Lassiter and O’Hara respond to a police report of a speeding Lamborghini, but their pursuit ends with the driver dead from a gunshot to the head. Lassiter has been investigating a particular car theft/street racing ring for months without a break, so Henry puts Shawn and Gus on the case.
The driver was identified as Max Rodriguez, a mechanic, street racer, and compulsive gambler in debt to a loan shark. Shawn did his usual spontaneous poking around, managing to impress Max’s friend Tommy (Adam Rodriguez) and discover the location of the next underground street race. Shawn brought Henry’s pickup truck, hastily souped-up with a nitro injector, and continued to impress Tommy at the race. The admiration between Shawn and Tommy allowed Shawn to find out what he needed about Max’s murder.
For the second episode in a row, I thought Shawn and Gus worked too much like regular detectives. However, this episode was an improvement over “Chivalry Is Not Dead…” thanks to the unexpected dynamic between Shawn and Tommy. The episode also gets some points for realism. Just when I thought to myself, “A ring of car thieves would never accept Shawn and Gus as street racers,” the thieves turned on Shawn and Gus.
In the final scenes, Tommy visited the Psych office and kidnapped Gus, forcing Shawn to retrieve the stolen Lamborghini from police impound. I would have liked a scene of Shawn stealing the car, but the episode was running low on time. After a commercial break, Shawn just showed up in the car. Tommy’s high-speed getaway was apparently foiled because Shawn stuffed the Lamborghini’s tailpipe with vegetables, causing the car to conk out at a police roadblock. I don’t know how realistic that is.
Henry’s official involvement in Shawn’s cases has been a concern of mine from the beginning. The result seems to be Shawn and Gus working more smoothly with the SBPD, not necessarily something the show needs. Some of the best episodes are off-the-wall cases from clients who hire Shawn and Gus directly. I’d like to see that sort of episode about now, so the show doesn’t become too procedural.
