On a ski vacation with Gus in British Columbia, Shawn recognizes Pierre Despereaux (Cary Elwes), a notorious art thief Lassiter has been tracking for years. Shawn calls Lassiter and asks about reward money for catching Despereaux, but I think deep down he just wanted to outwit a clever criminal.
Psych‘s fourth season premiere was a change of pace in that the main crime wasn’t murder and Despereaux was so confident he wouldn’t be caught that he told Shawn in advance what he was going to steal.
The Vancouver setting was also a nice change, in the tradition of popular shows that now and then spend extra money to go to exotic locations. Ironically, though Psych is usually set in Santa Barbara, CA, it has always been filmed in British Columbia. Shawn is a fish out of water for a while working with the RCMP, but Lassiter, O’Hara, and even Shawn’s dad manage to make it to Canada.
The highlight of the episode for me was when Gus figured out he was on the romantic vacation Shawn originally planned to take with Abigail Lytar (not seen in this episode, but played last season by Rachael Leigh Cook). Picking up from last season, O’Hara had finally relented to Shawn’s flirting, but he had just rekindled his high school romance with Abigail. Shawn definitely seemed shy around O’Hara as if even flirting with her would betray Abigail. As devious as Shawn is, though, I have to wonder if he’s exaggerating his relationship with Abigail to seem unattainable (and more attractive) to O’Hara.
I didn’t put together the pattern or motive behind Despereaux’s thefts until Shawn did at the very end. It’s always best, as a viewer, to discover things along with the detective—not too far ahead or behind him. Until dozens of cops rushed in to arrest Despereaux, I thought he would escape. There was a hint he would return to Psych this season, and I look forward to that.
