'Psych' summer finale recap: A serious Shawn moment

Image Credit: Alan Zenuk/USA NetworkIf you’re a sucker for funny men turning into serious sweethearts, then you loved last night’s Psych. Shawn and Gus helped a framed spy, Nadia (The Bourne Identity‘s Franka Potente), clear her name. They didn’t believe she was innocent, which is why Shawn wore a wire when he had one last meeting with her. She hit on him, and he rebuffed her advances. Gus asked why since Shawn had been lusting after her (maybe because she was obviously playing him?), and that’s when Juliet, who was “watching the van” as Lasse and the military special ops suits (led by C. Thomas Howell!) made their move, overheard how Shawn truly feels about her. Shawn told Gus that Juliet dating Declan (Lost‘s Nestor Carbonell as Shawn 2.0, a fake criminal profiler who confessed his fraud to Juliet), was killing him. He knew he had no right to stand in her way. “You think I don’t want her to be happy? I want her to be happy. But… serious Shawn moment here. I want to be happy, too. For some reason, I can’t imagine that happening without Juliet. How crazy is that?” (Why didn’t Mr. Observant Shawn realize he still had a mic on and that Juliet wasn’t at the bust? Cut them some slack!)

At the end of the episode, Gus and Shawn showed up at Declan’s house. Declan excused himself because he was in the middle of a $30 million bid on something. Gus went with Declan, and Shawn tried not to freak out when Juliet said her vacation with Declan was for two weeks. He succeeded. “Have an amazing trip, okay. Promise me,” he said, genuinely. “‘Cause you know, they say these kind of trips are once-in-a-lifetime experiences, and that they’re even better when you have someone you care about to share them with, and… you do. Take lots of pictures. Not of sights. Don’t take pictures of buildings. Take pictures of moments, ’cause that’s what matters. Capture ’em here [points to his head], and hold on to ’em here [points to his heart]… At least that’s what I would do. I don’t know, you might take blurry photos of your espresso at some random café…” Juliet, who’d been watching him with a look on her face that said she understood how much love it took for him to care enough about her happiness to mean what he was saying, interrupted him with a long kiss. I like how James Roday played that — it was almost as though he didn’t return it, he was too shocked — because it keeps that tension alive. We still have some place to go, something to look forward to. They separated, and Declan and Gus returned to announce that Declan had just bought the hotel on the Amalfi Coast that had been booked when they wanted to stay there. As Shawn left and looked back at Juliet, Declan kissed her on the cheek. The final shot was Juliet looking visibly torn. Cliffhanger! What do you think will happen? Is it actually time for Shawn and Juliet to finally get together?

What were your favorite non-romance moments in last night’s episode: I’m torn between Gus running for his life with his ice cream cone (“I’m not dropping my cone, Shawn!”) and casually resuming eating it when Nadia told them the people tailing her would be there any second (things move slower in Santa Barbara, they said — wrong!); the Spies Like Us reference (Shawn told Nadia that Gus had just watched half of it — I love that movie); Shawn telling Gus, “Don’t be Fine Young Cannibals’ cover of ‘Suspicious Minds'” (don’t click on that link!), and Shawn suggesting that the only three people who look good hanging upside down are himself, her, and Javier Bardem (not Javier Bardem, Nadia said, Jon Stewart).