psych - a monologue on one of my favorite episodes
I actually love Psych more than I'm comfortable with sometimes. It has some yikes parts (the 00's have a lot of that), but it also had a main character that the show had no problem making fun of for being ridiculous even when he was right and a main female character/love interest that about a season in they realize hey, we should develop her into a person which is depressingly rare. It also has Gus, which no other show has and really should.
It has some of the most ridiculous plotlines that shouldn't work in any sane world but do, because their main characters are Shawn and Gus and they're crazy.
(Seriously, the vampire ep alone is one no other non-supernatural show could hope to pull off with other than 'really bad why are you doing this?', but you add in Shawn and Gus? Of course they believe that woman is a vampire; have you met them?)
I will argue to the end of the world that Psyche's 4.16 "Mr Yin Presents" is one of the most beautifully done episodes of Psyche (maybe the best, tbh), a strong contender for among excellent TV in general, and one of the most interesting and well done in the very often boring/stupid/sometimes traumatizing "serial killers are among us" genre. I've actually gone back several times to just rewatch it; it's just really, really well put-together on the plot level and the emotional fallout level, and that's rare.
I say this as someone who enjoys the serial killer genre; they are almost all boring as hell, overelaborate to the point of stupid, full of ridiculously dumb plotholes, and end up stupid, or in some cases, all of that and traumatic and gross. This would maybe work if the serial killer was supposed to be dumb, but no; this bullshit is always supposed to be unparalleled genius. And everyone eats the stupid cookies before it starts.
This is because shows generally misjudge what the audience wants to see; we are not, in general, here for the gross and horrifying murder of innocent people--that's what horror movies and Criminal Minds are for (though CM used to be less that); we're here for the weird-ass elaborate plotlines, weird motivations, and time limits with astronomical stakes and smart people versus smart people running down the clock.
"Mr. Yin Presents" is the second in the Yin/Yang trilogy. The first is interesting and fun and fantastic set up; the third is the stupidest thing on TV possibly ever and you lose nothing in the show if you just skip it forever and pretend there are only two. I promise, you'll be happier that way.
Here we go:
1.) For once, the serial killer combines being crazy elaborate with smart aka removing all the obvious plot holes that a five year old could spot. He's smart; not perfect (I loathe that) but smart. From an episode standpoint, it's also incredibly well done. It's not perfect, but someone actually thought about making a plotline, not just a series of vaguely interconnected actions that are supposed to be proof of serial killer genius or something.
Yin did a Hitchcock filmography pastiche--which why has no one done this? This is a really good idea--and used the limitations and advantages of Hitchcock's themes and plots against everyone. Specifically, this worked because the audience knows--even if not in specific, in general--something Hitchcockian. In episode, all the characters know their Hitchcock--Gus and Shawn start the show at a Hitchcock film festival--and this being a show of detectives, private detectives, and the importance of pop culture, it would be way less believable if they didn't know the entire back catalogue.
Or to put it another way: I've never actually watched a single Hitchcock movie, but I recognized every movie or theme off the bat. It's cultural; on this show, though, I would almost expect every character could cosplay at will any Hitchcock character and quote dialogue. This is a show where a serial killer with a popular culture theme works; the characters should know. It would be out of character if they didn't.
(It would be like if someone tried to convince me that Shawn and Gus did not memorize every episode of the original He-Man and She-Ra in the eighties; yes they did, and Gus totally identified with Sea Hawk and Shawn with Bo (maybe the other way, I'll take arguments). Fight me.)
2.) Even the times someone did snack on some stupid cookies, they never wanted to and knew it.
a.) The misdirections were only obvious after the fact; this was especially cool when Shawn jumped to Mary as a suspect with Yin's very effective help. Yin knew not only Shawn's abilities, he knew the conventions of the genre and how preconceptions play out. And he also knew Mary was fucking weird to everyone.
On paper, it looks dumb, but it's not. In the mystery and serial killer genres of course Mary would be, and the first half of the ep, you bought it. He was the expert in the first Yin/Yang ep; he's incredibly weird (I love Mary like I love few quirky characters for being so obliviously and unapologetically weird); his presence and weird-ass warning came before the first murder; he seems to know too much. The first episode set this up for viewer; once Shawn said it, it wasn't a leap. The weirdness became suspicious; only after his murder do you realize nothing he was doing/did actually indicated this or was more than his baseline weirdness (which was pretty high).
Does the evidence hold up when you think about it? Kind of, but it didn't matter if it didn't; it only needed to hold up until the first scenario played out.
b.) The show tricked you using genre but also the low-grade but rising paranoia of the other characters based on the events of the last Yin/Yang ep; specifically, Shawn's trauma from his mother being Yang's almost-victim specifically because Shawn refused to play Yang's game.
c.) And this goes for all the characters; they're all playing by Yin's rules not because they don't have a better idea or don't see the problem or they're that dumb. It's because Yang taught them what happens when you fuck around; she broke the game entirely and escalated. They didn't outsmart Yang, btw; it worked. She won. The only reason they were even in that drive-in movie was because she let them get there specifically because she wanted to talk to Shawn.
During that ep, I was a little annoyed at the cop out (she surrenders to Shawn for no reason and want to write a book???) but the second ep--for once--actually explained that with a satisfactory amount of chilling. She did write a book; from context, she finished writing it apparently before this last spree; this spree was likely advertising.
Why? She has a partner, Yin; if the goal was to get Shawn's attention when Yin appeared and have him visit her, and to give Yin the opportunity to fuck around with Shawn, yeah, she had a really good reason for letting Shawn's mother live. We know from the first Yin/Yang ep that Yang caused officers to quit and apparently go into therapy--Shawn's mother told us about it, she treated some of them--so yeah, permanently damaging Shawn before the game is over was probably a bad idea.
d.) This more relates to first ep: Yang is a female serial killer. A female serial killer who is not motivated by sex crimes against herself or others or anything man-influenced or related. This is the reason I enjoyed the first Yin/Yang ep more than it probably deserved but that alone was interesting and unique enough I was impressed.
Yang was not presented as sexy (which was an effort considering who the actress was); she wasn't femme fatale or seductive. She was kind of frumpy and deeply, deeply weird and not at all loathe to be deeply weird and creepy. Her fixation on Shawn isn't sexy or sexual; she does not try to make it sexy; it's a deeply creepy fixation. She's not trying to seduce him, there was no inappropriate touching or sexual tension, and I'm not even sure she was deliberately fucking with him; she's that weird and creepy and off. It makes your skin crawl; I love it. Give me more female serial killers who are frumpy, not sexy, very crazy, very smart, and dangerous as fuck without being motivated by sex or sex crimes, thanks.
In other words, you could redo this entire ep with a male serial killer scene by scene and nothing would change in any way but pronoun use in the last ten minutes.
Second Yin/Yang ep, Yang hits on Shawn (using a very loose definition) but also has a huge crush on her female guard; again, negative sexual anything but when anything vaguely resembling sexual feelings are invoked, it's at the guard (and again, using some very loose definitions here). It's so goddamn refreshing.
3.) The Juliet/Abigail in distress dichotomy was yes, woman in peril, I know; it's ridiculously overused, I know; but at least a.) they had a very, very good explanation that also worked to be creepy, and b.) it combined being incredibly meta with a very chilling reason for being so.
The first ep with Yang is when Shawn started dating Abigail and also said no to Juliet (due to trying to be a better person and not just dumping Abigail again because Shawn's persona growth comes in weird starts). So the Yang ep's ending is Shawn choosing Abigail over Juliet, very likely in reaction to the fact that a decade ago, Shawn didn't show up for a date with Abigail on the pier and he wants to do better.
(Remember the pier, btw.)
When you watch the ep again, you realize end game for Yin the entire time was specifically recreating Shawn's choice between Abigail and Juliet (did Yin think he chose wrong? I seriously wonder about that). Yin went about this incredibly well; he used the events first Yin/Yang episode to make sure everyone played this time. More importantly, that they played within the rules.
- The first murder was the waitress at the diner: that was an announcement of intent and that shit was about to start; no scenario involved.
Specifically, this was a mirror of Yang's opening salvo with Shawn; Yin kidnapped the waitress that served him (pie, in this instance; last time, breakfast for lunch). In the Yang's ep, the waitress survived because when Shawn refused to play, Yin replaced the waitress with Shawn's mother. In this ep, Yin killed her outright, both to ostentatiously correct that error and use the obvious parallels to teach Shawn how it would go this time.
Message: this time, if you don't play, they'll die, and you won't get the opportunity to save them. This is your fault, Shawn, for not playing with Yang.
(Note: this was not the same waitress in both eps)
- The first Hitchcock scenario and second murder was Mary while Shawn and Gus watched. Due to thinking Mary was Yin, he didn't realize what he was watching until it was too late; if he hadn't been suspicious of Mary, there was time to save him. Shawn knew what movie was being enacted; he was just too stuck on Mary being Yin to realize what was going on. This also removed the guy who was an expert on Yang and might have worked out what was going on faster and was also going to eventually be the only one not emotionally compromised and therefore thinking clearly.
Message: if you play and you don't act fast enough/think fast enough to save them, they'll die. That's your fault, Shawn, for your own preconceptions and mistakes.
So Shawn (and the SBPD) has been told clearly exactly how this will go down; quite literally, if you don't play, I'll just kill them out of hand and be done with it.
- The second Hitchcock scenario but no murder: kidnapping Juliet. Despite the fact that they all knew this was a setup, they had to obey it to the letter; Yin already killed two people to make it very clear deviation would end very, very badly.
This was actually where the stupid cookies are the only logical reaction and work; they all had to play their part to the letter, no matter how bad an idea it was, because a.) they know that Yin, like Yang, will break scenario but Yin will just kill them outright, b.) they don't know this isn't primarily a murder scenario but just a kidnapping to set up scenario three, c.) even if they'd known b, it doesn't matter; Yin already made clear just killing will be fine if you don't play.
- Abigail's kidnapping had no scenario but was set up by scenario 2; Yin found her because the SBPD sent someone to pick her up from the airport because they figured all roads lead to Shawn. This made it incredibly easy for Yin to get her and even have a convenient police car to use to imprison her.
Did he probably already know about her return that day/flight/etc? Yeah. However, Yin was on a time limit to get her; unlike a police officer from SBPD, he couldn't just walk up and lead her to his car without question in a crowded airport. In other words, he probably could have pulled it off without SBPD's assistance, but in that case, again, Yin already made clear if the scenario approach fails, he'll just kills his victim. So, horrible bad luck or good luck to send an office for her? No idea.
- The fourth scenario was the Juliet-Abigail dilemma, with teeth. And it wasn't just to fuck with Shawn, though yeah that was the primary; the secondary effect was that everyone involved was now emotionally compromised and in multiple directions.
Shawn had Juliet and Abigail; his dad had Shawn but also Abigail and Juliet to a lesser extent; Carlton had Juliet and fuck everything else; the chief had Juliet but also her responsibility for a civilian in direct opposition (Abigail); Gus had Shawn and also Abigail and Juliet. When Yin called with clues on Juliet's location and to say he had Abigail, he framed it as Shawn's Sophie's Choice, but the choice of victims made it pretty much everyone's. They knew where Juliet was; they could save her, but then what about the search for Abigail? Police officer in danger versus prioritizing a civilian. Saving Juliet might kill Abigail outright before they even knew where she was; there is no good answer here.
Juliet was on the clocktower: Abigail was under the fucking pier where Shawn didn't show up for their date a decade ago. Shawn doesn't actually know where Abigail is yet when Yin says 'pick which one you'll save'.
Carlton chose: save Juliet.
The Chief chose: find Abigail, civilians take priority.
Shawn chose: save Juliet, we don't know where Abigail is. He'll search for Abigail but Gus will go with Carlton for Juliet.
Gus chose: Shawn's answer; help Carlton save Juliet, let Shawn and his dad find Abigail.
Shawn's dad chose: Shawn and what he needed and wanted, not what he thought Shawn should need and want. For maybe the first fucking time in Shawn's life. Genuine surprise.
4.) The ending was surprisingly poignant. Abigail breaks up with Shawn (being kidnapped and almost murdered by a serial killer in Shawn's honor seemed like a reason to cut ties). Juliet's stoic composure cracks when she's trying to tell Carlton she's fine, which ends up being maybe the most powerful scene in the show (and such a good Juliet and Carlton moment, holy shit). Shawn's dad quits his consultant job with SBPD. Yang sits in her cell looking creepy.
5.) Shawn sits alone on the bench after Abigail breaks up with him, coming to terms with the fact that no matter how much he cared about Abigail, when he gave his answer to Sophie's choice, the first thing he said was 'save Juliet' and sent Gus to help Carlton. It was Shawn's responsibility to save Abigail; this happened to her because of him. But Gus is his soulmate and his other half (I mean even if you don't ship them, that much is pretty goddamn obvious); his soul was with Juliet.
Note on that: that was actually a huge deal when Shawn and Gus split up to work, which is why it shows what Shawn's choice was. It's not that they haven't or don't sometimes; it's that they generally don't want to and don't like it. Shawn is about a thousand times more effective and more focused when working with Gus; Gus is much more logically intuitive and quicker to work out what's going on. That sounds like an oxymoron, but Gus sometimes gets too bogged down in the concrete to make leaps; he's incredibly good at it when he trusts himself, and being around Shawn makes him probably feel literally anything is sane compared to what Shawn comes up with. And it's true.
Under any kind of stress, Shawn gravitates closer to Gus just like Gus generally does with him (even when they're fighting, they turn toward each other with body language to draw the other person closer; it's kind of adorable). Gus is the logical, rational, reasonable part of Shawn; Shawn is the intuitive, dream-logic, insane part of Gus. Under stress, Shawn needed Gus desperately, but Juliet also needed them; Shawn picked Juliet over himself.
Note: the third ep makes everything dumber and then makes no sense whatsoever combined with speechifying villain who is breathtakingly dumb but presented to be smart (??????). Worse, it manages make the first two Yin/Yang eps make no sense and wrecks the best parts of why the eps worked and then burned everything down the rest. It's just so dumb. So very, very, very dumb. Posted at Dreamwidth: https://seperis.dreamwidth.org/1083707.html. | You can reply here or there. |
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It has some of the most ridiculous plotlines that shouldn't work in any sane world but do, because their main characters are Shawn and Gus and they're crazy.
(Seriously, the vampire ep alone is one no other non-supernatural show could hope to pull off with other than 'really bad why are you doing this?', but you add in Shawn and Gus? Of course they believe that woman is a vampire; have you met them?)
I will argue to the end of the world that Psyche's 4.16 "Mr Yin Presents" is one of the most beautifully done episodes of Psyche (maybe the best, tbh), a strong contender for among excellent TV in general, and one of the most interesting and well done in the very often boring/stupid/sometimes traumatizing "serial killers are among us" genre. I've actually gone back several times to just rewatch it; it's just really, really well put-together on the plot level and the emotional fallout level, and that's rare.
I say this as someone who enjoys the serial killer genre; they are almost all boring as hell, overelaborate to the point of stupid, full of ridiculously dumb plotholes, and end up stupid, or in some cases, all of that and traumatic and gross. This would maybe work if the serial killer was supposed to be dumb, but no; this bullshit is always supposed to be unparalleled genius. And everyone eats the stupid cookies before it starts.
This is because shows generally misjudge what the audience wants to see; we are not, in general, here for the gross and horrifying murder of innocent people--that's what horror movies and Criminal Minds are for (though CM used to be less that); we're here for the weird-ass elaborate plotlines, weird motivations, and time limits with astronomical stakes and smart people versus smart people running down the clock.
"Mr. Yin Presents" is the second in the Yin/Yang trilogy. The first is interesting and fun and fantastic set up; the third is the stupidest thing on TV possibly ever and you lose nothing in the show if you just skip it forever and pretend there are only two. I promise, you'll be happier that way.
Here we go:
1.) For once, the serial killer combines being crazy elaborate with smart aka removing all the obvious plot holes that a five year old could spot. He's smart; not perfect (I loathe that) but smart. From an episode standpoint, it's also incredibly well done. It's not perfect, but someone actually thought about making a plotline, not just a series of vaguely interconnected actions that are supposed to be proof of serial killer genius or something.
Yin did a Hitchcock filmography pastiche--which why has no one done this? This is a really good idea--and used the limitations and advantages of Hitchcock's themes and plots against everyone. Specifically, this worked because the audience knows--even if not in specific, in general--something Hitchcockian. In episode, all the characters know their Hitchcock--Gus and Shawn start the show at a Hitchcock film festival--and this being a show of detectives, private detectives, and the importance of pop culture, it would be way less believable if they didn't know the entire back catalogue.
Or to put it another way: I've never actually watched a single Hitchcock movie, but I recognized every movie or theme off the bat. It's cultural; on this show, though, I would almost expect every character could cosplay at will any Hitchcock character and quote dialogue. This is a show where a serial killer with a popular culture theme works; the characters should know. It would be out of character if they didn't.
(It would be like if someone tried to convince me that Shawn and Gus did not memorize every episode of the original He-Man and She-Ra in the eighties; yes they did, and Gus totally identified with Sea Hawk and Shawn with Bo (maybe the other way, I'll take arguments). Fight me.)
2.) Even the times someone did snack on some stupid cookies, they never wanted to and knew it.
a.) The misdirections were only obvious after the fact; this was especially cool when Shawn jumped to Mary as a suspect with Yin's very effective help. Yin knew not only Shawn's abilities, he knew the conventions of the genre and how preconceptions play out. And he also knew Mary was fucking weird to everyone.
On paper, it looks dumb, but it's not. In the mystery and serial killer genres of course Mary would be, and the first half of the ep, you bought it. He was the expert in the first Yin/Yang ep; he's incredibly weird (I love Mary like I love few quirky characters for being so obliviously and unapologetically weird); his presence and weird-ass warning came before the first murder; he seems to know too much. The first episode set this up for viewer; once Shawn said it, it wasn't a leap. The weirdness became suspicious; only after his murder do you realize nothing he was doing/did actually indicated this or was more than his baseline weirdness (which was pretty high).
Does the evidence hold up when you think about it? Kind of, but it didn't matter if it didn't; it only needed to hold up until the first scenario played out.
b.) The show tricked you using genre but also the low-grade but rising paranoia of the other characters based on the events of the last Yin/Yang ep; specifically, Shawn's trauma from his mother being Yang's almost-victim specifically because Shawn refused to play Yang's game.
c.) And this goes for all the characters; they're all playing by Yin's rules not because they don't have a better idea or don't see the problem or they're that dumb. It's because Yang taught them what happens when you fuck around; she broke the game entirely and escalated. They didn't outsmart Yang, btw; it worked. She won. The only reason they were even in that drive-in movie was because she let them get there specifically because she wanted to talk to Shawn.
During that ep, I was a little annoyed at the cop out (she surrenders to Shawn for no reason and want to write a book???) but the second ep--for once--actually explained that with a satisfactory amount of chilling. She did write a book; from context, she finished writing it apparently before this last spree; this spree was likely advertising.
Why? She has a partner, Yin; if the goal was to get Shawn's attention when Yin appeared and have him visit her, and to give Yin the opportunity to fuck around with Shawn, yeah, she had a really good reason for letting Shawn's mother live. We know from the first Yin/Yang ep that Yang caused officers to quit and apparently go into therapy--Shawn's mother told us about it, she treated some of them--so yeah, permanently damaging Shawn before the game is over was probably a bad idea.
d.) This more relates to first ep: Yang is a female serial killer. A female serial killer who is not motivated by sex crimes against herself or others or anything man-influenced or related. This is the reason I enjoyed the first Yin/Yang ep more than it probably deserved but that alone was interesting and unique enough I was impressed.
Yang was not presented as sexy (which was an effort considering who the actress was); she wasn't femme fatale or seductive. She was kind of frumpy and deeply, deeply weird and not at all loathe to be deeply weird and creepy. Her fixation on Shawn isn't sexy or sexual; she does not try to make it sexy; it's a deeply creepy fixation. She's not trying to seduce him, there was no inappropriate touching or sexual tension, and I'm not even sure she was deliberately fucking with him; she's that weird and creepy and off. It makes your skin crawl; I love it. Give me more female serial killers who are frumpy, not sexy, very crazy, very smart, and dangerous as fuck without being motivated by sex or sex crimes, thanks.
In other words, you could redo this entire ep with a male serial killer scene by scene and nothing would change in any way but pronoun use in the last ten minutes.
Second Yin/Yang ep, Yang hits on Shawn (using a very loose definition) but also has a huge crush on her female guard; again, negative sexual anything but when anything vaguely resembling sexual feelings are invoked, it's at the guard (and again, using some very loose definitions here). It's so goddamn refreshing.
3.) The Juliet/Abigail in distress dichotomy was yes, woman in peril, I know; it's ridiculously overused, I know; but at least a.) they had a very, very good explanation that also worked to be creepy, and b.) it combined being incredibly meta with a very chilling reason for being so.
The first ep with Yang is when Shawn started dating Abigail and also said no to Juliet (due to trying to be a better person and not just dumping Abigail again because Shawn's persona growth comes in weird starts). So the Yang ep's ending is Shawn choosing Abigail over Juliet, very likely in reaction to the fact that a decade ago, Shawn didn't show up for a date with Abigail on the pier and he wants to do better.
(Remember the pier, btw.)
When you watch the ep again, you realize end game for Yin the entire time was specifically recreating Shawn's choice between Abigail and Juliet (did Yin think he chose wrong? I seriously wonder about that). Yin went about this incredibly well; he used the events first Yin/Yang episode to make sure everyone played this time. More importantly, that they played within the rules.
- The first murder was the waitress at the diner: that was an announcement of intent and that shit was about to start; no scenario involved.
Specifically, this was a mirror of Yang's opening salvo with Shawn; Yin kidnapped the waitress that served him (pie, in this instance; last time, breakfast for lunch). In the Yang's ep, the waitress survived because when Shawn refused to play, Yin replaced the waitress with Shawn's mother. In this ep, Yin killed her outright, both to ostentatiously correct that error and use the obvious parallels to teach Shawn how it would go this time.
Message: this time, if you don't play, they'll die, and you won't get the opportunity to save them. This is your fault, Shawn, for not playing with Yang.
(Note: this was not the same waitress in both eps)
- The first Hitchcock scenario and second murder was Mary while Shawn and Gus watched. Due to thinking Mary was Yin, he didn't realize what he was watching until it was too late; if he hadn't been suspicious of Mary, there was time to save him. Shawn knew what movie was being enacted; he was just too stuck on Mary being Yin to realize what was going on. This also removed the guy who was an expert on Yang and might have worked out what was going on faster and was also going to eventually be the only one not emotionally compromised and therefore thinking clearly.
Message: if you play and you don't act fast enough/think fast enough to save them, they'll die. That's your fault, Shawn, for your own preconceptions and mistakes.
So Shawn (and the SBPD) has been told clearly exactly how this will go down; quite literally, if you don't play, I'll just kill them out of hand and be done with it.
- The second Hitchcock scenario but no murder: kidnapping Juliet. Despite the fact that they all knew this was a setup, they had to obey it to the letter; Yin already killed two people to make it very clear deviation would end very, very badly.
This was actually where the stupid cookies are the only logical reaction and work; they all had to play their part to the letter, no matter how bad an idea it was, because a.) they know that Yin, like Yang, will break scenario but Yin will just kill them outright, b.) they don't know this isn't primarily a murder scenario but just a kidnapping to set up scenario three, c.) even if they'd known b, it doesn't matter; Yin already made clear just killing will be fine if you don't play.
- Abigail's kidnapping had no scenario but was set up by scenario 2; Yin found her because the SBPD sent someone to pick her up from the airport because they figured all roads lead to Shawn. This made it incredibly easy for Yin to get her and even have a convenient police car to use to imprison her.
Did he probably already know about her return that day/flight/etc? Yeah. However, Yin was on a time limit to get her; unlike a police officer from SBPD, he couldn't just walk up and lead her to his car without question in a crowded airport. In other words, he probably could have pulled it off without SBPD's assistance, but in that case, again, Yin already made clear if the scenario approach fails, he'll just kills his victim. So, horrible bad luck or good luck to send an office for her? No idea.
- The fourth scenario was the Juliet-Abigail dilemma, with teeth. And it wasn't just to fuck with Shawn, though yeah that was the primary; the secondary effect was that everyone involved was now emotionally compromised and in multiple directions.
Shawn had Juliet and Abigail; his dad had Shawn but also Abigail and Juliet to a lesser extent; Carlton had Juliet and fuck everything else; the chief had Juliet but also her responsibility for a civilian in direct opposition (Abigail); Gus had Shawn and also Abigail and Juliet. When Yin called with clues on Juliet's location and to say he had Abigail, he framed it as Shawn's Sophie's Choice, but the choice of victims made it pretty much everyone's. They knew where Juliet was; they could save her, but then what about the search for Abigail? Police officer in danger versus prioritizing a civilian. Saving Juliet might kill Abigail outright before they even knew where she was; there is no good answer here.
Juliet was on the clocktower: Abigail was under the fucking pier where Shawn didn't show up for their date a decade ago. Shawn doesn't actually know where Abigail is yet when Yin says 'pick which one you'll save'.
Carlton chose: save Juliet.
The Chief chose: find Abigail, civilians take priority.
Shawn chose: save Juliet, we don't know where Abigail is. He'll search for Abigail but Gus will go with Carlton for Juliet.
Gus chose: Shawn's answer; help Carlton save Juliet, let Shawn and his dad find Abigail.
Shawn's dad chose: Shawn and what he needed and wanted, not what he thought Shawn should need and want. For maybe the first fucking time in Shawn's life. Genuine surprise.
4.) The ending was surprisingly poignant. Abigail breaks up with Shawn (being kidnapped and almost murdered by a serial killer in Shawn's honor seemed like a reason to cut ties). Juliet's stoic composure cracks when she's trying to tell Carlton she's fine, which ends up being maybe the most powerful scene in the show (and such a good Juliet and Carlton moment, holy shit). Shawn's dad quits his consultant job with SBPD. Yang sits in her cell looking creepy.
5.) Shawn sits alone on the bench after Abigail breaks up with him, coming to terms with the fact that no matter how much he cared about Abigail, when he gave his answer to Sophie's choice, the first thing he said was 'save Juliet' and sent Gus to help Carlton. It was Shawn's responsibility to save Abigail; this happened to her because of him. But Gus is his soulmate and his other half (I mean even if you don't ship them, that much is pretty goddamn obvious); his soul was with Juliet.
Note on that: that was actually a huge deal when Shawn and Gus split up to work, which is why it shows what Shawn's choice was. It's not that they haven't or don't sometimes; it's that they generally don't want to and don't like it. Shawn is about a thousand times more effective and more focused when working with Gus; Gus is much more logically intuitive and quicker to work out what's going on. That sounds like an oxymoron, but Gus sometimes gets too bogged down in the concrete to make leaps; he's incredibly good at it when he trusts himself, and being around Shawn makes him probably feel literally anything is sane compared to what Shawn comes up with. And it's true.
Under any kind of stress, Shawn gravitates closer to Gus just like Gus generally does with him (even when they're fighting, they turn toward each other with body language to draw the other person closer; it's kind of adorable). Gus is the logical, rational, reasonable part of Shawn; Shawn is the intuitive, dream-logic, insane part of Gus. Under stress, Shawn needed Gus desperately, but Juliet also needed them; Shawn picked Juliet over himself.
Note: the third ep makes everything dumber and then makes no sense whatsoever combined with speechifying villain who is breathtakingly dumb but presented to be smart (??????). Worse, it manages make the first two Yin/Yang eps make no sense and wrecks the best parts of why the eps worked and then burned everything down the rest. It's just so dumb. So very, very, very dumb. Posted at Dreamwidth: https://seperis.dreamwidth.org/1083707.html. | You can reply here or there. |
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