Season 6, Episode 08
The Tao of Gus
"These plums are God's candy."
Directed by John Badham
Written by Tim Meltreger
While at the SBPD waiting to pick up a check, Shawn and Gus overhear an attractive young woman named Nicole Reed, who claims she witnessed a murder. Problem is, she’s the only witness, and she’s spacy enough that the police don’t really believe her. Gus is instantly smitten, and offers to take her home with Shawn to protect her. Soon afterwards, someone tries to run her over on the curb, and someone else takes a shot at Juliet. Clearly, someone wants Nicole out of the way. But who? And who did they kill? The answers will come looking for Psych and Nicole at Nicole’s home – the Box Canyon Commune, a cultist commune high in the mountains led by a man named Eli.Tropes:
- Abhorrent Admirer: Dot, a member of the commune who’s twice Shawn’s age and is not at all shy about hitting on him.
- Call to Agriculture: Every single member of the cult, save Milosh, was originally extremely wealthy – either a trust fund kid, or a highly successful professional. They either went to the commune to escape their high-stress work environment, or to find something they actually needed to work for and care about. Unfortunately, this was quite deliberate on Eli’s part.
- Commune: Eli’s “Cult” is really more a small rural commune with the “Cult” label tacked on it by outsiders and a few oddball New-Age Retro Hippie overtones. They don’t like the “Hippie” label either, though.
- The Ditz: Nicole is incredibly spacy, and Lassiter suspects she’s The Stoner.
- The Dog Bites Back: When it’s revealed that Eli has been scamming his followers out of their money, he tries to run for his car. He’s chased down by Dot and Milosh, his two former closest followers, and beaten into the ground, allowing the police to haul him away at their leisure.
- Girl of the Week: Nicole is this for Gus. Surprisingly deconstructed when Gus admits to Shawn that he’s seriously unhappy about his inability to maintain long-term relationships.
- Hillbilly Horrors: Shawn fears this might be the case with the members of the commune at first, though they’re mostly harmless and friendly. Later, a less extreme version occurs when a trio of rednecks start harassing them at their farm stand and beat up Shawn.
- Internal Affairs: Turns out the murder victim was Dan Cooper, a member of Santa Barbara’s unit.
- Mistaken Identity: Nicole accidentally leaves her scarf at Juliet’s place. Juliet, curious, tries it on… and the killer shoots at her through the window, thinking it’s Nicole.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: The killer’s subsequent attempts to kill Nicole to cover their tracks are what tip Psych and the police off that she’s not crazy. If they had just backed off and feigned innocence, it’s unlikely that even Shawn would have been able to put the clues together.
- Noodle Incident: When Lassiter and Juliet meet with Internal Affairs, the officer they meet mentions that Lassiter discharged his gun at a circus (twice) in ’04, and put an 86-year-old shoplifter in full-body restraints the previous year.
- Not So Above It All: At the very beginning, Shawn and Gus are messing with Henry, insisting they’re not going to a cupcake store opening… until after they go to another cupcake store closing. Henry quietly asks Shawn to get him a red velvet.
- Number Two for Brains: Milosh, Eli’s second-in-command. When Eli asks him for a ceremonial gourd, Milosh cheerfully hands him his own left shoe.
- Red Herring: Officer Pierce was under investigation by Dan Cooper for stealing drugs from the evidence inventory. However, he did not kill the Internal Affairs agent, and in fact, the murder had nothing to do with his crimes.
- Scam Religion: It turns out that Eli’s been using a carefully worded membership oath to scam his followers out of their assets, and plans to flee to Antigua with all their money.
- Tricked into Signing: The vow of poverty that new members of the commune sign is really a "carefully worded document that gives [the commune's leader] power of attorney" over their money and property.
- We Are Not Going Through That Again: At the very end, Nicole claims she’s going to India to join another cult. Gus gives up at that point, and politely leaves.
