"Not Even Close... Encounters" is the third episode of Season Five. Shawn and Gus get themselves hired onto the case when an unstable lawyer claims his assistant was abducted by aliens.
Plot Summary[]
In 1990, Shawn, Gus, and their super nerdy friend Dennis Gogolack ditch school and go to the police station, where they've heard Henry and his team recovered a UFO. Henry assures them that it was a weather balloon, but the kids believe that he has been brainwashed by the aliens. The cape-wearing, asthma inhaler-using Dennis is particularly insistent that the aliens are plotting something as they speak. Henry angrily ushers them out, and the kids oblige when they see he has a gun on his person. As they run, he yells out that there's no such thing as UFOs.
In the present day, lawyer Roy Kessler is doing some work in his home. He's suddenly alerted to a huge gust of wind a bright light. The TV alternates between static and changing channels on its own. He goes for some pills, but decides against it. As the house violently shakes, coworker Toby Shore arrives with more work and a refill on Kessler's pills; the crazy things that were happening seem to have been in Kessler's head. Toby denies hearing any kind of commotion, but everything starts back up at once — the lights flicker, the windows bust open, and wind is blowing violently. Kessler runs outside, looks up at the sky, and is blinded by a bright light. A vessel of some sort lands on the lawn. A slender figure comes out, and Toby walks towards the light as Kessler pleads with him to stay.
Lassiter, Juliet, and Henry arrive at Kessler's place the next day. The cops immediately dismiss his theory that a UFO abducted Toby. Shawn and Gus arrive and are instantly intrigued by Kessler's theory and decide to take on the case. Henry warns them that it's a bad idea, but they decide to help Kessler anyway. The guys start to analyze the property and notice signs of possible UFO activity.
Shawn and Gus speak privately, with the surprisingly level-headed Shawn guessing that aliens aren't responsible for Toby's disappearance. He tells Gus that they must remain objective despite the fact that they're probably both hoping aliens are involved. When asked, Kessler doesn't know where Toby is, but his brand new car, which is still in the driveway, won't start. Furthermore, calls to Toby's phone didn't go through, as Toby is "out of range". Shawn spots an empty beer bottle on the floor, but Kessler insists that was the only beer he had. Shawn then finds Kessler's tape recorder and plays back the UFO-type sound Kessler heard the night before.
Before they can hop on board with Kessler's theory, they have to consult an expert: Dennis, who is now athletic and married to a gorgeous woman named Molly. When told about the case, he says that his alien chasing days were 20 years ago. But, the second Molly leaves, Dennis brings Shawn and Gus to a hidden room that is complete with Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek memorabilia, along with a sci-fi style computer set up to track UFO activity. After Shawn and Gus tell Dennis about Kessler and Toby, Dennis hacks into the national weather service's computer and pulls up the satellite image from the exact moment, place, and time that Toby was supposedly abducted. After seeing a weird orb-like aircraft over Kessler's house, both Shawn and Gus admit they think Toby was abducted. Gus calls Kessler to tell him they believe his story, but Shawn says that they need to keep it low key.
However, not long later, when Shawn and Gus are at their office, a news report comes on and Kessler is being interviewed. When Kessler points out that Shawn and Gus believe him, a picture of the two of them comes up on the broadcast. The phone rings immediately after. Shawn picks it up, automatically knows it's his father, and agrees to come down to the station. When they get there, Henry tells them that Kessler is a conspiracy theorist who has a history of psychotic episodes. He's currently suing Budding Textiles, a company in the midst of a lawsuit for a chemical spill; however, Kessler believes it was done on purpose. Among Kessler's more interesting experiences are claiming to have seen a giant panda in his kitchen and claiming to have seen a UFO while on vacation. Henry is furious that Shawn and Gus have investigated this case and been blinded by the alien angle, once again making a fool out of everyone else. When Shawn and Gus state that Toby is still missing, Henry points to Toby, who is sitting in one of their conference rooms. He explains that when Toby's car wouldn't start, he called a cab and went to stay at his parents' place overnight. His phone was off and he overslept, which is why they couldn't find him that morning.
All of them go into the conference room to hear Toby's story. Toby states that he was there the previous night when Kessler began ranting about strange lights and sounds. He explains that Kessler is acting crazy because he wasn't properly taking his meds. When he wonders if the atmosphere is going to be weird on Monday when Kessler comes into work, Juliet informs him that the firm has suspended him until he completes a month's stay at a psychiatric health facility. Toby asks who's going to be taking over Keller's cases and Shawn and Gus crack a few jokes. However, while they are listening to his story, Shawn notices a strange mark on Toby's arm.
After Toby finishes explaining things, Shawn and Gus excuse themselves and walk out of the conference room to discover all of the officers in the station glancing at them and snickering quietly when they walk by the duo. Shawn tells Gus that they will never again investigate another case that involves on of their childhood obsessions. Gus asks if that also applies if there is ever a pop rocks murder, and Shawn says that'll be the exception. Lassiter comes up and makes fun of them, asking how they feel now that they are a walking joke. Shawn taunts him back, but Lassiter is too overjoyed and begins to dance away from them. They turn and walk away, with Shawn saying that they are going to find out what really happened no matter what so that they can clear their good names. However, before they leave Gus points out several things and tells Shawn he still believes that Toby was abducted. He just didn't tell the truth because he didn't want to hurt his reputation at his job. With Gus still believing in the abduction angle and Shawn wanting to look elsewhere, they need someone to break the tie: Dennis.
Dennis is on "Team Gus," believing that Toby was definitely abducted and cites the telltale signs. He brings up the website for the law firm that Kessler and Toby work at and suggests that Shawn and Gus head there to discretely follow Toby. They need to see if Toby is showing signs of being abducted, such as a willingness to travel or suicidal tendencies. Shawn reads that Toby is now taking over Kessler's cases. He recalls that Toby would bring Kessler his meds and theorizes that he tampered with them to make Kessler look crazy and improve his standing at work.
The guys spy on Toby outside his firm wearing sci-fi disguises they swiped from Dennis's secret room. As Toby grabs a cigarette, they can see that he's shaking and exhibiting signs of paranoia. Much to their surprise, Toby suddenly sprints off. Toby is able to lose them, but he calls Shawn's cell phone to report that he's being followed, not knowing that our duo is responsible. Over the phone, he admits that Kessler was telling the truth and asks them to meet him in front of a hotel in an hour. Later, at the hotel, Shawn and Gus wait outside for Toby's arrival. Gus, still on the abduction angle, figures that Toby was brought aboard the mother ship, probed, and had an embryo placed in his stomach. As they converse, Toby's body suddenly lands in front of them, apparently the result of a suicide jump from the roof. Gus repeats that suicidal tendencies are a sign of abduction.
At the station, Juliet tells them Toby wired all of his money, $500,000, to a charity just before his death. Shawn wants in on Toby's case, but Henry kicks them out, saying he can't keep sticking his neck out for the "village idiots". Out of ideas, Shawn turns on a fan and messes up the papers that were on Juliet's desk. On their way out, Shawn snags a few pieces of paper, one of which is Woody's report showing that a strange object is caught inside Toby's stomach.
At the coroner's office, Woody tells them that the object was a flash drive, but it is now in Lassiter's possession. Furthermore, the mark on Toby's arm was just a birthmark. Shawn and Gus then go to Dennis's home and convince him to hack Lassiter's computer to grab the flash drive at the same time Lassiter is trying to extract info from the drive. The drive contains legal documents related to Budding Textiles — the same company that Kessler was looking into. Shawn eyes one of the documents and focuses on the last address on the list, a dilapidated property and the surrounding town that Budding purchased for some reason. The question is why Budding would want poisoned land.
Shawn and Gus go to the town where the spill occurred and find an enormous vehicle parked there. Shawn starts the ignition and tells Gus that Toby was actually telling the truth — not about the UFO, but about Kessler's belief that the chemical spill was done purposefully. He brings up that the legal document mentioned the contaminated land contained an abnormally high level of hydrocarbons, indicating the presence of oil. The machine they're in is designed to send sonic vibrations into the earth in order to bring the oil to the surface. From this evidence, they determine that the textile company planned a purposeful chemical spill in order to drive residents away so that they can keep the oil for themselves.
As they walk away from the scene, a bright light appears in the sky, which they can't outrun. It's a helicopter from the textile company, which lands in their path. Budding holds them at gunpoint, while his goons kidnap them and bring them to a secure location. It is here that Shawn tells them what he thinks their evil plan is – with Kessler on their heels, they paid Toby to help discredit Kessler, knowing that Kessler was a conspiracy theorist who believed in UFOs. They rigged the helicopter to mimic a UFO and likely used an EMP device to produce an electrical pulse. Everything was going to plan until Toby began having second thoughts after coming across the dismissed case file. He donated his $500,000 to charity, but this was a minor setback for Budding, who had his goons track down Toby and kill him. When it appears the guys are about to be shot, Dennis comes into the room pretending to be from a messenger service. As he pretends to look for identification, he pulls out nunchucks and tries to disarm the goons in order to save Shawn and Gus. His heroics abruptly end when he strikes himself in the face. Thankfully, Shawn had texted his father. Juliet and Lassiter soon burst into the room and take the criminals down, with Lassiter going the extra mile and tasing Dennis because Dennis was armed.
Shawn and Gus are now seen as heroes for bravely uncovering the conspiracy, and as a result, Henry has to reluctantly give them another job.
In the end, Molly ends up discovering that Dennis is a nerd. Fortunately for Dennis, it turns that she is a closet "nerdette" herself.
Trivia[]
- The seminal Steven Spielberg 1977 sci-fi film Close Encounters of the Third Kind is the source of the title. The film is also referenced alongside another seminal sci-fi film by Spielberg, 1982's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, when Shawn jokes that they'll need "a Speak & Spell and seven pounds of mashed potatoes" to solve the case.
- There is a pineapple air freshener hanging in Dennis's secret room.
- As they walk up to Kessler's house, Shawn tells Gus that "it's never the crazy suspects. It wasn't a mummy, it wasn't the devil, it wasn't even Bigfoot." These are references to S2E16 "Shawn (and Gus) of the Dead", S4E4 "The Devil Is in the Details... and the Upstairs Bedroom" and a "missing school bus" case that's not seen in any episode (which Gus's failure to remember hints at) and is mentioned again by Shawn when Kessler brings up he once saw Bigfoot. The next case assigned to Shawn and Gus (which Henry calls "this counterfeit thing") is also never seen.
- When Dennis is remotely controlling Lassiter's computer, they discover that one of the sites he's visited is "squirrelassassins.com". This is a reference to the previous episode, where Lassiter tells Gus his neighbor is suing him for killing his squirrels.
- Shawn is wearing an ascot tie from Dennis's house when he and Gus are about to witness Toby's suicide, and Kessler is wearing it in the final scene. This is the same tie Charlton Heston wore in the dystopian thriller Soylent Green, and Shawn spoils the film's shock reveal by rhetorically asking "Is Soylent Green people?" The tie is also a reference to Freddie Prinze Jr.'s portrayal of Fred Jones (known for his orange ascot) in 2002's Scooby-Doo and its 2004 sequel.
- Bunting's plan and his attempts to make it seem like something supernatural/extra-terrestrial is involved are typical of Scooby-Doo villains.
- Among the people on Lassiter's "crap list" are Psych writer and producer Andy Berman as well as Hillary Clinton (twice), Michael Moore, Chris Tucker and Tyne Daly (the last of whom appeared on Judging Amy alongside Timothy Omundson).
- Psych producer Geoff Garrett is mentioned several times as an antagonistic classmate of Shawn and Gus's when they were young.
- Psych crew members Randy Hutniak (art department) and Matthew Chipera (co-producer) are mentioned on the court document Dennis finds on Lassiter's computer.
- Shawn and Gus consider Bunting to be "Stephen Lang-esque". Stephen Lang appeared in Psych S4E5 "Shawn Gets the Yips" as Salamatchia and is known for his villainous roles.
- In the flashback to 1990, Henry is on the phone with a Jerry, most likely Jerry Carp.
- Charles Martin Smith also appeared in Starman, a 1984 sci-fi film about an alien who's come to Earth.
- At one point Shawn says "the only thing we were blinded by is..." and Gus completes the thought with "...science!" This line references Thomas Dolby's 1982 song "She Blinded Me with Science", and Gus's delivery and gesturing imitate Dolby's.
- When Molly finds the secret room she is holding Dennis's inhaler in her right hand, which means she had already discovered one of his secrets and wanted to ask him why he has one.
Gallery[]
The gallery for Not Even Close... Encounters can be found here.
Digital Releases[]
