Woman Seeking Dead Husband - Smokers Okay, No Pets

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“Woman Seeking Dead Husband - Smokers Okay, No Pets”
Psych episode
Shawn having a séance.
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 4
Guest stars	Anne Marie Deluise Steve Bacic Ben Cotton
Written by	Steve Franks
Directed by	Jeff Melman
Production no.	1004
Original airdate	July 28, 2006
Episode chronology
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"Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Piece"	"9 Lives"

Woman Seeking Dead Husband - Smokers Okay, No Pets is the fourth episode of Season 1 of the USA network television dramedy Psych.

1 Plot Synopsis
2 Allusions
3 Quotes
4 Trivia
5 External links

[edit] Plot Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

In 1989, Henry teaches Shawn the fine art of the stake-out by waiting outside his own house with his binoculars. The two catch their neighbor, Clark, when he sneaks over and attempts to steal the morning newspaper.

In 2006, Shawn and Gus wait for Chief Vick in her office, testing out her pregnancy accessories (which Shawn calls "the Magic Springy Bounce-Up Chair") until she returns. Shawn wants to work on the Wilcroft case that Vick and Lassiter just brought in, but Vick explains that there is no "case"; Raylene Wilcroft (Anne Marie Deluise) is merely being warned that the two men who robbed a bank with her husband four years ago are being paroled. Since the money that was stolen from the bank has been missing since the robbery, Raylene is being warned that her husband's partners may come after her. When Vick kicks Shawn and Gus out of her office, Shawn finds Raylene with Lassiter and O'Hara in the squad room and introduces himself to the widow as the department's "official head psychic." Using sparse details about the case, he and Gus convince Raylene to employ the services of the Psych Agency.

At the Psych office, Shawn prints out news reports about the car crash that killed Raylene's husband, David Morrison Wilcroft. Gus arrives, and finds that Shawn had a drywaller knock out a wall to expand the office; he also finds Raylene, who is the Psych Agency's "first real client." Raylene explains that she needs Shawn's help contacting the spirit of her dead husband, whose remains she tells them are entombed in a mausoleum. She also explains that her husband had been designated to bury the money before meeting up with his partners, but that his partners had been arrested first; she fears that David's partners may think she knows where the money is and try to kill her. Gus asks to speak with Shawn outside, where he tells Shawn that they can't take the case; Shawn disagrees, since the real question that Raylene wants answered is the location of the money, which doesn't require any actual psychic ability. Gus tries to tell Raylene that they can't help her, but Shawn agrees to take the case.

At the 2400 Motel, Lassiter and O'Hara stake-out room 277, where Wilcroft's newly-paroled partners are staying. In their car, O'Hara makes it clear that she is "uncomfortable with inter-office," and Lassiter feigns offense at the implication that he had a relationship with Lucinda. They are interrupted when Wilcroft's former partners emerge from the motel room, and Lassiter explains that he had been the officer who arrested them four years ago; he doesn't consider it an accomplishment, however, because of the dead David Wilcroft and the missing $3.6 million.

That night, Gus returns to the Psych office to find Shawn holding a séance with Raylene, David's sister Ellen, and two friends. Gus pulls Shawn into another room and insists that Shawn cannot hold a séance; Shawn counters that séance is a ruse through which he intends to interview the four witnesses in the room. Shawn has already determined that David had been on the lam for three days with the stolen money, and surmises that David had help hiding it. Shawn returns to the "séance" and learns from Ellen that David had called from a payphone outside a Thrifty Mart in Pismo Beach; he also learns that David and Ellen have a cousin named Roger. Before he can learn more, Gus interrupts to warn Raylene to seek professional protection instead of psychic advise, but Gus is interrupted when the storefront window is shattered from outside.

Shawn and Gus head down to the police station and implore O'Hara to let them see the bank robbery case-file, but O'Hara refuses. Gus leaves, but Shawn appeals to the desk guard who he had previously convinced of his psychic abilities. Pretending that the spirit of the guard's grandmother is in the records room, Shawn gains access and copies down the witness list from the robbery file onto his hand. Shawn visits Gus the next morning and reveals that Roger Blaine lives at the Woodwillow Cemetery Grounds in Santa Barbara — the same cemetery that David Wilcroft where interred.

The next morning, Shawn and Gus drive 60 miles to the Woodwillow Cemetery. When Shawn mentions that the entire Wilcroft family, including Raylene, strikes him as odd, Gus defends Raylene; Shawn then discovers that Gus empathizes with Raylene because she reminds him of a babysitter from his youth, Mrs. Pilderman. When Shawn and Gus arrive at the Woodwillow Cemetery, they find David Wilcroft (Steve Bacic) alive and in hiding; he explains that faked his death after losing the money -- a two-day rainstorm washed away the marker he'd left at the burial site -- and has spent the last four years digging up the Kaylish Loop to find it. Gus admonishes David for letting Raylene think he's dead, and Shawn accuses Gus of having feelings for Raylene; before they leave, David implores them to let him tell Raylene he's still alive. At the Psych office, Gus tells Raylene that David is alive, and Shawn explains that they intend to protect Raylene by putting David's partners back in jail.

Still following David's partners, Lassiter and O'Hara argue police codes with regards to their stake-out. They are interrupted by Shawn, who mysteriously sits up in their backseat in the middle of the conversation to inform them that David's partners don't know where the money is because David lost it. Shawn suggests putting David's partners back in jail for probation violations and destroying the Psych office window, but the detectives refuse; he then informs them that they've lost their suspects before getting out of the car, walking down the street, and getting into Gus's car. He finds out that Gus saw where the suspects turned, and the motel parking tag on their car. That night, Shawn and Gus try to break into room 277 at the 2400 Motel, but get caught by David's partners, who take them into the room at gunpoint.

Shawn tells David's partners that he's a psychic, and that he has a message from David; he tells them that David lost the money, and that David now fears for Raylene's safety. One of the men (Ben Cotton) leaves, and the other demands that Shawn prove he is psychic by telling him how many fingers he is holding up behind his back; when Shawn realizes that he can see behind the man's back through a series of reflections, he repeatedly tells him the correct number and gains his trust. The second man returns, and Shawn and Gus learn that Raylene, far from being a demure housewife, is actually cold, calculating, and the mastermind behind the Holby Bank robbery. Shawn and Gus leave, using the bathroom window because Lassiter and O'Hara have arrived to stake out the motel.

When Shawn and Gus arrive at the Woodwillow mausoleum, they find David with Raylene, who is armed. Raylene demands to know where the money is, but Shawn tells her that David doesn't know, claiming that it is in the crypt that Raylene once believed housed her husband's remains. Raylene makes David smash the crypt open with a stanchion, but David's partners arrive before he can get in; unfortunately, they aren't armed, and Raylene is ready to start shooting when Lassiter and O'Hara show up to arrest her. The next morning, Vick demands to know how Lassiter discovered that David Wilcroft was actually alive. When Gus tries to take credit for the discovery, Shawn instead tries to claim that give Lassiter figured out the connection, but Lassiter refuses to accept the credit. Privately, he informs Shawn that he will "never, never-ever" admit that he thinks Shawn is psychic.

Later, Shawn and Gus drive out to the L-Kaylish Trail, a defunct branch of the Kaylish Loop which is a more likely site of the buried money than the J-Kaylish Trail, which David Wilcroft has been digging up for the last four years.

[edit] Allusions

Shawn mentions Gus having a crush on Meredith Baxter-Birney, who played Elyse Keaton on Family Ties.
Shawn describes Gus's affinity for dangerous women by listing rocker Joan Jett, actress Penny Marshall (who played Laverne DeFazio on Laverne & Shirley), supermodel Grace Jones, Happy Days character Pinky Tuscadero (played by Roz Kelly), suspected axe-murderer Lizzie Borden, and actress Kathy Bates (who notoriously played the psychopathic characters of Annie Wilkes in Misery and the title suspected killer of Dolores Claiborne)
Shawn tells Gus they are going to find "the Dread Pirate Wilcroft's dirty booty." The Dread Pirate Roberts was a character in 1987's The Princess Bride.