Season 3, Episode 15
Tuesday the 17th
The episode opens in 1988 as little Shawn and Gus are being picked up from summer camp at Camp Tikihama. Shawn is furious with Gus because he ditched him for "golden boy Jason Cunningham" in the piñata competition. Shawn's piñata is then shown sunk down to the bottom of the lake, attached to a rock.
20 years later (present day), Annie, a camp counselor, is in her cabin on a stormy night watching a horror movie with a cold. She thinks she hears a noise and investigates, but after discovering that it was just an open window, she decides it was nothing. She then looks out the window and sees a mysterious figure with a potato sack over his head standing across the lake staring in at her, but she just thinks her eyes are playing tricks on her. She opens the refrigerator and sees a note written in blood which reads, "I see you." She backs up to the window when suddenly, the man she saw earlier bursts through it and attacks her just moments before the opening credits begin.
A day later, Shawn and Gus are returning to the Psych headquarters when they are stunned to be reunited with Jason Cunningham, but Shawn doesn't take it so well. After learning that Annie is missing, Shawn and Gus agree to help Jason look for her and return to Camp Tikihama where they meet Clive, Billy, and Sissi, as well as Jason in a strange state as if he's possessed. After investigating Annie's cabin, Shawn, Gus, and Sissi walk to the laundry shack where they find Annie's blood-soaked pajamas in the washing machine. After gathering Clive and Billy, they all go out to search for Annie, except for Shawn who stays behind and calls Juliet to come help them.
Later on, when Juliet arrives, the others return to find that Billy is missing and Juliet tells them to all get inside as a group. Meanwhile, Lassiter is meeting with his estranged wife Victoria and later discovers that the only reason she wanted to get together with him was for him to sign their divorce papers (sadly, he does).
Back at Camp Tikihama, Jason interrupts a conversation in the main cabin, then leaves. Shawn decides to go after him while the others stay behind. As he is searching, Shawn notices that the washing machine in the laundry shack is running again and walks toward it. Inside, he finds Annie tied to a chair, supposedly strangled to death, then a man with a potato sack over his head carrying a machete. Shawn is chased outside of the shack and back to the main cabin where he trips and is attacked, but quickly realizes that this is all just a setup and stops Juliet from shooting the "killer", who is revealed to be Jason. It is also revealed that Annie, Billy, and Gus were all in on the plan in order to get back at Shawn for all the times he scared Gus when they were kids.
As a storm approaches, the whole gang gathers inside for a party when Shawn discovers the body of the camp's janitor, Crazy Old Erwen, floating in the lake. Juliet tries to phone an ambulance but soon learns that all the phone lines have been knocked out, preventing her from getting a signal, and all the roads have been completely blocked by fallen trees from the oncoming lightning storm.
A while later, Annie decides to go back to her cabin to take a shower while the others stay back to play a game of Strip Cribbage. After getting out, Annie notices a man with a potato sack over his head carrying an ax standing behind her, whom she mistakes for Jason, only to be murdered off-screen.
Meanwhile, Shawn decides to have another look at Erwen's body after suspecting that there might just be a little more to this case than he'd originally expected. The power is then cut all throughout the camp and Billy leaves to try and fix it, but ends up being electrocuted by the killer, causing the power to come back on.
After some hard thinking, Shawn finally figures out that Clive is the killer and he and Juliet go out to investigate, later finding the bodies of Billy and Annie. Back at the main cabin, Gus, Sissi, and Jason are interrupted by a mysterious sound. Just then, the killer appears from around the corner and charges at the trio, but Jason risks his life by charging back at him and gets stabbed while Gus and Sissi escape.
Sissi runs up to Shawn and tells him that the killer was in the cabin and points over to Gus fighting him before Shawn rushes to save him, thinking Gus has lost, but it turns out he won. Shawn is attacked by Clive, who is now unmasked and furious, and just as he is about to attack Shawn with his machete, Juliet comes to the rescue and shoots Clive in the hand, knocking the machete out of his grip.
The next morning, paramedics and ambulances arrive and take Jason and Sissi to the hospital, when Gus learns that the two are actually engaged. The episode concludes with Shawn, Juliet, and Gus standing by the water staring out on to the lake, relieved that their nightmare is finally over. Gus also apologizes to Shawn for ditching him with Jason twenty years prior (Shawn accepts).
- Actually Pretty Funny:
- After piecing everything together and realizing that Jason was playing a prank on him, Shawn is amused and joins Jason and everyone else for a drink, letting go of his grudge toward him.
- Earlier, when Gus makes his comment about not wanting to go outside because Black Dude Dies First, Clive, who is already planning to go on a real killing spree at that point, laughs.
- Affectionate Parody: To the 80s Slasher Movie, in particular, the Friday the 13th franchise.
- All Just a Prank: The "killing spree" of the first two acts of the episode are revealed to be just a test of the "slasher" camp Jason is creating, and the third act drops a huge deconstruction when this is one of the stressors (the biggest one being that they are using his deceased dad as the "slasher") that makes Clive go on a true rampage.
- Bittersweet Ending: Clive is arrested and most of the episode's cast survive, but three people are dead (Annie, the janitor, and Billy) and one is nearly fatally injured (Jason); Jason's slasher camp idea is most likely ruined due to all the murders that have happened; Gus learns that Sissi is Jason's fiancé, meaning he had no chance with her; and Shawn, Gus, and Juliet are disturbed and traumatized by the night's events, with the mood not being lifted after a quip from Shawn. Meanwhile, in the subplot, Lassie prepares for what he thinks is a date with his estranged wife, Victoria, only to learn that the reason she invited him to dinner was to finalize their divorce, to which he sadly complies.
- Call-Back: Turns out Shawn and Gus really did go to Camp Tikihama, first mentioned in Bounty Hunters!. The song that Tankana improvised, with Creepy Children Singing, plays over the shot of the camera descending into the lake to end on Shawn's discarded Rick Astley piñata.
- Character Development: Lassiter's come a long way in two and a half seasons; he even admits as much to his now ex-wife when saying goodbye.
- Color Wash: The scenes occurring in and around Camp Tikihama have a desaturated color palette to reflect the 80s Slasher Movie aesthetic.
- Creepy Doll: The episode includes a creepy doll as part of the Camp's props, modeled closely after the extremely creepy (and allegedly haunted) "Robert" doll in Key West, Florida.
- Creepy Good: Jason gives off creepy vibes but turns out to be benign.
- Curse Cut Short:Gus: SHOOT THAT MOTHERF—
BANG! - Disproportionate Retribution: Clive's ultimate plan is to prevent Jason from opening the camp. However, not only was attacking and killing the other employees an over-the-top action by anyone else's standards, but it's implied that Annie and Billy never knew about the camp's theme until after they arrived, and Annie in particular didn't seem that agreeable to Jason's plan. Unfortunately by then, Clive had gotten so Ax-Crazy that he assumed they were all in on it, even Shawn, Gus, and Juliet.
- Dude, Not Funny!: When Clive reveals his dad's the guy who died at the camp all those years ago. He's disgusted that Jason was trying to turn the camp into a "slasher camp" by capitalizing on his dad's death as a selling point.
- Episode Title Card: One that mimics the one at the beginning of Friday the 13th (1980).
- Foot-Dragging Divorcee: Lassiter has been holding out on his estranged wife. He's surprised to learn the dinner isn't to reconcile; it's to get him to sign the divorce papers.
- High-Voltage Death:
- Billy is killed when the killer uses a wet mop to push him into a fuse box.
- The reason the camp shut down in the first place is because a repairman (revealed to be Clive's father) was electrocuted in its swimming pool.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Attempted three times.
- Shawn thrusts himself in front of the killer (Jason) so Juliet won't shoot him once he realizes that the slasher's "weapon" is fake.
- Jason charges at the actual killer to save Sissi and Gus. He's stabbed but survives.
- Shawn charges at the killer with the express purpose of saving Gus, not knowing that Gus has already fought off the killer. Hilarity Ensues.
- Hypocritical Humor: Juliet is not very happy about the "slasher camp", and Clive's whole motive revolves around him taking revenge on the slasher camp...by re-enacting a slasher movie.
- Impaled Palm: A variation when Juliet shoots Clive's hand to disarm him of his machete.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: On a dark and stormy night, cold wind in her hair, Juliet manages to shoot Clive in the hand as he's raving and swinging his machete.
- It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: The episode's third act takes place over one, in old-fashioned slasher tradition.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Lassiter admits at the end of his subplot that as much as he wants Victoria back, he loves her enough to let her go so they can both move on.
- Let's Split Up, Gang!: Parodied and defied. There are a couple instances where the characters split up to look for someone. The first time is part of the camp’s slasher parody charm. However, when people start dying for real, Juliet instructs people not to leave while she goes outside.
- Mood Whiplash:
- The mood starts off like a regular Pysch episode, with jokes and numerous shout-outs, but once people actually start dying, the episode takes a much darker tone, even with all the jokes.
- Lassiter's subplot where he's going to dinner with his wife, whom he's been separated from for two years and hopes to make up with, starts off all hopeful and upbeat, only for his wife to reveal at dinner that she only invited him to finalize their divorce.
- Out-of-Character Moment: Gus's lack of squeamishness over finding red-spattered clothing in the drier is one of the things to eventually tip Shawn off that the slasher scares are just part of the theme for the camp and that Gus already knew about it.
- Rewatch Bonus:
- Billy tries to tell Shawn and Gus the real deal about Camp Tikihama when they first arrive, but is quickly cut off by Jason. It's only after the twist is revealed that what he's trying to say becomes clear.
- When the initial investigation starts to heat up, Sissy laments that she had let Jason talk her into participating in the camp. Billy admonishes her for questioning Jason, saying the phrase "you of all people" before getting cut off. This alludes to the fact that Sissy is Jason's fiancee, the final Reveal at the end of the episode.
- Sackhead Slasher: The killer is one of these, in the vein of Jason from Friday the 13th Part 2.
- Slasher Movie: Oh so much, but specific shout-outs include:
- The title and the head guy's name, Jason, from Friday the 13th.
- The Sackhead Slasher from Friday the 13th Part 2.
- April Fools' Day: Initially, the "killings" are set up by Jason as a dry run to scare Shawn.
- I Know What You Did Last Summer: The "fisherman".
- Take Our Word for It: We aren't shown Billy or Annie's dead bodies, only Jules and Shawn's reactions to finding them. Both of them look suitably disgusted and terrified.
- Wham Line: As Jason is being loaded into the ambulance, Sissi reveals to Gus that Jason is her fiancé. Since he was crushing on her for the whole episode, he’s left devastated by the news.
- You Killed My Father: A variant, befitting the Affectionate Parody of slasher movies. Clive turns out to be opposed to the whole idea of the "slasher camp" because his father died there twenty years ago.
