PSYCH: Murder, Theatre, and Yang in The Musical Episode

Could there be anything better than having Shawn and Gus back onscreen after so many months away? Sure there is, having their antics set to music! The long awaited musical episode of Psych has finally arrived.

After an entertaining song and dance number to explain the show thus far, Shawn has a sudden sense of foreboding to get things rolling. He was right to be wary, because even as he is belting out show tunes, elsewhere in town there is trouble afoot. Zachary Xander, or Z as he prefers to be called by friends both in and out of the sanitarium, is a crazy playwright accused of killing the critic who panned his Jack the Ripper production. Z knocks out a guard at the asylum and steals his uniform to aid in his escape.

Z approaches a stranger on a park bench, telling him all about his play, right up to the part where he awoke in a raging fire beside the body of the dead critic. When the man wonders why he would confess this to a random stranger, Z explains he wasn’t random at all…he watched him every day sitting on the park bench alone from his room at the institution across the street. He told him the story so that he would understand what he’s about to do to him, and we fade out just as Z lunges for his victim. It doesn’t take long after his arrival at the hospital for Shawn to pick up Z’s trail. He and Lassie are soon singing and dancing their way to the same park bench and Shawn figures out by some smashed peanut shells that there was a scuffle. When the head physician of the hospital mentions to them that Z had a confidante, they head back to the institution to meet her. Imagine Shawn’s surprise when he learns it’s his old serial killer friend, Yang.

Yang knows exactly what Z is up to, but she wants something in return for her cooperation…a day at the theater. They secure her release to help them for the day, and return to the scene of the critic’s murder, the Santa Barbara Playhouse. It has been empty since the fire, and is creepy enough that you can’t help but wonder where the Phantom hangs out. Yang is hesitant to reveal what she knows at first. She sees all this as a musical and thinks it would help her be more forthcoming if they could perform for her. After a little song and dance, she releases her balloon bouquet (part of her day out treat) as the crescendo, but then refuses to reveal anything more than she already has. Shawn realizes that she released the balloons in a specific place, so that they would float to a small room at the top of the stairs. Z had lived there while he worked on his play. Shawn discovers a list of cast and crew, and when he sees one name has been dusted off he knows Z has been there recently and producer Miles Thornton is in danger.

Thornton is currently busy working on a new and improved production of Ripper. Mr. Armitage, the owner of the theater, insists it’s a different show altogether. Director Ben wrote this version. Armitage spies someone lurking in the shadows, and nervously makes an excuse to leave. The guys speak to Director Ben, as well as one of the actors who was also in the original play, Lamberth. They never get to speak to Thornton, however, because he dies from a fall off the catwalk before they can get to him. Z is a top suspect, because Lassie and Juliet learned through phone records that someone had been calling Thornton every half hour since Z escaped the sanitarium.

At the morgue, Woody meets Yang and flirts incorrigibly, not swayed in the least by the whole serial killer messiness. He believes Thornton committed suicide, despite all the clues that make everyone else believe Z was responsible. While Woody explains his beliefs, Shawn realizes that there was a clue missed in the list, and they next pay a visit to an actress from the original play, Eliza. She was the only person from the original production that didn’t return, but she reveals it was because she was left with a large scar on her face from the fire. She isn’t afraid of Z, believing he would never hurt her. Still, they leave McNabb there to watch over her.

Juliet learns the new production is destined for Broadway. The original play was about to close before it even opened, so things have certainly changed. Eliza is one of a number of people who own a piece of the pie and will be profiting from its success. Before they can learn why she didn’t tell them about it, McNabb requests backup after hearing someone in the woods. They speed over to help McNabb catch the prowler, and it turns out to be park bench man. Z tied his hands and told him to run, he wouldn’t be hurt if he did as he was told. Z got into Eliza’s home while they were busy with the diversion. Shawn and Gus, who had been waiting in the car with Yang and her guard, see Z and go after him. Shawn catches up to him long enough for Z to sing out that he didn’t hurt anyone. He then punches Shawn and escapes. While the team is trying to figure out their next move, Shawn peeks outside and realizes they have a bigger problem…crazy Yang took out her guard and escaped.

Shawn now doubts that Z was the killer. Park bench guy says Z was actually kind to him. Before Vick’s meeting with her team adjourns, Yang Skypes Shawn and persuades him and Gus to do more song and dance for her before she will reveal anything more. Oblivious to the looks they are getting from the officers in the next room, they manage to get a clue from Yang that leads them them to a room at the asylum. Shawn finds a stash of letters hidden inside a mattress, written by Z to Eliza but never mailed. Z was in love with Eliza but the feelings were not returned. Juliet interrupts the moment to let them know they found Eliza, dead. Shawn still doesn’t believe Z is responsible, he loved Eliza and would not have hurt her. Juliet is also having doubts, but Lassie is convinced Z is their man.

By checking Eliza’s phone records, Lassie realizes she was in the vicinity of the theater not long before she died. Security tapes confirm it, and they view her entering the building. Shawn and Gus, meanwhile, break into her house to snoop around. They find an envelope in her trash can addressed to Z, but whatever was inside it is gone. Gus finds the script from the previous Ripper productions, and comments that the new version is much better. Shawn finds a photo from the original production and sees Armitage in the background. He had told them he wasn’t there the night of the fire…he lied. They find him in the bowels of the theater with an attractive actress pinned to the wall. He flees, and is hit by a car just outside the theater. When Shawn questions him, though, he realizes the only thing Armitage was guilty of was being a cheating cad. He was at the theater that night because he was having an affair with Eliza, and now he’s having an affair with another actress. He ran from them because he thought they were detectives hired by his wife.

Shawn goes to his dad about his feeling that Z is innocent, despite all the evidence that says otherwise. Before they can finish rehashing the details, Yang Skypes again. Henry is livid that Shawn is working with her, and hangs up Shawn’s phone. He finds a clue in Z’s files for Shawn, a bar that Z always used to hang out at…the exact place where Shawn ultimately catches up to him. They talk about Eliza, and when Shawn mentions the letters, it’s clear Z doesn’t know she never got them. Shawn promises to find her killer, but Z already knows who killed her. He won’t tell, though, because he plans to kill them himself. As soon as he confesses his intention, he makes a run for it and gets away once again.

When Shawn and Gus return to the asylum to see if they missed anything, they learn the room they found the letters in was Yang’s, not Z’s. She was in love with Z, so Shawn suspects her of killing Eliza. Next time she Skypes, Shawn confronts her. She’s offended, and says she’s leaving town. Shawn recognizes graffiti on the wall behind her, and knows she’s at the theater. He and Gus go after her, but they aren’t the only ones. The killer drops in from a rope and attacks Shawn, but Yang intervenes to save him. The killer gets away, but Yang is fatally stabbed during the melee. Shawn begs her to tell him who the killer is before she dies, but she doesn’t want to spoil the ending.

Shawn’s next suspect is the actor, Lamberth. He sees something familiar in the way Lamberth drops off the rope during rehearsal, but Lamberth claims all the cast learns that method to get off the rope. Shawn accidentally knocks him out during a scuffle, and opens his shirt to check for the cut that Yang inflicted on the killer when she saved Shawn. There is nothing there. He’s not the killer. Unfortunately, he’s due on stage at that moment, so Shawn steps in and wings it, making up lines as he goes along. In between, he calls Juliet to have her find the earlier versions of the script. It turns out that Z’s early script was great, but they had destroyed it with all the rewrites. Ben and Thornton killed the critic to shut him up. The two later found the original script and decided to revive it. Z had mailed a copy of the original script to himself at Eliza’s place long ago and she had opened it after his visit. It was postmarked long ago, proof that it was his intellectual property and not Ben and Thornton’s. Eliza realized they had stolen Z’s script, and that is why Ben killed her. When Shawn goes after Ben, Gus gets his big moment of the night and gets to fill in for Lamberth’s role.

As Gus wings it onstage, doing anything he can think of to entertain, Shawn catches up to Ben at the same time Z does. After a brief standoff, Z takes the high road and doesn’t kill the man who ruined his life. Juliet and Lassiter take both Ben and Z into custody. Shawn returns stage side just as an excited Gus finishes his act. Gus thinks he’s a shoo-in to get the role as inspector after this. Shawn regrettably tells him that the play is probably done for, as some issues have come up. They later visit Z at the asylum and pitch a story idea to him. Of course, it’s his story, and he’s not sure he wants to give his approval for it, but he tells them he will think about it. Shawn has one other stop to make while they are there, Yang wanted her ashes spread…in the chief physician’s car.

Psych returns to USA on January 8th.