PSYCH Recap: Cloudy With a Chance of…Improvement

In the early days of Psych, we were once treated to the antics of Shawn and Gus consulting on a murder case where an innocent young woman’s future hung in the balance. Now, in season eight, we get to revisit that episode and even improve upon it. Much of the episode, the main premise and most of the cast of characters remain the same. We add Ralph Macchio as her prosecutor, and then play fast and loose with the details and results of the first case as details lead down a different path.

Shawn and Gus still go to the courthouse to rescue Shawn’s impounded motorcycle, same as before. They still meet a kind, mild mannered young murder defendant named Sandra Panitch and her nervous hot-mess of a lawyer, Adam Hornstock. Sandra still had the bad timing of having been womanizer Nathan Hale’s last conquest prior to his murder, and Shawn is still convinced of her innocence. He insinuates Psych into the case as consultants, and immediately sets out to find other suspects and create a reasonable doubt in the minds of the jurors. Well, that and taking a little time to put on a show for the cameras, as Shawn is apt to do.

The guys make an appearance on a morning news show at the station where the victim worked as weatherman. Hosts Morton and Connie Camp are skeptical of psychics, but Shawn makes them believers when he reveals (after observing their subtle clues) that they are currently separated and Morton is living in a hotel. Morton and Connie swear they are working on their marriage, and do their best to end the conversation because the station doesn’t want that information getting out. They quickly end the segment and pawn Shawn and Gus off on receptionist Priscilla, who gives them a tour of the station.

It doesn’t take long for Shawn and Gus to find their first alternate suspect, Reuben Leonard. He reports special interest stories, but what he really wants is to be the weatherman. He’s much more qualified than Hale was and that gives him a motive. Hornstock wastes no time putting Reuben on the stand and with Shawn’s coaching Hornstock soon has him spouting his resentment of Hale and how he deserved to die. The seeds of doubt are planted. Shawn continues the roll when he finds the murder weapon hidden above the ceiling tiles in Leonard’s office and arranges for Lassiter and Juliet to find it.

Murder weapon in custody, everyone rushes to apprehend Leonard who is about to go on the air for the weather report. He sees the crew enter the studio, and verbally lashes out at them for the lies being told about him. He’s sweating profusely as he proclaims his innocence as well as Sandra’s. He is about to reveal who the real killer is, but collapses and dies before he can get the words out. Sandra couldn’t be responsible for this one because she’s still in jail.

While discussing other potential suspects, Gus makes a joke about Hale having a lot of girlfriends and you can’t keep them all happy. Maybe one of them did it. This jolts Shawn’s memory of things he noticed that suggested receptionist Priscilla may have had a crush on Hale. They put her on the stand and Hornstock tries to push her into confessing her feelings in order to plant the idea that she killed Hale out of jealousy. The theory falls apart, however, when it is revealed she has an alibi for the time of Hale’s murder. She was with a guy she met in a bar….Woody. They spent the night together, although Priscilla has obvious regrets and slumps down in her seat in an attempt to disappear from view.

Prosecutor Phelps next introduces a video tape of the murder. Hale had taken Sandra back to the station, as he did with all his conquests. He liked to video tape the trysts in front of the green screen. Hale and Sandra can be seen kissing, and slowly moving out of the cameras view just before the sounds of the knife stabbing Hale to death can be heard. It’s damning for Sandra, and the prosecutor is gleeful that this case looks to be a lock.

Hornstock wants Sandra to take the plea deal she is offered, but Shawn isn’t willing to give up. He goes back to the office to go over the murder tape again, hoping there is something that was missed. Gus goes back to the courtroom to stall for time in any way possible, and he puts his love of movies to good use spouting quote after quote and getting himself thrown in jail. Shawn arrives just in the nick of time with the information they need to prove Sandra’s innocence.

Shawn calls Morton Camp to the stand, although he isn’t actually a lawyer. He reveals that Connie was seeing a marriage therapist, but was claiming she was taking tennis lessons. Morton was jealous and believed she was having an affair, and who was more likely to be her paramour than philanderer Hale? Hornstock catches on to what Shawn is leading up to and tag teams his way back into the show. Morton knew that Hale always brought his dates back to the station, and he believed his date that night was Connie. Morton was wearing a green suit, so that he wouldn’t be visible in front of the green screen. He waited for the couple to move out of the cameras frame, and he knocked the girl out before stabbing Hale. Only afterward did he notice that the woman wasn’t Connie. Unknown to him, however, he had cut a piece of his green glove during the stabbing, and when he stood to leave a small part of his finger is visible on camera. Shawn knows it was Morton’s pinky, because of the unusual stone in his pinky ring. Morton is emotional, looks to his wife and admits he would have done anything to save their marriage, including murder. Shawn points out it was a double murder, because he also killed Reuben. Shawn saves the day, garnering a standing ovation from the jury, and a nod of approval from Henry.

Hornstock drops by the Psych office to return Gus’s tie, although it has a stain on it. He asks Shawn’s permission to ask Juliet on a date, and Shawn puts on an act and encourages him to go for it. Hornstock leaves and Gus points out the error in that decision. Shawn runs to stop Hornstock. His time with Juliet hadn’t yet come in 2006, but he wasn’t going to take the chance that someone else might turn her head.

Psych airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on USA.