PSYCH Recap
Season 2 – Episode 6: “Meat Is Murder”
Recap by: Mel

It’s 1987, and Henry wakes to the smell of fresh banana nut muffins, which Mini-Shawn apparently made just for him. He’s trying to bribe Henry into un-grounding him so that he can go see RoboCop. Henry, of course, doesn’t fall for it, as there’s a trail of flour leading to the pantry where Mini-Gus is hiding, wearing a “Cook ‘Em, Dano!” apron and holding a flour-laden whisk. Hee! Henry chides Mini-Shawn for lying, and sends the boys out of the kitchen.

Present day, and hey! There’s John Amos!! James Evans, Sr., the dad on Good Times, is probably my favorite TV dad of all time, and I die a little inside every time I watch the episode when he bites it. If you’ve never seen Good Times, then that was definitely a spoiler. Anyway, he’s playing Burton, Gus’s uncle and namesake. He’s one-fourth crotchety, three-fourths snarky, and four-fourths awesome. Burton is pretty hard on Gus, as he doesn’t use his given first name- it’s a bit of a sore spot between the two. Anyway, they’re heading to dinner when Shawn interrupts, and tells Gus they have a case. Gus tries to subtly tell Shawn to take the it on his own, but no dice. He pulls Shawn aside and explains that his great aunt misunderstood him when he told her he worked for a psychic detective, so his mom’s entire side of the family thinks that HE’S a psychic detective, and Shawn’s his assistant. Shawn has a plan, though, and you’ll be surprised that it includes inviting Burton to accompany them to the crime scene to watch Gus “work his psychic magic”. And that, my friends, is a BURN.

At the crime scene, Gus brats to Shawn that the cops won’t let Burton on the premises, and when a cute policeman politely asks Burton to leave, John Amos awesomely gets his Intimidating Large Alpha Male on. “There’s no crime scene tape at the door. The forensics guys are not collecting any evidence, and it seems as though you guys don’t suspect foul play, so I got as much right to be here as you do. And don’t give me any of that fancy police talk, please. I’ve seen enough ‘Hill Street Blues’ to know what’s what.” Cute Cop is suitably cowed. Jules gives them the skinny: Vince Wagner, a Santa Barbara restaurant critic, died after eating his wife’s chicken soup. She says the wife is acting super weird, and wants Shawn to get a reading. Gus freaks, and pulls Shawn into the kitchen. He thinks there’s no way he can do it, but Shawn believes otherwise. “You make some observations, you form a conclusion, and reveal it to everybody in a ridiculous and/or roundabout way.” Easy peezy, lemon squeezy. In comes Burton before Gus can pee his pants in terror, and I can not express the total hilarity of Dule Hill’s facial expressions while he’s Psych-ing. He finally yells that the wife is a terrible cook, and she overhears him in the other room and agrees. She cooked her husband something healthy once a week, even though The Barefoot Contessa she is not. Shawn and Gus know she didn’t do it, but Shawn spies Wagner’s body as it’s being wheeled out- his tongue is black, which is definitely not a good thing.

Back at the Psych office, Shawn tells Gus about Black Tongue. They assert that it wasn’t candy, but Gus says that Bismuth subsalicylate, the active ingredient in Pepto Bismol, can react with trace amounts of sulfur in saliva and cause black tongue. In comes Uncle Burton, and Gus psychs out that Wagner’s food was poisoned at a restaurant he was eating at, while Shawn is charading the answers to him behind Burton. Again, I really can’t express how funny Dule Hill is when Gus is “calling upon the spirits”.

At the station, Burton is filling out his visitor pass form, so Shawn and Gus have a few moments alone. Gus can’t psych-out in front of the cops, but Shawn has a plan. He tells Gus to wait in the hall for his signal, and then bursts into the chief’s office spewing verbal diarrhea. I couldn’t really understand anything but “Shark toast! SHARK TOAST.” He tells them the case is so intense that he can’t say the right words, and pulls in Gus to translate. Apparently, “swirly whorly jungle pants” is code for “the critic was poisoned” which makes perfect sense. Vick orders a tox screen on Wagner, much to Lassie’s bitchy chagrin. By the way, Lassie’s arm is in a sling, but he won’t tell anyone what happened. I heard Timothy Omundson actually broke his collarbone or wrist or something, so they just made a quick mention of it. Anyway, Burton is totally impressed, and runs to get Gus some water. Shawn remembers a take-out container from Antonio’s, so off they go. The guys talk to Chef Antonio, who isn’t afraid to admit that he hated Wager, but before they can talk any more, Lassie and Jules arrive to arrest Antonio for murder by poisonous mushroom. Shawn, though, eyes the mushrooms that Antonio was slicing into strips, and remembers that the mushrooms in Wager’s container were cubed. Also, Wagner’s notes state that the risotto was cold, which wouldn’t have happened if it had been made right then by Antonio. Lassie, of course, does not believe the two. His Bitchness is getting kind of old, no?

Burton shakes Gus’s hand and thanks him for a wonderful day: “You’re a regular Rockford Files.” He’s so cute! Gus is totally excited, and wants to solve the case before he leaves. They go to talk to the editor of Wagner’s paper, but the editor doesn’t have the time to speak to them. Wagner’s assistant shows them a binder full of angry chef hate mail, and all of them have motives. Cut to a montage of Gus, Shawn, and Burton eating Angry Chef Food while the cooks explain how much they hated Wagner: “Put it this way: He once referred to my white chocolate tiramisu as ASS CAKE.” Ha! Gus can’t understand why Wagner was such a douche, as he had a kickin’ job eating free food. And light bulb! What if it wasn’t a chef who murdered Wagner, but someone who wanted his job? They need to talk to the editor, so Shawn psychs is way into the coveted horoscope-maker-uper job. Gus thinks the horoscopes Shawn wrote up were far too detailed. The joke’s on Gus, though, because Shawn had specific people in mind as he wrote them.

At the station, Jules is reading Lassie’s horoscope to him: “Calcium is especially important to you right now, Mr. Salt-and-Pepper Hair With a Maroon Car. There may also be a promotion in your future. Try walking backwards through doorways for good luck.” Lassie thinks it’s crap until the chief calls him into her office, which he goofily strolls backwards into. Jules also reads her own horoscope: “Your one true love will be wearing sneakers and an Apple Jacks t-shirt.” Hee. And guess who’s favorite fake psychic is wearing one today? Yes, he most certainly is. Shawn offers to help the editor choose the new food critic for the paper, because there are about 100 people jockeying for the job. Among them is the editor’s own assistant, Nick, who nerds all over the place describing the cheesy goodness that are Cheetos. Burton’s flight leaves soon, though, so they have to hurry.

They decide to ask the only mushroom farmer in the tri-county area to help narrow down the suspects. Dude is super creepy, but tells Maxwell Smart and Agent 99 that a guy came around asking about the poisonous mushroom in question, the Death Cap. He also says he was nine feet tall, had sunshine coming out of his mouth, and a hippopotamus for a hand. Right. Back at the Psych office, Henry is waiting for the guys, and reads them his horoscope: “Please return the BB gun you confiscated from your son in the second grade. P.S. You are a cranky pants.” Heh. Henry points the defective detectives to a vegan who has a major beef with Chef Antonio. See, to boost the flavor of his veggie burgers, he was adding BEEF BROTH to the food. Okay, can I just say I’d be SUPER pissed if Boca Burgers were spicing up their products with ANY animal product- that is so not okay.

So The Vegan Vigilante is currently chained to a pole near a burger place or something, and Shawn and Gus head over to talk to her. She tells them she led a demonstration Tuesday night at Antonio’s, the night Wagner was murdered. Shawn and Gus think they found their killer just in time for Burton, Lassie, and Jules to show up. Jules, by the way, is adorably stunned to see Shawn’s Apple Jacks t-shirt. Gus lays out his case, but Jules tells them that someone died downtown from eating discarded Death Cap mushrooms. It couldn’t have been V.V., as she’s been chained to a pole for three days. The garbage can that the mushrooms were thrown in is near the paper’s offices, though, so the guys get back on track, sort of. Burton’s flight leaves in an hour, though, so off to the airport they travel. But wait! UB forgot to pack his HIPPO shirt that has a HIPPO on the sleeve HIPPO HIPPO HIPPO. Shawn remembers that the editor’s assistant was wearing hippo shirts every time they saw him, and we cut to the editor giving the food critic job to his trustful murderer of an assistant. Hurry, boys!

Gus, Shawn, Burton, Lassie, and Jules interrupt his gleeful acceptance speech, and Gus labels him a murderer, promising to explain what happened. He doesn’t exactly know, though, so he and Shawn take turns explaining it to the room. Each time they switch narrative, they physically abuse each other with kicks, bitch slaps, hair pulling, foot stomps, and a particularly vicious Indian burn. They finally call a truce with their signature Fist Bump as they both reveal that the mushroom guy remembered the Hippo logo, and the Cheetos dust around his mouth. Murderous Assistant Nick mentions the mushroom guy by name (Al Mooney) which pretty much screws him. The guys robot dance their way to victory, and it is all really hilarious. Shawn tries to ask Jules on a date but she blows him off, and Uncle Burton is super proud of Gus, and gives him his blessing to use whatever name he wants.

I think this epsiode is my favorite yet of this season- it was truly laugh-out-loud funny, and Hill and Roday could not have better chemistry if they tried. Next week: Shawn and Gus become lecturers at a school for the gifted where the students suspect a teacher of murder. You know those genius kids are gonna give Shawn one heck of a time…

Ducky’s Thoughts: I cannot wait to see this episode. Having been vegan and/or vegetarian for the last 17 years this one is right up my alley. Now that I’m also 7 episodes into Season 1 I can truly appreciate how Shawn will handle this. He’s such a jackass and I love him.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 19th, 2007 at 7:09 pm and is filed under Ducky Does TV, Mel, Psych. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.