O’Hara and Lassiter find a hanged man in a motel room, but because the chair he was standing on was kicked forward, they do not believe the man committed suicide. With Shawn’s help, they find military dog tags in the man’s throat, and Juliet calls her brother, Army veteran Ewan (John Cena) for assistance.
Ewan, secretly a Special Ops soldier, initially did help–getting O’Hara, Lassiter, Shawn, and Gus onto the Army base where the dead Pvt. Starks worked in the motor pool. Unfortunately, Ewan’s mysterious superior ordered him to investigate Starks’ death on his own and keep the others from discovering the truth. Shawn caught on that Ewan was somehow involved, putting him at odds with Juliet, who looked up to her brother and had no idea of his real assignment.
I enjoyed how this episode put obstacles in Shawn and O’Hara’s relationship, making it more than one pining for the other at different times. Meanwhile, Shawn’s relationship with Abigail Lytar (Rachael Leigh Cook) moved forward as she announced she was leaving for Uganda to build a school and didn’t know how long she would be away.
Sneaking back onto the base, Ewan, Shawn, and Gus witnessed one of the lieutenants conducting his own private arms sale. With the lieutenant apprehended to the satisfaction of the Army and the SBPD, Shawn figured out Ewan’s involvement in the cover-up. This led to a confrontation between Ewan and Juliet as Ewan was about to kill the lieutenant.
I was glad to see Juliet arrest her brother instead of letting him go or giving him special treatment, which is a common source of TV drama. In the end, Ewan escaped custody thanks to his secret connections. I wanted to know more about why Ewan was ordered to cover things up, but it wouldn’t be secret if I knew. Overall, this was more than Psych‘s riff on military movies. It promises to have implications for Shawn and Juliet as the rest of the season plays out.
