Rebecca is Like Northanger Abbey’s Great Grandchild

This review has been a long time coming, Rebecca is on my list for Non-Austen Reads for Austen Readers, Catherine Morland’s Reading List, and Book Club Picks. I just haven’t had a chance, but that changes today!

Rebecca is one of my favorite gothic fiction books. Like Frankenstein, I watched the movie first and absolutely adored it. It’s one of my favorite films and one of my favorite Alfred Hitchcock films.

I like to kid that Rebecca is Northanger Abbey’s great grandchild as it takes place roughly four generations after Northanger Abbey and has similarities to Austen’s work.

The book starts in the present (1938) with one of the best opening lines: “Last night I dreamed I went to Manderly”. And has our main character, who’s name is unknown, eating with her husband Maxim de Winter.

The fact that we never know the name of our narrator is one of the most fascinating literary mysteries and always makes me wonder, did Du Maurier do that to further have her character be a “shrinking Violet”? To have us mistrust what she says? To help us fully be in the story as how often do you use your own name?

Our main character looks at her husband and while they are pleased in their life they will never be truly happy as so much has been lost. True happiness will never be achieved since Manderly is no more. Like Northanger Abbey, Pemberley, Mansfield Park, etc, Manderly does not just represent a home but also a certain state of who our characters are. And it is no longer. How did that happen…let’s go back…?

We are then taken back to years earlier when our main character was a companion to Mrs. Van Hopper, a wealthy woman who moves around to places the rich and famous go as even though she has money, she is always trying to advance herself somehow by making connections. On one such trip she tries to befriend Maxim de Winter, a wealthy landowner from Cornwall, but he is not interested, he has plans and will be away.

While Mrs. Van Hopper does want to be friends with Maxim de Winter, at the same time she is a little happy he rebuffed her as there are a lot of rumors surrounding him. The number one is that he absolutely loved and adored his wife, still mourning her death.

When Mrs. Van Hopper falls ill our main character (MC) finds herself with time to do whatever she wants, but what does she want to do? Uncertain, our MC goes to lunch early and expects to be alone but spots the handsome Maxim de Winter. She accidentally knocks over her flower vase and spills all the water on the table, with Maxim inviting her over to sit with him.

The two begin spending all their time together, Maxim appreciating her sweetness and innocence; and she absolutely adoring him. Eventually the Main Character is called away to return to America, but Maxim saves her by asking that she marry him. After their honeymoon they go back to his home in Manderly and this is where the gothic drama starts.

When they arrive at Manderly it is a beautiful place but our Main Character feels lost and alone. She has no airs, no country hobbies (shooting, riding, etc), she feels out of place, and everything looks and reminds her of the first wife Rebecca. Not only does the house feel full of Rebecca’s spirit, but the housekeeper Mrs. Danvers loved Rebecca and continues to try and bring down our Main Character’s spirit.

Our Main character tries to find her place but keeps getting emotionally knocked down and around by Mrs. Danvers and others.

But there is more to the story of Rebecca than a beautiful socialite. Rebecca had many secrets and while our Main Character starts to uncover things, she finds the truth that the members of the house might not be able to handle if revealed.

This is a wonderful gothic story that I recommend for Northanger Abbey fans and any gothic fiction lovers.

I have always wondered if Daphne du Maurier wrote this book in response to Northanger Abbey, due to their similarities; such as Northanger Abbey was a response to Don Quixote and the Female Quixote.

Both have a sweet, innocent, gullible, lower income girl who is given a trip to an expensive tourist destination. For Catherine she gets to go with people she likes and care about her to Bath, for the Main Character she is a hired companion to a rude woman and goes to Monte Carlo.

Both ladies meet a very handsome man of which rumors swirl around their family; to them the guy is special and stands out. When they meet this man, they immediately fall for him, being consumed with being with him.

The guy they fall for is older than them and sarcastic.

The scene when the Main Character is being forced to leave and wants to reach Maxim, having incredible anxiety that she will never see him again; is so similar to Catherine’s panic attack when she misses their walking date and is so urgent to apologize and make up with him.

When I first read this book I was in my teens and connected to the main character a lot more, but now being an adult and having been in an abusive marriage, Maxim makes a lot more sense to me and he is the one I relate to. I love how he enjoys the main character’s company as she is so sweet and innocent, how clear he is in what he wants (nothing like his first wife), and even the trauma he’s encountered and how that affects the way he acts.

I love this gothic novel and again recommend it to those who love gothic fiction and Northanger Abbey.

For more Catherine Morland’s Reading List, go to Frankenstein

For more Non-Austen Reads for Austen Readers, go to A Match Made in Mehendi

For more book club picks, go to I Won the Cederberg Tea Giveaway + Book Club Picks: The Insanity of God

For more Daphne du Maurier, go to Last Night I Dreamt I Went to Manderley Again: Rebecca (1940)

For more Gothic fiction, go to Mexican Gothic

X Marks the Murder, Part II: Diagnosis Murder (1996)

As I mentioned yesterday, Diagnosis Murder was one of my absolute favorite TV shows growing up. The TV show follows Dr. Mark Sloane (Dick Van Dyke), the super intelligent doctor at Community General Hospital in Los Angeles, CA, who always loved mysteries and wanted to be a detective, achieving this dream by helping his police detective son, Steve (played by his real son Barry Van Dyke). The two are rounded out by Dr. Amanda Bentley (Victoria Rowell), the medical examiner; and Dr. Jesse Travis (played by Charlie Schlatter), my second favorite character. Dr. Jesse is the sweet, handsome, and adorable resident at Community General, and later head of the Emergency Room.

With each episode there would be a case that Steve was on, with him bringing in his dad and subsequently the rest of the team; although sometimes Mark would have suspicions about something and bring Steve into it. Either way it was one awesome show that balanced mystery, medicine, and crime.

Mystery, you say?

Which brings us to today’s episode. So yesterday I reviewed part one where we have discovered that they found the Casanova Killer, but it turns out one of his victims was actually not his. Before they could question him further, he was murdered by his cell mate. When they tried to investigate the cellmate he turned out to be murdered as well.

This episode focuses on our team trying to discover who the killer of Dusty is. As it was a perfect copy of the original serial killer it can only be someone who is on the inside.

Hmm…

This is a great episode, if you had watched the previous episode and paid attention to all the characters, especially the side ones it is easy to figure it out. I don’t want to give it away, as you can watch it free on PLUTO TV.

The episode is stolen by Kurt Fuller as Medical Examiner Dr. Albert. In the previous episode Mark excused his strange and odd behavior as just not being socially adept and having a lot of personal problems.

Everyone else sees it as more and as the episode continues, you can tell he is definitely 100% unhinged.

For more on Diagnosis Murder, go to X Marks the Murder, Part I: Diagnosis Murder (1996)

For more mysteries, go to The One Thing About A Murder Case Is- If You Just Let People Talk Long Enough, Sooner Or Later, Somebody Will Spill the Beans.: Shadow of the Thin Man (1941)

For more mystery TV shows, go to Murder in High C: Murder She Wrote (1995)

For more serial killers, go to What If the Man You Married Wasn’t Who You Thought He Was?: Flower of Evil (2020)

For more Kurt Fuller, go to Is Lassiter Crazy or Has He Discovered a Criminal Case in a Recovery Hospital?: Psych 2, Lassie Come Home (2020)

X Marks the Murder, Part I: Diagnosis Murder (1996)

Diagnosis Murder was one of my absolute favorite TV shows growing up. It came on every Thursday night on PAX and it was the only time that my parents would let me stay up past my bedtime on a school night.

Dr. Mark Sloane (Dick Van Dyke) is the super intelligent doctor at Community General Hospital in Los Angeles, CA. He always loved mysteries and wanted to be a detective, achieving this dream by helping his police detective son, Steve (played by his real son Barry Van Dyke). The two are rounded out by Dr. Amanda Bentley (Victoria Rowell), the medical examiner; and Jack Stewart (Scott Baio); guy from a crime family turning from that life and making something of himself. Jack ended up leaving to go to Denver, and they brought in the character Jesse Travis (played by Charlie Schlatter), my second favorite character. Jesse is the sweet, handsome, and adorable resident at Community General, and later head of the Emergency Room.

With each episode their would be a case that Steve was on, with him bringing in his dad and subsequently the rest of the team; although sometimes Mark would have suspicions about something and being Steve into it. Either way it was one awesome show that balanced mystery, medicine, and crime.

Mystery, you say?

Which brings us to today’s episode. Now I really struggled choosing just one as I have so many favorite episodes, in fact I originally wanted to review one last year but couldn’t decide so I shelved it until this year. After a lot of deliberating and going back and forth I finally settled on this two parter.

This episode is the fourth episode in season four. So far this season we have had a cop kill his partner “accidentally” only for it to turn out to be the widow who had been pulling the strings; the staff at Community General had to battle a smallpox strain, and outsmart a Tonya Harding-like killer.

This episode has special guest star, John Schneider (from the Dukes of Hazard), as a serial killer obsessed with Mark Sloan. We start the episode off with him preparing ritual: lighting candles, dressing the victim in lingerie, everything looking romantic-and calling Dr. Sloan to battle him. I can’t remember if this is the first time, but it most definitely will not be the last time a killer/criminal decides they want to go head to head with Dr. Sloan. He just attracts all the crazies.

Steve has been appointed in charge of the task force to discover the identity of the serial killer. Of course they hope that if Steve is in charge they can assist in the solving of the case.

There is a “B story” about Norman the hospital administrator, but is really boring and not really my time reviewing.

Steve heads to the latest victim of the “Casanova Killer” and finds everything to be the same as the prior three cases, even down to the Xs cut into the feet and no sexual contact. Also coming there is medical examiner, Dr. Albert Blank, played by Kurt Fuller. Yes you may recognize him as coroner Woody Strode in Psych. To be honest the way he acts, it is basically the same character although instead of silly/sweet/creepy/awkward he’s just creepy/awkward.

Back at the house Steve asks Mark to join him as he needs the best on his side. He, Mark, and Amanda start discussing the case. They share the info that has not been shared to the public, along with the fact that the victim had called Community General the night she passed, but there isn’t any record of her calling and someone talking to her.

Hmm…

When our Serial Killer finds out Mark is on the case, he is ecstatic-that’s exactly what he wants.

Later Mark and Albert meet up to discuss the case. Albert is super awkward, but a little upset that Mark no longer works with him, picking Amanda over him. Mark senses the disgruntlement and tries to smooth things over. Albert reveals that he has no money and his marriage is kaput. His wife sounds exactly like the wife of Woody in Psych. I think the Psych writers just copied the character but made him warmer.

Defense attorney Andrew King approaches them and tries to snoop for info. He really lays on the flattery for Albert which makes me very suspicious. I totally believe Albert would turn over information for more compliments.

Mark goes over the notes but finds them hard to unravel. He decides to give them to Amanda and have her take a second look. While at home perusing the case files he gets a call from the killer who is more than eager to share how pleased he is to have Dr. Sloan’s attention. This dude is extra crazy. I mean we already knew he was out of his mind as he’s a serial murderer, but his level of obsession with Dr. Sloan makes him double the crazy.

You are crazy

We see our serial killer working at the gas station, ouch the prices on this gas makes me hurt as they are sooooo cheap. I wish I could pay that today in California as currently has I like 5.69 a gallon.

I digress, he works at a gas station/car repair/car detail shop. It appears that as he’s handsome it’s easy for him to charm the women and make them feel comfortable. When patrons pay with a credit card he uses the excuse of needing to see ID (remember when you had to do that with every purchase?), to write down the personal info and select his victims.

Amanda comes to get gas and forgot her purse. The attendant/serial killer is intrigued when he hears that Amanda is a friend of Mark’s. Uh oh.

Later Amanda does another examination of the recent murder and discovers a fiber in the eyelash of the victim. Very interesting, and hopefully a clue to track down the killer.

Jesse is looking into the past crimes that Mark has solved while Amanda tracked down the recent credit card purchase to see if the victims intersected. No dice.

Unbeknownst to then, our killer is watching them and calls Mark taunting him. Steve tries to track the call, but our killer is too smart for them and has been calling from a pay phone. Our killer is angry that Mark hasn’t made more of an effort to find him and decides to up the ante. Oh…not good.

Our killer goes hunting for his next victim, finally letting us know his name is Michael Dern. He does increase it, killing two women in one night.

The next day they discover that the fiber on the eyelash was cotton soaked in baby oil. It appears either the women are taking their make up off, or he does it. Either way this case has gotten creepier.

SUPER creeped

Mark heads to get gas for his car and it turns out that he goes to the station Michael our serial killer works out. The two are friends it be way you have your favorite checker and we see why Michael is so obsessed as he feels Mark ignores his intelligence and looks down on him/slash he appears to be the only one who can match him in “smarts”. He gives Mark a car cover, recommending it as someone he uses; an obvious clue to the viewer-he’s trying to help Mark find him.

Steve gets to the cases and is upset that there are two, while Albert is just his usually weird self. Later that evening Albert meets with Amanda to give her the info, and it seems like defense attorney Andrew and Dr. Albert are no longer friends. Interesting…hmm.

Hmm…

Amanda brings the notes to Mark’s house where they go over the autopsy report and discover that all the six victims seem to be the same but they do not appear to intersect with each other-except the first five did go to the same gas stations; victim six is an outlier. But it can’t be a copycat right? None of the info was shared with anyone except those few on the case.

Meanwhile, Amanda visits the gas station Michael works at again, and this time uses her credit card. Michael takes down the info along with her vanity plate, Dr. AL (AL for Amanda [Bentley]Livingston, Amanda was married for a brief while).

You’re next! You’re next, You’re next…!

That evening Steve and Mark are trying to figure out why a woman would allow a stranger into their house when they get the idea of a serviceman of repairman being behind it. Just as they come to that realization, they receive another call from Michael who threatens to kill Dr. Al; Michael means Amanda while Mark thinks he is referring to Dr. Al Blank. Mark is confused, but insults Michael in order to keep him on the line and trade where he calls from.

Amanda is home alone as her husband and son are out of town for a little while when Michael comes knocking by claiming to have her credit card. However, unlike the other women she doesn’t let him in but checks her purse and intends to call the police, stopped by Michael who snuck into the house.

They track the call to the gas/service station where they find out Michael is the one behind it all. While there Mark discovers that Michael set up a system where every car being repaired or detailed on is referred to by their license plate. Good thing too a they are able to save Amanda instead of wasting their time going to Dr. Albert’s.

While prepping his ritual Michael complains to Amanda about how Mark never pays attention to him. He sounds like those girls/guys who believe they like someone (when they really didn’t) and get all weird/angry when the person doesn’t like them back.

Amanda tries to prolong him and we end up discovering that he hates women because of his abusive mother who tortured him. It turns out she died six months ago, and that is exactly what started the killing-his trigger.

All are celebrating over their arrest of Michael when their receive a call he wants to talk to Mark. Mark reluctantly goes down there and hears Michael talk about his victims. He also shares a really important tidbit, that he did not kill the sixth victim. That’s why she doesn’t match the others with the overlap of the gas station. Uh oh, that means not only do they have a copycat it has to be someone who was involved in the case as the murder was identical to the others. At best one of the people on the task force is a mole/shared the information with someone.

But the worst and far more likely, one of the members of the task force is a killer.

Before they could question Michael more, he’s murdered. They try to speak to the guy’s sharing the cell with him, one has disappeared as he made bail without making a call. Very suspicious but the case is “over” as everyone wants to believe Michael did it and it’s case closed.

Steve doesn’t like this and puts himself on the case of finding Michael’s murderer. He discovers that the guy who killed Michael is also dead. It is clear that Micheal didn’t kill the 6th victim. But if it wasn’t Michael who killed her, and tried to frame him?

Hmmm…

For more mysteries, go to The One Thing About A Murder Case Is- If You Just Let People Talk Long Enough, Sooner Or Later, Somebody Will Spill the Beans.: Shadow of the Thin Man (1941)

For more mystery TV shows, go to Murder in High C: Murder She Wrote (1995)

For more serial killers, go to What If the Man You Married Wasn’t Who You Thought He Was?: Flower of Evil (2020)

For more Kurt Fuller, go to Is Lassiter Crazy or Has He Discovered a Criminal Case in a Recovery Hospital?: Psych 2, Lassie Come Home (2020)

The One Thing About A Murder Case Is- If You Just Let People Talk Long Enough, Sooner Or Later, Somebody Will Spill the Beans.: Shadow of the Thin Man (1941)

The one thing about a murder case is -if you just let people talk long enough, sooner or later, somebody will spill the beans. Well, somebody has.

It’s time for another Thin Man Thursday!

As I have said before, I LOOOOVE The Thin Manseries! The characters, the pacing, the mystery, everything is amazing. It’s a perfect blend of mystery, comedy, drama, and film noir. While the third film was okay, the fourth one was back to amazing and is one of my favorites.

This also has Donna Reed in it before she was a big star.

Unlike the other films in the series, you can watch this one on YouTube for free.

The Charles have left New York and returned to their home in San Francisco. We start off the film with Nick and Nick Jr. going on a walk and stopping in the park where Nick is supposed to be reading little Nick a story. He’s reading to him, but instead of a kids book, it is the odds for the racetrack. That Nick!

I really like that Nicky was shown in the films and that the Charles family were able to have a child and still investigate. It seems like a lot of shows/movies won’t let their crime solvers do that unless they want that character’s story to be all about the fight between work and family. Plus little Nicky is absolutely adorable.

Nick has racing on the mind more than ever as they are headed to the racetrack. While on the way Nick gets pulled over for speeding, but when the cop discovers that it’s Nick Charles the detective, he’s so excited be still gives Nick a ticket, but he also escorts them to the track (siren on).

They are soon caught up in a police and ambulance motorcade as they are also headed to the track. When the Charleses get there, it turns out a jockey was murdered, and not just any jockey, one who had been accused of throwing a race only the day before, and a witness in a gambling syndicate case.

Hmm…suspicious

Also arriving on the scene is our old pal Lt. Abrams from After the Thin Man. I really liked Lt. Abrams so I’m glad they brought him back. Another character who will be central to our plot is newspaperman Paul Clarke (Barry Nelson), a thorn in Abrams side and a friend of Nick.

Lt. Abrams tries to get Nick on in the investigation, but again Nick refuses. The only way he ever gets involved is if a friend is in trouble.

Later that evening, Major Jason I. Sculley and Paul come to Nick and beg him to take on the case, but as always he is still uninterested. While Nick is stubborn, he is loyal. He will constantly refuse unless he needs to lend a friend a hand.

Nick tries to use Nora as an excuse as to why he can’t help, he needs to take her out places. (To be honest I think Nick just wants to do his own thing whether it is stay home and relax or go out and go to places he wants to go to, he’s kind of over being the world’s greatest detective).

However, this backfired as Nora wants to go out to a wrestling match and Paul happily offers his press badge to them.

They go to the fight and tensions are high. Something is going down with the gambling syndicate owner. Newspaperman Whitey seems to be too familiar with Stephens, the gambling syndicate owner, he also is interested in the gangster’s girl. But his interest isn’t in her, but the money she owes him.

Hmm…

As it always tends to happen, whenever Nick is out he always runs into people he used to know, (more often people he sent to prison), and they all love him. It’s hilarious how many friends he has, often “unsavory” people in comparison to the ones Nora is friends with. L

Link Stephens, arena owner and head of gambling syndicate has missed most of the bout as he has had some “serious business”. His secretary is Molly (Donna Reed), who also happens to be the girlfriend of Paul. While Molly gets ready to leave, Whitey comes by and tries to get with Molly, who staunchly refuses. She goes to leave, but doubles back to listen to then talk. Whitey has been helping Link by keeping him clean in the papers and trying to cover up/avert suspicion. However, it sounds like he wants more than his usual cut and is trying to intimidate Link.

Whitey tries to get money, $10,000 out of Link who asks him to come back later (not good). Not only is he trying to get that money, the money from Link’s girl, but he also borrowed $8000 form “Rainbow” Benny. Why does he need so much money?

Molly goes to meet Paul for supper and the two talk about her job and his story. Paul feels so frustrated that he hasn’t had a break in it and takes Molly’s keys intent on searching Link’s office for solid proof. When he’s there he searches for things, Whitey comes upon him, he gets knocked out.

When he wakes up the police have come as someone discovered Whitey’s dead body and Paul is the one they are looking at for murder.

Nick gets on the case to help his friend, and like all the mysteries the twist is one you wouldn’t suspect.

For more on The Thin Man, go to He Comes Here to New York and, Bing, There’s a Murder. He Goes Back to the West Coast…Bing, There’s Another Murder. He Comes Back Here, Meets This Lois MacFay and…Bing – Bing – Bing! There’s Another Murder: Another Thin Man (1939)

For more mysteries, go to Who Is Selene, Why Was She Involved With a Gunrunner, and Will Gus Get Married Before the Baby Comes?: Psych 3, This is Gus (2021)

For more film noir, go to Pick Us Up Another Thin Man, Will Ya Nick?: After the Thin Man (1936)

For more detectives, go to Is Lassiter Crazy or Has He Discovered a Criminal Case in a Recovery Hospital?: Psych 2, Lassie Come Home (2020)

Who Is Selene, Why Was She Involved With a Gunrunner, and Will Gus Get Married Before the Baby Comes?: Psych 3, This is Gus (2021)

When Psych 3 came out my friend and I were super excited! As it had become our tradition to watch together we loaded up on the treats and set out to view it.

I can’t wait.

We start off with Carlton (yay Timothy Omundson is back!) cyrano de Bergerac-ing the solving of his case with Gus and Shawn. It seems that even though he’s back to work he’s very insecure in his abilities.

It’s so cute seeing them all be buds together, although Carlton would rather not be so emotional. It’s a great throwback to the show.

Along with callbacks to the TV show

They drop Carlton off at home and we see his adorable daughter, so cute! Shawn goes to visit his dad who has a great new big house (remember Carlton bought the previous one). They start talking and Henry reveals that Carlton has plateaued in his recovery and may not get better. Shawn also wants his father’s advice as he and Gus have been drifting apart. Shawn doesn’t like this and wants them to be same level of besties as before.

Gus is going overboard in planning his wedding and baby’s birth. The reason Gus is going so crazy is that Selene is still married and has refused to have Gus help her find her husband so they can get the papers signed. Gus is tweaking out as the clock is ticking and he doesn’t want his his baby born out of wedlock.

Shawn is getting suspicious about Selene and starts planning something! I’m on Shawn’s side as this is extremely suspicious. Why wouldn’t she want to divorce her husband? I mean in CA it’s really easy, she doesn’t need her husband to sign papers, if she has no clue where to find him she just has to post a notice in the paper of where she thinks he could be, and that’s it. Even if he didn’t want to her to divorce him he can’t stop it, and if she worried for her safety her fiancé and his partner work with the police, and her two best friends (Juliet and Chief Vick) are cops. The only conclusions I can draw is she does not want to be divorced, she committed some crime that she does not want her real identity revealed, or her husband has nothing to do with it she just doesn’t want her real identity to be discovered. In all those scenarios it’s Selene that is the issue.

Hmm…

Meanwhile Juliet is having second thoughts about no kids. Hmm…maybe film 4 will have baby Starfish Spencer?

Chief Vick is hoping to take her first vacation in years, but I don’t think that will happen. Chief Vick also wants fo help find Selene’s husband and leaves her office unattended with Shawn so she could go ahead and run the background check. Shawn looks up Selene and finds nothing.

But in the first film she have Gus a resume and references. Hmm…

Hmm…

Shawn knows something is up and that does not surprise me at all as I already thought she was off and after all, almost all the women Gus has either dated, been involved with, tried to date, or were into him; have also been crazy. Let’s run through the list. There was:

1. The woman who looking for her “dead husband” but turned out to be a master thief who’s husband faked his death to get away from her. She tried to kill Gus and Shawn.
2. Robert had dissociative identity disorder and one of his identities, Regina, had the hots for Gus.
3. The girl from the planetarium who was a suspect in murder
4. Mira who was A Lot.
5. The model who couldn’t spell her own name and was a suspect for murder.
6. The girl who murdered the member of his a cappella group.
7. Willow who is a Wiccan and her brother thought he was a werewolf.
8. Ruby who was is into extreme and intense things, of which one best friend is a embezzler and the other a murderer.
9. The older woman who was murdering her best friend’s lovers
10. Maudette the pedophile librarian
11. The girl who’s father was on the fugitive list and tried to get with Gus to steal his phone and so they could murder him.
12. The woman who has dissociative identity disorder, one of the identities being a plumber named Frank.
13. The girl in a cult.
14. Rachael who was a murder suspect and also left him for her ex-husband when she told him not to worry about him.
15. Miranda the radio owner who was a murder suspect and trying to seduce Gus knowing he had a girlfriend
16. Emmanuelle the private detective, something was off about her.
17. Selene who acts crazy
18. The nurse with a blackmail ring.

Did I miss any?

Shawn acts a little weird at dinner as he is trying to get info out of Selene, deciding to steal her purse and discovers her wallet has an imprint from a previous ID.

Gus find him and they have an all out brawl. At first this surprised me, but the amount of stress that Gus is under, it makes sense and it also reminds me when they fought while Uncle Burton was in town. they eventually hug it out and decide to go speak to Selene’s sister to try and get more info on Selene and prove that Selene is real.

While they make those plans, Gus tries to get Kurt Smith to play his wedding. It is funny how much these two adore him, and how he has become a part. From Psy Vs Psy to 100 Clues to now Psych 3.

They go to Whitney‘s house, Selene’s sister, but she takes off when they try to question her. You’ve guessed it, she is not really Selene’s sister. Selene lied and paid her to pretend to be related to her.

Whitney is an actress and has done this many times before. She warns them that Selene told her that if anyone found out about their arrangement it would be very bad. They are able to get the skinny on where the two women met, Santa Monica, and set off.

Gus and Shawn head to Selene’s old apartment and question the general manager who remembers them and is not happy about Selene and her husband taking off in the middle of the night. That’s all she says and Shawn gets an idea of pretending to be prospective tenants, not the first time they have done so. They split up and head off to Spirit and Halloween City.

Let’s put on a disguise!

The two show up and all I can think of is the episode when they went undercover in 70s threads. Gus dresses up as a ventriloquist Willy Tyler, while Shawn looks like Rob Zombie. It’s hilarious because he totally does. If they ever wanted to make a movie about Zombie, they have the perfect actor. Shawn uses the apartment managers assistant’s mistake of thinking him Rob Zombie to mess up the apartment ceiling and get a box left by the former couple, hoping it’s Selenes.

Bryn actually remembers the couple and says they were very cute and very attractive. Gus tries to open up the locked box and Bryn tells them that the last night they were there they got into a fight and were never seen again. Gus gets the case open and they find a ton of fake IDs and a gun with filed off serial numbers.

That’s not good.

Henry looks at the IDs and tells them they are really good ones. Whoever is involved in this is in it deep…he then realizes that it is Selene.

Henry tells them that one of the IDs is not a fake. They follow the address on the real ID and end up in an abandoned town in the middle of nowhere. They get into the house and are looking through it when they run into Selene’s husband. They see his “murder wall” and that he has been stalking Ronald “the Bull” Cole who is a an arms dealer.

Selene is upset that Gus missed a wedding appointment and has also discovered that someone (suspecting Gus and Shawn) went through her purse. She recruits Juliet and Chief Vick to help her.

Selene’s husband Alan Decker was an investigator at a security firm and Selene was an insurance investigator. They met when they were on a case and fell for each other, marrying when Decker’s cousin came to town. They witnessed a gun fight and tried to tell the police but they weren’t interested as the person who committed the crime, Roger “the bull” Cole. They kept running but his goons were always after them. Decker tells the guys he left to save her, but Selene tells the women that Alan dumped her on a post card and she never saw him again. Since then Decker has been staying in the abandoned town to “try and finish the job” while Selene gave up and created a new life.

I also wonder did they even file the wedding certificate? If they were always secret and on the run it sounds like they didn’t and if they didn’t then they aren’t legally married.

Hmmm…

Decker makes Gus and Shawn a deal, they help him out and then he will divorce her. Decker has a plan, but Shawna be Gus have a “better” one that sounds like an amalgamation of some of their favorite films, but turns out to be the Take On Me music video. Remember when they sang that song to Tim Curry? Decker’s plan is for the guys to trip the power and Decker to go for the safe room.

Carlton is at home chilling when Henry comes back over to hang out and help Carlton out. He brings him the gun with the files off serial numbers to look over. The two have a sweet heart to heart and I hope that means Omundson will be in the next film as they supposedly have two more planned.

The girls are on the case and they head to the apartments to try and track the boys. When they get a call from Henry they are back on track and know exactly where to find them.

Time to get on the case!

Meanwhile Shawn and Gus have infiltrated the microbrewery/gunrunner faciltiy. Things start off well but then when they cut all the power and the security cameras stop. This causes the team to go out searching the facility.

Not long after they hear gunshots and Gus suggests their superhero personas from a few seasons back. The two find a dead body, a random dude who turns out to be “The Bull”. Gee I wonder who killed them? Who do you think? It’s Decker!!! Decker did it! Who else would have killed him?

Decker did make it to the safe room and got his “stuff”, “information”, “proof”? I was never quite sure what he was after. Decker admits he did kill the Bull and that he was never married to Selene but lied to keep her with him. Decker plan to cover up the murder by killing the guys and making it look like the Bull killed one of them, and that the other killed the Bull. Yeah that’s not going to work these guys are involved with the SFPD and the SBPD there are going to be a lot more questions and a big investigation. Decker is insane.

Selene finds out that Decker killed the Bull and it doesn’t even phase her, as he “was a monster”. Like she’s not concerned at all that Decker murdered a man and was planning on murdering two more.

Yeah Selene is weird. I don’t think Gus should marry her.

To save them, Gus throws his gender reveal box at Decker, and they end up knocking him out. Turns out they are having a boy! And of course because this is a movie Selene’s water breaks.

They try to find a way out and end up lost and stop in the safe room, but unfortunately the door shuts and they are locked in. They want to make sure they are married before the baby is born and video call Father Wesley to ordinate the ceremony while Curt Smith plays.

Only in a TV show episode would the baby come so soon and of course Shawn delivers it.

Shawn asks if they have Decker in custody but they don’t, they only found the dead body of “the Bull”. This was kind of a weird ending; we had no interaction with the “villain” (I’m still counting Selene as one), we have no real closure with Decker as why he decided to murder the Bull, what else was he lying about, etc. And Decker is just gone in the wind? I’m not happy! There better be a Psych 4!

We then see Curt Smith in the new “Wom” [Wham] band (something briefly mentioned earlier) and they make a music video with everyone that is basically a ripoff of Last Christmas, or as much as they can do and not get sued for copyright infringement. It’s hilarious but that’s it that’s the end? What about Decker?

After the credits we get another end scene and it’s Decker printing film photos of Gus, Selene, and their baby. Creepy! This better mean there is a Psych 4 being planned! Come on peacock, Steve Franks, and James Roday Rodriguez.

For more Psych, go to Is Lassiter Crazy or Has He Discovered a Criminal Case in a Recovery Hospital?: Psych 2, Lassie Come Home (2020)

For more detectives, go to He Comes Here to New York and, Bing, There’s a Murder. He Goes Back to the West Coast…Bing, There’s Another Murder. He Comes Back Here, Meets This Lois MacFay and…Bing – Bing – Bing! There’s Another Murder: Another Thin Man (1939)

For more mysteries, go to Pick Us Up Another Thin Man, Will Ya Nick?: After the Thin Man (1936)