Psych Wiki
Advertisement
Psych Wiki


"Zero to Murder in Sixty Seconds" is the fourth episode of Season Two. Lassiter's car gets stolen and Shawn solves the case in record time, but he soon realizes that nothing's ever that easy and must then drag Gus away from his vacation to further investigate a case he's already solved.

Plot Summary[]

In 1987, young Shawn and Gus have a bike race to see who is the fastest. Henry, being the timer, tells them to start; at first it looks like Shawn is in the lead, but then Gus catches up and wins. Henry tells Shawn that Gus focused on what's important, which is hard work, instead of decorating his bike.

Lassiter doesn't have time for Shawn and Gus today, he tells them, as they race through the police station on office chairs. He and Juliet are giving a presentation at the 21st Century Law Enforcement Seminar, or 21LES, a conference for real police officers, he explains, as they follow him outside to discover his car has been stolen from right in front of the station. Lassiter warns them to keep quiet. He doesn't want the other cops to find out. Shawn notices a piece of a valet ticket still left on Lassiter's keychain and "divines" that the valets from the restaurant he was at last night probably made an impression of his key and came back to steal it. Lassiter says that would have been his first thought, and commandeers The Blueberry to check it out.

Once there, they learn from Chelsea that there was a new valet who started yesterday but didn't show up today. Shawn and Gus get the valet's number, which turns out to be from a payphone in front of a chop shop. Back at the station, Shawn has a "vision" of a car theft ring and brings the cops to the warehouse where they find ample evidence to send the ringleader, Wally, directly to jail. Not only have Shawn and Gus solved a case in record time, they also protected Lassiter's reputation by getting his car out of the warehouse before the cops arrived. Still, something doesn't sit right with Shawn. It was too easy. He wants to reopen the case but the cops are considering it closed and Gus is finally using a vacation package he earned from work.

So Shawn goes alone to visit Wally in jail where he learns that he hasn't posted bail and has been visited by someone named Jonny G., owner of "Bling It On" Custom Car Shop. Shawn then manages to convince Gus to leave the spa and go with him to investigate the car shop. He's already got an in. Jonny G. has pimped out Gus's Yaris and he's done the final check on it himself, as always. While they are there to pick up the car, Shawn notices serial numbers of car parts and accessories.

As they drive off, Gus is in middle of wondering how he's going to explain the change in the company car to his boss, when they are pulled over by Buzz. He tells them the car fit a description and as he's apologizing for his mistake, K9 unit Mauler jumps out of the squad car and starts barking at the Yaris. The dog also begins sniffing the front car's front tire. Buzz again apologizes, explaining the dog is still in training, gets the dog back into his car and leaves. The guys then head to the police station where Shawn gives them the serial numbers he'd seen earlier. It turns out the numbers correspond to car parts purchased legitimately by "Bling It On". Still, Shawn is convinced there's something not right at the car shop, so they go back to do more investigating. They find out that a fleet of cars is being shipped to Arizona and as Shawn is receiving a call from Henry, Gus picks up a rim and is surprised at how light it is. But before they can get anything else, they have to go to Henry's. He says it's an emergency.

Of course, when they get there the emergency turns out to be only in Henry's mind, but while there cleaning fish, Shawn puts the case together. Jonny G.'s been smuggling drugs out of state inside car parts. That's why the rims were so light and that's why the police dog barked at their car. Wally's just the fall guy for a bigger drug operation. But when they get back to "Bling It On," they find Jonny G. dead inside a car from a nitrous oxide leak in its performance booster.

The police think it was foul play but have no leads, so Shawn and Gus go visit Wally again, who insists that he had nothing to do with the drug operation and was just the front man for the chop shop. But Shawn comes away believing that not only was he the mastermind behind the smuggling ring, he's also somehow responsible for Jonny G.'s death while behind bars. Wally was easy to catch because jail gave him the perfect alibi and with Jonny G. out of the way, he'd have sole control of the custom car shop and thus the drug operation. They hear that Wally has finally posted bail, so the drug deal is going down today. Shawn remembers seeing the shipping form for the cars. They know where and when, now all they need is backup.

They crash the 21LES seminar, which isn't going well, so it doesn't take a lot of convincing to get Lassiter and Juliet to the drug deal. They arrive in time to catch Wally in the act, with the drugs hidden in the cars. Wally knew that Jonny G. always checked the cars himself before delivery and rigged the nitrous oxide container, knowing it would kill him. With Wally now off to jail for good, Gus can finally finish using his vacation package, with Shawn in tow, of course.

Trivia[]

  • The title combines a pun about homicide and car acceleration stats with the title of the 2000 street car racing flick Gone in 60 Seconds.
  • When Gus is talking about his stress and the postponement of his spa visit, he references events from S1E6 "Weekend Warriors" ("Like when I had to enter a Civil War reenactment?"), S1E15 "Scary Sherry: Bianca's Toast" ("Or when I was protecting a sorority of pajama-clad coeds"), and S1E5 "9 Lives" ("let's not forget about the entire week I gave up riding shotgun to a cat").
  • The song playing during the opening flashback sequence is "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor, most recognizable from the Rocky series of films.

Gallery[]

Start of the race
The gallery for "Zero to Murder in Sixty Seconds" can be found here.

Digital Releases[]

Advertisement