Season 6, Episode 16
Santabarbaratown
"Well... he definitely wasn't making his money from cooking food."
Directed by David Crabtree
Written by Bill Callahan
A flashback to 1991, Shawn asks his father and his father's partner about a case that they are currently working. A waitress by the name of Veronica Towne has just gone missing. They suspect her boyfriend, Justin Bordeaux, owner of the Blue Derby, the club that Veronica works with. Veronica was last seen in a red dress and a necklace with her initials on it.
Cut to the present, Shawn and Gus get called to a crime scene where two bodies have recently been found. One John Doe and a skeleton in a red dress and a gold necklace: VT. Veronica Towne.
Henry comes out of retirement for this last job.
This episode (the finale of Season 6) was Part 1 of a two-parter, being followed up with the Season 7 premiere "Santabarbaratown 2" and which deals with the fallout resulting from this episode's events.
Tropes:
- Apologetic Attacker: Jerry says "I'm sorry Henry" just before shooting him, and based on his tone of voice, he seems legitimately conflicted and distressed.
- Artistic License – Biology: Zigzagged where Shawn notes that color blindness is passed down from father to daughter. Since colour blindness is linked to the x chromosome, it will always be passed down from father to daughter note . Expressing this mutation, however, is fairly rare in females as they receive an X from their mother as well. So while a female being colorblind means her father must also be colorblind, a colorblind father does not guarantee the daughter will be colorblind. She also has to get a colorblind X from her mother, who may or may not be colorblind herself.
- Authority in Name Only: Jordan Beaumont officially owns the Blue Derby, but is really a front man and Unwitting Pawn for his criminal father.
- Berserk Button: Henry is ready to fly at Jordan when the latter mocks his dead teammate, and has to be restrained by Shawn and Gus
- Big Eater: Gus becomes a pretty major one starting around this episode, constantly snacking on something or other.
- Bittersweet Ending: They've resolved two murders, one nearly 25 years old, but a Sympathetic Murderer is going to jail, the Red Herrings' life is turned upside down, and Henry's learns that he was the only clean cop on his team and retires from the force... and gets shot for his troubles.
- Bring My Brown Pants: How the foreman responded to finding the body.Lassiter: You were digging over there, you found the body over there. How'd that happen?
Foreman: I had to take a leak.
Lassiter: And what happened when you found the body?
Foreman: I really had to take a leak. - Broken Pedestal: Learning half his old team was dirty breaks Henry's faith in the system enough that he retires.
- Central Theme: How we put our friends and idols up on pedestals, and how much it can hurt to have them disappoint you or show themselves to have feet made of clay.
- Color Blind Confusion: Shawn has a "Eureka!" Moment when he remembers that Thea Summers is color blind, which helps prove that her father was Ellis Beaumont, who was recently murdered and had the condition as well. The mechanism of inheritance is also oversimplified by a stating that a color blind man must have a color blind daughter, when in reality she would have to get the gene from both parents due to it being carried on the X chromosome in order for it to be expressed.
- Dirty Cop: All members of Henry's team back in the day were this (obviously excluding Henry), being responsible for the initial cover-up regarding the Veronica Towne case.
- Downer Ending: The episode ends with Shawn looking on in horror as his father is shot.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: Henry comments about how expensive Jerry Carp's house is, and Jerry claims it's because of his investment skills. Twenty seconds later, a Wham Line and accompanying Scare Chord reveal Jerry took bribes from Ellis Beaumont.
- Forced into Evil: Lou experienced this three times in the Back Story, with each example being worse than the last. First, he became a reluctant lookout for a drug operation to pay his wife's medical bills. Then, when his boss committed a murder, Lou refused to dispose of the body until his boss threatened to expose Lou's corruption and take Lou to jail with him. Finally, Lou experienced severe guilt afterward and thought about coming clean before the other criminals threatened his wife.
- Homage: To Chinatown, complete with Gus telling Shawn at one point "Forget it, Shawn, it's Santa Barbara."
- Humiliation Conga: Jordan Beaumont goes through one during the episode. He is the prime suspect of the murder of Veronica Towne and Ellis Beaumont, and is punched in the face by Shawn in a case of mistaken identity. In addition, he finds out that the woman he was courting during the episode was actually his half sister, who murdered his father. Even Henry feels bad for the guy.
- Hurricane of Euphemisms: At one point, a waitress who used to sleep with Jordan throws one of these at Shawn and Gus trying to tell them he was sterile.Ida: He wanted children.
Gus: And you didn't?
Ida: Let's just say they weren't in the cards for him.
Shawn: Meaning what?
Ida: His juice had no pulp. His seed wasn't fruitful. He was pouring decaf. Pumping unleaded. His Hall had no Oates. He was sterile!
Shawn: Oh! Sure. - I Never Said It Was Poison: How Henry realizes the fourth member of his crew was also dirty, as he brought up how much the other two were being paid for their work despite Henry never having mentioned that.
- Noir Episode: Most overtly referencing Chinatown, the episode subtly hits almost every Film Noir trope, including them going to a sultry lounge the looks like a 1920s speakeasy.
- Oh, Crap!: Shawn and Henry both have this happen independently when they realize that Jerry Carp was part of the cover-up.
- Passing the Torch: As he announces his retirement, Henry hands Shawn his old uniform hat and his swiss army knife.
- Retirony: Henry retires (again), disillusioned, having learned that two of his partners were dirty. Then he learns that the third was as well, and is shot by the man.
- Tempting Fate: In the opening flashback, Shawn asks Lou about the case he is working on, but Henry advises against it due its disturbing nature. Lou tells Shawn about it anyways, and Shawn's expression after that indicates that yes, he will have trouble sleeping that night.
- Wham Episode: After coming out of retirement for That One Case, Henry is shot by a former friend while the Santa Barbara Police Department's history during Henry's time is revealed to be much darker than once thought.
- Wham Line:
- Jerry Carp's line to Henry regarding the Veronica Towne cover-up, showing how he was part of it:
Jerry Carp: Fifty grand was a lot of money back then.- Previously in the episode, Woody claims that there was another persons DNA on Veronica Towne's body. That person was Lou Gamble.
- Wham Shot: Henry getting shot point-blank by Jerry Carp.
- White Sheep: Henry was the only member of his team who wasn't dirty.
