Back in Santa Barbara, Chief of Police Carlton Lassiter is shot six times by a mystery assailant. The road to recovery will be a long one, bringing Shawn and Gus back to town to figure out what happened to their friend. Even more, it becomes apparent that things are amiss at Lassie's rehab facility. Along with working the case, Shawn reckons with the prospect of fatherhood and his ever-rocky relationship with his own father.
This film contains examples of:
- Accidental Pervert: Gus's bugged phone accidentally causes him to take a photo of an angry, armed Norseman's penis. Twice. And then tweet it.
- Actor Allusion: Sarah Chalke (best known as a doctor on Scrubs) plays Lassiter's nurse. She also initially refuses to permit Lassiter's new dog to stay. Her character once snuck a woman's dog into the hospital on that show.
- Affably Evil: Turns out Dolores the nurse is the mastermind of the recovery home plot.
- An Arm and a Leg: Morrissey finds a severed hand near the home where Lassiter is convalescing.
- The Bus Came Back: Several, again.
- The dog, Steven Morrissey, makes a new appearance. Turns out Vick hated him and abandoned him at the new Psych office, so they brought him down to Santa Barbara to give him to Lassie.
- Buzz and Marlowe make appearances.
- The Butcher: Ova, the Butcher of B... of something.
- Call-Back: Lassie’s habit of hiding guns everywhere comes up near the end when the culprit is about to kill him.
- Crazy-Prepared: Lassiter hasn't changed. He has three guns hidden in his room.
- Dead Person Conversation: Lassie has a conversation with his departed dad.
- Eye Scream: Selene stabs the Norwegian in the eye with her pregnancy test.
- Faking the Dead: The tech millionaire who committed suicide actually just cut his own hand off and faked his death. He shows up and gets shot to death almost immediately.
- Found Family: In the movie and in real life. The gang gets back together in Santa Barbara because Lassiter's been shot. The cast and crew arranged things so that Omundson can participate despite his illness.
- Gaslighting: The hospital staff gaslight Lassiter over the things he's seeing.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Selene doesn't react well when she learns a nurse has a crush on Gus.
- It's Personal: No one is willing to abandon Lassie's case because they care deeply about him.
- Lampshade Hanging: "In all the years I've owned a motorcycle, have you ever seen me ride it?"
- Mistaken for Pregnant: Shawn discovers a positive pregnancy test in his car and spends most of the movie freaking out over the thought of Juliet being pregnant. It's later revealed that the test belongs to Selene.
- Noodle Incident: Apparently Ewan dragged Gus and Shawn with him to Norway after The Stinger of the last movie.
- Once an Episode: As with the previous movie, Mary shows up in a dream to help Shawn.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: The film's title shouts out Lassie Come Home while also directly referring to Carlton "Lassie" Lassiter recovering in a facility after his near-fatal shooting.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: Tim Omundson's stroke and ensuing paralysis was written in as a result of Lassiter having been shot.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Getting shot six times is not a walk in the park. Especially not when you suffer a stroke during the emergency surgery. And serious depression can follow a crippling injury like that.
- The Teaser: The movie opens with Lassiter being shot multiple times by a mysterious villain in a hoodie.
