"Rob-a-Bye Baby" is the eighth episode of Season Two. When Chief Vick hires Shawn and Gus to find her a new nanny, they soon realize that their investigation might overlap with Lassiter's – a string of home invasion robberies.
Plot Summary[]
It's 1987, and Shawn is asking Henry how babies are made, for which Henry has no child-friendly answer. After Shawn sees right through what his father tells him, Henry tells Shawn to ask his mother, but Shawn must tuck his shirt in first.
In the present day, Interim Chief Vick calls Shawn and Gus down to the station. She has something big and top secret to talk to them about. The guys are excited until she tells them she wants them to find her a new nanny for Iris, screening the candidates psychically. Her nephew used to nanny Iris, but he went back to nursing school and now Vick hasn't slept in weeks.
As Gus begins his research online for the perfect nanny, Shawn insists that all the best ones are already employed. Shawn comes up with the idea of going to the playground and poaching the best candidate. While there talking to nannies Ada and Jaynie, Shawn learns that they all come from the same nanny agency, Red Balloon, and that some of them are thinking about asking to be reassigned due to a string of neighborhood burglaries. All of the break-ins happened during the day to houses that have security systems. Even though none of the nanny houses were hit, they don't feel safe. Meanwhile, Gus is trying to covertly interview nannies as well. While the two are lurking about at the playground, they come across as creepy and get the cops called on them. As Buzz shows up to escort them out, he gets a call about another burglary. Shawn and Gus ask him to take them to the crime scene but when they get there, they find more than they expected as the owner of the house has been murdered. Like the other burglaries, the thieves were able to disarm the security system, only killing the owner on the spur of the moment when he surprised them by coming home sick from work.
They go down to the station to let Vick know what they've discovered on the burglary case but she is desperate and running on fumes, putting everyone in the station on edge. She insists they use all their resources on finding a nanny and stay away from the burglary case. On his way out, Shawn discreetly takes pictures with his cell phone of photos from the case file on Lassiter's desk.
Back at the Psych office, Gus is continuing the nanny search in earnest and has narrowed it down to three candidates – all of which Shawn immediately dismisses with a glance. Shawn checks the pictures on his phone and sees that two of the houses have the same security company, Startek. When he gets to Startek, Lassiter and Juliet are already there. Lassiter suspects the technicians of being in on the burglaries, especially Carl Kozlowski, but Shawn realizes quickly they don't have the aptitude to pull of the heists. He sees the addresses of the other houses hit, but when he calls Gus to pick him up to do recon, Gus refuses, saying they need to focus on Vick's nanny. Instead, Shawn is forced to get Henry to drive him around the neighborhood. Henry gets Shawn to see that the other houses in the area are actually easier targets than the ones that got hit. Those houses were chosen for a reason. Shawn then sees Jaynie come out of the house next door with expensive Coach sunglasses, possibly bought with money from outside her income. He now believes the nannies are somehow related to the robberies and wants to investigate the Red Balloon Agency.
With Gus busy working on the case they were actually hired for, Shawn gets Juliet to go to the agency with him and pose as prospective clients. There they meet with Abigail Daniels, who runs the agency and introduces them to technician Steve Hitchcock in the video room. Together they explain that Red Balloon installs baby-bonding cameras in their clients' homes so parents can check in with their nannies and children during the day, the control of those cameras resting solely with the parents. While there Shawn sneaks out to check on Jaynie's files, discovering she used to work at a Coach store and could have gotten an employee discount or simply stole the glasses. As they are about to leave, Juliet gets a call from Lassiter saying that he's found some of the stolen items at Anthony Ogletree's exotic reptile shop. When they get to the store Shawn sees evidence of chewing tobacco and has a "vision" that the person who sold the items was Steve, as Shawn had seen him tuck a tin of chew into his pocket earlier. It's not the nannies who are behind the burglary ring, it's the agency. Of course, just then, Gus calls to say he's finally found Vick the perfect nanny – from the Red Balloon agency.
Shawn and Gus go back to the agency to figure out exactly how they are pulling off the crimes. They discover that two bookcases in Abby's office can be moved aside to reveal a set of feeds from the baby-bonding cameras and a joystick that controls the camera angles. Abby and Steve must be pointing the cameras at the neighbors' houses, getting security codes and times they would be empty. On the monitor, they see Abby and Steve at Chief Vick's house and call Juliet to tell her and Lassiter to meet them over there. When they get there, Abby has just put Iris to sleep and Steve has just finished installing the cameras. Shawn explains their modus operandi and Vick has them arrested, but all is not lost. Her nephew has decided to transfer to a nursing school in Santa Barbara, so Vick has her old nanny back and can finally sleep again. In the meantime, Shawn has duped Henry into looking after Iris for a short time.
Trivia[]
- The title twists the "Rock-a-bye baby" lullaby, first printed in Mother Goose's Melody c. 1765.
- Shawn has a pineapple patch on his blue polo, he eats pineapple-popcorn jellybeans at the playground and he brings a pineapple to Vick's house as a gift.
- Henry's attempt to distract Shawn in the opening flashback by asking how many hats are in the room is a call-back to the pilot.
- Shawn calls shotgun on the blimp and Gus indignantly says he cannot do that. These same exchanges play out over a fire pole in S3E12 "Earth, Wind and... Wait for It" and over a hot air balloon in S3E14 "Truer Lies", and in S8E5 "Cog Blocked" Shawn is on the other side of the issue when Emmanuelle called shotgun before the car was even in sight.
- The agency is called Red Balloon in a nod to the song which plays when Shawn "proposes" to Juliet, "99 Red Balloons" by Nena.
- Shawn uses the name "Levon Tostig" at the agency, which is a reference to the song "Levon" by Elton John.
- At the playground Shawn refers to two twin boys as Perry and Luke, which is a reference to actor Luke Perry.
- After Shawn's Star Trek gag at Startek, some of the sound effects from the original Star Trek can be heard in the background.
- Shawn tells Juliet that he's had a vision of them being married. They end up getting engaged in the show finale "The Break-Up" before tying the knot in Psych: The Movie.
Quotes[]
Vick: Look, I'm trusting you both to be professional and to keep this matter completely confidential.
Gus: You got it.
Shawn: If you knew how many secrets I was keeping from you already, you'd totally trust me.
Buzz: Listen, I got a call about two creepy dudes hanging out in the playground.
Gus: Really? I haven't seen anything, but I'll keep my eyes open.
Shawn: Yeah, we've just been here hanging out in the bushes.
[Buzz makes a face and it dawns on Shawn and Gus that they're the creepy dudes]
Henry: Well, that's a stupid house to rob.
Shawn: Does anyone live up to your standards? Maybe we can get a hold of the burglar's number. You can call, tell him how disappointed you are.
Shawn: Dude, I'm the one that has to do the wrap-up, remember? You want me to get up there with eggs Benedict all over my face? The Canadian bacon in my hair? Hollandaise dripping down?
Shawn: [pretending a stuffed animal is talking to him] What's that? The bear snores really loud, he's pretty sure the turtle's really an alien, and all the monkey wants to do is play "pull my finger".
Gallery[]
The gallery for Rob-a-Bye Baby can be found here.
Digital Releases[]
