"Chivalry Is Not Dead... But Someone Is" is the fourth episode of Season Five. When a wealthy widow's young date is murdered, Shawn and Gus are pitted against a dirty rotten scoundrel they are convinced trained the victim to be a con artist.
Plot Summary[]
At an upscale party at a swanky mansion, two young bachelors, Lance Tolkin (Matt Ellis) and Gabe McKinley (Jared Keeso), order drinks at a bar while being flanked by attractive young women. Both men revel in their good fortunes and bring the drinks to two older women. After taking a sip of his drink, Lance begins to cough violently. The coughing fit sends him tumbling over a railing and landing to his death a few floors below. Shawn and Gus arrive at the scene, but are quickly asked to leave by Lassiter when Shawn can't stop being his usual self. Lassiter believes that Lance simply slipped and fell; however, before leaving, Shawn notes that Lance didn't sustain any arm or ankle fractures, meaning that he didn't brace his fall. Therefore, he was dead before his body hit the ground. The toxicology report confirms this; Lance was poisoned.
Lassiter believes he has a slam dunk suspect: Gillian Tucker (Jean Smart), whose husband, Walter, committed suicide five months earlier. He closed the case, but admits that something didn't sit right about the whole thing. He now believes that Gillian has murdered both her husband and her date for the evening. Henry allows Shawn and Gus to work the poison angle, while Lassiter and Juliet will investigate Gillian.
They all head to Lance's bachelor pad to further investigate. Shawn spies a book called Killing with Class, written by Clive Prescott (John Michael Higgins). The book contains a personal note from Prescott. It turns out Lance was one of Prescott's most promising students in his "art of gentlemanly seduction" class. Shawn also recalls seeing Prescott at the crime scene.
Shawn and Gus crash Prescott's class, where Prescott embarrasses Shawn for his lack of decorum. They then speak privately; this time, Shawn gets the upper hand when figuring out that Prescott was lying about his attitude towards Lance. Meanwhile, Lassiter and Juliet interrogate Gillian, who is more concerned with looking good for a supposed business meeting. However, Juliet privately tells Lassiter that Gillian is actually getting ready for a date. If she can lie about what she's preparing for, she can like about other things, too — like murder.
They all track Gillian to a fancy restaurant, where they find her on a date with Prescott. Lassiter and Juliet question the bartender from the party, who remembers that Lance ordered a unique and classy drink — a Gabardine Hightail, with the private bottle of scotch provided by Gillian. The suspect arrow is pointing back at Gillian, until Shawn later informs Lassiter that Prescott created that drink and wrote about it in his book. Prescott taught Lance everything, and he knew what drink Prescott was going to order.
Henry discovers that Prescott's most recent liaison was an extremely wealthy woman who went on vacation with Prescott in South America and never returned with him, having died mysteriously in a drowning accident. Shawn and Gus tail Gillian and Prescott to the bank and interrupt a financial transaction the two appear to be making. Shawn charms Gillian and arranges a double date - Gillian being Shawn's date and Gillian's friend Eugenia (Lee Garlington) being Gus' date.
At the date, Gillian gifts Shawn a pair of diamond cufflinks, while Eugenia offers Gus half a stick of gum. Gillian tells Shawn that Eugenia has been staying with her since Walter's death and that her attempts to set Eugenia up with a man have failed repeatedly. Throughout the date, Eugenia recoils at Gus's advances, while Gus refuses to ask Eugenia about her gardening hobby. A bottle of wine arrives at the table without anyone having ordered it. It turns out Prescott is responsible and he soon crashes the party. When the women excuse themselves to the bathroom, Gabe, who is also there on a date with an older woman, walks over and greets Prescott. Gabe is impressed with Shawn's skills, having learned from Prescott that Gillian was "off limits". Upon returning, Gillian tells Shawn that Prescott is taking her to South America, much to Shawn's displeasure.
Shawn relocates the date to the Psych office. While he and Gillian share pizza, Gus continues to get rebuffed by Eugenia. After the woman leave for the evening, Shawn suddenly falls ill, telling Gus that he was poisoned. Before passing out, he points the finger at Prescott. At the hospital, Shawn finds out he was indeed poisoned, but barely. In fact, it turns out he's going to be just fine. Later, Shawn and Juliet question Prescott, but right in the middle, Lassiter tells Prescott he is free to go, as they have no substantial evidence against him and can no longer detain him. The same goes for Gillian.
Though they can't nail Prescott yet, Henry informs Shawn that Prescott was dating another woman who died mysteriously and whose company went bankrupt just a month later. Shawn and Gus disrupt Prescott's next seminar, calling him a murderer. Prescott denies this, saying the woman died from cancer and that her ungrateful sons took all of her money and drove her business into the ground. Furthermore, the woman he went to South America with was killed by a stingray. Shawn continues to prod Prescott, finally getting him to admit his love for Gillian. In fact, he plans to propose and wants to ask Eugenia to tea, seeking her blessing. When Gus expresses his frustration with Eugenia, Prescott informs him and Shawn that Eugenia is practically penniless and that Gillian is her only caretaker.
Shawn starts flashing back through the case, realizing that Eugenia was wearing cheap clothing and stealing sweetener from the dinner table. He also recalls Gillian mentioning that Eugenia was recently disappointed by a man. Shawn believes that Gabe is their killer — he realized he ended up with a dud, while Lance got to be with Gillian. So, Gabe killed Lance in order to trade up on his date. The theory comes crashing to a halt, though, when Gabe is found dead in a gym sauna, having been killed by a poisoned energy drink. Toxicology reports indicate that the poison used was Naphthalene, a common ingredient in moth balls. Gus realizes that Eugenia used the poison from the pesticides in her garden and administered it to the victims.
Shawn now knows what happened, but he realizes that Prescott is with Eugenia at that moment. He and Gus rush to Prescott and stop him from drinking tea, which has likely been poisoned. Shawn lays out the facts. All the victims were lovers of Gillian's, leading Shawn to believe Eugenia killed them out of jealousy. Shawn makes the claim that Eugenia is a murdering lesbian who was in love with Gillian. She was the one who murdered Gillian's husband and made it look like a suicide. Knowing that she had everything to lose if Gillian settled down with a guy, Eugenia had to kill anyone who got close to her. Gus now feels a little better knowing that he never stood a chance with Eugenia. In the end, Eugenia admits to the murders, and Prescott leaves for his honeymoon with Gillian.
As a kind gesture for his efforts, Prescott leaves Shawn in charge of his class. Meanwhile, Gus visits Eugenia in prison, still hung up on the fact that he was constantly rejected. It only makes him a feel a little better when Eugenia tells him that she killed all of the men she dated.
Trivia[]
- The title refutes the commonly held notion that "chivalry is dead" (referring to a substantial decline in good manners since the days of chivalrous knights) and then contrasts this with human mortality.
- As with so many Psych episodes, this one offers numerous nods to a classic 1980s comedy; here it's 1988's Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, starring Steve Martin, Michael Caine and Psych guest star Glenne Headly.
- There's pineapple on the pizzas Shawn and Gus share with Gillian and Eugenia, and there's also some pineapple on a plate behind Prescott during his meeting with Eugenia.
- Lance has a Super Troopers pinball machine in his bedroom. That film was co-written by, directed by and starred Jay Chandrasekhar, who also directed this episode.
- While interviewing Gillian, Lassiter says "Miss Tucker, are you trying to seduce me?" This is a reference to Dustin Hoffman's line "Mrs. Robinson, you are trying to seduce me" from The Graduate, and while the film features the famous shot of Hoffman from below Anne Bancroft's leg as he says the line, this episode reverses perspective and features a shot of Gillian from below Lassiter's leg as he says the line.
- This is the first time Shawn uses his Soup Can Sam disguise. He would do so again in S7E1 "Santabarbaratown 2" and S8E4 "Someone's Got a Woody", although in those cases he had to give half of the beard to Gus for his Satchel Gizmo disguise.
- Harriett Finestatt, who is not seen but is mentioned as one of the women Prescott is suspected of killing, could very well be related to Katie Finestatt, who is mentioned by Gus in S1E5 "9 Lives" as a dermatologist colleague who said he looked handsome while carrying his sample case into her office.
Quotes[]
Henry: You're not afraid of the competition, are you, Shawn?
Shawn: Of course not. As long as it doesn't involve people trying to best each other.
Lassiter: Maybe the killing feels good, like the soft, supple flesh of a man buck.
Juliet: You disturb me. And your theory on this murder disturbs me. And you disturb me.
Lassiter: You said that twice.
Juliet: Yes.
Clive: No, this man-boy here lacks all culture, elegance, and he smells of buffalo wings.
Shawn: Ha! That is where you are wrong, sir. What you're smelling are buffalo wing-flavored Snyder's pretzels of Hanover.
Gus: It's America's pretzel.
Shawn: And Hanover's, obviously.
Waiter: This is the Limox Viventi Cabernet Dumont. May I?
Shawn: May you? Or can you?
Gus: I think he got it right the first time.
Clive: [upon seeing Henry] I know you from somewhere, don't I? Yes! Yes, I remember you now. A gentleman never forgets a name. Let's see, Henry... Henry William Spencer. He's the only student I ever had to kick out.
Shawn: You got kicked out of his seminar?
Henry: You didn't kick me out; you invited me to leave.
Clive: Read between the lines, sir.
Gallery[]
The gallery for Chivalry Is Not Dead... But Someone Is can be found here.
Digital Releases[]
