‘Psych’ recap: ‘Santa Barbarian Candidate’

Episode 10 of Psych's 7th season, "Santa Barbarian Candidate," opens with a speech from the Santa Barbara mayor. He thanks the police department and Shawn as well for their work. Shawn goes on stage to receive a plaque, which he then tosses to Chief Vick in the audience.

Shawn and Gus try to talk to Mayor Channing into changing the speed limit near the Psych office. The mayor invites Shawn over for brunch the next day after he’s done surfing, and tells him to bring Juliet. Shawn goes to ask Juliet, but she says no. They both thought things were getting better between them, but whenever she sees him pretending to be psychic, she gets upset. Shawn takes Gus with him to Mayor Channing’s house the next day. They see paramedics taking the mayor’s body away when they get to the house.

They go to Woody to see Channing’s body. Woody says he was in the water for around four hours, but Shawn says around that time there weren’t any waves. Gus and Shawn go to his office to look for clues. They talk to the mayor’s assistant, Jason Straub, and he introduces them to the new mayor, Tom Swaggerty. Swaggerty wants to build a shopping mall over the wetlands and in doing so, would make a huge amount of money. Shawn and Gus go to the real estate development office to find out information. Shawn thinks Swaggerty killed Channing because Channing opposed his development idea. Gus stole the bylaws at the office and discovers someone else can run for mayor. Shawn decides to run for mayor.

Shawn goes on a TV show and Gus gives him a list of what he should say. Henry turns on the TV and sees Shawn. The host asks Shawn how he proposes to fix the money problems in the city. He messes up. Henry calls Shawn an idiot. Woody calls Shawn and tells him there were gray hairs that were not Channing’s on his wetsuit.

Straub comes and says he wants to help Shawn. He tells Shawn to go to a Founders Gala. Shawn brings Juliet as his date, while Swaggerty brings his daughter. Shawn goes to take pictures with him and questions him about Channing’s murder. Swaggerty gets angry and pushes Shawn away. Shawn and Juliet dance, even though he told her before he couldn’t dance. He tells her he took dancing lessons. Juliet tells Shawn he has to tell Chief Vick about his lie. He tells her he can’t, because then he won’t be able to do good anymore.

Shawn steals a hair from Swaggerty. Woody discovers the hair isn’t his. Straub comes into the office and tells Shawn he’s doing really well in polls and thinks he will be mayor. Lassiter, Gus, and Henry talk about Shawn becoming mayor. Shawn comes into the police department talking about what he will do as mayor. Shawn tells them all he’s going to drop out, but Henry tells him he can’t because then the press will find out information about his life.

Shawn notices Channing cheated on his wife. Lassiter says she doesn’t have gray hair, but Shawn says she did, but dyed it recently. Shawn talks to his wife and she says she was with him the night he died, but she didn’t kill him. Gus makes a terrible campaign ad for Shawn in order to lose the respect of the voters.

Shawn thinks one of the bookcases in Channing’s home was the murder weapon after seeing one is missing. He thinks it was someone who had easy entry into the house, like a worker. They go to check out his plumber Mike and sees he has a really expensive car. They go inside and find him dead on his floor. Shawn remembers he saw Mike at the mayor’s speech. Mike had $50,000 deposited into his account recently.

Shawn reveals Swaggerity’s ex-finance Abby had a relationship with Channing. Abby died, but it was an accident. Mike was blackmailing Channing about his relationship with Abby. He gave Mike $50,000, but he came to the speech wanting more money. Channing called his assistant Straub and he is the person who moved Abby’s body back to her house after she died at Channing’s home. Shawn announces Straub killed Channing and then Mike the plumber.

Shawn goes to talk to Chief Vick. He almost tells her he isn’t psychic, but Juliet comes in and says Shawn led her to Mike’s house to get the photos. The Chief is angry with them, but lets them off the hook. Shawn and Juliet talk and she tells him she couldn’t be selfish and have him reveal his lie. It seems like she is slowly beginning to trust him again.

Quotes and Comments:

"I like him. I like his house, his car, his hair. Plus, he smells like Christmas." (Shawn to Gus about Mayor Channing)

"My administration will be all about transparency, hot dog wieners of unusual lengths, and gladiatorial justice." (Shawn telling reporters what his admiration would be like)

"I can't believe I'm going to have to assassinate a public figure." (Lassiter talking about what he will have to do if Shawn wins the election)

This was definitely a solid episode of Psych. I really didn’t enjoy Shawn’s speech at the beginning, it was awkward and he came across as more arrogant than normal for me. There were great lines, like always, and I enjoyed seeing Shules connect again. I loved the tiny scene with Henry watching Shawn’s TV interview. I enjoyed Gus’s enthusiasm as campaign manager. I really like that Shawn decided his relationship with Juliet was worth telling Chief Vick he lied about being a psychic, and I’m just as glad Juliet decided he shouldn’t tell. I really think from the look on Chief Vick’s face, she already knows. Do you agree?

Photo Courtesy of NBC Universal