Season 5, Episode 11
In Plain Fright
"...your eyes are closed, and you're pretending to be startled by things."
Directed by Stephen Surjik
Written by Steve Franks and Tim Meltreger
While accompanying Gus through a Haunted House ride at the local amusement park’s Halloween “Scare Fest” event, Shawn notices one of the scares looks a little too real: a man stuffing a body into a fake coffin. Soon, they find that the body is very real; it belonged to the park president. But who would want him dead? Soon, other bodies start piling up, and mounting evidence starts pointing to a man named Johnny Ricketts… who died in an accident 15 years ago, in the same park, the last time the park had a Scare Fest event…Tropes:
- All Part of the Show: Played with. The murder in the beginning takes place in an amusement park’s haunted house ride. Shawn’s the only witness (Gus was too scared to look), and he’s basically the only one who doesn’t think it’s part of the show – the real challenge is convincing anyone else.
- Amusement Park of Doom: Not most of the time, but 15 years ago, a man named Johnny Ricketts was killed during the Halloween Scare Fest event when the decorations on the Ferris Wheel interfered with a latch belt, sending him plummeting to his death. Then Scare Fest comes back… and other people start dying under mysterious circumstances…
- Blatant Lies: Gus spends much of the Haunted House ride with his head between his knees, claiming he’s “drinking it all in”.
- The Bus Came Back: Ken Wong, Shawn and Gus’ former Butt-Monkey assistant from “Romeo and Juliet and Juliet” is now working at the park, and he does help them sneak backstage with some encouragement… and is soon fired for it. Shawn and Gus promise to help him find work.
- Cassandra Truth: Shawn witnesses a real murder take place in a haunted house ride and no one believes him.
- Chekhov's Gunman: The guess your weight guy turns out to be one of the killers.
- Ghostly Goals: Johnny Ricketts seems to be terrorizing and knocking off park workers involved in re-opening the Scare Fest event, presumably for trying to forget about him.
- Halloween Episode: Yup.
- Invisible Writing: Someone wrote “You did this to me” using glow-in-the-dark ink on the walls of the amusement park’s offices; it’s invisible until someone turns out the lights.
- It Was Here, I Swear!: The body that someone stuffed in a coffin is no longer in the coffin when Shawn returns to show Gus. It’s eventually found tangled up in the cables on the other side of the attraction.
- Phoneaholic Teenager: The attendant at the haunted house ride. Turns out she’s Older Than They Look, and is texting because she’s in on the murder.
- "Scooby-Doo" Hoax: To the point where the Trope Namer is referenced a few times; a ride operator named Carol is really Jamie Emerson, who was on the Ferris Wheel the night the latch belt failed. Johnny tried to save Jamie’s life, but suffered a fatal fall himself. The park paid Jamie hush money, but stopped holding Scare Fest… until 15 years later. Outraged at what she saw as blatant disrespect to his memory, Jamie took on the role of the ghostly Johnny Ricketts, and started terrorizing and knocking off the park’s executives and managers.
- Secret Relationship: Shawn and Juliet’s relationship. Shawn is fearful of Gus’ and Lassiter’s reaction. Gus learns by the end – and isn’t surprised at all – but Lassiter remains in the dark.
- Security Cling: In the Cold Open, little Shawn and Gus are arguing over who should go on a haunted house ride. When someone starts thundering about Doomy Dooms of Doom over a nearby speaker, they grab each other in fear.
- Take That!: Shawn mentions he wouldn’t put any information about his and Juliet’s relationship on his Facebook page, “If I had a Facebook page… or the desire to share intimate life details with people I’d avoid on the street.”
- Weight Woe: A guess-your-weight guy at the park guesses Juliet’s weight at 145 pounds. She spends the rest of the episode fussing over this.
