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“Scary Sherry: Bianca's Toast”
Psych episode
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 15
Guest stars	Mercedes Ruehl Kirsten Nelson Shannon Woodward Alex Breckenridge Chelan Simmons David Allan Pearson Amanda Lisman Chad Krowchuk Gina Stockdale Crystal Lowe Liam James
Written by	Steve Franks James Roday
Directed by	John Landis
Production no.	1015
Original airdate	2 March 2007
Episode chronology
← Previous	Next →
"Poker? I Barely Know Her"	"unknown"

Scary Sherry: Bianca's Toast is the 15th episode and first season finale of the USA network television dramedy Psych.

Contents 1 Plot Synopsis 2 Allusions 3 Trivia 4 Filming locations

In 1987, Henry takes Shawn (dressed as a police officer) and Gus (dressed as Lando Calrissian) trick-or-treating on Halloween night, but refuses to allow them to eat any of their candy until it has been x-rayed. On the way to the police station, Henry gets sidetracked by a call to Wispy Sunny Pines Mental Healthy Facility where a girl named Sherry Craddock tries to jump to her death from room 413.

In 2007, Doreen Harthan is chased through the same abandoned mental health facility by a dark-haired girl dressed in white until she falls through the window of room 413 to her death. At the Psych offices, Shawn and Gus return from a racquetball match to find Juliet, dressed in the guise of her undercover persona Marilou Bomgardner, national alumni vice-parliamentarian of the Beta Kappa Theta sorority. She is investigating Harthan's alleged suicide, and requests that Shawn and Gus make a visit to psychically "read" the sorority house that night.

On "temporary reassignment," Lassiter meets his new partner — Detective Goochberg (Mercedes Ruehl) — and immediately butts heads with her over her age and the fact that she had to take the detective's test thirteen times. At the sorority house, Shawn does a "reading" for a sister named Bianca, and learns that several strange events have occurred recently at night in the house. Before Shawn can investigate the bedrooms, the electricity blinks out and a voice demands that everyone "get out." It also says "acnaib" before a vase and a lamp tumble over, and a ghastly white figure appears in a window; Shawn and Gus flee, but Juliet calls Shawn back as Gus drives off.

Shawn returns to the sorority house with Juliet after the sisters have left, and reveals that the voice came from a set of speakers and the figure in the window was produced by a floodlight. Juliet mentions that Doreen's friend and roommate, Alice Bundy, who had been taken in by the Harthans, is the only suspect Juliet hasn't spoken with. At the SBPD firing range, Lassiter and Goochberg test out their accuracy; Lassiter offers Goochberg shooting tips, but learns that she's entirely deaf in her left ear. Goochberg insists on using Lassiter's larger revolver, which she promptly destroys.

On campus, Juliet, Betty, Bianca and two other sisters hand out fliers for the ΒΚΘ mixer. Juliet leaves the group when Alice wanders by, and Betty grills Bianca, who admits to being scared; Betty tells Bianca to "suck it up," and Bianca storms off. Juliet offers her sympathies to Alice, who curtly dismisses "Marilou." Outside SBPD headquarters, Goochberg insists on riding in the backseat of Lassiter's car because she has "early on-set retinitis pigmentosa."

At the Psych offices, Gus examines crime-scene photographs and discredits the suicide theory based on the broken latch of the window. When Gus admits that "acnaib" has stumped him, Shawn determines that the word is actually "Bianca" written in reverse. Shawn calls Juliet and alerts her that he's had a "vision" that Bianca is in danger. At the ΒΚΘ house, Bianca sulks in the bathtub while Betty chastises her for not going to the mixer. As Juliet, Shawn and Gus arrive, a toaster is dropped from a window in the bathroom into the bathtub, electrocuting Bianca-hence the name "Bianca's Toast."

At SBPD headquarters, Juliet and Interim Chief Vick interview Betty with Shawn and Gus. Shawn has a "vision" of Doreen's death, and Betty admits that she and Bianca (wearing a dark wig and white nightgown) had played a prank that had gone wrong when the window latch broke and Doreen accidentally fell; they then buried the nightgown in a tarpit three nights previously. Vick informs Betty that she could be charged with involuntary manslaughter. The next morning, Shawn wakes up at the Psych offices as Gus arrives, and learns that Alice Bundy's alibi is solid and that Henry called to remind Shawn about dinner. Shawn begs Gus to come along, then leaves to reinterview Alice.

Under the alias Ichabod "Sticky Icky" Fletchman, Shawn convinces Alice that he's a psychic by predicting a biker's fall, and notices a pair of Celtic rings that Alice wears. He learns that she was taken in by the Harthans at seven, and that she blames herself for Doreen's death because it was the one time Alice wasn't there for her. At a deli, Lassiter and Goochberg interview a cashier who was robbed; Lassiter learns that Goochberg has an arthitic thumb just before she overreacts and attacks the cashier, who flees the store.

At the ΒΚΘ house, Juliet gets an invitation from Eden to a candlelight vigil for Doreen. At Henry's house, Gus, Shawn and Henry have dinner; Shawn tries to leave early, but Henry implores them to stay by discussing their case. He also learns that Shawn had seen the Wispy Sunny Pines incident in 1987 despite Henry having told him to keep his eyes closed; he informs Shawn and Gus, however, that an officer had actually pulled Sherry back in before she could jump, which neither Gus or Shawn had seen from their vantage point in the car. Shawn and Gus then realize that they themselves started the "Scary Sherry" urban legend by recounting their skewed version of events.

Shawn and Gus visit the Harthans' house; Gus distracts the housekeeper by pretending to have lost his cat, Mrs. Pickles, while Shawn sneaks in through the back of the house. In the library, Shawn finds a photo album with a picture of Alice and Doreen, each wearing one Celtic ring. Shawn escapes the house and takes a call from Eden, who wants to know if he and Gus are coming to the mixer; she also tells him that "Marilou" is at the vigil at Wispy Sunny Pines. Outside, Shawn notices dark marks on a gutter and rainspout and deduces that Alice had fished the white nightgown out of the tarpit three nights previously.

Shawn calls Gus to extricate him; Gus informs him that Doreen's parents are at the cemetery, Shawn figures out that Alice had baited "Marilou" with the invitation to get her alone. Gus lays down a set of rules before the two head to Wispy Sunny Pines. At a hospital, Lassiter watches over Goochberg, who had a minor cardiac arrest while chasing the cashier. Lassiter then gets a call from Shawn.

Juliet arrives at Wispy Sunny Pines and gets a call from Shawn; she doesn't answer, however, as Alice greets her and leads her to the fourth floor of the candlelit hospital. In room 413, Juliet finds dolls hung from the ceiling over the dirty white nightgown, and Alice follows her with an axe. Shawn, Gus and Lassiter arrive as Alice tries to attack Juliet; on the way up the stairs, Gus gets stuck, forcing Shawn and Lassiter to leave him behind. Juliet manages to disarm Alice as Shawn and Lassiter arrive, and Shawn takes the axe before Juliet can attack her. Lassiter, Juliet, Shawn and Gus arrest Alice as Vick and backup arrive.

The next day at SBPD, Lassiter asks Vick why he was partnered with "the crazy woman," and learns that Vick is surprised the partnership didn't work out, since most of the department thought Lassiter and Goochberg had similar personalities. On the squadroom floor, Lassiter spots Gus, Shawn and Juliet having lunch and laughing over the recently-closed case. He nearly tries to join them, but changes his mind; as he walks away, Shawn tosses him a fortune cookie, letting him know that he's part of their clique.

• Doreen's death, the subsequent cover-up, and the resulting revenge plot are similar to the 1980 Paul Lynch horror film Prom Night.
• Juliet's alias is a nod to the main antagonist in the Prom Night sequel Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II
• Scary Sherry's appearance is reminiscent of Samara Morgan from the 2002 Gore Verbinski horror film The Ring, and its 2005 Hideo Nakata sequel The Ring Two.
• Bianca mentions the CW drama One Tree Hill, and fawns over actor Chad Michael Murray.
• The sorority sisters and the Harthan's housekeeper each ask Gus if he played Bud on The Cosby Show, confusing him with Deon Richmond.
• The voice's insistence that everyone "get out" refers to the 1979 Stuart Rosenberg horror film the Amityville Horror.
• Alice calls Juliet "the queen of the damned," referring to the 2002 Michael Rymer adaptation of the 1988 Anne Rice novel.
• Betty mentions the 1981 Tom DeSimone horror film Hell Night.
• Shawn likens Alice Bundy to Sharon Stone in the 1992 Paul Verhoeven film Basic Instinct, comparing himself to Michael Douglas and Gus to George Dzundza (who played, coincidentally enough, Gus Moran).
• Shawn mentions the 1976 Richard Donner horror film The Omen.
• Shawn compares Alice's scheme to the 1991 Jonathan Demme adaptation of the 1988 Thomas Harris novel, the Silence of the Lambs, and compares both himself and Gus to Scott Glenn.
• Alice makes reference to her namesake 1865 Lewis Carroll novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, when she tells Juliet that she's going to "lop off the Queen's head."

• The episode was incorrectly listed on Dish Network and DirecTV as "Scary Sherry 2: Bianca's Toast," which fits the theme of horror movies and their sequels, particularly Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II.
• Gus' imaginary cat Mrs. Pickles returns.
• Shawn's affinity for pineapple also resurfaces.
• This episode takes place in November 2007, beginning on Halloween 1987 and jumping to the main plot that takes place on Halloween night 20 years later.
• Gus is 29 years old, having been born in 1978.
• This would also mean that Shawn is 29 years old as well. However, on Shawn and Gus's myspace page it states that they are both 30 years old. Perhaps their bithdays are sometime after Halloween. That way they could have turned 10 years old that year and be 30 years old now.
• Vick's six-month-old daughter has colic.
• Chelan Simmons (Bianca) and Crystal Lowe (Eden) were both in Final Destination 3 as Ashley Freund and Ashlyn Halperin, respectively.

The exteriors of the Wispy Sunny Pines Mental Health Facility is actually the Vancouver School of Theology, west of Vancouver, and the college scenes were filmed next to it, at the University of British Columbia.

Psych v • d • e

Episode list

Shawn Spencer • Burton "Gus" Guster • Henry Spencer Head Detective Carlton Lassiter • Junior Detective Juliet O'Hara • Interim Police Chief Karen Vick