", a hidden trove of priceless paintings that Yerden kept to himself. Unfortunately, Despereaux is cornered and killed by Medeiros while trying to escape. Shawn is insistent that He's Just Hiding, but breaks down in despair at his funeral, realizing he's never actually lost someone close to him before. During a scuffle with Gus over the dagger, the blade is broken, revealing it's secretly a key. Together, Shawn and Gus head out to Yerden's estate to see where the key might fit, and whether it might lead the way to the Core Collection itself...Tropes:
- Actor Allusion: John Rhys-Davies, who plays the museum curator, is known for playing the role of Indy's friend Sallah in the Indiana Jones movies.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Jacqueline Medeiros, who played the role of a scared pedestrian to lure Shawn and Gus away from the museum so her thugs could rob it. She's actually a particularly ruthless and no-nonsense career criminal, with hints of being The Vamp.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: The tour guide at the Yerden estate is ridiculously obnoxious and rude, but really knows her stuff about the estate, and somehow confiscates Shawn's bag of cheetos from out of his pocket and tosses them out before the sleuth even knows they're gone.
- Casting Gag: John Rhys Davies, who played Salla in the oringal Indie movies, plays the museum curator.
- Cool Key: The "dagger" turns out to be a key to a priceless art collection.
- Convenient Escape Boat: Zigzagged. Despereaux had already prepared a boat near the docks for a quick getaway after he stole the dagger, but Shawn and Gus got on the wrong boat, and spend the whole time messing around trying to get out of the dock while Despereaux tries to flee. Except it's possible Despereaux DID point them at the right boat, since he planned on blowing his own boat up anyway.
- Every Car Is a Pinto: Medeiros just intended to shoot Despereaux, but her shot somehow caused his damaged boat - which was leaking fuel - to detonate, apparently blowing him up along with it. Justified, since Despereaux rigged it to explode earlier.
- Excessive Mourning: Shawn does not handle the death of his loved ones well, avoiding the concept and suffering a total meltdown when he can't. The Cold Open shows he's done this since he was a kid, and he left Henry to bury his pet lizard after it died.
- Faking the Dead: Shawn claims Despereaux is doing this to escape from the authorities, since his trial was going very poorly. Turns out he's right.
- The "Fun" in "Funeral": Shawn insists that Despereaux faked his death, and plans a wacky eulogy to show the art thief that he knew it all along. When he finds that the DNA evidence shows Despereaux IS dead, Shawn is inconsolable, resulting in a distraught, vaguely coherent rant that's somehow even funnier.
- Instant Knots: Shawn actually manages to swing himself and Gus into a descending crate using an Indiana Jones-style whip-swing.
- Shout-Out: Much of the episode is a series of references to the Indiana Jones movies.
- Travel Montage: Of the Indiana Jones Line-on-the-map variety, of course.
- Wicked Cultured: Despereaux is more ethically gray than flat-out evil, but he criticizes Medeiros' methods, calling them sloppy and loud.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: It turns out the random woman who seemed to be a victim of a couple of thugs was deliberately luring Shawn and Gus away from the museum so her partners could steal a crate of paintings.
- Worthless Treasure Twist: The "Core Collection" turns out to be a collection of Yerden's creations, which aren't great and wouldn't be worth much. Shawn thinks it's because Yerden wanted his own creations to be part of a legitimate treasure hunt. However, Despereaux discovers that they were painted over legitimately valuable older paintings, and just need the newer paint gently washed off.
