MEAT IS MURDER BUT MURDER IS ALSO MURDER (#2_2006)
EPISODE PREMIERE: August 17, 2007
From Wagner's notebook, they see that his mushroom risotto was served cold, something Antonio would never do. That risotto was prepared somewhere else. They need to see if Wagner had any other enemies. They go to his newspaper office and after getting rebuffed by the editor, Phil Pritkin and his assistant, Nick, they speak with Wagner's assistant, Cooper, who shows them Wagner's extensive file of hate mail. They decide to start with questioning the chefs whose letters contained death threats but the only things they learn is that all of them have alibis and that Wagner led the good life, eating free gourmet meals every day. A life so good, in fact, someone might kill to get it. Maybe, someone at the paper. In order to do some serious snooping there, Shawn gets hired as the new astrological forecaster which gives him access to the applications for the critic's job, a job Phil tells them everyone wants, including Nick, who proceeds to give an impromptu review of the Cheetos he always eats. Now they just need to match one of the applicants to the murder weapon. For that they visit the only mushroom farmer around, who tells them that someone was there recently asking about the Death Cap mushroom. But the farmer seems less than reliable, telling Shawn and Gus that the man they're looking for is nine feet tall with sunshine coming out of his mouth and a hippopotamus for a hand.
Back at the Psych office, they find Henry who tells them that Chef Antonio at one point put beef broth in his vegetarian burgers to add flavor. A vegan activist named Dwyer found out and has had it in for Antonio ever since. Maybe Dwyer framed Antonio for Wagner's death to put him out of business. Henry tells them she'll be easy to find, she's been chained in protest to a fast food restaurant for three days. When they talk to her, she admits she was at Antonio's the same night as Wagner but is cleared when they find out a homeless man died of discarded Death Caps downtown the day before. Her alibi is a lock. Plus, the description of the suspect is a six-foot tall man. Shawn and Gus find out that the dumpster is near the newspaper. They were on the right track in the first place. But before they can go down there, they have to rush Uncle Burton to the airport, who complains that with all the running around he forgot to pack his new shirt with the hippo on the sleeve. Shawn then finally deciphers the muddled description of the killer they got from the mushroom farmer and rush back to the paper. With the cops and Uncle Burton there, Shawn and Gus must deconstruct the crime together, explaining that Antonio's first surprise inspection was actually Nick, sneaking in the homemade spiked risotto. Nick, who wears the hippo shirts and is always eating Cheetos, giving his mouth a sunshine like glow. With the case solved and Gus looking like a hero, Uncle Burton goes home finally giving his nephew the approval that has been so long sought.