PSYCH: “SantaBarbaratown” Recap

In a flashback to 1991, we see Shawn sharing jokes with Henry’s partner Lou, whom he thought of as an Uncle. Uncle Lou not only had an endless supply of hemorrhoid jokes, he also felt little Shawn was big enough to hear details of an unsolved murder. Veronica Town was missing and believed murdered. They never could find the body, so the suspect went free. Little Shawn admits he won’t be able to sleep after hearing the details.

Back in the present, the nightmares are not Shawn’s, but Gus’s. That‘s because Shawn is sharing details of his and Juliet’s love life that Gus never wanted to know. They arrive at acrime scene, and not only is there the body of a current victim, but Shawn spots a clue that leads to another body that appears to have been hidden for a very long time. The clothing and jewelry on the corpse match that described to Shawn by Uncle Lou twenty years before.

At SBPD, Woody gives the results of his preliminary investigation. Shawn’s hunch that the body is Veronica Town seems to be correct, and Woody thinks she was probably strangled. The big surprise is the identity of the more recent body. It‘s Ellis Beaumont, the father of Jordan Beaumont, who was the suspect in Veronica’s disappearance. Chief Vick wants Shawn and Gus on the case, and Henry wants to be reinstated as a detective for this case, to finish what he started.

Jordan remembers Henry, but he isn’t exactly welcoming. His attorney is present and not cooperative. Jordan appears surprised to hear that his father’s body was found near Veronica’s. Jordan says he has an alibi, he was with his girlfriend Thea at the time his father was killed.

Shawn noted a valet ticket from Saturday night at Jordan’s place, so they go to the Beaumont hotel room number listed and meet the mysterious girlfriend, Thea. She won’t go so far as to say she’s dating Jordan, more like seeing him. She wouldn’t say she’s dating someone she isn’t sleeping with. Shawn compliments her digs, and she says “if you like green,” which seems odd given that it isn’t green.

Lassiter and Juliet bring Jordan to the station. Shawn has managed to find wiggle room in Jordan’s alibi, so they have cause to keep him for a while. Woody has news that sheds new light on Veronica‘s murder, though. He found DNA on Veronica and it matched Uncle Lou.

Shawn, Gus and Henry go to visit Lou’s widow, to see if she might know anything that could help explain how Lou might have known Veronica. They learn that Lou had taken a second job for a while, due to medical bills, and he had been a security guard at the club where Veronica worked, The Blue Derby. They also learn someone had been subtly threatening Lou’s wife around the time Veronica would have been killed.

Henry tells the guys that he visited that club twice during the investigation to talk to the employees and both times Lou had called in sick. He’s bewildered that he never knew what Lou was doing. The waitress they talk to at the club was also working there at the time of Veronica’s disappearance. She didn’t like Veronica very much, because she always got whatever she wanted. Veronica had disappeared for six months once and they just gave her job back when she returned. The guys want to look around the kitchen, which she allows, but tells them it hasn’t been operational since Ellis sold the place. Turns out Jordan didn’t own it, he was the front man, Ellis held onto everything. In the kitchen they find a lot of baking soda and other things that suggest they may have been manufacturing drugs there. Henry suspects maybe Lou had been helping Ellis, by covering his illegal activities.

Shawn receives an ominous call warning him to stay away from the case. He also gets a call from Woody, with an update on Veronica. She had recently given birth. Shawn suspects that Veronica’s six month disappearance is related to her pregnancy. He thinks Jordan was the father, and wanted nothing to do with fatherhood. He choked Veronica to get rid of her. Shawn is disappointed in all the things that happened under Henry’s nose twenty years ago that he didn’t even notice. When Shawn and Gus get to the blueberry there is an envelope on the windshield, with photos of Juliet inside. The ominous caller who had threatened Lou’s wife is now threatening Juliet.

Juliet returns home from a run and can tell there is someone in her apartment. Lucky for Gus she isn’t quick on the trigger. Shawn had him waiting there for Juliet to return to make sure she was okay. Shawn arrives and shows her the photos. Juliet assures she can take care of herself, but Shawn wants to stay there with her until the case is solved, so he can make sure she’s okay. Henry calls to let Shawn know that Lassie is having Shawn’s calls traced. He also learned Jordan was married for a year….to the waitress they had spoken to. When they go to question her again, they learn the marriage didn’t work because she wanted kids and Jordan was sterile. That means Jordan couldn’t have fathered Veronica’s child. Shawn remembers a business card found in Veronica’s things that had a doctors name on it. He and Gus go to visit the doctor.

The doctor is friendly and chatty until he learns what they are after. He warns them about digging around in the past, but he does tell them Veronica gave birth to a baby girl. He doesn’t know who the father was, but the little girl was named Dahlia. By the time they arrive back at Shawn’s place, Gus is too pooped to party any further. He let’s Shawn out of the car and drives away. Almost immediately Shawn is aware someone is following him. He’s grabbed from behind and punched in the eye, with a warning to stop digging into the case.

Shawn goes back to Thea’s hotel room, looking for Jordan. He finds him hiding behind a curtain, then returns the punch in the eye that he suspects Jordan was responsible for. Jordan denies it, but Shawn is sure it’s Jordan who has been calling him. Just then, his phone rings again, and it’s the ominous caller. Oops. Shawn advises Jordan to put ice on the eye, then rushes out to check the location Lassiter says the call came from. He spots one of Henry’s old partners across the street from the pay phone where the call originated, Jack Atwater. He’s around 70 years old, but can run circles around Gus and Shawn. He would have gotten away, except Henry was a step ahead and cut him off as he turned a corner.

In the interrogation room, Jack tells Henry how he came to work at The Blue Derby and helped look out for Ellis Beaumont’s drug business. He brought Lou in because he knew Lou needed money. Ellis forced them to cover up Veronica’s murder or he would have tipped their Chief off to what they were doing. Lou helped, but later started to crack. Jack threatened Lou and his wife to keep them quiet, then pulled the same thing on Shawn and Juliet. Henry thinks he killed Beaumont, but he swears he didn’t. Shawn believes him, because he remembers seeing in a witness statement that Beaumont was color blind. Shawn has just put some pieces of the puzzle together and realizes he has found the missing child Veronica gave birth to, Thea. Shawn and Gus go to the hotel to confront Jordan and Thea, arriving just as Thea is telling Jordan things won’t work out between them. Shawn tells Jordan it’s because Thea is his sister. Jordan wasn’t the only one having an affair with Veronica, his father was also. Shawn realized by the “green” comment that Thea was color blind, just like Ellis. Ellis had planned to pay off Veronica, but she wanted more. He was afraid it would ruin his marriage, so he killed her to cover it up. Thea admits that a year ago her adopted parents told her about her mother, and she became obsessed with the murder. Shawn believes she confronted Ellis, and she admits she forced him to take her to the place where he buried Veronica. Once there, in anger, she killed him. Henry and the police arrive, and Thea is arrested.

Shawn and Juliet discuss their arrangements, now that the danger is over. Shawn used to believe his greatest fear was something happening to him. Second greatest fear was something happening to Gus. That’s all changed now. Shawn thinks he should pick up his things at her place, though, now that he doesn’t have to stay to make sure she’s okay. He agrees to stay one more night, which ends up being negotiated to a weekend. They may be resistant to moving in together, but it’s as good as happening whether they call it that or not.

Henry resigns from being a detective, and from the SBPD in general. He thinks it’s time, and he’s disillusioned by the things he’s learned about his old team. He’s ready for retirement. Henry worries that Shawn’s perception of him has changed after this case, and Shawn lets him know he couldn‘t be more wrong. They even plan to have a beer together, but first Henry tells Shawn he has to break bad news to an old friend, the fourth member of his old team.

Henry goes to visit Jerry, the fourth member. Jerry is living a nice life at the beach, and jokes Henry should have let him invest for him when he offered. When Henry laments that their partners betrayed their badges for money, Jerry slips that $50,000 was a lot back then. Henry hadn’t mentioned the amount….he realizes Jerry was in on it. Back at the station, McNabb has a list of everyone on the force who had permission to moonlight at the club, and Shawn sees Jerry’s name on it. He realizes Henry is in trouble and rushes off to find him. Henry tells Jerry it’s not too late to do the right thing, but Jerry tells Henry he’s sorry, then shoots. Henry falls to the ground on the beach, Shawn didn’t reach him in time to stop it.

This was the Psych season six finale. It will return to USA for season seven this fall.