"Let's Get Hairy" is the eighth episode of Season Four. An eccentric man believes he is a werewolf and enlists Shawn and Gus to help protect society against him.
Plot Summary[]
In 1989, Shawn and Gus purposely wander away from their Boy Scout troop to wander through a dense, foggy forest. They're soon spooked by the howling of wolves, which they mistake for werewolves. As they run through the forest, Henry finds them and stops them in their tracks. He explains to the boys that the mind plays tricks on you when you're scared, but there's no room for being scared in his "dojo". However, he changes his tune when he hears a noise, and all three run away.
In the present day, Stewart Gimbley bursts into the Psych office looking for help. He went to the police first but was referred to Shawn and Gus instead. Stewart wants the guys to lock him up and observe him overnight. He gives them a gun with silver bullets for their protection, because Stewart believes he's a werewolf. He thinks he killed a lamb last night and is worried that tonight he'll do worse. He offers them three times their rate, which they readily accept, thinking this will be easy money. They tie Stewart up but then fall asleep themselves, only to wake up to the sound of the window shattering. Stewart is gone and a tuft of grey animal hair dangles from a shard of glass. Later that night, we see two hunters brutally attacked in the woods. Stewart is later seen waking up bloody and naked lying next to the hunters' dead bodies.
The next morning, Shawn and Gus go to the police station for help tracking Stewart. Lassiter, who spoke with Stewart earlier, tells them his sister Willow runs an occult shop. On their way out, they give Juliet the grey animal hair and ask her to run it through the lab. At the shop, Willow tells them Stewart was bitten in the woods a few weeks ago. He refuses to let her help him because he says he's too dangerous. Shawn spots a photo of Stewart with a group of people. Willow tells him they are Stewart's therapy group; the picture of them is at a restaurant during Stewart's birthday the year before.
Back at the Psych office, Shawn goes through the overnight bag Stewart left and finds a prescription for Haloperidol, which Gus says is for schizophrenia and aggression. They go see the prescribing doctor, Dr. Ken Tucker, but his secretary Myrtle says the doctor isn't seeing new patients now and refuses to let them in. Then, she gets a call and rushes down the hall to help Dr. Tucker restrain a screaming hysterical Asian woman. Shawn runs behind Myrtle's desk and uses Gus' cell phone to take pictures of information off her computer. Shawn finishes just as Myrtle comes back, escorting the woman out. Myrtle cryptically warns the woman, Polexia Li, not to do anything she would regret. As Polexia leaves, Shawn and Gus turn to watch her go, then Myrtle kicks them out. They see Polexia outside and Shawn thinks she looks familiar. Lassiter and Juliet show up at Tucker's and tell Shawn and Gus about the murdered hunters. Stewart is their prime suspect. The cops head inside to talk to Tucker, and Shawn remembers that Polexia is the bartender in the picture of Stewart's birthday. They decide to go talk to her. Meanwhile, Lassiter and Juliet have gotten in to see Tucker, whose office is decorated with dead stuffed animals. Tucker tells them that Stewart is troubled and has been blurring the lines of fantasy and reality. And he's been getting worse. At the bar, Shawn and Gus tell Polexia they are thinking of becoming patients of Tucker's, but she hints that he won't be practicing much longer and recommends they find another doctor.
Shawn and Gus return to the Psych office to find Stewart hiding in the closet. He says he needs help and that he thinks he should turn himself in. They tell him that they spoke with Polexia, trying to find someone to vouch for him. Stewart tells them that they call Polexia the "Black Widow". She used to dominate their group sessions until she threatened Tucker; now, she only does one-on-ones with him. Shawn is beginning to think someone is using Stewart as part of their own nefarious plan because Stewart is vulnerable and believes in weird things. They take Stewart to hide out at Willow's while they find proof to connect Polexia to what's going on. Knowing Tucker's schedule from one of the pictures off Myrtle's computer, the guys arrive at his office just as he's leaving and sneak inside. They discover Polexia's file is missing and evidence that Stewart's prescription is being switched out with tranquilizers. They also find audiotapes, a receipt for a large purchase from the taxidermist, and ladies' underwear. Shawn remembers watching Polexia leave and realizes she wasn't wearing any underwear. The culprit is not Polexia.
They meet the cops at Willow's, who tells them Tucker came by earlier and took Stewart away. Shawn figures out that Polexia was having an affair with Tucker. She threatened to expose him, which would ruin his practice. Tucker was going to kill Polexia and pin it on Stewart, using the claws and teeth of a stuffed wolf, as he did with the lamb and the hunters. They track Polexia to the woods, where they catch Tucker in the act, saving both her and Stewart just in time.
Trivia[]
- Besides referencing lycanthropy, the title taps into the "Let's get ready to rumble!" wrestling catchphrase and is also a nod to Let's Get Harry, a 1986 action film starring Tom Wilson, who plays Butch Zielinski in this episode.
- There are several references to the 1981 horror film An American Werewolf in London. For starters, David Naughton's appearance is fitting as he portrayed the film's titular werewolf. The Santa Barbara Mirror article mentions a "slaughtered lamb", which is the name of the pub in the film, and Stewart concealing his privates with balloons is a nod to a similar scene in the film.
- The contestant to Henry's left has a water bottle designed to look like a pineapple.
- In more of the show's wrestling references, Shawn and Gus settle down to watch the 2009 Royal Rumble carrying dolls representing Junkyard Dog (JYD) and Hacksaw before Gus calls JYD "the most electrifying wrestler of his time" in a nod to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
- Culprit Ken Tucker is named after a television critic who wrote several negative reviews about the show.
- Stewart describes Lassiter as a scarecrow. Goochberg called Lassiter a scarecrow to his face in S1E15 "Scary Sherry: Bianca's Toast" and so did Mary Pasternak in S7E8 "Right Turn or Left for Dead".
- The Cuatro Quesos dos Fritos from S3E14 "Truer Lies" are back and would have further appearances or mentions in Psych: The Movie, Psych 3: This Is Gus and the first skit of the Psych Slumber Party.
- In classic horror style, we are left with sounds and the image of Neck's targeting laser pointing aimlessly off into the undergrowth rather than given a graphic depiction of the kill. The "broken film in the projector" effect right before the intro may also be designed to pay homage to the classic horror films, and the special title frame appears to employ essentially the same font as Michael Jackson's "Thriller" music video.
- Shawn and Gus dress Stewart in the style of Dwayne Wayne from A Different World.
- Shawn introduces himself and Gus to Myrtle as R.P. McMurphy and Cheswick, two characters from the classic 1962 novel and 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
- Shawn introduces Gus to Polexia as Harry Munroe and calls him "absolutely stir crazy", so Gus in turn introduces Shawn as Skip. These are references to the 1980 comedy Stir Crazy and its main characters.
- In an attempt to lift spirits, Henry quotes the villainous sensei of 1984's The Karate Kid by asking "Fear does not exist in this dojo, does it?"
- On re-watching the episode a number of viewers reported that the sub-plot of Henry and the car ended differently the first time they watched it. The universal claim is that the orphanage ended up being fake.
- The "Dee's Nuts" advert is a nod to Dr. Dre's "Deeez Nuuuts".
- The song playing during the search for Polexia is "Hungry Like the Wolf" by Duran Duran, and the shot of a litter-lined alley may be an homage to a similar shot in the music video.
Gallery[]
The gallery for "Let's Get Hairy" can be found here.
Digital Releases[]
