Psych/Headscratchers

How did Shawn follow Lassiter's finger?
When Shawn, Gus, and Henry are being interrogated, Shawn stands next to the one-way glass with a big, creepy smile on his face to freak out the detectives. Lassiter tests him by leaning forward, then moving a finger to one side, and Shawn follows it effortlessly until Vick tells him to stop fooling around not questioning Shawn's ability (she does think he's psychic, after all), and the incident is never mentioned again.

Jordan: I wondered the same thing and the closest I can come to is that as the son of a police officer (and merely by being media savvy), Shawn would know that he is being watched from outside the interogration room and that it was simply a lucky guess that Lassiter would test him this way.

Andux: Those mirrors work because the reflected image of the (brightly lit) interrogation room is significantly brighter than the image getting through from the (dim) hallway outside; if you cast enough of a shadow on the mirror, you could look through it and (faintly) make out things on the other side. Probably. Not sure if you could do it as shown without Shawn Spencer Ãœberperceptiveness, though.

Doctor Nemesis: Lassiter's just so predictable, Shawn can even make an educated guess about what he's doing behind a mirror. Or alternatively; Shawn really is psychic. Just a little bit, anyway.

Sylvia727: I figured it was a combination of science and psychology. Two-way mirrors only work if one side is bright and the other is dark; by casting enough of a shadow, anyone can see through. Shawn's previous experience with Lassiter would clue him in on where Lassiter would be standing and what Lassy would be likely to do in order to test Shawn's psychicness.

Marikina: But his smile turns to a frown at the exact moment Lassiter rebukes O'Hara for thinking Shawn can see them, which was he decided to test him to begin with. And he somehow knew the phony agent was also there with them.


 * You can see through two-way mirrors if you're close enough and especially if there's too much ambient light on the other side or you're casting a shadow on your side. You can't see much, mind you, but you'd be able to follow a finger on the other side.

Why can't it just be Rule of Funny?


 * As somebody who has spent the last 10 years in the glass industry, I assure you-- Transparent mirror (as its called in the industry) can be seen through. It depends on factors listed above- light, distance etc.

A new solar planet? What the hell?
And an inner planet? How could we have just missed that for, I don't know, all of human history? This would be egregious enough if not for the fact that it's never mentioned again.


 * It was an extrasolar planet - that is, one around a star other than the sun. Of course, I'm not sure why anyone thought that would be a big deal as, by the time the episode was written, over a hundred extrasolar planets were known (some for over a decade), and none of their discoverers ever got rich or famous.
 * I believe there are no known solid extrasolar planets, probably because they're smaller and harder to spot than gas giants. A solid planet would be exciting because it could support what we think of as life--maybe that's what was found.
 * Nope. While we have found significantly more gas giants, there's a substantial-sized class of exoplanets called 'Super-Earths' that have densities that mean they must be made of solid material like rock. They'd be many times the mass of the Earth, but they'd definitely be solid.
 * If you listen to the back ground the scientist explains that the planet is exactly like Earth and may infact be able to suport life.

Who broke the window?
In the fourth episode of season 1, a pair of convicts are released from jail, and the wife of their partner, fearing for her life, hires Shawn to contact her dead husband so he can find the hidden money. During the phony seance scene the window behind Shawn shatters. He decides it was the convicts, trying to scare them.

Except that the convicts aren't really after her, the husband isn't really dead, and the wife was after the money for herself the whole time.

So who broke the window? It wasn't the convicts, because they didn't even know about Shawn, would have no interest in breaking the window if they did, and Lassiter was tailing them at the time. It wasn't the husband, he didn't know about Shawn or his wife's plans anyway. It wasn't the wife, she was in the room at the time. And although he appreciated the effect it gave the seance, Shawn admits it wasn't him either. What happened, exactly?


 * It was an unnamed accomplice of the wife. She wanted the psychic on the case and decided it would be best to convince him of the seriousness if someone smashed a window. Maybe?


 * Why? They were already having a seance. He was on the case. And according to the convicts, she really believed in that stuff quite strongly. Why interrupt him doing his thing with a rock through the window? If anything that would prevent her from getting what she wanted.


 * She wanted to convince them that the convicts were guilty, and how better to do this than to give Sean first-hand experience with their supposed violence and threats?


 * Again, why? This woman actually believed her husband was dead, actually believed they were having a legit seance, and actually believed that Shawn was a psychic who could ask her dead husband where the money was hidden. Why try to frame those guys? She didn't care. She just wanted her dead husband to cough up the location of the dough, and as far as she knew he was about to before the window shattered.


 * A wizard did it.

Why didn't Shawn just say that he saw a body rather than psychically sensed one?
In the high school reunion episode, he sees a body fall past the window when no-one is looking, and then starts to talk about how he sensed a body falling there. Why not just say that he saw someone falling? It's not like you'd need his incredible powers of observation to see a body falling, and it would be a better way to convince the skeptics.


 * He always keeps the best stuff for himself though. If he told everyone up front that he saw someone falling, how could he keep up the psychic act? A lot of what he saw at first -- the letter jacket, the pin, the body -- is firmly anchored to the fact that he saw the body... (I hope I'm making sense.)


 * Less specifically, why does Shawn sometimes (more recently, often) do the psychic act to people who could (and possibly already did) find out how he got his information? The second episode of season... 4, I think (with the guy who died in the plane crash) was the most painfully egregious case i've seen so far, with him bluffing people whose immediate family members and/or coworkers told him the relevant info, and could easily have expressed their annoyance about it to each other without prompting.
 * Possibly because he's a complete and utter ham.


 * Rule of Funny. Same reason why Gus never just firmly corrects Shawn every time he smooth-talks Gus into some hilarious hot water, or introduces him with some wacky or stupid name even when Gus has a vested interest in not looking stupid.


 * It may have simply been force of habit. Shawn has trained himself to never reveal the actual source of information, so he said "I sensed it" without thinking, and had to stick to the story.

Does anyone really believe Shawn?
I mean, does anyone else in the main cast actually believe he's a psychic? Gus and Shawn's father know he's lying, Lassie admitted in one episode that he knows Shawn's putting on an act, but respects him anyway. Jules appears to flip-flop on the issue. Only Chief Vick seems to buy it: she asked Shawn to use his "abilities" to read potential nannies for her newborn, after all. So Vick's the only one?
 * The problem with ESP and science is that science is supposed to be based on fact that you can replicate. Unless the person has a near %100 accuracy rate they can neither prove or disprove ESP. Unless Shawn confesses they can neither prove or disprove his abilities.
 * In any case, Vick's the Chief, so if she believes in Shawn and wants to keep him around, there's not a lot her juniors can really do about it. Furthermore, psychic or not - he gets results.
 * In an interview Maggie Lawson, the actress who plays Juliet, said that her character does believe in Shawn's abilities. Whether or not this counts as Word of God, however, is debatable.
 * In one episode, Shawn gives her a message from her dead cat as a Christmas gift. Her grateful response suggests she believes him.
 * Even if Chief Vick did ask him for psychic help once, in a non-official capacity, she had (according to her) not slept in over three days. So even though everyone believes in Shawn's abilities, psychic or not, Vick could have been half out of her mind with stress anyway, and saw, not "Shawn, he can help" but "Psychic guy! He find Mary Poppins!".
 * Chief Vick almost certainly doesn't believe Shawn. In one early episode Shawn starts to offer a logical and evidence based solution to a case, then realises what he's doing halfway through and switches to his usual psychic schtick. She doesn't react at all. She did ask him to psychically find her a nanny, but she may have simply reasoned that she was too tired to make a good choice, she couldn't use abuse city resources by asking any of her underlings to do it, and Sean was available.
 * This troper's best guess is that Chief Vick realizes that Shawn is a valuable asset who solves crimes other people can't, that he would never have the discipline to work for the force in any legitimate official capacity (or even as a standard private detective), and that her being able to continue employing him depends on her credibly appearing to buy that he's a psychic. This troper bases basically all of this on the strained and deliberate manner with which the chief always seems to refer to Shawn's supposed abilities, well, and also that she's probably the smartest character on the show with the lowest tolerance for bullshit.
 * I suspect that only Jules (and McNabb and the other second-tier characters) really believe Shawn. Chief Vick acts like she believes Shawn because it gives her plausible deniability about the various crimes and civil rights violations Shawn and Gus commit while solving crimes (like breaking in to people's homes and snooping through their offices). Most of the time, these cases would be almost impossible to solve while operating "by the book", since it would be too hard to get search warrants for all the information Shawn gets by flying under the radar. So Vick can pretend they got crucial information "psychically". Vick gave Shawn the nanny job because she knows Shawn has a talent for reading people--remember, he was able to determine that the three nannies that Gus approved of were bad choices (slob/psycho/slut).

Why wasn't Lassiter arrested for keeping a hidden gun when he'd been supposed to turn them all in?
Or at least censured. I mean, he killed someone with it...justifiably, but police do get a bit annoyed at justifiable homicide with an illegally owned gun. He was the one who gathered up his guns; wasn't he obligated to tell the police about the one in the snack bowl?
 * He didn't kill anyone, he shot the real killer in the shoulder. His gun permit was never revoked, his guns were merely confiscated for the duration of the investigation by the police not Lassiter. He didn't even know initially that any of the guns had been removed from their hiding spots. So, no they weren't illegally owned guns and he hadn't been obligated to tell anyone where they were. I think everyone was rather glad of his paranoia which allowed him to save his own and Shawn's lives and to catch a corrupt cop.

What life insurance company writes a policy that pays more for being killed in the line of a dangerous profession than of natural causes
It doesn't make sense.


 * But not actually uncommon. Accidental death "bonuses" are fairly common in life insurance policies. Similarly, many life insurance policies pay for suicide if the policy has been in effect long enough. This is often mandated by law, in fact.
 * It can also depend on how the insurange was gained. If the company bought it then they might want to make sure of high payouts to act as an extra incentive to potential employees. And in some cases there are policies that provide great coverage for accidental death that a person has before they take up a dangerous profession.
 * And if you can imagine a contingency, you can find an insurance company willing to insure against it. True, it may cost more (possibly a good bit more) than a standard policy, but you can get coverage. And if you work in a dangerous profession, the extra cost may be well worth it.

The season finale (Season 4)
Ok, there were a number of things wrong. First of all, they don't keep track of the crazy chicks visitors? Or note that the crazy chick ? McNabb is KOed from behind by unknown methods, but has an inhalant shoved in her face. The sheer Genre Blindness (Spiting up? Closing the car door behind you? Psych tends to make fun of that kind of behavior). . I am also sure I have seen that stairwell before. Stock footage? Reused set?
 * Well, for the first one we don't know yet that the ENTIRE thing wasn't planned. It's very possible and even likely (seeing as Yang SAID she was going to write a book) that the drawing and such was planned beforehand and even the kidnappings. Ergo, Yin wouldn't have had to visit nor would have at all. As for McNabb,   When she had fallen, Yin waits with a blunt object and BOOM, no struggle. Or Yin could have used Chloroform or injected her with something. She is wearing heels because she has to be dressed like the character or Yin won't play and they'll have no chance of catching him. I don't see how Abigail's thing bothers you. Yin had two separate ways to knock someone out. The clue was VERY obvious as far as it being a clock. Come on that's such an old riddle you could have googled for the answer she might have wanted to say something else/Intense situations often cause people to not think quite as clearly as any of us. Yin clearly wasn't trying very hard on that one. I really don't see what's wrong with any of this though. This episode had me on the edge of my seat the whole time.
 * No no, her job has her regularly chase people, you don't wear heels on that job.
 * Except that, in this exact case, the only way they could think of to close in on Yin was to dress up like the characters he had assigned to them and play along, and IIRC, Juliet has had some impressive showings with heels on, so it might not have been that much of a hindrance to her in chasing someone down. As for not putting up more of a struggle, I'm betting she was drugged before she knew what was happening, but in all fairness, we don't really know anything about Yin, so he might just be that much more awesome than her in a straight fight. I agree about the car thing, and I'd imagine that Henry at least would be able to break out of a car a lot faster than that. As for yelling out her location, she's a lot more conscientious about her role as a cop than Lassie is (he's takes things way more personally, even though he's a lot more by the book), and as the chief said, the first priority of the police is to save the civilian first. The thing that REALLY bothered me about that episode was how Lassie quite reasonably pointed out that there were other cops that could be sent after Abigail so that he could go after his own partner, but in the end its only Sean and Henry who go after her. A few cops around to secure the perimeter and provide back up to the guys who don't seem to have any guns would have probably resulted in an imprisoned Yin.
 * The stairwell was a Hitchcock reference. And if not a Hitchcock reference, then an accidental Mel Brooks/Hitchcock parody reference.
 * I don't think Juliet wanted Shawn to save her. The last thing she said to him on the phone was "You can still save Abigail". If she knew where Abigail was, she would've yelled out that location and not "Clocktower".

Who Ya Gonna Call (Season 1)
How could Regina possibly be seen as a good guy? Yes, in compared to Brody, but she still wanted give Robert cosmetic surgery without his consent just so she could feel better. If she'd gotten someone to act as an intermidiary, perhaps their psychiatrist, someone could have helped them work things out, but as it was she was going to effectively mutilate Robert for her own (admittably reasonable, barring the context) reasons when he didn't even know she existed.

Cutting the brakes on Henry's truck
How did he get the truck to the race without knowing the brakes don't work? Also the way Shawn describes it makes him a lot stupider than he used to be.
 * Which brings up the annoying and emerging point of Shawn's yo-yoing intelligence. Throughout the series, he's been shown to have Genius Ditz tendencies, often overlooking simple things because he has a short attention span. Up until the fifth season, though, he never came off as completely idiotic. Some episodes have him back to his intelligent-but-easily-distracted ways, but a disconcerting amount have had him acting flat-out stupid. Hopefully this is just some bad writing and not the more ominous Character Derailment.
 * It's totally possible he doesn't know enough about cars to identify the brake line but was sure he needed to install nitro in order to win. I don't think its that far out of character for him to get so caught up in winning that he didn't consider the potential danger of altering the car. Still, none of this answers the original question, how did they get that far without the brakes working.
 * Potentially, Shawn's notable absent-mindedness and lack of finesse might be a Chekhov's Gun and explained later as a plot device leading up to development in the Ying/Yang arc or the Shawn and Juliet arc.
 * Well, Henry specifically mentioned in "Shawn 2.0" that Shawn had been getting sloppy lately, so it's at least been addressed in-show.

The bullet in the tree in "A Very Juliet Episode"
Gus points out that Shawn's not looking high enough for the bullet, because the trees would have grown. Except...I thought trees always grew out from the top?

Nadia's gun handling
During the bathroom scene, she is pointing her gun up in the air and has her finger clearly on the trigger. Who trained this alleged professional? Senator Feinstein?

Why Doesn't Shawn have a gun?
Okay, so I just saw the Pilot episode, and in it, when he's talking with Lassiter's partner about the case in the shooting range, he perfectly mimics her shots on the sheet, just to show how awesome he is. So clearly, he can fire a pistol very accurately. And while I know California is a hippie liberal state that does not like guns, but Shawn is closely associated with the PD, frequently in cases with dangerous criminals. Surely he could get a permit and a weapon without to much trouble, and it would really save him a lot of trouble in the long run.
 * Perhaps for one reason or another he simply doesn't like guns? I don't know if it's appeared on the series, but I can easily imagine Henry training Shaun to shoot at a young age and ultimately going a bit over the top with it as he usually did with the end result that Shaun, while coming out of it a highly-skilled marksman, is completely sick to the teeth of guns or anything to do with them.
 * Shawn is established as being unable to join the police force because he is a felon (stole a car, likely for the entire purpose of having a felony record and being unable to be forced into them). Now why Shawn needs to improvise stupid weapons when he is established as carrying a Swiss army knife with him...
 * Also, as we've been shown, Shawn is almost pathologically incapable of keeping track of anything that doesn't stay in the pockets of a pair of jeans. If he carried around a gun, it'd be about fifteen minutes before it was in the possession of some murderer/petty-crook/bystander/child/dog/puppet/etc.
 * This is mentioned briefly, actually. Shawn asks about the status of his and Gus's badges, to which Lassie responds, "You're not getting badges." Shawn: "What about guns?" Lassie and O'Hara don't say anything, but exchange exasperated/frightened looks. It's likely that the police know better than to let him have one.

Scarry Sherry Craddock
Why didn't Henry ever tell the boys that he saved that woman's life twenty years ago? I get why he didn't want them to see her attempt to kill herself, but why not tell them afterwards that he saved her from inevitable death? Henry was always trying to show Shawn about how police officers are hard workers and should be respected and are heroes, it seems that he would not pass up a chance to reinforce this with such a perfect example.


 * He didn't know they saw her.
 * Yes, that explains why he never reassured them that she was fine. Still, it doesn't explain why he didn't tell them anything at all. And given that this is Shawn we're talking about, why would he trust him to close his eyes? Gus knew better.

The Tikihama Song
In the episode where Shawn tries to pass the criminal he's harboring off as his old Camp Counselor, how did the criminal know the Tikihama song? At first I thought it was just a joke when they ran it over the credits, but then in episode 15 of Season 3, the song is used again when they show Shawn's pinata at the bottom of the lake. So, how is it that a song that the guy supposedly just made up off the top of his head, turns out to be the real thing?
 * He went to Camp Tikihama as a kid and vaguely remembered little other than "This is what a camp song sounds like"? Or it wasn't the real song, since nobody in-show actually sang it?
 * I was under the impression that it isn't real in-universe. Since it's part of the episode soundtrack both times, and (like the rest of the soundtrack music) not audible to the characters. It's just become a running gag.

Shawn not remembering Yang
Shawn forgets things. He doesn't have an eidetic memory, just a talent at concentrating and remembering details when he chooses to. I'm not bugged by that. However, the actress in the flashback does a good job of showing great sadness in Yang's body language. It's implied the reason Shawn stopped was because he was actually being nice; he saw the sad lady, probably helped her with the groceries, and talked to her. Shawn's mother said Yang seemed so sad and adoring towards Shawn. Flashforward to the present day, and Yang is creepily cheerful, body language totally different, but she has obviously done her homework towards Shawn. He never once stops to think, a memory of an adoring woman (which Shawn, at any age, would take pride in) who wanted a picture of him and her, who obviously bears a large resemblance towards Yang, popping into his head? If the experience had been traumatic, that would be one thing. But I doubt the show would go down the route of having her had done anything that would cause trauma in a 12-yr-old boy, especially after they made it where she never actually murdered any of her father's victims and tried to portray her in a more sympathetic light than originally presented.
 * Who lived three doors down from you when you were twelve? Memory is a very fluid thing. He did a favor for a woman when he was 12 and she took a picture of him. I can understand him remembering the event, but the actual face of the person whom he only met for about two seconds after she's aged 17 years? Remembering something that happened two days ago is completely different from remember something that happened two years ago. I would even go so far as to say it is harder for someone like Shawn to remember what happened years ago because his brain is processing so much information about what is happening now. Try remembering the faces of people you met in high school ten years later - that's difficult and you actually spoke to those people on a daily basis. Your brain prioritizes information based on importance and Shawn places importance both almost everything - being extremely observant, and on the ridiculous- having extreme ADHD. For all we know he was going to meet Gus to get cupcakes and his brain didn't even focus on the memory.
 * Shawn remembered new details about something that happened in about third grade (The incident with Gus shooting a spitball and blaming it on a bully.). So obviously time isn't really a factor to him. Although he does get things wrong all the time ("Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Marzcipan"), initially storing memories wrong from lack of focus at the time being a symptom of ADHD, so having not initially focused on Yang or any of her identifying features is a plausable explanation. Still wish the show had at least tried to explain it, though.

Nobody in the police department recognized Yin when they were chasing him.

 * There's a very good possibility that he's not actually . He's a serial killer, he has antisocial personality disorder, severe narcissism. He could have   far more easily than, you know, actually.
 * Also, IIRC, we were never actually told her real name. It's completely plausible that she made up a new identity when she began serial killing, or even earlier. Same with her father.
 * Also, IIRC, we were never actually told her real name. It's completely plausible that she made up a new identity when she began serial killing, or even earlier. Same with her father.

"Who Ya Gonna Call" resolution.
Martin Brody killed one doctor and tried to kill another because Regina tried to get a sex-change operation (and apparently didn't care that she'd be screwing over poor Robert who didn't even know she existed). How long was Regina seeing that first doctor? Martin was willing to kill the second at the first appointment. Regina's medical file apparently didn't have any other name, an address, any sort information that doctors require (even billing information) and yet she had a patient file. It would only make sense for her not to have more in the file if it was her first appointment. Sure, Martin could have tampered with the file but if he did that then why not just take the file completely? And if it was her first appointment, it's a bit premature to resort to murder, especially since Regina had no idea why the doctor died so it's not going to do a damn thing to deter her. You can't just announce you want to change sexes and have surgery in a week. It's a very lengthy process that could be sabotaged much easier (maybe by cluing Robert in or letting the doctor know that Regina was just a personality although that would run the risk of integration) than outright murder.
 * Given how dysfunctional Brody's system is, I have real doubts he'd be able to get therapist approval in the first place. A functional multiple, sure (all you have to do is not mention it) but not Brody.

Gambling.
Shawn's dad stops him from playing poker, telling him never to gamble and eventually "the house always wins". Five episodes later he is complaining that Shawn has never joined him at the horse track. What the hell is up?
 * Maybe he sees a difference between gambling with only other people and maybe a casino, and gambling on animals. After all, Shawn could probably spot every little clue to which animals are going to do well, while in any card game, dice game or anything else from a casino, you will end up relying at least a little bit on luck of the draw.
 * Because no matter how good Shawn tries to be in horse racing, there are way too many elements at play to win consistently. He might figure out which horse wins before the finish line, but it's already too late in putting down one's bet. Compare that to poker, which half the battle is reading your opponents' idiosyncrasies before you decide to play or fold. Shawn has an unfair advantage with his heighten sense of perception (and no one knowing about that) that he probably would win close to 100% of the time. If played honestly. That's why Henry commented with "eventually the house always win because casino aren't above to cheat a little to protect the house's money. Plus Henry was determined to steer Shawn from abusing his gift like that.
 * My theory was that Henry wanted to spend more time with his son and teach him patience and research, not just reading the man in front of him.

Why didn't Lassiter just say "there was a knife wound" when the reporters were making fun of him?
I know Lassiter is the Butt Monkey, but he didn't even say it for it to be dismissed - he found there was a knife wound, told Juliet, and said nothing when he was talking to reporters. Shawn, when he's hung up like this, has the issue of blowing his cover, but for Lassiter, it's the question of lying vs. making himself look smarter in the press. Why would he stay silent and remain "Detective Dipstick?"

Why did he tell the cops about the call in "This Episode Sucks?
Spoilers, by the way. In the episode, the bartender (who, by the way, committed the crimes the police are asking him about offers a very specific detail to the cops (completely unprovoked, they were on their way out) that he had received a call asking him if they knew where to find real blood. This call leads them to his sister (and accomplice) and puts them on the path to him. So... why would he offer that bit of info? To throw them off his track and onto... also his track? He didn't want his sister to go down for it, he was protective of her, so why did he mention it at all? Hell, why did she even call about it?
 * The bartender didn't do it. It was the guy Lassiter interviewed about the necklace at the haberdashery shop.

How did Shawn know what pitches would be thrown in "Dead Man's Curve Ball?"

 * In one scene, Shawn predicts which pitches will be thrown by observing what signals the opposing catcher is receiving from the manager and sending to the pitcher. This seems to make sense on it's face, given Shawn's gift for observation, but the problem is this: Signals in baseball aren't universal. Just because a certain signal means "slider" or "curveball" on one team doesn't necessarily mean that that's what it means on another. Theoretically, the opposing team could have been using a set of signals that no other team was using, so how did Shawn know for sure that a certain signal indicated a certain pitch?
 * If I recall correctly they never said what inning it was. Shawn's certainly good enough to make the connection between signals and pitches and track them, and once the team needed them Shawn could call the pitches. Heck, I don't know.
 * Figuring it out a team's unique signals isn't necessarily uber hard (IRL, it is not uncommon for a baserunner to crack the catcher's signs and signal back to the dugout who signal to the batter), it's quite possible Shawn already had noted the signs and resulting pitch before and noticed they were using it consistently.

Why if Shawn has ADHD did he not calm down when on stimulents?

 * Have not seen the episode but,speaking as someone who come from a family where ADD and ADHD is not uncommon, I can assure you not everyone reacts the same way on medication. in fact, in some people, medication can make their symptoms worse depending.

(This is basically the whole show, but:) Why can't Henry or Gus just explain to everyone about Shawn's real ability?
I know the outside answer is: 1. Rule of Funny to allow James Roday do so silly things, 2. the show would end or just be Monk, The Mentalist, or Unforgettable'', and 3. MST3K Mantra and Bellisario's Maxim applies. But what's the In-Universe reason?
 * After seeing a lot more episodes, I think I'll try to provide one answer to my own question: He frequently illegally obtains evidence and breaks into places of interest, so by claiming he's psychic, he can exit the scene and pretend he "sees" it in his mind.

What happened to the female officer?

 * In the episode "Lights, Camera... Homicidio", what happened with the female officer Jules was being nice to? Granted, Jules did come on a little strongly, but she did nothing unreasonable once you remember they work in the same building and Jules is a detective, meaning she has to be an observant person by nature. She talks to the female officer twice, and the woman files sexual harassment charges against her. Chief Vick then lectures Jules on the hardships of being a woman in the workforce (along the lines of "You were being NICE? To a WOMAN?"), tells her she's lucky it's only a harassment charge, and nothing is ever mentioned again. The woman is never seen again, no one brings it up, and seriously, what?

Shawn can't understand the basics of controlling a boat in "Indiana Shawn and the Temple of the Kinda Crappy, Rusty Old Dagger"
When being able to competently do so was a major plot point in an early episode.
 * He was pretty miserable at it in that episode, too. ("Six Feet Under the Sea.") And he didn't have to work the boat in and out of a dock; Henry had handled all the docking duties before he left and was there waiting for his boat when Shawn came back.