"A Nightmare on State Street" is the ninth episode of Season Eight and the penultimate episode of the series. When Gus begins to lose sleep over his recent nightmares, he heads to a therapist who claims that he can help him.
Plot Summary[]
Gus and Emmanuelle's relationship recently ended and Gus starts to have trouble sleeping because of it. She won't return his calls and he's totally distressed.
In the car, Shawn and Gus pass by a group of people participating in the "Zombie Fun Run". They arrive at a gas station and Shawn goes in to get some snacks. While Shawn is in the convenience store, Gus falls asleep in the car and has a nightmare about zombies attacking him, one of them being Curt Smith from Tears for Fears.
Gus awakes to find himself in an office belonging to a dream therapist named Dr. Ashford Simpson (Bruce Campbell). He instructs Gus to lie back down and to tell him all about the nightmares he's been having. Gus recounts his zombie nightmare and the therapist asks him what he thinks it means. Gus thinks it was fueled by his relationship with Emmanuelle ending. The therapist agrees that Gus's fear of abandonment is the beating heart of his anxiety, but he believes Shawn is the one causing it, not Emmanuelle. After Shawn left Gus in the car at the gas station, the nightmare started and everyone within it died or was dead already. The therapist believes Gus needs Shawn to feel whole. Gus isn't so sure.
Gus enters the Psych office and Shawn asks him how dream therapy went. Gus lies and says the nightmares are being fueled by Emmanuelle. Just then, a cable installation worker named Zach Eikleberry (Dean Cameron) pops in asking Shawn and Gus to help find out whether his wife Gretchen (Sutton Foster) is having an affair with her colleague Derek Bagg (William Zabka). Gus immediately identifies with him because he believes he's facing similar troubles in his relationship with Emmanuelle, and agrees to help him out.
Zach has to take care of a cable installation appointment first, and Shawn and Gus are there to tag along. Zach drives them to a creepy-looking house and Gus is immediately freaked out by it. Zach goes inside to do his job and Shawn leaves to take a pee. Gus is left alone, and he slips into another nightmare. After a mysterious man comes to the van asking for a ride, Gus frantically runs into the creepy-looking house to get away. The inside of the house resembles the house in "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and Shawn and Zach are nowhere to be found. Suddenly, a giant man in a mask comes in and grabs a screaming Gus.
Gus wakes to find himself in the dream therapy office again. Dr. Simpson points out that Gus started to have the nightmare when Shawn left him alone in the van. There could be a pattern here. Gus, again, thinks this is a ridiculous theory. Dr. Simpson offers another. He tells Gus that he's having these nightmares because Gus thinks that working with Shawn is eventually going to get him killed. Dr. Simpson then reveals a recording of Gus talking in his sleep, shouting Shawn's name in fear. Gus is taken aback.
Later at the police station, Gus is desperately trying to get a hold of Emmanuelle on the phone. Shawn tells him to stop, and they approach Lassiter asking for work on a case because Zach the cable guy can't afford to pay them for their services. Lassiter says things have become uncharacteristically quiet around the SBPD since he's become chief and Brannigan has become his head detective. Lassiter doesn't have a case for Shawn and Gus to work on.
With nothing else to do, Shawn and Gus agree to further assist Zach even though he can't afford to pay them upfront. They head to St. Thomas, where Gretchen teaches. While they wait in the dimly lit gym to talk to Derek, they spot a creepy-looking janitor mopping the floor and see a tracksuited man (Brad Kelly) leave Derek's office. Derek is ready to see them, so they head into his office and find out Derek used to play pro ball. Shawn notices a few items in the office that lead him to believe that Derek is a big gambler. Shawn also notices a post-it note from Gretchen telling him to meet her Monday at 4 o'clock. Shawn and Gus leave Derek's office and get lost and somehow end up in the school's creepy boiler room. They hear screams and then see a lone dodgeball slowly roll into view. Shawn bails, telling Gus to follow him, but Gus loses him. Moments later, Gus finds himself locked in the boiler room with a group of possessed-looking school children staring at him with threatening eyes. This horrific display starts to escalate when Bella Twin 1 (Nikki Bella) and Bella Twin 2 (Brie Bella) start singing a creepy nursery rhyme. Gus tries to save himself but can't, and the kids start pelting him with dodgeballs.
Suddenly, Gus is back in the dream therapy office asleep on the couch while Shawn and Dr. Simpson observe him. Gus wakes up and scolds Shawn for leaving him, and Shawn is utterly confused. Dr. Simpson tells Shawn that Gus's nightmares are not all about Emmanuelle, but are all about Shawn. Shawn tries to make sense of this but can't and calls Dr. Simpson a fraud. But Gus realizes there is some truth to Dr. Simpson's theory and admits to Shawn that he doesn't think Shawn has his back anymore; not like he used to. Things have changed. Dr. Simpson agrees and says that things aren't always what they appear to be. This statement triggers a flashback for Shawn. He reassess the clues gleaned from the school and realizes that Gretchen wasn't cheating on her husband with Derek; she was teaching him how to read. Just then, Shawn gets a call from Betsy telling him that Derek was beaten to death and that Zach was arrested for his murder. It turns out Betsy overheard Shawn and Gus talking about their domestic case involving Zach and decided to investigate on her own. She found a threatening letter from Zach to Derek at the crime scene, then followed him to his second job at a bowling alley and found even more threatening letters.
At the SBPD, Zach is brought in for questioning. A worried Gretchen is there with him trying to placate the situation. Zach claims the letters he wrote were just to blow off steam; he never meant to do any actual real harm. Shawn and Gus are upset with Betsy for stealing their case.
Shawn and Gus head to the morgue and find out from Woody that Derek's body was bound and gagged moments before beaten. Woody also notes that Derek's fingers were broken, but were like that a couple days before he was beaten. As Woody is speaking, Gus begins to slip back into a nightmare and starts seeing things. He imagines Derek's body coming back to life along with the others encased at the morgue. Gus makes it out of the morgue and then finds himself in his childhood home. He sees his mom there. He hugs her and realizes it's really her that he's hugging; not a nightmarish monster in disguise. Gus tells his mom he's been having all these bad dreams because everything is changing. Gus no longer has a job and his car was destroyed. Juliet has left Santa Barbara for a job in the bay area, and Gus thinks Shawn will one day move up there to be with her, leaving Gus all alone. Gus's mom hands him some words of advice, then suddenly things start to turn creepy again. Gus knows something is amiss and starts to worry. He imagines that his mom is getting eaten by a giant monster. He runs into the living room and the place has suddenly turned into a house of horrors. Lassiter, Henry, and Betsy are there trying to ward off the monsters that are trying to get into the house. The monsters are able to break through the boards they nailed to the windows, and they start attacking Lassiter and Betsy. Henry grabs hold of Gus and they escape into a closet, but Henry ends up getting captured. Gus manages to get away, but he is stopped by the crowd of monsters who are all laughing at him, as he tried to defend himself with a three-hole punch. Gus goes to tell Shawn that everyone is dead, but when Shawn turns around, Gus sees that Shawn is now a zombie.
Just as Zombie Shawn is about to eat Gus's brains, Gus wakes to find himself in the car back at the gas station he and Shawn stopped at before. Shawn gets in the car and they head back to the SBPD. Shawn believes Derek had his hands broken and was later killed by the man he had seen leaving Derek's office because he couldn't pay off his gambling debts. They tell Lassiter this theory, but it turns out Brannigan already beat them to the punch. They already have the suspect in custody. The case is now closed.
Later, Shawn and Gus pay a visit to Dr. Simpson during his book signing. Gus has been sleeping more soundly again, and he has Dr. Simpson to thank for it.
Back at Gus's place, he's in bed resting peacefully until a nightmare starts to creep up on him again. He calls Shawn, who then comes over with milkshakes and a movie to keep him company. Shawn tells Gus that no matter what happens, he will always be there for him, and Gus finally finds comfort.
Trivia[]
- The title and confusing-dreams-for-reality theme are references to the 1984 horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street, whose director Wes Craven is paid homage to through Zach's Craven Lanes bowling shirt.
- There are two pineapples in the kitchen of the Texas Chain Saw Massacre-inspired house.
- Psych fans could vote on three episode premises to determine which one would be produced to fill the final Season Eight slot, and Cary Elwes announced at the 2013 Comic-Con that this episode's premise won with over fifty percent of the votes. However, the second-placed premise would also end up being produced, as S8E7 "Shawn and Gus Truck Things Up".
- The winner of the Psych Omaze Screening raffle was flown out to New York to watch this episode together with James Roday Rodriguez and Dulé Hill before it aired.
- The first Zombie Gus sees near the gas station is played by Psych creator and showrunner Steve Franks. Other main crew members also appeared as zombies in this scene, including Andy Berman (Zombie), Kelly Kulchak (Nun Zombie), Saladin K. Patterson (Zombie with Jersey), Chris Henze (Agent Zombie) and Todd Harthan (Zombie).
- When Gus picks up a three-hole punch to use as a weapon, all the zombies start laughing at him. This is a reference to an inside joke among the cast and crew that started while shooting S3E7 "Talk Derby to Me" when Tim Meltreger insisted that James Roday Rodriguez say "three-hole punches" instead of "three-hole punchers" because he considered it funnier. This then led to several gag tapes with the cast and crew mentioning the item and pretending to laugh hysterically.
- Nikki Bella and Brie Bella are wrestlers, and two of several to make an appearance in the Psychverse.
- Bruce Campbell's character is named Ashford Simpson in reference to the husband-and-wife singer-songwriter duo Ashford & Simpson, but it's also a reference to Campbell's role as Ash in the Evil Dead franchise. His final line "Come get some" is another nod to the franchise and causes Hell Hag (portrayed by Psych writer Carlos Jacott) to appear, who looks a lot like the Old Woman from its third installment Army of Darkness. The final line overall ("Hail to the King, baby!") is also from the franchise.
- Dean Cameron (whose character is called "Eikleberry" after his own real name) also appeared in the 1987 comedy Summer School (a film mentioned in S5E16 "Yang 3 in 2D" and S6E16 "Santabarbaratown"), where he exclaims "We live!" after a successful driving instruction, a moment imitated in this episode.
- The closing credits feature the song "They're Coming to Get You, Barbara" by the band No More Kings. It's based on a line from the 1968 zombie flick Night of the Living Dead, a film also referenced by Gus's final black-and-white dream.
- Curt Smith had earlier played "himself" in S5E8 "Shawn 2.0" and S7E5 "100 Clues" and would do so again in Psych 3: This Is Gus. This is also the second episode to feature "Shout" (albeit a parody) after S2E1 "American Duos".
- When Gus wakes up in his mother's house he comments "papa" upon seeing a picture of Martin Sheen. This is a reference to Dulé Hill's role on The West Wing where Sheen played President Josiah Bartlett, a surrogate father figure to Hill's character Charlie Young.
- When Gus and Shawn turn around and look at the camera, Gus has cat eyes. This is a nod to Michael Jackson's cat eyes from the "Thriller" music video.
- This was the last episode produced for the entire series, and the very last shot filmed was of Dulé Hill screaming in front of a green screen.
- James Roday Rodriguez jokingly Tweeted "#PsychNightmare was the most fun I've ever had directing drunk..." immediately after it aired.
Quotes[]
Gretchen: Zach, sure, some men find a second wind in middle life and get themselves in any sort of physical shape. But you didn't, and that's okay, because I love you, cable guy.
Shawn: [to Gus] That's backhanded, no?
Lassiter: [after being grabbed by zombies] See? This is why we should not legalize marijuana.
Gallery[]
The gallery for "A Nightmare on State Street" can be found here.
Digital Releases[]
