LOGLINE:
On the set of Santa Barbara's most popular Spanish soap opera, life imitates art when a fictional murder turns real, making everyone involved a suspect.  Shawn solves the crime from the inside while inadvertently becoming one of the show's stars.

SYNOPSIS:
The police have called Shawn and Gus down to the television studio.  There has been a murder on the set of the telenovela "Explosion Gigantesca de Romance," Gus' favorite soap opera.  But when they get to the set, Lassiter says Juliet jumped the gun calling them and the case is open and shut, in fact the whole thing was caught on tape.  One of the actors, Jorge Gama-Lobo stabbed the victim during one of the scenes.  But Jorge insists someone switched the prop knife for a real one without his knowledge.  Shawn looks around and sees a long hair on the murder weapon.  He also watches playback of the incident and can see the genuine surprise on Jorge's face.  He claims Jorge is innocent.  Vick tell him he's not under arrest yet, he's just been temporarily suspended from the show.  Gus can't believe it.  Jorge's character is in the middle of an important love triangle with the character Corrine.  Shawn tells Vick about the hair on the knife that clearly wasn't Jorge's and asks for one day to investigate at the show.  She agrees.

Shawn is as happy as Gus is to be on the set.  Craft services means free food all the time.  They speak with Lance Rothstein, the head writer, who tells them he knows Jorge is innocent too, and he's not too comfortable having a murderer running around his set.  He tells them he doesn't have time to speak now, but they can find Jorge in his dressing room.  His life is this show and he won't go home.  They go to see Jorge, who is so depressed he can't even eat his favorite meatballs from craft services, even though Kelly, the woman who runs it, was nice enough to bring some by.  Shawn spots signs of a struggle in his dressing room and Jorge tells them it was Quintessa Gabriel, the actress who plays Corrine on the show.  She is a horrible diva and she hates him. 

They track down Quintessa, and, as Gus tries to grab a strand of her hair to compare to the one on the knife, Shawn questions her and figures out she was having an affair with the victim.  She storms off in a huff before Gus can get the sample.  Shawn says they'll get it later and tells Gus to question the prop guy while he sees if Lance is now free to talk.  The prop guy, Gelbart, tells Gus Jorge would never have known the knives were switched as the prop is made to feel genuine.  Shawn meanwhile finds Lance on set filming a scene, trying to get a decent performance out of the actor playing a delivery guy.  When Shawn makes some suggestions, Lance gets an idea.  So when Gus tracks him down to tell him the knife changed hands six times before getting on stage, he finds Shawn in the middle of a scene as "Chad," the new delivery man.

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