PSYCH: “Last Night Gus”

One of the things Psych certainly has always excelled at is paying homage to classic and cult favorite movies and television. This time, they take a swing at The Hangover. After a night out celebrating the retirement of an officer that none of the regulars seems to know, Gus, Shawn, Lassiter, and Woody (the medical examiner) awaken in the Psych offices with no recollection of the night before, odd circumstances they can’t quite piece together, oh and video of them partying with a guy who later turns up murdered.

Lassiter, proving there is no bond like the one between a guy and his gun, intuitively knows his is missing three bullets. That is, after he finds it in the fish tank following his waking up on the sofa spooning with Woody. It must have been a heck of a night. Lassiter and Woody’s phones ring simultaneously. A body has been pulled from the ocean and they are needed at the station. Lassiter can’t find his keys or his car, but Gus’s blueberry is there, and it has been crashed.

Back at the station we learn the body had been shot three times. As this information registers on their faces, the coroner pulls back the sheet and reveals it is the party guy from the video. As the chief continues her briefing, Shawn texts Gus to ask if Lassie killed the guy. Problem is, the receiving phone is in the victims pocket. Lassie wants to send Juliet to a court date without him while he, Shawn, and Gus work on solving this murder. Jules knows something is up when Lassie requests working with Shawn. She also wants to talk to Shawn about the huge phone call he made to her the night before. Shawn has no clue, but plays it off and gets back to the other members of the “What did we do last night?” club. He prompts Gus to distract Lassiter while he peeks in the phone. There are photos of a woman that the guy was following. Shawn thinks he was a stalker.

They were all drugged. Lassiter thinks it’s obvious someone wanted to take advantage of him sexually. Shawn remembers a guy at the bar and thinks the drugs were intended for a couple of women there. They all head to the bar looking for answers. It turns out the guy they thought spiked the drinks was gay. But when a woman walks in looking for her credit card she left there last night, she sees Gus and pulls him in for a kiss. Last night Gus had game (and inspired the title for this episode).

Shawn deduces from various clues that they went to a donut shop sometime during the evening. Good news for Woody, all that white powder on his face when he woke up isn’t indicative of a cocaine problem after all; it’s powdered sugar he picked up when he licked all the donuts in the shop. When they arrive, the guy at the counter insists to them that he already told them he doesn’t know that woman. Shawn deduces that the guy wasn’t stalking the woman, he was on a case and they must have been helping him. His joy is short-lived when another guy enters from the back of the store with a gun and says they killed “Bobo.” Bobo, it turns out was the large fake donut advertisement in the parking lot. They drove into it, it fell on the Blueberry as Lassiter shot it three times. He’s relieved that he didn’t kill anyone. He did get jumped though, by some guy on the street. That explains Lassie’s black eye. Things are coming together. Lassiter and Woody both get important simultaneous calls again. Lassie is told there is another body, Woody just got verified on Twitter.

This victim, Williams, was found just down the road from Bobo’s donuts. He’s the guy that punched Lassiter. Shawn sneaks the first victims phone and calls his last contact, the phone rings in Williams pocket. The two are connected somehow. Chief puts O’Hara back on the case and they are off again. Or they will be, after Shawn and Juliet talk about the call. During the call, Shawn asked Juliet to move in with him. Shawn spills that Lassiter killed Williams. On the way to Williams house, Shawn brings her up to date on what they’ve learned. Does he still want her to move in? Of course! Or so he says. He tells Gus that last night’s Shawn was mature and not commitment phobic, but today’s Shawn is.

They search the house and we learn things. For instance, Gus pees sitting down. Men’s health journals say it’s good for the circulation. Shawn is appalled. They learn Williams was the husband of the woman the investigator was following. They think she found out about them following her and killed them both. Henry calls and interrupts the discussion. He’s at a hotel, the room is trashed, he has no pants, and can’t remember anything. He was with them last night.

The hotel clerk wants Lassie to pay for a mattress he threw in the pool the night before. Oh, and that woman they were looking for showed up this morning. They rush to her room. Shawn says she was there with someone based on telltale clues around the room, then he spies an open gas valve and screams they have to get out of there. The entire group jumps over the balcony into the nasty hotel pool, just before an explosion destroys the room. One of the coolest action scenes ever seen on this show!

The last night babe calls Gus while they are gathered in Vick’s office. When Vick wants Gus to get off the phone, he will have nothing of it. Last night Gus had it right, life is too short, he‘s going to meet up with the girl, exclaiming “It’s hard out there for a pimp.” Chief wants to know two things. What happened last night? And where are Henry’s pants?

Lassie doesn’t think the woman is capable of all that has happened. He believes they should focus on the guys in the photos with her. As they review them, Shawn recognizes one of the guys from a wanted poster, Leroy Jenkins. They realize he had to have a partner, he couldn‘t have walked into that party full of cops himself. The only family he has is an adopted daughter, the same honey Gus hooked up with and is currently with. Poor Gus, his luck with women…well, he doesn’t really have any. As the group rushes to rescue Gus, Lily Jenkins is drugging his drink. She needs that phone back.

Lily excuses herself. Gus is woozy. Leroy is in the apartment, and he has a gun. He wants to know where the phone is. Gus is totally out of it, he keeps repeating every word the guy says, annoying Leroy further. Lassie, Juliet, and Shawn arrive just in time to prevent him from shooting Gus. A shootout ensues inside Gus‘s apartment with a drugged up Gus laughing in the middle of it all. He wanders over behind Leroy while sampling a bowl of taffy, and Shawn‘s words finally gets through to him that the guy is bad. Gus hits him over the head with the bowl, knocking him out. I have to admit, I liked seeing Gus get to save the day, even if he did it in his own goofy Gus-like way.

The night’s events solved, and the killer apprehended, all the gang has left to do is make amends to the donut shop. Well, Shawn still has to deal with Juliet and having asked her to move in. She doesn’t want to do it unless today’s Shawn still wants it, and she can see he doesn’t. She’s happy that some part of him wanted her to move in with him though, and it doesn’t have to happen right now.

We end with all being well in Psych world, a feel good ending after one of the funniest episodes in the shows history. Even on rewatch I found myself laughing out loud throughout. The expanded use of Woody in this episode particularly was a welcome addition. Almost every line he delivered was a punch line, and they all connected. I hope we will see more of him moving forward in the season. If the rest of the season is as good as this second episode, then this could end up being the best Psych season yet.