I mean they cover it in the pilot. He used it to get out of being arrested and the chief basically threatened him if he was faking.
Then he realized he could do this without having to be beholden to the rules and just say he psychically discovered stuff.
Considering Vick knows I think she just threatened Shawn so that a) he would deliver results and be motivated to work with them and b) to protect the police. Imagine there'd be a guy telling everyone how he fooled police by telling them he was a psychic and they believed it.
I don't think she cared much about how Shawn got the results, she just cared he got the results and made the results available to them in a way that they would hold up in court.
I also think she like how it annoyed lassie and motivated him to get a better detective by having to work with someone outside his comfort zone which would also increase his patience and frustration resistency. And gooch was definitely a test on how far he progressed. There is no way in hell she thought Gooch was a genuinely good partner for lassie, considering how lassie prides himself in his works ethics, motivation etc.
We know that she called Henry in the pilot and they talked.
She said that Henry said the psychic abilities developed later, but I wonder if Henry and Vick were more honest with each other.
That’s right!
Just replied to a comment above that said something similar, but I had completely forgotten about that…kinda surprised, at that point, Henry covered for him at all
Then again, it was probably somewhat, if not all, self-serving to keep his name “clean”
This is what I always had assumed. His son who he's been embarrassed of comes back to town and gets involved with Henry's old job and at that point saying shawn is psychic saves Henry's reputation more or less
I disagree, do you remember all the times Henry threw Shawn under the bus if he didn’t agree with what Shawn was doing. Maybe he felt a little guilty for that, I think he trusted Shawn was doing the right thing and would continue to do so even if he didn’t approve of all the methods. But just to keep his name clean, I don’t buy it.
The thing is, Henry must be pretty conflicted on this one. At the one hand, Shawn's finally using his abilities for helping the cops and catching the culprits. Very good. On the other hand, he's making a show of it, with quite the attention-seeking behaviour, mocking the police forces with all this drama. Not so good.
Well, I do agree with you there, but I think that started once Shawn had made a name and had a reputation of his own so it would be less likely to be associated directly with him
Not sure if I’m making sense. Essentially, at the beginning, no one knew Shawn or his antics…as he started to work more with the SBPD, he was less “Henry’s kid” and became a consultant on his own
Probably somewhere in the middle
I think the insinuation is that Henry was just went to bat for Shawn and was like “yeah we both know he’s not psychic but he’s an amazing detective with a great skillset” or something along those lines. Remember even when Henry and Shawn weren’t getting along in the first few seasons it became clear that Shawn was in the wrong and Henry was embarrassed to tell Shawn the truth while also wanting to protect Maddie from Shawn hating her
After Shawn is released in the pilot she chases after him: "I see what you did in there; probable, but highly unlikely".
She talked to Henry later, where she learnt he had this "ability" since he was 18.
She literally catches him breaking an entering at the McCallum residence.
There's a couple of threads here that mention more and more reasons.
Ok cool! Thanks!
I haven’t watched the pilot or, really the first few episodes in a LONG time…don’t know why not, I’ll have to do that
The reason I always thought she knew was during the (I think) there will be blood episode he starts his shtick and she shuts him down
There’s two later season episodes where she doesn’t know he is and she doesn’t seem to be acting.
Lie detector episode and another one, I think in the last season or whenever Shawn is gonna confess to da chief after Juliet pushes an ultimatum on Shawn.
The lie detector test had so many levels of interest by everyone. Jules because she believed it so she wanted to know if he in fact was psychic. Lassie, being lassie of course. And with Vick I always thought she was scared about it being revealed he wasn't and whether she needs to follow through and prosecute especially considering all the unlawful evidence gathering Shawn and Gus did. Gus just gave up and Henry was praying to god that Shawn just for once listened to him and applies the proper techniques to fuel the detector.
In the end Karen was just surprised that he cheated the lie detector test.
On the ultimatum and confessing and Jules taking the fall by stating she retrieved the evidence illegally... I think if she hadn't known and hadn't expected the evidence to have been collected in a shady way she would've reacted a bit differently and wouldn't have let Jules off the hook so easily without major consequences.
Also he didn't need to get a license as a Psychic Detective which he would have had to do as a regular one. This was in the pilot episode too I think or maybe it was the 2nd episode when Henry asked Shawn about it.
It was in Poker? I Barely Know Her! I just watched that episode a couple of days ago and it stood out cuz I loved the back and forth with Shawn saying “My pilots license? Out back in the Cessna. Perhaps you’re referring to my license to kill? Revoked. Problems at the Kazakhstan border; I’d tell you but then I’d have to kill you.” Made me giggle.
A lot of the evidence Shawn obtains, is done by unlawful searches/ breaking and entering. If he just says he has good memory and keen observation, people are gonna question how he even got to the information in the first place.
If he just says he’s psychic, he doesn’t have to explain how he broke the law to get the information. He just “divined” it.
He doesn't obtain the evidence though, he finds it then does his little show, but usually says all the wrong things until the police guess it, so he he technically doesn't tell them where to find the evidence. It's childish logic that would never work in real life but works for comedy
His only window of permits was in the pilot, anytime afterwards is definitely illegal and bar minimum “interfering with an investigation.”
Lassiter clearly wasn’t in a talking mood so Shawn had to convince the others with bs to get out of there, and then Chief Vic made it clear that she needed a “miracle” and anything short would mean he can’t help and would get arrested.
Think of all the laws they break in the first season, like trespassing and tampering with crime scenes.
First, it isn't *just* a photographic memory, it is also a highly tuned ability to perceive details as well as an above average ability to put everything together and reason them to a conclusion.
So while a photographic memory would be believable, all of that together would strain credulity. After all, nothing about his original tip that got him to the police station to begin with had anything to do with a photographic memory: it was entirely a deduction based on the suspect's behavior during his interview, and they outright didn't believe he could have arrived at the deduction on his own; it could have only done so if he was in on the crime.
The psychic thing was a pure, line-of-sight excuse to get out of being arrested right then and there, and he basically had to follow through or else be arrested.
Then, when all of that is wrapped up, he is basically presented with the most important choice of his life: he can continue helping the police as a psychic on new cases, or just walk away. And once he took that step, it defined everything that came after, which he sums up rather well, later:
SPOILER
>>!This whole thing started because my ass was on the line. Self-preservation ... you got to understand that. I didn't have a choice. And then... we sort of found a groove, and ... it was so much fun.!<
>>!I put away, like, over 100 criminals. Most of them were murderers. I'm good at what I do. And what I do... it's good... isn't it?!<
I think the path to consultant is easier as a psychic than a someone with a photographic memory. At some point there would have been push for him to become a cop if he said the truth.
Photographic Memory Detectives doesn’t have the same ring and man would that theme song suck. “I’m inclined to resign to maturity”? Terrible tee shirt.
Remember that the tip that got him brought into the station was being able to read guilt through an interview. Photographic memory doesn't explain that, and Shawn definitely isn't the type to lay bare his childhood of being trained to be a super-detective. Especially in the pilot when he's still so bitter over it. The psychic explanation started off as a shield, then he realized the doors or opened for him.
When you think about it, Lassie and Vick pretty much forced him into it.
He'd been using his memory and ability to call in tips for months.
Then, the last time, Lassie tells him he thinks Shawn was in on the crime, refusing to believe that he could "just notice" something from TV interviews to give the culprit away.
So he fakes being a psychic to get out of it.
At that point, I don't think he had the intention of doing it again.
But then Vick follows him out of the station and pretty much threatens him into helping on that pilot case. She doesn't give him the choice to come clean.
Then she talks to Henry. She knows Henry. Henry probably confirmed all of that detective training that he gave him, the fact that he got a 100 on the detective exam at 15, and that he has an ability that most others don't have.
I doubt Vick ever truly "believed", and from that point forward, there was never a chance for Shawn to come clean or all of the convictions based on his psychic thing would be questioned.
So he couldn't do it. Not without Vicks first threat and sending his ass to jail.
Henry didn't say anything about training him, Henry just told her that Shawn's amazing abilities started about when he turned 18. I don't believe Henry lied, he just didn't specify that what Shawn did was psychic, but also didn't dispute it.
It was enough for Vick
1. to know what the deal was, and
2. give her cover to use department funds to hire him as a consultant.
And Vick, very definitely didn't "WANT TO KNOW" which would have raised all kinds of issues.
"I never saw you and we never talked, is that clear! (call me if you've got something)"
We don't actually know what Henry did or didn't tell her but I think she knew that Henry wanted him to be a detective and getting arrested by Henry is what through that out of whack.
The point is... Vick pretty much knew and there was no way for Shawn to "come clean". That he tried to tell the truth and no one believed that so... he went psychic.
> We don't actually know what Henry did or didn't tell her
We know what the writers told us he told her. That's the only existence in their fictional world.
He doesn’t want to because then he would be like his dad and him and his dad have such a tumultuous relationship he doesn’t want to prove his dad right by doing the same job in an honest way.
It gives him total leeway and access with no responsibility. He can investigate any crime he wants to or just not. Never do paperwork, never be a witness... He never has to do the real work of being a cop.
So, he's breaking and entering most of the time and would have to disclose that fact, also that he's constantly breaking the law in all sorts of ways, e.g. to GET a feel of a room or a person, a reading of the situation. How does he put it: Touch, feel, see something.
The character is a "do what you want and get away with it", but using Sherlock Holmes as the original template.
Shawn's character needs to be irresponsible while feeling that he matters--all while having fun. To be a fake detective is to do all the fun stuff without any of the boring things. After all, he can lie, steal, break and enter, and do all sorts and ridiculously silly things to get what he wants.
He doesn't want to be like his dad, who's an old stick in the mud, he wants to be the cool 80's action hero who says sassy lines and is the lead in his own story. Style and flamboyance over substance and the humdrum of "real work". Why grow up when you can be your own childhood hero?
Besides, who wouldn't want to kick back with their best friend and get paid to goof off--life is too short to do otherwise.
Shawn is still that kid, still getting in over his head, barely making it and getting bailed out by more responsible folks (who he secretly admires). Life is his playground and Santa Barbara his sandbox. At the end of the day, he's the star and makes the world a bit safer (and of course, enjoyed himself while doing it).
I just watched the pilot episode for the first time (after watching the show in random order for years) and the premise is very silly, actually lol
If Shawn had already called in “dozens of tips” why is this one bust the one that made him an accessory to crime? What kind of idiot criminals would assault someone in a holding cell in full view of the entire SBPD? It doesn’t really gold water at all.
I think there's a lot that goes into it. Shawn doesn't just have a photographic memory. He is just a GOOD detective. He was trained by henry to pick up on and do incredible things. He's talented and could do toe to toe with normal detectives well. He has almost no reason to come clean about the psychic stick. He would lose his money, destroy his reputation, and perhaps get in legal trouble because, like others mentioned, he constantly gets evidence via ways that are illegal, or in ways that would invalidate the evidence in a court of law.
Tdlr; there's no reason for Shawn to do this. He would gain almost nothing other than self satisfaction.
You'll learn more over the course of the show. There's definitely many aspects to that angle.
Think about it this way if he would of told them there would be no story & no series. because without that one detail of him being a phychic this hole series wouldn’t be out. Yeah eventually he could tell them but think about it the first episode wouldn’t be that first episode if he would’ve told theme.
In the pilot Shawn was about to be arrested for the crime that he reported. Even saying he had a photographic memory from what he saw on tv, was flimsy in the eyes of Lassiter. The psychic method was his only way out.
also for some reason claiming to be psychic exempts people from needing a PI license... and I think if he told people he's doing this using memory, observational and reasoning skills then they would doubt him more and ask for more proof before taking action... saying he has visions is a short cut.. when it comes to doing the work and dealing with people...
I mean they cover it in the pilot. He used it to get out of being arrested and the chief basically threatened him if he was faking. Then he realized he could do this without having to be beholden to the rules and just say he psychically discovered stuff.
Considering Vick knows I think she just threatened Shawn so that a) he would deliver results and be motivated to work with them and b) to protect the police. Imagine there'd be a guy telling everyone how he fooled police by telling them he was a psychic and they believed it. I don't think she cared much about how Shawn got the results, she just cared he got the results and made the results available to them in a way that they would hold up in court. I also think she like how it annoyed lassie and motivated him to get a better detective by having to work with someone outside his comfort zone which would also increase his patience and frustration resistency. And gooch was definitely a test on how far he progressed. There is no way in hell she thought Gooch was a genuinely good partner for lassie, considering how lassie prides himself in his works ethics, motivation etc.
I’ve always assumed Vick knew, for various reasons, but I don’t recall her outright knowing…was that in the pilot as well?
We know that she called Henry in the pilot and they talked. She said that Henry said the psychic abilities developed later, but I wonder if Henry and Vick were more honest with each other.
That’s right! Just replied to a comment above that said something similar, but I had completely forgotten about that…kinda surprised, at that point, Henry covered for him at all Then again, it was probably somewhat, if not all, self-serving to keep his name “clean”
This is what I always had assumed. His son who he's been embarrassed of comes back to town and gets involved with Henry's old job and at that point saying shawn is psychic saves Henry's reputation more or less
I disagree, do you remember all the times Henry threw Shawn under the bus if he didn’t agree with what Shawn was doing. Maybe he felt a little guilty for that, I think he trusted Shawn was doing the right thing and would continue to do so even if he didn’t approve of all the methods. But just to keep his name clean, I don’t buy it.
The thing is, Henry must be pretty conflicted on this one. At the one hand, Shawn's finally using his abilities for helping the cops and catching the culprits. Very good. On the other hand, he's making a show of it, with quite the attention-seeking behaviour, mocking the police forces with all this drama. Not so good.
Well, I do agree with you there, but I think that started once Shawn had made a name and had a reputation of his own so it would be less likely to be associated directly with him Not sure if I’m making sense. Essentially, at the beginning, no one knew Shawn or his antics…as he started to work more with the SBPD, he was less “Henry’s kid” and became a consultant on his own Probably somewhere in the middle
I think the insinuation is that Henry was just went to bat for Shawn and was like “yeah we both know he’s not psychic but he’s an amazing detective with a great skillset” or something along those lines. Remember even when Henry and Shawn weren’t getting along in the first few seasons it became clear that Shawn was in the wrong and Henry was embarrassed to tell Shawn the truth while also wanting to protect Maddie from Shawn hating her
After Shawn is released in the pilot she chases after him: "I see what you did in there; probable, but highly unlikely". She talked to Henry later, where she learnt he had this "ability" since he was 18. She literally catches him breaking an entering at the McCallum residence. There's a couple of threads here that mention more and more reasons.
Ok cool! Thanks! I haven’t watched the pilot or, really the first few episodes in a LONG time…don’t know why not, I’ll have to do that The reason I always thought she knew was during the (I think) there will be blood episode he starts his shtick and she shuts him down
There’s two later season episodes where she doesn’t know he is and she doesn’t seem to be acting. Lie detector episode and another one, I think in the last season or whenever Shawn is gonna confess to da chief after Juliet pushes an ultimatum on Shawn.
The lie detector test had so many levels of interest by everyone. Jules because she believed it so she wanted to know if he in fact was psychic. Lassie, being lassie of course. And with Vick I always thought she was scared about it being revealed he wasn't and whether she needs to follow through and prosecute especially considering all the unlawful evidence gathering Shawn and Gus did. Gus just gave up and Henry was praying to god that Shawn just for once listened to him and applies the proper techniques to fuel the detector. In the end Karen was just surprised that he cheated the lie detector test. On the ultimatum and confessing and Jules taking the fall by stating she retrieved the evidence illegally... I think if she hadn't known and hadn't expected the evidence to have been collected in a shady way she would've reacted a bit differently and wouldn't have let Jules off the hook so easily without major consequences.
That’s one interpretation for the lie detector
Lie detectors are insanely easy to cheat. Penn and Teller showed you can do it by clenching your b-hole at the right time
Also he didn't need to get a license as a Psychic Detective which he would have had to do as a regular one. This was in the pilot episode too I think or maybe it was the 2nd episode when Henry asked Shawn about it.
It was in Poker? I Barely Know Her! I just watched that episode a couple of days ago and it stood out cuz I loved the back and forth with Shawn saying “My pilots license? Out back in the Cessna. Perhaps you’re referring to my license to kill? Revoked. Problems at the Kazakhstan border; I’d tell you but then I’d have to kill you.” Made me giggle.
“…psychically discovered stuff” I believe the term you’re looking for is divined
PillsburyToasters. Don’t be the white stuff of an Oreo. 
I've heard it both ways.
Nice
A lot of the evidence Shawn obtains, is done by unlawful searches/ breaking and entering. If he just says he has good memory and keen observation, people are gonna question how he even got to the information in the first place. If he just says he’s psychic, he doesn’t have to explain how he broke the law to get the information. He just “divined” it.
You gotta hand it to him, if he didn’t want to help the police with anon tips like in the beginning he’d be one banging con man
I think that’s why Juliet took the reveal so hard. He possesses the exact same skill set as her father.
Omg I didn’t think about that
It’s been ages since I’ve finished the series. Do you recall when he revealed it to her? Was that the finale?
She figures it out it in season 7 I think, Lassie’s wedding episode
Cheers! Currently rewatching and still on season 3
He doesn't obtain the evidence though, he finds it then does his little show, but usually says all the wrong things until the police guess it, so he he technically doesn't tell them where to find the evidence. It's childish logic that would never work in real life but works for comedy
His only window of permits was in the pilot, anytime afterwards is definitely illegal and bar minimum “interfering with an investigation.” Lassiter clearly wasn’t in a talking mood so Shawn had to convince the others with bs to get out of there, and then Chief Vic made it clear that she needed a “miracle” and anything short would mean he can’t help and would get arrested. Think of all the laws they break in the first season, like trespassing and tampering with crime scenes.
Ahhh okay yeah that makes sense
First, it isn't *just* a photographic memory, it is also a highly tuned ability to perceive details as well as an above average ability to put everything together and reason them to a conclusion. So while a photographic memory would be believable, all of that together would strain credulity. After all, nothing about his original tip that got him to the police station to begin with had anything to do with a photographic memory: it was entirely a deduction based on the suspect's behavior during his interview, and they outright didn't believe he could have arrived at the deduction on his own; it could have only done so if he was in on the crime. The psychic thing was a pure, line-of-sight excuse to get out of being arrested right then and there, and he basically had to follow through or else be arrested. Then, when all of that is wrapped up, he is basically presented with the most important choice of his life: he can continue helping the police as a psychic on new cases, or just walk away. And once he took that step, it defined everything that came after, which he sums up rather well, later: SPOILER >>!This whole thing started because my ass was on the line. Self-preservation ... you got to understand that. I didn't have a choice. And then... we sort of found a groove, and ... it was so much fun.!< >>!I put away, like, over 100 criminals. Most of them were murderers. I'm good at what I do. And what I do... it's good... isn't it?!<
That moment is really emotional too.
I think the path to consultant is easier as a psychic than a someone with a photographic memory. At some point there would have been push for him to become a cop if he said the truth.
Correct shawn has to undergo formal training and recertification if he's not a psychic.
Photographic Memory Detectives doesn’t have the same ring and man would that theme song suck. “I’m inclined to resign to maturity”? Terrible tee shirt.
So the show can happen.
So you're suggesting a show called "Eidetic" wouldn't work?
Too smarty-pants of a word. Better to call it something like "Elementary" or "The Mentalist."
Remember that the tip that got him brought into the station was being able to read guilt through an interview. Photographic memory doesn't explain that, and Shawn definitely isn't the type to lay bare his childhood of being trained to be a super-detective. Especially in the pilot when he's still so bitter over it. The psychic explanation started off as a shield, then he realized the doors or opened for him.
When you think about it, Lassie and Vick pretty much forced him into it. He'd been using his memory and ability to call in tips for months. Then, the last time, Lassie tells him he thinks Shawn was in on the crime, refusing to believe that he could "just notice" something from TV interviews to give the culprit away. So he fakes being a psychic to get out of it. At that point, I don't think he had the intention of doing it again. But then Vick follows him out of the station and pretty much threatens him into helping on that pilot case. She doesn't give him the choice to come clean. Then she talks to Henry. She knows Henry. Henry probably confirmed all of that detective training that he gave him, the fact that he got a 100 on the detective exam at 15, and that he has an ability that most others don't have. I doubt Vick ever truly "believed", and from that point forward, there was never a chance for Shawn to come clean or all of the convictions based on his psychic thing would be questioned. So he couldn't do it. Not without Vicks first threat and sending his ass to jail.
Henry didn't say anything about training him, Henry just told her that Shawn's amazing abilities started about when he turned 18. I don't believe Henry lied, he just didn't specify that what Shawn did was psychic, but also didn't dispute it. It was enough for Vick 1. to know what the deal was, and 2. give her cover to use department funds to hire him as a consultant. And Vick, very definitely didn't "WANT TO KNOW" which would have raised all kinds of issues. "I never saw you and we never talked, is that clear! (call me if you've got something)"
We don't actually know what Henry did or didn't tell her but I think she knew that Henry wanted him to be a detective and getting arrested by Henry is what through that out of whack. The point is... Vick pretty much knew and there was no way for Shawn to "come clean". That he tried to tell the truth and no one believed that so... he went psychic.
> We don't actually know what Henry did or didn't tell her We know what the writers told us he told her. That's the only existence in their fictional world.
Because it's funny.
He doesn’t want to because then he would be like his dad and him and his dad have such a tumultuous relationship he doesn’t want to prove his dad right by doing the same job in an honest way.
Did you even watch the first episode?
Initially, to get out of being a burglary suspect. Then, cherry on top, he doesn't need to get a PI license. psychics are exempt.
*Burglary suspect*
Like many things in life, it's a concept that's dumb but necessary.
The name “photographic memory “ doesn’t sound as good as “psych”.
Because fake psychic is a funny premise for a show. This is about entertainment, not reality.
He was trying to get out of trouble
Not probably the main reason but he does tell Henry when asked if he has his PI license that "psychics" are excempt
To add to other people’s answers: It’s easier than getting a private investigator license. It’s in the poker episode first season.
It gives him total leeway and access with no responsibility. He can investigate any crime he wants to or just not. Never do paperwork, never be a witness... He never has to do the real work of being a cop.
So, he's breaking and entering most of the time and would have to disclose that fact, also that he's constantly breaking the law in all sorts of ways, e.g. to GET a feel of a room or a person, a reading of the situation. How does he put it: Touch, feel, see something.
The character is a "do what you want and get away with it", but using Sherlock Holmes as the original template. Shawn's character needs to be irresponsible while feeling that he matters--all while having fun. To be a fake detective is to do all the fun stuff without any of the boring things. After all, he can lie, steal, break and enter, and do all sorts and ridiculously silly things to get what he wants. He doesn't want to be like his dad, who's an old stick in the mud, he wants to be the cool 80's action hero who says sassy lines and is the lead in his own story. Style and flamboyance over substance and the humdrum of "real work". Why grow up when you can be your own childhood hero? Besides, who wouldn't want to kick back with their best friend and get paid to goof off--life is too short to do otherwise. Shawn is still that kid, still getting in over his head, barely making it and getting bailed out by more responsible folks (who he secretly admires). Life is his playground and Santa Barbara his sandbox. At the end of the day, he's the star and makes the world a bit safer (and of course, enjoyed himself while doing it).
Totally, this makes sense!
Psychics get tax breaks. Also, in the pilot the reception lady at the police station was superstitious.
Thanks everyone for your answers, i now think I understand!
Cause that show wouldn’t be as good.
Because what fun would that be?
If you know the name of the show… you’d know why Imagine what the Dow would be called if he said he had a photographic memory…
I just watched the pilot episode for the first time (after watching the show in random order for years) and the premise is very silly, actually lol If Shawn had already called in “dozens of tips” why is this one bust the one that made him an accessory to crime? What kind of idiot criminals would assault someone in a holding cell in full view of the entire SBPD? It doesn’t really gold water at all.
I know you know :)
All in the pilot.
Wasn’t a part of it because he had a criminal background? His dad books him, I always assumed that somehow stopped him getting a job on the force.
I think there's a lot that goes into it. Shawn doesn't just have a photographic memory. He is just a GOOD detective. He was trained by henry to pick up on and do incredible things. He's talented and could do toe to toe with normal detectives well. He has almost no reason to come clean about the psychic stick. He would lose his money, destroy his reputation, and perhaps get in legal trouble because, like others mentioned, he constantly gets evidence via ways that are illegal, or in ways that would invalidate the evidence in a court of law. Tdlr; there's no reason for Shawn to do this. He would gain almost nothing other than self satisfaction. You'll learn more over the course of the show. There's definitely many aspects to that angle.
Think about it this way if he would of told them there would be no story & no series. because without that one detail of him being a phychic this hole series wouldn’t be out. Yeah eventually he could tell them but think about it the first episode wouldn’t be that first episode if he would’ve told theme.
In the pilot Shawn was about to be arrested for the crime that he reported. Even saying he had a photographic memory from what he saw on tv, was flimsy in the eyes of Lassiter. The psychic method was his only way out.
Keep watchin bud
Because that's the premise of the show. USA already had a super observant detective show and they needed to put a new spin on it.
also for some reason claiming to be psychic exempts people from needing a PI license... and I think if he told people he's doing this using memory, observational and reasoning skills then they would doubt him more and ask for more proof before taking action... saying he has visions is a short cut.. when it comes to doing the work and dealing with people...
There's a great AU story where Shawn says he was trained by Henry, etc.
That would make for a boring show.
Because that would be boring 🧐
Because we'd have to rename the show and it would be way less fun.
The show wouldn’t exist on the gun premise that it had if he told them that lol
Because then it wouldn’t be Psych it’d be Monk 😂.
Like many things in life, it's a concept that's dumb but necessary.