PSYCH Recap: A Nightmare on State Street

Gus confesses to Shawn that he’s having a difficult time sleeping because of very vivid nightmares. He thinks it’s because of girlfriend problems, Emmanuelle isn’t calling him back and he was sure she was the one. He waits in the car while Shawn goes into a convenience store. Before long Curt Smith pulls up beside him listening to some of his own music, and soon after that zombies kill Curt and are trying to get to Gus inside the car. Obviously this is one of those nightmares Gus was talking about. He wakes in Dr. Simpson’s office, the doctor helping with the nightmares. Or at least he’s supposed to be helping, but he really seems to be more interested in pitching his book.

Gus is sure the nightmares are about Emmanuelle, he doesn’t understand why she is avoiding him. The doctor believes the problem is Shawn, however. The doctor thinks Gus fears Shawn abandoning him. Nah, that can’t be it. When has Shawn ever been a problem?

Back at the Psych offices, Gus is acting odd with Shawn, and doesn’t tell him the doctor thinks he is the problem. They get a new client, Zach, who fears his wife is cheating on him. He has a cable install to do and he’s already late, so he asks the boys to ride along and he will tell them the whole story. On the way, he goes a bit crazy and changes course. They go to his home, which if it isn’t a haunted house it should be. Zach runs inside to find his wife, and soon after Shawn leaves to find a bathroom. In the van alone, Gus is approached by a creepy guy requesting a ride. Gus runs inside and is attacked by a masked killer. Yes, Gus is having another nightmare. He awakens in the doctors office once again. Simpson has now changed his theory, though. Gus isn’t afraid of Shawn leaving him, he’s afraid Shawn will get him killed.

Gus keeps lying to Shawn that the doctor believes Emmanuelle is the problem. Shawn doesn’t trust the doctor and wants to sit in on a session. Gus and Shawn try and fail to convince Lassie to hire them for another job. Brannigan is working out too well, she’s a one woman crime fighting machine. With no paying gig in sight, they go back to work on Zach’s cheating case even though there is little chance of him being able to pay them. They pose as a gay couple shopping for a school for their child, and meet with Zach’s wife, Gretchen. She’s a dedicated teacher, and also obviously has a wandering eye. The guys next talk with the coach she was ogling while they spoke to her, Derek Bagg. Or, as the guys nickname him, D-Bagg. The clues they see in the coaches office lead Shawn to agree with Zach that his wife is cheating. Shawn sees a note that she she wrote the coach with a meeting time on it. When the guys try to leave the gym they end up in a boiler room and are separated. Gus ends up surrounded by the children of the corn, and then is entangled in a huge spider web while the children attack him with dodge balls. Yet another nightmare for the Guster. This time Shawn is in the office with Gus and Simpson and they get a good chuckle out of Gus’s girlish screams. When Shawn learns Simpson believes he is the root of the problem, though, he tells Gus the guy is a fraud. He will always have Gus’ back.

Something someone says reminds Shawn of the case, that things aren’t always what they seem. Gretchen wasn’t having an affair with D-Bagg, she was teaching him to read. He had been in an accident when he was in school that left him with some lingering issues. Before they can react to this theory, Shawn receives a call from Brannigan letting him know that D-Bagg was found dead, beaten to death. Zach has been arrested. Brannigan found a threatening letter from Zach at the crime scene. She went to Zach’s evening job at a bowling alley and found more threatening letters. It looks bad for Zach. The guys talk to both Zach and Gretchen, and fill Zach in that Gretchen was actually tutoring D-Bagg. Zach is sorry for doubting her, even though it’s obvious to everyone else he has reason to do so. Zach insists he never would have hurt D-Bagg, he just wrote the letters to blow off steam. He and Gretchen kiss and make up…just not on the lips, at her insistence.

Shawn and Gus go to Woody to learn about D-Bagg’s death. Lots of fractures and breaks were involved. Whoever killed him was serious about it. Shawn recalls his conversation with the coach in his office. He also recalls a beefy guy who left the office just before he and Gus went inside. D-Bagg had a gambling problem, and it caught up to him that day. The corpse wakes up and attacks Woody, and the guys run for their lives. Yet another nightmare. Gus wakes up in the safety of his parents home. He is apprehensive when he finds his mom in the kitchen, he’s expecting something bad to happen. She soothes him, as only a mother can, and just when he thinks everything is okay this time, a creature comes out of the sink and devours her. Things just keep getting worse for Gus. He runs to escape and suddenly Lassie, Henry and Brannigan are helping him to fight off zombies. They are boarding doorways to keep them out, but they grab Lassie. Brannigan shoots at them but they take her too. Henry grabs Gus and they run and hide in a closet….with a zombie. Gus runs, he grabs a three-hole punch to use as a weapon and all the zombies laugh at him. When he darts into a restroom he finds Shawn there, and Shawn is a zombie. Zombie Shawn wants to eat Gus’s brain.

Gus is crying in the car, back at the convenience store, when Shawn returns. He tells Gus the nightmares seem worse since he started seeing Simpson. Shawn fills Gus in on who really killed D-Bagg.  The big guy broke his fingers as a warning just before Gus and Shawn met with him that day. When he didn’t pay his gambling debts promptly the guy returned and killed him. They go to Lassie and tell him what they learned, but Brannigan is a step ahead of them and has already arrested the real killer. Zach is released and is very grateful. Gretchen is happy too, I think. She’s set to give her husband a complete makeover, except for his kind heart which seems to be the only thing she likes about him. They leave, together at least for now.

Dr. Simpson is at a book signing and is angry that it isn’t getting any attention. No one attends except Shawn and Gus. Gus wants his copy of the book autographed. Shawn excuses himself to go to the restroom again, and as Gus is leaving he is attacked by yet another monster. He wakes up in his own bed, screaming, and calls Shawn. As always, Shawn is there for him, rushing right over with milkshakes. They settle in on the sofa to watch TV…but when they turn to the camera they both have monster eyes.

Psych’s series finale will air Wednesday, March 28, at 9/8c on USA.