Season 2, Episode 13
Lights, Camera… Homicidio
"He's only got a couple of lines...".
Directed by Matt Shakman
Written by Andy Berman
Shawn and Gus are called onto the set of Gus' favorite Spanish telenovela, "Explosión Gigantesca de Romance", to look into a fatal stabbing. It looks like an Open-and-Shut Case, with actor Jorge Gama-Lobo caught on camera stabbing the victim, Renaldo Nunez, while filming a scene where his character actually murders Nunez's character. However, Jorge insists somebody switched the prop knife with a real one without his knowledge. Shawn sees enough evidence to believe Jorge is innocent. There's a murderer somewhere on the set, and now Shawn may very well have to join the cast of the show in order to prove it... if he can get past the harried writers, hotheaded divas, and a killer who's still out there.Tropes:
- Accidental Murder: Jorge unknowingly stabs Nunez with a real knife while they're filming a scene for the telenovela. Unfortunately for him, Lassiter doesn't believe Jorge when he pleads his innocence.
- Addictive Foreign Soap Opera: Everyone in Santa Barbara is obsessed with the telenovela, even those who can't speak Spanish. Henry is counted among its viewers.
- Blatant Lies: Gus and Henry both pretend not to be fucking huge fans. So does Juliet.
- Cannot Tell Fiction from Reality:
- Turns out Henry watches the show as well. After walking onto the set, he briefly chews out Shawn for some of the dreadful things Shawn's character "Chad" did, before Shawn corrects him. Shawn realizes that if someone as grounded as Henry can screw that up, then maybe someone else did the same thing...
- Earlier, when Lassiter questions one of the actresses, she mentions a few things Nunez's character did on the show as examples of violent behavior.
- Dyeing for Your Art: In-universe, Shawn gets a Latin glow-up to appear appropriate for the telenovela.
- Failed Attempt at Drama: This time Shawn's the one who fails. Like three times in a row in the hospital where he fails to tell Gus that it wasn't an attempted suicide, but an attempted murder.
- Gratuitous Spanish: Quite a bit—even in the title—since the entire episode revolves around a Spanish-language telenovela. They even translated the theme song!
- The Heart: Finally Lampshaded by O'Hara regarding the fact that Shawn and Gus have only known the suspected murderer (and another victim) for less than a week.O'Hara: HOW does he make friends so fast?
- Lady Looks Like a Dude: Jorge's sister is repeatedly mistaken for a man by Shawn and Gus due to her masculine appearance.
- Large Ham: Shawn's normal behavior fits right in on a telenovela.
- Loony Fan: A woman in craft services named Kelly is obsessed with the character Corrinne. She Cannot Tell Fiction from Reality, and tried to improve things for Corrinne by taking out some unpleasant people in her life—killing an innocent actor and hospitalizing another in the process.
- Mistaken for Gay: Juliet's attempts to ingratiate herself with the new female police officer end up getting her a sexual harassment charge.
- Never Suicide: Jorge was hospitalized after someone tried to kill him and leave a "suicide" note confessing to the murder.
- Rapid-Fire "No!": Lassiter is not pleased to see Shawn as the show's newest actor, letting loose a string of no's.
- Nice Guy: Jorge is absurdly calm and accepting as Shawn and Gus repeatedly refer to his sister as his brother, "No, this guy right here.". This dude definitely couldn't get upset enough to murder someone.
- Not Quite Dead: After just about everyone in Corrinne's life beats Chad to death at the end of the episode, they throw him down a well... only for Chad to rise back out after they've left with a cruel smirk on his face.
- Not-So-Fake Prop Weapon: Nunez was accidentally killed by Jorge as a result of the prop knife being switched for a real one. Poor Jorge didn't realize it in time.
- The Prima Donna: Quintessa Gabriel, who plays the character Corrinne. She treats most of her co-workers with thinly-veiled contempt, and the rest of them with open contempt. She's slightly more cordial to Shawn by the end.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: An in-story example, as Jorge's character is temporarily pulled off the show right in the middle of an important love triangle story arc because Jorge is under investigation for murder. Later, Shawn's presence on the set leads to his briefly taking on the role of a deliveryman named "Chad". At the very end, when the real killer is exposed, "Chad" figures it out on set during a live broadcast of the show.
- Real Men Wear Pink: During the Cold Open, young Shawn walks in on Henry absorbed by his wife's favorite soap opera.
- Spotting the Thread: Initally, Shawn thinks it's an open and shut case as well (to Gus's disappointment), but when he watches the video of the death, he notices Jorge looks genuinely surprised at what happened. If he was trying to kill Nunez, he would've been angry or satisfied at the death.
- Sting: When Shawn sees a hair from a wig on Jorge's head, he realizes whoever killed Nunez tried to kill Jorge as well. However, Gus is a bit slow on the uptake to Shawn’s hints, resulting in three stings as Shawn becomes progressively less subtle trying to explain it to him.
- Take That!: "What? That's it? You just point and say it's her? Don't you have any sense of dramatic tension, of build up? What are we, on Blossom?"
- Too Unhappy to Be Hungry: Jorge is this after he stabs Nunez. It saves his life, as someone tries to poison his food.
- Variations on a Theme Song: This episode's theme is sung in Spanish.
