Episode Title: ‘Indiana Shawn and the Temple of the Kinda Crappy, Rusty Old Dagger’
Writer: Steve Franks
Director: Steve Franks
Story:
Shawn (James Roday) and Gus (Dule Hill) are ordered to guard an art collection, but they are soon distracted when Shawn hears a woman in distress. He rescues her from muggers just as Gus catches up with him. Moments later, there’s an explosion at the building where the art was stored.
Back at the precinct, Shawn and Gus get chewed out by the curator (John Rhys-Davies) when he learns that the art, which once belonged to a wealthy collector, is gone. However, Shawn recalls the GPS device Gus accidently dropped inside the crate and promises to locate the art.
At the Psych office, Shawn enlists the help of friend and master thief, Pierre Despereaux (Cary Elwes) to track down the art. After locating the crate at a factory, Shawn, Gus and Despereaux make their way inside. They soon spot the woman Shawn rescued from muggers. Despereaux knowns the woman, named Jacqueline (Madchen Amick) to be a high-end thief. Leaving the crate behind, she and her team are more interested in a civil war-era dagger. Despereaux sneaks into the office where they’re gathered and makes off with the blade.
When Jacqueline realizes it’s gone, she and her gang chase after Despereaux. He tells Shawn and Gus to board a speed boat at the dock, but they get on the wrong one. Despereaux gets into a high-speed chase with the gang of thieves, but his boat soon runs out of gas. He appears to be cornered when his boat explodes.
Back on the dock, Gus and Shawn meet up with Lassie (Timothy Omundson) and Jules (Maggie Lawson), who tells them about Despereaux’s death and the recovered art. Shawn claims Despereaux was innocent. It’s a dark-haired woman named Jacqueline they should be after.
After learning that Despereaux’s assets are frozen and that he was looking at possible jail time after his last caper, Shawn believes that he faked his own death. He decides to write a eulogy to Despereaux rather than for him, in hopes he’s present at the funeral. However, when Henry (Corbin Bernsen) shows up with DNA evidence that proves Despereaux is dead, Shawn breaks down.
Shawn shows Gus the dagger, which he lifted off Despereaux inside the factory. The two get into a tussle when Gus insists he turn it over to the police. In the process, the top of the dagger comes off, revealing it to be a key. When they show the dagger to the art curator, he tells them it’s for a lock which may be found in the late collector’s home.
While on a tour of the house, Shawn finds the lock hidden in a stone bench next to a fountain. When he places the dagger key in the lock, the door to a hidden crypt is opened under a flower bed in the garden. Once inside, Shawn and Gus are confronted by Jacqueline, who holds them at gunpoint. Moments later, she’s hit from behind with a shovel by Despereaux. After explaining how he faked his own death, Despereaux and the boys find the hidden collection. However, it’s the collector’s amateurish original art, not the masterworks they were hoping for.
Shawn bids farewell to Despereaux and apologies to Lassie and Jules for his behavior. However, when he realizes that one of the paintings is gone, we see Despereaux in his studio, using water spray to uncover the Rembrandt underneath.
Breakdown:
“Psych” made its “super-sized” mid-season premiere (if you consider an extra seven minutes “super-sized”) packing three excellent guest stars in Cary Elwes, reprising his role as Shawn’s larcenous idol, Pierre Despereaux, Madchen Amick as femme fatale, Jacqueline and John Rhys-Davies as the uppity art curator.
Shawn and Gus had some great scenes in this episode, (the fight outside of the funeral home was my fav) but things are always funnier when they’re paired with a character more ridiculous than they are. The smug Pierre Despereaux was the perfect accomplice in the Psych team’s latest caper. Unlike Lassiter, Despereaux makes our dynamic duo look stupid without being mean, which makes him even funnier.
Though I wish she could have dropped by “Dual Spires,” Madchen Amick’s turn as leather bodysuit clad villainess in this episode was a fun one. Jacqueline’s reaction when Shawn accuses her of catching feelings, at the top of the hour, was good stuff. When she got hit on the head with a shovel by Despereaux? Even better.
And John Rhys-Davies (aptly cast in this “Indiana Jones”-esque episode) did a great job going off on Shawn and Gus. We know Lassie enjoyed it.
But we all know the joy of “Psych” is in the little drops of comedy sprinkled throughout. My favorite lines from the hour:
“I have my work phone, the mailbox on my playa phone is full” – Gus
“We’re seaman, we’re seaman, right now!” – Gus
“Lassiter please, pretend you’re a person” – Jules
“Tony Cox is my conscience” – Shawn
“That’s your problem, Gus, you brought a funeral program to a knife fight” -Shawn
“You wanna bumble with the bee, huh?” – Gus
“There’s a book in the gift shop to help you, it’s called the dictionary” – Condescending Tour Guide
“Indiana Shawn and the Temple of the Kinda Crappy, Rusty Old Dagger” may not have been the full-on tribute episode fans might have been expecting but a humorous homage wasn’t needed here. All it took were some great guest stars that play well with Shawn and Gus, or don’t as the case may be.
Crave Online Rating: 9 out of 10.
