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At the end of the finale of Psych season 6, called "Santabarbaratown", Gus and Shawn have an exchange wherein Shawn says, referring to Dahlia Twon, "his sister, his girlfriend, his girlfriend, his sister", to which Gus responds, "...It's just Santa Barbara". I know that many Psych episodes (especially those of season 6) often parody or reference other works. It seams like this is what they were doing here.

What were they referring to?

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This is reference to Chinatown.

There is a scene between Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) and Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway) that goes:

  • Evelyn Mulwray: She's my daughter.

    [Gittes slaps Evelyn]

    Jake Gittes: I said I want the truth!

    Evelyn Mulwray: She's my sister...

    [slap]

    Evelyn Mulwray: She's my daughter...

    [slap]

    Evelyn Mulwray: My sister, my daughter.

    [More slaps]

    Jake Gittes: I said I want the truth!

    Evelyn Mulwray: She's my sister AND my daughter!

In the American Film Institute's list AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes the line

Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown.

is listed as #74.

In addition to "Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown," another line of the film's dialogue that has become famous is "She's my daughter. She's my sister...She's my sister and my daughter," spoken by Dunaway ...   [Source]

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  • There a couple of Chinatown references, including the episode's title.
    – Oliver_C
    Commented Feb 28, 2013 at 10:37
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    Yeah, I immediately thought about Chinatown when reading Gus's quote, but then thought that the original "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown" doesn't match that well. But together with Shawn's quote (whose Chinatown original I didn't immediately remember) and the episode title, this seems a perfect fit. Maybe you might want to include the characteristic Chinatown quote (the one matching Gus) as an additional argument and move the mentioning of the title from the comments into the answer. As they all together give a pretty good proof of the Chinatown reference.
    – Napoleon Wilson
    Commented Feb 28, 2013 at 12:43
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    @ChristianRau - There are a few more references, e.g the victim's name is Veronica Towne, wich alludes to Chinatown's writer Robert Towne. And there is a waitress named Ida, which is a reference to the character Ida Sessions in Chinatown.
    – Oliver_C
    Commented Feb 28, 2013 at 14:34
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For Santabarbaratow episode, following are the references mentioned by IMDb.

(Source:IMDB)

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    Ah, I also thought immediately about Chinatown, but Gus's quote didn't match that well, but together with the previous sentence (that the OP left out, didn't see this season myself, yet) it is pretty obvious. Also take a look at Oliver's answer for even more Chinatown references.
    – Napoleon Wilson
    Commented Feb 28, 2013 at 12:50

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