Season 2, Episode 3
Psy vs. Psy
"We don't ask for commendation for what is merely our proud honor of servitude to our country... perhaps just a small hug."
Directed by Mel Damski
Written by Andy Berman
Shawn and Gus are summoned to Chief Vick's office with Lassiter and Juliet to meet special agent Lars Ewing, of the treasury department, and his assistant, Lindsay Leikin. It seems a notorious counterfeiter named Steven Grabinski has come to Santa Barbara, and Lindsay has come closer than anyone to catching him. Shawn's flirting with her comes to an abrupt end when she reveals she intends to beat him at the case, and expose him as a fraud in the process. Worse, she moves and works so quickly that it looks like she may very well be able to do both…Tropes:
- Alliterative Name: As fitting for a show with a "psychic" named Shawn Spencer, the "psychic" in this episode is Lindsay Leikin.
- Always Someone Better: Lindsay seems to be this to Shawn at first – she works faster than him, and gets such a huge jump ahead of Shawn that he's visibly frustrated about it. However, he manages to spot a clue that she missed, and she soon seems genuinely concerned that she might fall behind him. Both the major leap ahead and the subsequent screw-up are due to the fact that she's working with the counterfeiter.
- Ewing seems to be this to Lassiter; Lassiter spends the early parts of the episode trying to ingratiate himself to the government agent. Soon enough, however, he gets sick of being ignored while Ewing flirts with O'Hara, and it turns into both trying to one-up the other.
- Broken Pedestal: Shawn is less disgusted that Lindsay tried to expose him as a fake, and more that she was working with the counterfeiter the entire time.
- Chekhov's Gun: Mildred, Ewing's personal stenographer, turns out to be instrumental in solving the case and stopping Lindsay from taking Shawn hostage.
- Cold Open: This one has a young Shawn dragged into the principal’s office by Henry after Shawn forges his signature.
- The Comically Serious: Special Agent Lars Ewing, of the treasury department. "If I learned to laugh as a child, I would right now."
- Cordon Bleugh Chef: Shawn's pineapple upside-down cake. He made it in an Easy-Bake oven, so it took 24 hours to cook. It's tiny, it's not upside-down, and it's still raw inside.
- Counterfeit Cash: Grabinski's M.O. He's very good at it, too – not perfect, but very good.
- Crazy-Prepared: Agent Ewing has his own stenographer that he takes with him everywhere. Her name is Mildred.
- Distaff Counterpart: Lindsay Leikin seems to be this to Shawn at first – a "psychic" with an Alliterative Name and a somewhat flippant attitude towards everything (though she comes across as far more professional than Shawn). Over the course of the episode, the differences start showing themselves more clearly than ever.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Juliet gets lost in a fantasy about what Ewing was up to when he called her at 2AM.
- Forged Message: Shawn forged his father's signature as a child to try and go on a field trip. Henry saw through it immediately, but the school officials were slower on the uptake.
- Gilligan Cut: Shawn grows bored of watching the interview with the Home Depot employee who received the counterfeit bill, and decides to take Gus into the main store to search out the culprit's "aura", claiming "Because that is what real psychics do!". Cut to Shawn fooling around on an employee lifting/loading machine.
- Handsome Lech: Agent Ewing swerves between this and Casanova Wannabe. He spends a lot of his screentime shamelessly flirting with Juliet. She seems impressed by his skills (and body), but ultimately turns him down.
- Hostage Situation: At the very end, Lindsay tries taking Shawn hostage while she gets on a plane and bails. It doesn't end well for her.
- Jurisdiction Friction: Chief Vick tells everyone to cooperate, but follows up by insisting they won't get shown up on their own turf.
- The Mole: Lindsay turns out to be this, she was actually working for Grabinski.
- Not What It Looks Like: When Ewing tackles Leiken after she's unmasked as the villain and tries to take Shawn hostage, she ends up on her back while he's laying down on top of her. Even though they all saw it happen and knew he was just trying to make the arrest, he still has to point out to Shawn, Gus, Carlton, and Juliet that he didn't mean for it to look inappropriate.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: After sleeping with Lindsay, Shawn wakes up to find her already long-gone. He believes that it was just to get him out of the way while she got up early and caught Grabinski herself. He's half-right – she got up to get him out of the way while she caught Grabinski and killed him. She claims she actually felt something for him, but it's debatable how honest this is.
- Shout-Out: The title is one to Spy vs. Spy.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Ewing gets one of these at the very end. Turns out Lassiter spilled coffee on his shirt. O'Hara is very appreciative.
