So I watched Shawn Takes A Shot In The Dark again for the upteenth time, and I just need to write down my thoughts. Get them out of my head, they're driving me insane.
UGH I am such a sucker for whump of my favorite characters, this episode was basically crack for me. LOVED it, call me messed up, I don't care, Saw is one of my favorite movies for a reason.Anyway, onto my thoughts.
-Gus being the one to figure out Shawn is in trouble and was shot is perfect. Lassiter assumed Shawn was leading them on a wild goose chase like always and was ready to go home, Jules was concerned but was ultimately leaning towards siding with Lassiter, but Gus knew he was in trouble and managed to figure it out. We know for sure that going on investigations with Shawn had made Gus more observant (it's implied in a later episode that Gus sees a lot of the same clues Shawn does, he's just not nearly as obvious about it) and he knows Shawn well enough to know that this isn't like him, and he was able to decipher the first jumbled up cryptic text. True platonic soulmate shit right there
-Later, when Shawn is in the trunk of the car, he knows exactly what to do, but he kind of hates that he does because it's justifying Henry's insane parenting. If Shawn were anybody else, raised by anybody else, he wouldn't be in this situation and he also wouldn't know how to get out of it. Just another point on the "Shawn and Henry's fascinating relationship" board.
-The fact that Shawn knows exactly how many times he needs to scroll in his contacts to get to Gus's contact is so good. No notes. Even if he hit the wrong one, he was still close! And actively bleeding while on a bumpy car ride in a trunk, I don't blame him for missing.
-The way Henry locked in as SOON as he heard that Shawn might be in trouble is everything. He got out of bed in the middle of the night, drove all the way to the scene, and was instantly in cop mode. And that was BEFORE he knew that Shawn was shot and kidnapped. Then, he was able to decipher the rest of Shawn's texts, follow his vague trail of the road into the woods, and then he and Lassiter were SO CLOSE to Shawn. He was right there, there was just a wall between them, Shawn could see them!
-And speaking of that moment. UGH. Shawn had just ran through the woods all night, was locked in a trunk, shot in the shoulder, whacked over the head and knocked out, tied to a chair, and being choked so he would stay quiet. In that moment, when Henry and Lassiter were right there in front of him, who did he try to call out to? Lassiter. He tried to say Lassiter's name, despite his own father being right there. That says SO MUCH about how he sees both of them. Oh my God, the implications. And he tries to say Lassiter's first name too! This show is trying to kill me I swear.
-The Shawn/Abigail/Juliet love triangle pissed me off and it's kind of the only thing that brings this episode (and the second Yin/Yang episode) down, just a little bit. That and the Gina running joke. But I guess the episode needed SOME levity, the show's still a comedy after all.
-And then later, when Shawn has jumped on Lassiter's car and asks Henry to give him the gun, Henry doesn't even hesitate. He knows how good of aim Shawn has, even while laying on the windshield of a speeding car with a bullet in his shoulder, and while shooting with his non-dominant hand.
-And then after the car chase, Lassiter accidentally calls Shawn detective. Awww. I think it goes to show that to some extent, Lassiter knows Shawn is just genuinely a really good detective, he just normally can't admit that he's better than him. They make me SICK. KILLING them with my BARE hands. Lovingly.
