- Shawn wonders what life would have been like if he had not returned to Santa Barbara.
- After messing up on a case, Shawn wonders what life would have been like for his loved ones without him in their lives. He is shown by an elf in a dream. He goes through his loved ones lives and makes many surprising discoveries about them... and himself.—Amanda Anthony
- We open with a TV report that Shawn has apparently been caught by surveillance cameras breaking into residence and ruining a huge case against a criminal called Czarsky who is known for intimidating potential witnesses.
A furious district attorney tells Karen that a judge threw out the evidence because of Shawn's trespassing. He suggests SBPD take a long look at their methods and immediately runs to the media and hangs the department and its consultants out to dry.
Shawn is brought into Karen's office for a meeting with her and Henry. She ends up firing Henry and suspending Shawn.
Shawn and Henry have a fight, the result of which is father telling son he can't help wondering what might have happened if Shawn had never come back to Santa Barbara.
Shawn falls asleep in front of the TV thinking about that very thing. He wakes up in a dream, greeted by dwarf actor Tony Cox who is representing his superego. Cox is her to show Shawn what would have happened had he never come to Santa Barbara.
Shawn and Cox visit Henry and see is a shell of his former self, miserable because Shawn's mother is re-marrying.
Next they go see Gus, who lives with his wife and her son from a previous relationship, as well as his alcoholic mother-in-law. Shawn asks Cox if they can view Gus' life in sitcom form, a show called "Wilin' With Da Gusters." Gus also isn't do well, with his step son saying nothing but "he ain't my daddy" and his wife running up massive debt.
They next peek in on Lassie, who in this reality is running a militant police form in a cartoonishly over-the-top way he absolutely loves.
To pop in on Jules requires Shawn 'traveling' to Miami, where she is still an officer in the MPD. Jules never ended up transferring to Santa Barbara. Shawn sits in on Jules and her partner as they chase down some dangerous bad guys.
Cox brings dreaming Shawn back to his office. He tells him it is time for him to grow up or risk losing his loved ones. Shawn's 12-year old inner-child shows up and Shawn sends him away.
Shawn finally wakes up, immediately recalling a detail which proves the surveillance footage of him from the opening had to have been shot from the outside of the building.
Shawn brings Gus to the building across the street from Czarsky's place where the video of him must have been shot from. He immediately apologizes to Gus and says he needs him to help him out.
The head to the apartment and notice a gas smell. They see a metal locking device under the door and Shawn says he wants to play this one by the book and call it in.
The guys go to see Lassie, who is still trying to find another lead for the Czarsky case. Shawn apologizes again and explains he might have a lead for him.
Back at the apartment Lassie uses the smell as probable cause to break in. They find the camera and a cordless phone with countless out-going calls to Miami. With Lassie in the other room Shawn dials the number and the person think he must be a "Juan." In the other room Lassie has found bomb-making materials and a schematics -- this Juan person was trying to kill Czarsky himself.
Back at the station Jules finds out Czarsky fled to Santa Babara to escape extortion investigations in Miami. In Florida Czarsky had burned down a taco restaurant owned by two business partners, one named Juan. The female owner ultimately died in the fire. This sounds like motive to Lassie, but Shawn's recollection of a piece of burnt toast in the apartment makes him think there's more to the story.
Shawn and Gus watch Czarsky in his business from their car across the street. Shawn nods off and during a dream tells Cox his dad still won't take his calls. Cox suggests maybe Henry is still trying to protect him and enjoyed working with his son. Lassie calls them to say they've had Juan in interrogation for an hour and he won't talk.
Shawn talks to Juan, who so far hasn't told the SBPD anything. Juan admits it was his fiancé who died in the fire, which was ruled an accident. Juan thinks that if Czarsky had gone to jail for tax fraud he would still have been able to hurt people. He had been casing Czarsky when Shawn showed up. Juan felt the need to ruin the SBPD's case so he could use his bomb. Shawn promises he will nail Czarsky for more than fraud if he gives him a chance. Juan says it's too late and Shawn notices a timer on his watch counting down from just under 25 minutes. "Czarsky's going to blow up in 24 minutes," Shawn yells out.
Shawn and Juan are in the back of a cruiser on the way to the scene. With his phone in his hand Shawn begs Juan to tell him how to diffuse the bomb, telling him to think of his fiancé.
Czarsky and his buddies are evacuated. With the clock under three seconds a bomb squad guy proclaims the location to be clear. Czarsky smirks and ribs Juan about his dead fiancé. Czarsky brags to Jules that the cops will never get anyone to testify against him. This prompts Shawn, Gus and Lassie to beg all the local business owners (who had gathered because of the bomb scare) to come forward and testify. Nothing happens until Juan tells them his story. Eventually multiple folks say they'll testify and Czarsky is put in cuffs. Shawn then tells Lassie the whole bomb thing was made up, that Juan's watch was counting down to his favorite TV show. Lassie says "nice try" until the bomb squad confirms no bomb was found. Juan is released and after Shawn leaves we see that he texted Gus with instructions for how to diffuse the bomb before the cops arrived.
Karen tells Shawn he will be able to resume consulting with them and Henry will be able to get his job back.
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