'Psych' Series Finale Recap: Shawn And Gus Follow Juliet To San Francisco, Shawn And Juliet Get Engaged

Psych aired its final episode Wednesday night after 8 seasons,“The Break-Up,” in which Shawn agonizes over how to break the news to Gus that he’s leaving for San Francisco to be with Juliet.

Psych Series Finale Recap

Shawn (James Roday) is missing Juliet (Maggie Lawson), who is up in San Francisco, and decides to move there. The problem: he hasn’t told Gus (Dule Hill) and cannot bring himself to do it. Shawn is getting ready to tell Gus at the precinct when they catch a dead body – their last case. Lassiter (Timothy Omundson) knows that something is off, and he gives Shawn advice on how to soften the blow for Gus. He even gives Shawn a rare hug and smile.

While Shawn and Gus struggle to solve the case alongside new detective Betsy Brannigan (Mira Sorvino) who bests Shawn at every turn, Shawn kept trying and failing to tell Gus he was leaving him.

In the end, the duo solved the case and Shawn recorded a message on a DVD for Gus, telling him that he was moving to San Francisco with Juliet. His confession ended in tears, as he finally told Gus that he was moving.

“I just can’t help thinking that the only problem that you really had this whole time is me. I’ve kept you from the life that you deserve, the life that you earned, the life that you’d have if I hadn’t barged into your office eight years ago and said, ‘We’re gonna play detective, whether you want to or not.’ I love you, man,” Shawn said.

Shawn also made special goodbye videos for Lassie and Dobson and every other member of the crime-solving team. In his video message to Lassie, Shawn thanked him for his friendship over the years and was about to admit that Lassie was right, he isn’t truly a psychic, when Lassiter turned the video off and destroyed the DVD. His father got one too, and met with Gus at the Psych offices for one last goodbye.

Finally, Shawn surprised Juliet at her San Francisco crime scene, and was followed closely by Gus, who has decided to follow his best friend to San Francisco! The unstoppable duo of Gus and Shawn lives on. The Psych series finale ended with Shawn proposing to Juliet. In classic Psych fashion, a ring thief stole the engagement ring before Juliet could get it on her finger, and the final shot was of Shawn, Gus and Juliet driving off to chase him down.

Psych Finale Easter Eggs And More

“The proposal scene was sort of hanging over our heads forever. There were so many different versions of how Shawn would propose, or If Shawn would propose. We didn’t want anybody to hate us, but we also needed it to be Psych through and through. We didn’t want to cop out and have a proposal just because that’s what you’re supposed to do. So I feel like we figured out a way to do it that’s just a little off and still results in the wackiness that you had come to expect from us,” Roday said of the finale in an interview with EW.

The episode featured a string of inside jokes and series-running gags, like the mysterious identity of Detective Dobson, who was finally seen onscreen, and Billy Zane, an actor who has been referenced on the show multiple times, guest starred as the final killer in Psych history. In another special moment, Shawn and Gus arrived at their last crime scene, and Shawn couldn’t bring himself to introduce Gus:

“I’m Shawn Spencer, and this is my partner…I can’t do it.”

For any Psych fans grieving over the end of the series, fear not, there may be hope for a reunion down the road.

“We all love each other and nobody would be against making that happen at somepoint. All we know is that it was hard to say goodbye and it was tough to let go. That door is not closed and it’s certainly not locked,” Roday told TV Guide about a possible TV event or movie.

– Olivia Truffaut-Wong

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