Mr. Yin Presents...
| "Mr. Yin Presents..." |
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"Mr. Yin Presents" is the sixteenth episode of the fourth season of Psych, and is the 63rd episode overall. It served as the season finale, and was a sort of "sequel" to the third season's finale, An Evening With Mr. Yang. It is an important installment in one of the series' few story arcs.
Plot
Shawn and Gus are attending a triple-feature of famous Alfred Hitchcock films, including Psycho. After squeezing down a row of other patrons, he finally is able to sit down, 30 minutes into the film. After finally finishing the films, they exit the theater and bump into Mary Lightly (Jimmi Simpson), one of the key figures in capturing Mr. Yang a year earlier. He takes them to a diner, where they discuss a new book written Yang. Mary insists that, according to Yang's account of the events leading up to her capture, it was impossible that she was working alone. There had to have been a Yin. Shawn and Gus are skeptical, and leave the diner. However, soon after, they are called to a crime scene. The waitress who had served them their pie at the diner had been found dead. Shawn notices that her body was arranged into a Yin/Yang symbol.
Shawn, Gus, Detective Lassiter, Detective O'Hara, and Mary arrive at the diner, where they find a pie marked with the Yin/Yang sign. Inside is a crossword clue, decoded by Officer McNab (Sage Brocklebank) to mean "Find Me." Mary insists that the events of the past day are the work of Yin. Shawn, Gus, and Mary visit Yang (Ally Sheedy) in prison. She reveals that she did have a partner, and that he is even worse than herself.
If you think I'm sick, you ain't seen nothing yet.
— Yang
Lassiter discovers that the writer of the crossword clue is named Ben McKenna. Gus recognizes it as the name of a character from Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much. Shawn leads the group back to the theater, using the crossword to find a specific seat. Shawn remembers that the person who had sat in that seat was one of the people he had been forced to squeeze by when trying to get to his seat during the showing of Psycho. After discovering a note, Mary concludes that Yin is working alone, and that, being the opposite of Yang, represents chaos. Gus proposes that they each take several Hitchcock films and watch them all so as to get a better idea what Yin will do next. The others agree, and split up. While watching one of the films, Shawn falls asleep. During a dream, he sees Juliet, Lassiter, Chief Vick, and his father in classic Hitchcock situations. Finally, he sees the person in the theater. He remember the person in theater wearing ankle weights leading to to believe it is Mary. Shawn believes that Mary is Yin. When he is awakened by Gus, Shawn discovers that, while he was sleeping, someone had vandalized the "Psych" logo on the window to read "Psycho." Shawn believes it was Yin.
Shawn reveals his theory to the police. He urges them to keep Mary on the case and allow him to incriminate himself. When Mary suspiciously arrives with a note from Yin that was left on his doorstep, Lassiter and Juliet trace the clue to a fountain in the park. Meanwhile, Shawn and Gus take a detour to Mary's house. They find a ticket stub proving he had been in the theater and a closet that appears to be a shrine to Yang. At the park, Lassiter and Juliet reach the 39th stair (a reference to Hitchcock's The 39 Steps), but Mary stays behind, blaming his ankle weights. Lassiter notices Mary is gone, but Juliet sees Yin boarding a nearby bus. After failing to stop the bus, Mary appears, claiming to have tried to stop the bus. At Mary's house, Shawn and Gus discover a notebook with several rough drafts of what appears to be Yin's next clue. To Shawn, this confirms his suspicions.
When the police and the Psych duo stake out a location referenced in Yin's rough draft, they see Mary entering the building alone. It appears as if he is preparing for something. Lassiter and Juliet go around the building to catch him, ordering Shawn and Gus to stay in the car. However, they disobey, and enter the building. They find themselves in a studio with surveillance monitors, all covering a staircase. They watch as Mary enters and begins walking up the stairs. They realize that they were wrong about Mary: he is playing the part of Martin Balsam in Psycho. They realize that he is about to be killed. Shawn and Gus try hopelessly to escape the room and save Mary; by the time they find him, he has been stabbed by the real Yin (Christopher Turner). As he is dying, Mary reveals that he had come alone in an effort to be heroic. Gus notices Yin nearby but he escapes before the police catch him.
Shawn and Gus return to Yang. She tells them to look in her book. Shawn protests that he had read the book cover-to-cover. He realizes that the clue might actually be in the cover. He holds the book up to the light as sees a crude drawing of a girl with a note reading "For Shawn." Vick calls, and tells them that Yin has left another clue. When they arrive, she tells them that Yin cast each of them as classic Hitchcock characters. Not even Henry can escape from the deathly casting call. That night, they arrive at the designated location, where Yin has recreated various sets from Hitchcock films. The five "actors" split up: Henry with Lassiter, Gus with Juliet, and Shawn by himself. However, during the night, Yin kidnaps Juliet.
At the police station, Shawn blames himself. Lassiter asks Shawn to account for all of his friends and family. Henry is safe, and Shawn's mother, Madeleine, is at a conference where she is safe. However, Abigail, Shawn's girlfriend, is waiting for him at the airport, arriving back from Uganda. McNab is designated to pick her up, as Vick deems it is safest that way. However, he is knocked out by Yin, and Abigail (Rachael Leigh Cook) is kidnapped. Shawn receives a phone call from Yin, who tells him that he must choose who he loves more, and that there is no way to save them both.
Juliet is tied up and dangling from a clock tower. While Lassiter discovers her location and goes to save her with Gus and Vick, Shawn discovers that the picture in the book is a clue to Abigail's location. He goes with Henry to the pier to find Abigail. When Shawn arrives, he surprises Yin, who is just leaving. Yin darts away, still hiding his face. Shawn is ready to stop him, but realizes that saving Abigail is the top priority. He and Henry save her with moments to spare. Meanwhile, Gus, Lassiter, and Vick are at the clock tower. Juliet is barely saved. Back at the pier, Henry talks to the police while Shawn speaks with Abigail. She tells him that she can no longer date him if that kind of danger follows him around. He understands. Meanwhile, Juliet embraces Lassiter and begins to sob. Henry scrapes the painted "O" off of the Psych window. Shawn and Gus attend Mary's funeral. Yang sits in her cell, staring at a wall. Finally, we see Yin, who takes off his hat and sighs. He looks at a picture which seems to be of Yang next to a young Shawn Spencer
Reception
The episode was well-liked by critics, including Jonah Krakow. He particularly praised the red herrings of the episode, including the filmmakers making the audience momentarily believe that Mary and McNab could be possible Yins. He went on to say:
| I had high expectations going into this episode because of the bar they set one year ago with "An Evening with Mr. Yang." This episode of PSYCH exceeded my expectations due to an even more suspenseful story and an even creepier killer. I don't mind that Mr. Yin is still at large because after four seasons, we finally have a foe who's crafty enough to face off against Shawn. I'm a little bummed that the show will be off for a few months, but they couldn't have left on a better note.[1] |
The website rated the episode 9.4 out of 10. Gerald So also praised the episode, but stated that the tone seemed a little too serious compared to the rest of the series. He particularly complimented how the characters worked together to save both Juliet and Abigail in the climax.[2] However, viewership for the episode was down from previous weeks to only 2.95 million viewers.[3]
Trivia
- Ally Sheedy and Jimmi Simpson reprised their roles as Mr. Yang and Mary Lightly. These characters had previously appeared in the third season finale, An Evening With Mr. Yang.
- Rachael Leigh Cook returned as Abigail Lytar, who first appeared in Murder? ... Anyone? ... Anyone? ... Bueller? (3.02) and again in several episodes, including An Evening With Mr. Yang.
- Mr. Yang had told Shawn in her last appearance that she would write a book about the two of them. The book was shown in this episode, and is called Yang: The Whole Story and is subtitled From Serial Dater to Serial Killer: How Murder Kept Me Skinny.
- The pier Abigail is underneath when being held captive is the same pier mentioned in Murder? ... Anyone? ... Anyone? ... Bueller?, where Shawn left her standing after a high school dance.
- This marks series star James Roday's second episode to direct. The first was Tuesday the 17th (3.15).
- This episode was the first (and currently only) episode of the series in which the murderer was not caught. It is unknown whether Yin will return.
- This episode is second in a trilogy involving the Yin-Yang Killers.
Hitchcock References
The entire episode was based upon several themes and iconic scenes from Alfred Hitchcock's canon.
- Shawn arrives 30 minutes late to the theater to watch Psycho. This is an obvious reference to the initial release of the film, in which Hitchcock instructed theater owners not to allow people into the theater after the film had begun.
- Shawn has a dream sequence in which each of the characters are shown in classic Hitchcock situations. For example, Detective O'Hara is shown speaking to him in the famous shower scene from Psycho.
- While searching the pie, Mary Lightly finds a crossword with a code spelling "Ben McKenna," who Gus recognizes as a character from The Man Who Knew Too Much.
- When Shawn makes a realization about the case, the camera moves forward while zooming out, distorting the image. This technique was pioneered and widely used by Hitchcock.
- While chasing Mary, Lassiter is forced to duck underneath a low-flying plane, as in North by Northwest.
- While looking for Mary, Lassiter and O'Hara must climb a staircase to the 39th step, a reference to The 39 Steps.
- Just before Mary is killed, he is shown walking up a staircase, as in Psycho.
- Yin's recreation of Hitchcock film sets included many props from Rear Window and Marnie.
- When Gus and Lassiter run up a staircase to save Juliet, the camera is altered to look like a scene from Vertigo.
- While Juliet is being held captive, she is tied to a chair at the top of a clocktower, as in Vertigo.