S1 E2 – Spellingg Bee

In a DVD commentary, Steve Franks mentioned that it was during the filming of the initial scene where Shawn and Juliet meet that he decided that ultimately Shawn and Juliet would be a couple.  He also knew that eventually James and Maggie would also become a couple after watching the chemistry between the two of them here.

That first meeting between the two of them has to be one the best first meetings ever.  First Shawn seeing a beautiful woman and having a true excuse to talk to her when she took his seat, plus her possible put down as him being that guy who has to have things just his way.  You could see how well they clicked right from the beginning.  Then with Shawn not going for the immediate use of his abilities; but saving them for when she is willing to give him a chance was the perfect move for him.  I love his Juliet voice, both 8^th grade Juliet and the college educated Juliet.  Her surprise at all that he knew about her and then the realization that she was a cop.  All of the elements played so well together.  I can easily see why Steve Franks came to the conclusions that he did.

At the crime scene, Juliet still being a new detective does have a hard time looking at the dead body, although she is nowhere near the level of difficulty around corpses that Gus has.  Something that Juliet will eventually learn to get over completely; however Gus will just get worse.  Juliet can see the ramifications that a dead body falling over a ledge may have on those in attendance of the bee, however in these early episodes it’s easy to see why it is so easy for Shawn to belittle Lassie’s police work, as he really doesn’t investigate that much.  Lassie wants the easy answer and he now has a partner that will question him on it. No wonder she scored higher on the detective’s test.  Plus right off we can see that she is very personable and takes peoples feeling into account showing that bad cop isn’t always the answer.  I add this so we can see where Juliet is at personally when she meets Shawn.

Although the second meeting between Shawn and Juliet is short, but seeing Shawn in action declaring that the death was not an accident but murder, she is very impressed by his skills.  Then later in the chief’s office when Shawn is going into more detail about his Chinese food vision, after getting results from his dad, Lassie is annoyed and says how ridiculous it is, but Juliet is taken in and is a believer, and questions lassie’s skepticism.  So right from the start we can see that Juliet will be one of Shawn’s biggest supporters in the police station.  We know that Lassie doesn’t believe and that the Chief has her suspicions, but as long as there are results she isn’t going to question it. 

When watching the conclusion of the case and Shawn’s antics to get there, Juliet learns that Shawn doing crazy things to lead to who the killer really is, is normal for him, she takes this news fairly well, although she was surprised.  But then we see what a supporter of Shawn Juliet really is, when Shawn can’t confirm with a vision that there was poison, Juliet steps up and tells everyone that since Shawn was so sure about his vision of the Chinese food being poisoned she ran it through the lab.  When you think about it, with how new she must be to the department, and how little she knows about Shawn, you can see that a real relationship is forming there.  She risked getting in trouble during her first week, because she trusted Shawn’s hunch or vision.  Then when Shawn realizes what she did for him, he is floored.  He can’t believe that this beautiful woman believes in him.  I love the way that they acknowledge what the other did.  With the silent thank you, and the nod implying you’re welcome. 

There wasn't much interaction, but the little that was there, shows that Shawn and Juliet will become good friends working together.  Juliet believes in his abilities, maybe even more than she should, but she trusts that he will be able to solve the case when no one else can. 

Pineapple spotting: Shawn is eating a slice of pineapple while building the doghouse.

Gus Nickname: No nickname; but the Super-Smeller was introduced.

Pop Culture References: One of the spelling words that Shawn gives is Onion, Gus immediately questions this.  Gus played by Dule Hill played Sam the Onion man in the movie Holes.