Recap: ‘The Santa Barbarian Candidate’
The day after a ceremony for the SBPD and Psych, Santa Barbara’s Mayor, Gavin Channing, is found dead. Certain his would-be surfing buddy’s death wasn’t an accident, Shawn immediately starts looking for answers. When Woody confirms that the Mayor was likely murdered, Shawn takes on one of his most incredible undercover investigations to date; by running for Mayor. And Shawn’s rival for the position? Tom Swaggerty; the man who would have automatically become Mayor after Channing’s death, and who happens to be the number one suspect for the murder. Shawn’s campaign is led by Gus and the Mayor Channing’s former campaign manager, Jason Staub.
Overcome with emotion, Juliet blindsides Shawn with an ultimatum; confess to Chief Vick that he isn’t a psychic. With the chance of a future with Juliet on the table, Shawn makes the hard choice to do it and heads into the Chief’s office. Seeing that Shawn plans to go through with her request, Juliet suddenly realizes that demanding this confession is selfish of her and she races into the office to stop him just in time.
“I say it’s all about connection with the partner. You have the right partner, there’s nothing you can’t do.”
– Shawn
Everyone is a fan of something, and when you are a fan of a tv show, chances are you have a favourite writer. Tim Meltreger, who wrote this week’s episode, is in my top 2 of Psych writers–I can never choose between him and Andy Berman–so you can imagine how much I’ve been looking forward to “Santa Barbarian Candidate”. A dangerous thing, because putting someone on a pedestal, means you’re either going to be spoiled rotten, or turn out to be terribly disappointed. I blame getting off on the wrong foot with this episode for the latter.
Do not get me wrong; I’m not saying that I thought this episode was bad. There were plenty of good things to enjoy, which I’ll be praising in a moment. On my personal scale, however, the end result was average. Average, to me, is simply not good enough. This is a writer who usually shows an abundance of character growth and who lets us peek inside the minds of the main characters from a different angle. A writer who is never afraid to show us a more vulnerable side to the characters. However, what we got in the first couple of minutes, scared the hell out of me and I do not think I was able to recover entirely within the following 40 minutes.
Instead of the more evolved Shawn Spencer, Meltreger gave us one who regressed back to Season Five. A rude, childish, cringe-worthy, selfish, and not even slightly funny version who high-jacks the honoring of Chief Vick’s achievements, truly made no sense to me at all in this stage of the series. The argument that Shawn’s actions could be seen as a misplaced way to impress Juliet is unconvincing to me, because it obviously only drove her away further. This was especially lamentable due to the progress they’d made last week. It was like we’d turned a wrong corner back to 2011 and all I wanted was simply to get back to the future.
It was difficult to even crack a smile at lines which I’d usually adore like “What is genius? Can you bottle it? Is it something you’d even want to bottle?”. I was looking at a train crash with the most heaviest of hearts.
If Shawn’s behaviour in the opening scene was merely there to have Juliet be mad with him again, I’m sure that could have been achieved in a way less alienating for the fans, something that was less aggravating and more subtle that would still get a rise out of Juliet.
Now onwards and forward to better things.
The award for the sweetest moment of this episode should most definitely be given to the beautiful dance shared between Shawn and Juliet at the Founders Gala. Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You” was the perfect choice of song to go along with Juliet’s realisation that her former lover can actually dance! (Is there anything more romantic while slow-dancing than a dip? Let me state right here that there is not.) It was important for Shawn to come clean here about yet another lie, to showcase his incapability to be dishonest with her if not necessary for his job; that the guilt about his lie had driven him to take the class he’d skipped for a fun Festival day out with Gus. It showed Juliet that he was not a cold-hearted liar, that he wasn’t exactly like her father and thus making room in her heart to let him back in. Slowly, of course, as is realistic with long-standing traumas.
Juliet’s confusion with Shawn was rather believable to me. I can imagine her being overcome with her thoughts and emotions in such a way that she needed to be alone for a moment to try and make sense of it all. She needed to breathe, and that is not possible when you’re in the arms of the person who takes your breath away.
I’m grateful that, unlike many other things in his life, Shawn had decided early on that he was going to fight for Juliet, which is something we have witnessed in every episode since the break up. I’m probably one of the few who is disappointed that it took her only three episodes to accept him back in her life, partly. Then again, the journey was written out so well by all writers involved, with respect for the characters and their choices, instead of turning it into a Gossip Girl-like drama, that I can live with it. Thank goodness, right?
Shawn’s speech about him being a Psychic accounting for probably hundreds of lies since they worked together, was probably my favorite scene. The speech was so heartfelt, another attempt of a desperate Shawn to fight for what he’d lost. I was particularly taken with his assessment that she’d always been the one who’d believed him most, because that’s probably the whole point. Juliet had no doubts whatsoever and if he could shatter her world that easily, would it be worth the risk of getting hurt again? Because underneath her tough exterior, Juliet is a sensitive woman who doesn’t heal that easily.
I’m not entirely sure how much of Juliet’s demand for Shawn to tell Chief Vick the truth was coming from a genuine desire to see him lay it all on the table. This would have ruined not only his career, but also risked destroying every single case he’d worked on. It’s also possible that this was mostly a test for her to see if he’d be willing to risk it all. If the latter was the case, he did pass with flying colours! However, it was quite the risk to take because there was no guarantee that she’d be present to save the day. Which means, in my opinion, that she had little faith he would choose her over his lies and that makes me very sad for Juliet. No one has ever chosen her over their lies, so the fact that Shawn did, means a tremendous amount, and must have restored quite a lot of her trust in him. This was very clear in the final scene (when they were walking in the park), and she was allowing herself to joke along with him, throwing off quite a bit of her heavy armour in order to be able to be light-hearted with him.
In the episode “In Plain Fright”, penned by Steve Franks and Tim Meltreger, Gus expressed his dream to run for office one day. In that light, I have difficulty understanding–character-wise, not story-wise–why it was such an obvious choice for Shawn to be up for the Mayor election, even if it was just a charade. It could, after all, have been Gus’s only chance to have a taste of his sweet dream! In this universe of course, for we all know that Dulé Hill’s alter ego, Charlie Young, might have been heading into that direction after he left the White House in the brilliant series The West Wing. In that light, the glow emanating from Gus when he was walking through City Hall, with his best friend, towards the late Mayor’s office and fantasizing about making it all the way to the White House, was such a joy to watch! Their banter was the perfect ode to the West Wing.
It was wonderful to have not just one but two characters previously portrayed by Dulé Hill referenced in this episode. While it wasn’t the first time Holes has been mentioned (the first time being in “65 Million Years Off”), Gus saying “I can fix that” TWICE, was a fantastic homage to his character of Sam the Onion Man in the Disney movie, this being his catch-phrase.
Gus was on a roll this episode. He really did a fantastic job as a campaign manager and, ironically, I’d say he was especially good creating commercials to destroy Shawn’s chances of becoming the next Mayor of Santa Barbara. Starting with the shot of Shawn that we first saw in “Not Even Close… Encounters” (“Oh my God, I look like K.D. Lang!”), in front of the official flag of the State of California, also referred to as the ‘Bear Flag’, was not exactly an attractive opening. Bombs, traffic jams, pelicans covered in oil, crying babies.. Death and destruction is a vision not often shared in an election, so to some it may have been a refreshingly honest ad. I’m willing to bet though, that to most people the commercial should have done the trick!
I need to give major kudos to my absolute favourite guest star, the ‘crazy dog poop woman’ at the public forum, played by Darla Fay. She was brilliant and stayed in character so well throughout the entire scene! I loved that she was so preoccupied with her, probably very well prepared speech, that she didn’t even blink after hearing Shawn’s accusation but just grabbed the mike again to continue her point. “I mean, does my dog get a bill, every time I do my business?” I sure hope not!
One thing I do hope is for Emilio Estevez to make a full deck and become part of the Psych saga in Season 8. With Anthony Michael Hall playing an upcoming guest part in the Season Finale, and ‘Carl, the janitor’ John Kapelos having been the likable Tom Swaggerty in this episode, Estavez is the only remaining member of the Brat Pack who has not yet made his appearance on the show. If I close my eyes and concentrate, I can hear him calling out: “Don’t you forget about me…”
Overall, there were plenty of enjoyable moments in this episode, but I would have liked to see more depth and development. But in the end, who can complain when handed a new expression? If you need me, I’m “Boning up on the lingo.” No matter what Gus says it not being a thing, it should be, and I’m going to start using it. You know that’s right!
