Recap: ‘100 Clues’
Shawn gets invited to a dinner party at the local Mansion by an unknown host. When Juliet is called in for duty, he invites Gus to tag along with him. After all guests arrived, it becomes clear that they all have ties with Rock singer Billy Lipps, who was arrested for the man slaugher of band muse Melinda Lane five years prior and was recently released from prison.
Not long after Lipps announces himself their host, longtime manager Highway Harry drops dead, and the search for the killer begins. Lassiter and O’Hara show up at the doorstep of the Mansion, in pursuit of a case, and when not much later band member RIP is found in a frozen condition, all guests are questioned by the detectives, in vain. The bell rings again for legendary singer / songwriter Curt Smith who was shot earlier in the evening and can identify the killer. Sadly however, he loses conciousness before he can point anyone out.
After a step by step replay of the events of the evening, Shawn comes to the conclusion that their host is not the killer. The actual culprit is either the loyal Butler Clizby, Martin Kahn, the biographer who went to Harvard, or the not-so-dead-after-all manager, Highway Harry. Viewers were able to vote who did it, and the East Coast picked the Butler, while the West Coast picked The Author. Mystery solved!
“.. For he’s a jolly good fellow, for he’s a jolly good fellow.”
It was nearly impossible to miss that this week Psych celebrated its epic 100th episode. As someone who has enjoyed the Clue movie many a time over the years, Psych’s choice to mark the exceptional occassion with an homage to the 1985 cult classic, was a magnificent marketing move as well as a wonderful treat for the fans.
For the first time this season we got a flashback before the actual episode began. Now that little Shawn and Gus have aged too much to still be part of the tv series, I think it was a really smart (not to mention hilarious) alternative to go back to 2007, right after the Pilot. Even though it was evident that all actors in the scene had aged, seeing the boys in their rock costumes alone was worth the trouble; Feathers and silver eyeshadow really do suit James Roday! I will argue for the sake of my love for the scene that the reason why there was little tension between Shawn and Henry, was due to the mere fact of the latter being completely wasted–which resulted in a perfectly comical finger-to-head impression from an intoxicated Henry, asking “Wait a minute, you’re here on a case?” right after realizing he might actually have something in common with his estranged son.
Then there was Lassiter. Dear Carlton, the smouldering, suffering Head Detective, straight from the year 2007. It was all there: The hair, the suit, the tie, the attitude, the annoyance towards Shawn .. With this taste of delicious flavor, I can only beg for more of such flashbacks to come.
As we’re used from Psych homages, this episode was packed with little nudges, winks and goodies for anyone who paid attention. To start with, there were the actors who played the guests to the mysterious dinner party at the Bella Rosa Mansion. Christopher Llloyd (as Martin Kahn), Lesley Ann Warren (as Lesley, the groupie), and Martin Mull (as Highway Harry) were respectively Professor Plum, Miss Scarlet and Colonel Mustard in the original movie. The guest’s names were the names of actors who played in Clue. There was a peacock, a moose, as well as all murder weapons we know so well from the board game–just to name a few. If one took the time to make a list, I can assure you it would contain at least one plus one plus one plus one… er.. fifty references!
Watching “100 Clues” felt like meeting up with an old friend and taking a cozy stroll down the memory lane of our friendship. We got to see Shawn and Gus randomly bursting out in song and dance not once, but twice. (‘It’s a Secret Party’ and ‘The Chocolate Room Song’ would instantly hit the charts if released, as I’m sure Billy Lipps’ ‘Together Alone’ would..) Not to forget the melodieusly tuned ‘Suck iiiiit’ from the guys after their licorice pastels fight. They had fun–we had fun.
While I’m sad that we didn’t get to see the actual chocolate room that would have made my Willy Wonka dreams come true, we got to see something else that I would not have wanted to miss: Gus crying hysterically in the hidden toupé room. Of all the places he could have ended up in, I can imagine the waterfal of tears following such disappointment. Who in the world would prefer fake hair over creamy chocolate! If Gus hurries over to Minsk though, he can still enjoy the room artist Elena Kliment created out of 1300 pounds of Belgium chocolate, which will be on display until April 14th of this year. It might be worth his while to spend time in the area more often, since building rooms out of chocolate seems to be quite popular. Two years ago, artist Mindaugas Tendziagolskis built her room in Vilarus, Lithuania.
The absolute star of this episode was Billy Lipps (Steve Valentine). His impersonation of an extravagant, born-again-turned-Jewish rock star was impecable, and his delivery of the already cracking lines was so over the top excellent, he stole every scene he was in. Hats off to Todd Harthan for writing jewels like this one:
“But what is important is that I discovered the power of faith. I found God, and Jesus. And I asked them to strike down Appetite with a holy vengence. But they didn’t, so now I’m Jewish. Full on, with the hat and everything.”
(For those wondering–in a live tweet during the airing of the episode, writer Saladin Paterson revealed that “Appetite” was the flamboyant, ghetto-fabulous queen in my neighborhood growing up.”)
However (there’s always a ‘however!’), there was one thing that I cannot digest, and no that wasn’t poor Curt Smith–who I’ll come back to in a moment–but the existance of Billy’s pet panther Emma, who was roaming around freely on a premises to which guests were invited. While I get the joke, I do not think it was necessary for her to be part of the story at all, to me it felt too unrealistic, too over the top to be enjoyed. Surely there must have been another way to make it impossible for Gus to leave when the events got too heated? A flat tyre comes to mind as a possible alternative, one that’s even somewhat in line with Clue. I would say that a gunshot would have done Curt Smith in just as much without the added stress of an attack–from which he strangely enough, while weakened after being shot in the diaphram, escaped.
But Emma got a second chance to finish off the lovely reaccuring guest star. I have to admit, that even though I didn’t find her presence necessary, it was extremely funny (not to say disturbing) how Shawn, Gus, and the paramedics left Curt out to die when she reappeared in the final scene. What is to happen with the much desired ‘Curt Smith–duets with Curt Smith’ album? For sure he must survive! I bet he sung the panther a duet that caused her to spare him. Right?
From the singing telegram to the special trading card opening credits, from the spiritual British Rock God to the guest stars straight out of the movies–Psych pulled out the big guns for their celebratory episode, and they hit the target like a screaming doorbell. “Which nobody can deny!”
