Season 5, Episode 9
One, Maybe Two, Ways Out
"Nadia, my codename is Dabney Wilhelm. Please call me that."
Directed by Mel Damski
Written by Andy Berman and Todd Harthan
A mysterious woman named Nadia, who claims to be a government superspy who once worked with Ewan O’Hara, approaches Shawn and Gus for help. She’s currently on the run, with two mysterious agents named Camden Driggs and Tom Fong hot on her trail. She’s looking to completely disappear, and is looking for one of the few other government agents to completely drop off the government’s radar and erase his identity: a former spy named Strabinksy. However, Driggs and Fong approach the SBPD, and reveal that Nadia apparently stole a lot of government money certificates and killed two diplomats during an incident in a Bolivian embassy. Now, Shawn has to figure out whether Nadia was truly behind the incident, or whether she’s being set up by someone else…Tropes:
- Air-Vent Passageway: Nadia uses one of these to sneak into a government building.
- Badass in Distress: Nadia is kidnapped by Fong, tied upside down, and hung from the ceiling while he tries to interrogate the location of the money certificates out of her.
- Big Damn Kiss: At the climax, Juliet and Shawn finally have one of these… which ends rather abruptly when Declan arrives, as he’s been dating Juliet. There’s a nice shot of the Rule of Symbolism when they part – a large portrait of Declan can be seen between them in the background, showing how he’s come between them.
- Black Helicopter: Driggs and Fong have one. They try using it to shoot Nadia with a Sniper Rifle in the beginning.
- Call-Back: Nadia apparently learned of Shawn and Gus from Ewan O’Hara, Juliet’s brother from ‘’You Can’t Handle This Episode’’, who mentioned them as having extraordinary sleuthing abilities.
- Conspicuous Trenchcoat: Shawn wears one during his rendezvous with Nadia, combined with a Newspaper-Thin Disguise.
- The Guards Must Be Crazy: After seeing one of his cohorts dropped to the floor, another guard pulls his weapon, approaches the body, and only then starts to call for backup as he crouches down next to him… letting Nadia kick him in the head.
- Hidden Wire: Shawn agrees to wear one while trying to worm a confession out of Nadia. She figures it out pretty quickly, and pretends to flirt with him while putting a piece of critical evidence in his pocket.
- Hollywood Encryption: Averted. When Nadia puts a gun to Strabinsky’s head and demands he open an encrypted file, he flatly admits he can’t do it – then played straight in terms of terminology when he explains that she needs a “Level 3 Computer” in a government building in order to do it.
- Incredibly Obvious Bomb: Nadia puts a very small one with a blinking red light on a computer she was working on in a government building, in order to cover her tracks and her escape.
- Love Confessor: Shawn sadly admits to Gus that he has very strong feelings for Juliet (even invoking O.O.C. Is Serious Business to let Gus know he’s not goofing around as usual), but doesn’t want to get in the way of her semi-serious relationship with Declan. However, he forgets that he’s still wearing a wire, and Juliet overhears.
- Mood Whiplash: The very beginning. Shawn and Gus are enjoying some ice cream during a bright sunny day, when they notice a pretty woman approaching them. Each of them playfully argues over which of them she’s undressing with her eyes… and then Shawn notices she has a gun. Cue a fast, tense chase as the detectives start sprinting away.
- Nervous Wreck: Strabinsky is extremely paranoid, and intensely frustrated that Shawn and Gus keep finding him relatively easily.
- Profound by Pop Song: Shawn goes full Large Ham when alluding to the dangers he and Gus had recently been dragged into. He caps it off by quoting Billy Ocean to his unamused dad, dressing up the stage name for an air of formality.Shawn: Now I know you all are wondering... Was it dangerous out there? [...] And to quote an unlikely source, Mr. William Ocean: "When the going gets tough, the tough get going."
Henry: Are we finished? - Spiteful Spit: When Nadia is held captive by Fong, she spits at him while she’s hanging upside down.
- Spy Catsuit: Nadia wears one, though it’s more utilitarian than most.
- Spy Satellites: One of them took a very important picture of Fong holding Nadia at gunpoint after the incident at the Bolivian embassy.
- This Is Reality: According to Nadia, when Shawn makes too many spy movie references.
- Would Hit a Girl: Fong slaps Nadia while interrogating her, then gets a taser ready. Turns out he was responsible for the incident at the Bolivian embassy, so add “frame” to the list, too.
- Written-In Absence: Chief Vick is apparently on vacation for the duration of the episode.
