Episode 8 – “Red Sails In The Sunset”
written by: Scott Ottersen
Patrick Jane is running through traffic, apparently late for a rendezvous with Mr. Styles in a theater, showing some classic cinema. Patrick asked him there to speak with him about returning the favor he owes him. And, we obviously know that the favor has something to do with breaking Lorelei Martens out of federal prison. Styles tells Jane “Let it go. Just not worth it.” However, we’ve made it this far with Patrick doing anything and everything he can to find Red John, so we all know him saying that to him was not going to stop him.
Next scene was at the Chowchilla Women’s Prison, where Lorelei is on her shift at some machinist warehouse as a guard stops her work, leads her outside, and leaves her unguarded. It’s apparent that the “escape” is happening.
At the same time this is going on, Jane is parking his car in an odd way, in a parking lot, and smashing his window in, obviously to make it seem as if he was in some sort of accident, or the victim of foul play of some sort.
Lorelei is then dropped off on some deserted road, as Patrick approaches her in a car, asking her if she needs a ride. Lorelei is obviously disappointed to see him, because she wanted to believe it was Red John who was coming to her rescue, not Patrick Jane. She eventually gets in the car, seeing as how she has no real other options at this point, because she will be caught out on her own with no transportation.
Agent Kirkland is still in the mix for some odd reason, telling Lisbon that Lorelei escaped from federal prison and that Patrick Jane is the lead suspect in the escape. Lisbon can’t get a hold of Jane, she tells her team about the escape and that Jane is AWOL, which leads Grace to tell everyone that Sac PD found an abandoned car fitting Jane’s car’s description. They arrive on scene to find that Jane left his phone in the car, halfway through writing a text to Lisbon that he was being followed and could be in danger. With that, Agent Kirkland is led to believe that Lorelei and an accomplice have abducted Jane, and Jane is not the one who helped her escape from prison.
Jane wakes up on the beach and gets the opportunity to see a sight we all wish we could see when we wake up – Lorelei bathing in the ocean, completely nude. Screw pancakes and bacon, I’ll take the perky twins bouncing in the Pacific. As she’s drying off, Jane notices an SUV approaching, so he tells her naked ass to hide behind a rock. He plays coy with the Park Ranger, and it even led me to write down that Jane seemed a bit off his game, acting nervous, and almost giving up that he was wanted by the police. But, once Lisbon and Kirkland show up and question the Park Ranger, I realize what Jane was doing, and that he was keeping up the act that he was the victim in all of this.
“I sold Lorelei’s sister.” What?!? What is going on here? Lorelei’s mother sold her two year old daughter to some rich foreign couple because she had substance issues? This took a very awkward twist, but I’ll go along since I’m positive it is going to lead us somewhere good. If it helps us close the case on Red John, I’m all for it. And, I do believe this is the season we FINALLY get to see who Red John is, and have Patrick come face to face with him. But, before that happens, we have to find out that Miranda, Lorelei’s sister, was reunited with her long lost sister at one point, and they grew close. Up until Miranda was murdered. She died of heat stroke after being raped and chained up in a warehouse to die.
Jane calls Lisbon, after learning about Miranda, and finds out that Miranda had scratched a name into the warehouse floor before she died, and it read “ROY.” Jane had her fax the photo to the motel they were staying at, and if I’m Lisbon, I stop asking where he’s at, and just trace the number of the fax machine you are sending the photo to, and voila, you’ve found where he is! Man, I really should have been a detective!
Lorelei hears a radio report that she is wanted for the kidnapping of CBI Agent Patrick Jane, which leads her to put a pretty good beat down on Patrick once he returns with the ice and the photo of “ROY” raping and killing her sister. To stop the beating, Patrick tells her that Red John is the one who killed Miranda, because he uses Roy as an alias. He killed her to tear Lorelei down, so that he would be able to manipulate her, and build her back up to be whatever it was he wanted her to be. Sounds about right to me. I would think that even in the state of mind that she is in towards Red John, she would still be able to see that the connection there was too strong to deny. Sure, she could make the argument that it could have actually been a guy named Roy, but that is too strong of a coincidence.
They make it to the cabin, but Jane tells her that she needs to leave because the police are on their way, and that he will stay behind to delay them. He also wants her to find the truth on her own, knowing that he will not be able to convince her that Red John is the one who killed her sister. He wants her to find the truth, and then come back to him. They share a passionate kiss before she takes off, and then Patrick crashes the car into a tree as a way to make it look as if that was how she escaped and left him behind. For my liking, there is no way that car door stayed open after he smashed it into the tree, but that’s just me nitpicking. Also, I don’t think he’d have bruises like that on his face. And, he’d probably have a broken leg or some sort of lower extremity injury. But, again, that’s just me being picky.
“You’ll never know.”
“Trust me, I know.”
I’m sure Lisbon has to believe that he was the one behind it all, but Patrick has a point that there really is no way she can know for sure. But, having worked alongside him for all these years, she knows! And, I’m with Jane, there is no way in the world she would put him behind bars for what he did. However, Jane does tell Lisbon that all of it was worth it, because Lorelei let it slip that Red John is someone that Patrick already knows, and has met! Ok now, I’m liking this progress. It seems like we’re finally getting somewhere with the whole Red John identity.
MVP of the Episode
Really, it would be Patrick Jane, but Lorelei Martens is such an important piece to this puzzle that I’m going to have to give her an MVP at some point. Might as well be the episode where she’s naked in the ocean, and then in her undewear in another scene at the motel. My standards are low seeing as how I feel as if the standards for this show are low now.
Line of the Night
“I only wonder why the two of you didn’t become lifelong friends the moment you shook hands.” – Lorelei Martens
I got chills when she said this. Finally, we knew SOMETHING about Red John. I only hope that he is someone that we also know, and that it’s not someone from Patrick’s past that we’ve never met. I want it to be someone we’ve met before, maybe possibly been someone who was involved in a previous case where he crossed paths with Patrick briefly. Either way, I’m just excited that this is finally going somewhere.
tvonthedaily episode rating
B-minus
This was kind of a weak episode. I didn’t like it, but the fact that we learned Red John is someone that Patrick knows bumped it up to a respectable rating. But, this show is dwindling down for me. I’m not liking it the same as I have in the past, which is worrisome because I used to love this show. I’m hoping it picks up midseason, and we get more deep into Red John cases. I think they’re going to need Red John to start killing again to help this show out.
Nielsen Ratings
Ratings are released after 11am est, so check back after then for an update.
**Ratings are in, and they’re down a slight margin, but just enough to call it even. The Mentalist is one of the top shows in +7 day DVR ratings, gaining more than 1 Million viewers each week through DVR watches. But, for the live viewing, this episode garnered 9.51 Million viewers, and a 1.6 18-49 rating (down from 1.8 last week). For now, The Mentalist will remain on the bubble to be renewed/canceled, but I am going to say this will be the last season of the show.
————————————————————————
Episode 7 – “If It Bleeds, It Leads”
Air Date: November 11th, 2012
written by: Scott Ottersen
Some bicyclists stop to take in a breathtaking cliffside view of the ocean, only to have their picture interrupted by an out-of-control car heading right in their direction. They all saunter out of the way to allow the car perfect access over the railing and down the cliff, onto the beach. Some guy in a minivan pulls up, tells them to call 911, and runs down the path to, seemingly, check and see if anyone is hurt. And, after a dive down the side of a mountain like that, I’d imagine a car would be a tad more mangled than this one was, but apparently it was made out of titanium, because not a single dent was evident in that car. Hell, I don’t even think the windshield was cracked. And, the woman inside was alive, too. Highly unlikely, but for story purposes, the guy in the van had to make sure she was dead and so he put his hand over her nose and mouth to ensure she would die.
Jane has no interest in the case at hand, instead he wants to ask Cho how he can break into a maximum security prison. Cho tells him that he can’t, but we all know that’s not going to be good enough for Patrick Jane. Of course, all of these questions have to do with Lorelei Martens, and getting her back from the FBI, who took her away from him and the CBI team. But, since he’s there, he went ahead and helped as much as he could by pointing out it was a murder, not an accident like the park ranger and local cops thought it was at first.
As it turns out, the victim was a local news reporter named Cassie Flood. Her brakes were definitely tampered with, making this case a definite homicide investigation. I always enjoy how the CBI always tries and explains why they get involved with the cases they do, because it often seems as if they should have no connection whatsoever. There is no way they would have been called in on what was first believed to be an accident at a local park, just because the park ranger staff wasn’t equipped to handle it. Handle what, exactly, a car driving over the cliff? Seems as if it may be a job for the state police. But, I digress. Apparently, this Cassie Flood had received two threatening notes for her to leave town. At first glance, I would think those notes very odd, because what threatening note states for someone to leave town. Normally, it contains a threat that makes a person want to leave town, not basically asking the person to leave. People who make threats usually want to carry out those threats, not just ask a person to leave so they don’t have to carry out their threat. So, if I was playing detective here, I would be looking for an amateur, non-threatening person of interest. Not the Bells Glen Speedway guy who she uncovered was stealing cars.
Do you ever wonder what a TV show (or movie) would be like to watch without music to aid us in what feeling/emotion we’re supposed to be expressing at certain moments? I got this feeling from the chase scene inside the Bells Glen Speedway garage, when Rigsby and Cho were hauling off their arrestee in handcuffs with such dramatic music behind them that it made me laugh. I would like to watch a show without background music one time and see what it’s like. I’d imagine it wouldn’t make much of a difference, but at certain moments we’re probably subconciously trained to look for it, so I’d imagine I’d miss it. Maybe one day a show will oblige me.
Finding himself bored with the Cassie Flood murder (and probably because he already had it solved), Jane heads into the desert to attempt to gain access to the maximum security Federal prison that Lorelei Martens is most likely being held in. He’s turned away without even a wince of success at getting through the gate. From the looks of this prison, I can’t imagine how anyone would ever be able to escape. They would need a Hunger Games like security fence, that had no energy supplying its electricity to it.
Man, if I was rich, I would bid $200,000 to fly to space. I’d like to think I’d be able to go through with that flight, too, but I don’t think I would. Going off into space just seems too out of this world (pun intended). Way too frightening at the thought of how many things could possibly go wrong. It’s scary enough to fly on a normal flight that flies 30,000 feet in the air, I can’t imagine going any higher. I like astronaut food and the idea of being weightless, but there is no way I’d want to take that risk. Although, if I was 75 years old and dying of cancer, and rich as hell, I’d be the first one on that flight. But, at the ripe age of 31, with a 2 year old daughter, and wife I love, I’d like to keep my feet on solid ground.
I’m sorry to be going off script with this blog so much, but do you ever wonder why any police interrogations ever happen? If all it takes is a lawyer to say “If you have evidence, charge my client. If not, we’re done” and the interrogation is over, why would they ever bother? I know they do it to hopefully get a dumb criminal who wouldn’t ask for a lawyer, but still, just seems too easy to get out of it. Why even bother going down to the station, when all you’re going to do is call your lawyer, he’ll say that magic line, and you’ll be home free? Just seems odd, I wonder if it can really happen like that in real life.
With one interrogation squandered, the CBI learns that Cassie was renting a room at a local motel just down the road from where the accident took place. And, a “Mr. Flood” was still in the room. Only problem there is that Cassie was single. So, CBI hauled in Steve Berman, a magazine editor, who was good friends with Cassie. He was at that room, because Cassie was coming to meet him to hand over evidence she had against Tommy Volker in relation to a project he was working on in the Amazon rain forest where he supposedly killed off an entire village so as to be able to continue on with that project after the people there were not going to allow him access to the land. Cassie had audit information and when in doubt, follow the money and you’ll catch someone doing something they shouldn’t.
Lisbon heads to the airport (how she knew Volker was heading to his private plane and he didn’t know she’d be there, we’ll never know) to catch up with Volker and question him about Cassie, and whether or not she asked him about his dealings in the Amazon rain forest. Volker keeps his cool with Lisbon, but his assistant, Amanda, does not keep her cool all that well. She makes it obvious to Lisbon that Volker is lying, and that he’s hiding something. She has so much interest in Amanda, that she decides to give her a few hours to herself and then knock on her apartment door, telling her that she knows that she thinks Volker killed Cassie and that she should let her in. Amanda opens the door, and opens like a book to Lisbon. Someone who works for someone as powerful as Volker would not fold so easily like that, unless they were being moved into witness protection that very second. It was 2,000% obvious that Amanda was going to end up dead from this little rendezvous with Teresa Lisbon.
Jane goes on air at Channel 7, with Ed Hunt, and questions Ed about him having the know-how to tamper with Cassie’s car. At first, Ed denies having anything to do with it, but Patrick pulls out a pair of glasses similar to Ed’s, saying that they found his glasses in the wreckage. Ed breaks under pressure (a lot of that going on here) and says that he wasn’t wearing them at the time (he was tampering with her brakes). That easy. Patrick Jane makes this all look too easy. Ed makes a quick run for it, but seeing how easily Cho and Rigsby can run people down, we knew he was going to be caught.
And he was. He tells Cho that Volker dared him to do it, so he did. I kill people on dares all the time. That’s what friends are around to do, right? I dare you to go kill that person over there. Stupid.
Of course, we get the “suicide” scene at Amanda’s house. And, for some reason, Teresa is taking this one personally. She really wants to nail Volker, and if she didn’t want to before, she definitely wants to after he sat down next to her and rubbed it in her face that she’s never going to catch him. Hell, he even tells her she’s going to lose her job over this. Maybe not in those words, but something like that.
And, if matters weren’t bad enough, Lisbon gets a visit from Bob Kirkland, from Homeland Security, telling her to back off of Volker. He’s theirs. Or, he’s just too powerfuly and too rich and backed by too many other powerful people to be caught. All I guess we do know is that Bob Kirkland will probably be around for a few more episodes. He’s like the Homeland Security of CBI, he’ll be sticking around to help solve cases that he has no business being involved in and that have nothing to do with Homeland Security.
MVP of the Episode
Patrick Jane. I’ve never liked Teresa Lisbon. Her attempt at intensity on that stoop in front of Amanda’s apartment was weak, at best. If she were more believable as a Chief Detective with the CBI, I’d have given her the MVP of this episode, but I just can’t deny Patrick again.
Line of the Night
“Yes, wow. My work here is done.” – Patrick Jane
Sort of a weak episode for good one-liners, but this one was probably the best. I’d marvel at working alongside Patrick Jane, too. I’d be saying “wow” almost once every ten minutes. I don’t think his “act” would ever get old with me. I love genius and that’s what he is.
tvonthedaily episode rating
B
I thought this was a halfway decent episode. I do think that Volker could become a decent villain-esque character for the CBI to attempt to capture. Maybe give someone other than Jane a reason for being on a television show.
Nielsen Ratings
Ratings are released after 11am est, so check back after that time for an update.
**Ratings are in, and they’re up in total viewers to 10.0 Million viewers, and stayed even in 18-49 ratings.
————————————————————————
Episode 6 – “Cherry Picked”
Air Date: November 4th, 2012
written by: Scott Ottersen
Like me on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tvonthedaily
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tvonthedaily
The episode begins with Patrick Jane questioning a prison guard from the prison where Lorelei Martins “escaped” from. He tells her that she was one of only a few people who were transporting prisoners the night she disappeared, and asked if she was involved. She tells him he’s crazy, leaves, and he crosses her name (and picture) out on his list he has of suspects. Next up is a suspicious looking man, except he’s called away to a crime scene by Lisbon.
The scene is a luxurious suburb that seems to have its own community security, which happened to not be such a lush job for the man killed while just driving around making sure all the rich people got to bed all snug and cozy. While speaking to the neighbors, Jane notices a man acting weird, almost as if he didn’t want to be there in the first place. And, here’s my issue with this man, Isaac Goodwin, who we later find out that his brother and sister-in-law were kidnapped, and he received a ransom email right afterwards. Ok, so you get an email that your brother and his wife have been kidnapped, you are told not to involve the police and you have every intention of not involving the police, so why do you stand around near the crime scene?!? Why wouldn’t you just stay in the house and wait for more contact from the kidnapper? I am not sure I’d want this guy handling my investments and whatnot. I’m not even sure I’d want him handling my mail.
Before long, Jane notices something off about the scene. An expensive wine bottle drank with a cheap pizza. A dog let loose. And, country music on the radio when every other stereo system in the house is set to opera music. He tells Isaac he may want to come out of hiding because it wasn’t his brother and sister-in-law that were kidnapped. And, lo and behold, just as he says this, Marcus and Pella walk into their house asking what the hell is going on. Wonderous timing, I’d say.
The couple that was kidnapped was Gary and Sloan, Marcus’ friend from college and his wife. The kidnapper calls in via video conference, which of course, we all know how to do when we want to contact the people we just kidnapped. “Hey, I have your brother, give me your skype name and we can chat!” He knows he has the wrong couple, but still wants $5 million for them. However, Jane calls out the kindapper, saying that he knew all along that he had the wrong couple and that was the plan. He wanted to make Marcus feel guilty that his friends were kidnapped in his place so that he would pay out the money, rather than if he were the one kidnapped, he’d never be able to get the money.
Back at CBI headquarters…wait a second, did Cho just smile?!? You never see this man smile. Not even at actual good jokes/lines, yet he smiles when Rigsby acts like a seal? A man was killed, and a couple was kidnapped that your director is personally taking an interest in and you are throwing food up in the air and making seal noises while combing through security footage? Agent Wayne Rigsby would be out of a job in real life, I’m guessing. And, Cho should be fired for this being the thing that gets him to smile for once!! Anyway, they find an abandoned van that actually wasn’t abandoned, but reported stolen after some guy bought it off some Jehovah Witness loving girl from the hood! Crack job there, Rigsby.
Jane has his meeting with the suspicious looking prison guard, Walter, and he knows he has his man. He gets defensive with Jane during his questioning, and gets up and walks out after being called a liar. I’m guessing we haven’t seen the last of him this episode.
Oh hey, we scraped together everything we could and still came up a million dollars short! Ah, must be nice, to “scrape” together $3 million in one day! Shit, I probably won’t ever make $3 million in my lifetime. My 401k estimates that I may come close to $2 million if I ever live to see 62, but with the way that bastard has been bleeding money the past few years, I’ll be lucky if I have $50,000 left in it when I die at the age 0f 39. Jane still continues to play his mind games with the kidnapper, telling him that he’s not going to see a dime unless he releases one of the kidnapees. And, just a few short minutes later, Sloan is released from her entrapment, and all of this just seems too damn easy. I’ll never understand how real kindappings work (and hope I never have to learn), but I’m sure the kidnapper is not just going to let one of his victims go just like that. If he does, I’d worry about them being in on it, too…
Because of the brevity of their last interview, Jane decides he’s going to break into Walter Demunn’s house, the guilty looking prison guard. During his stay, he watches some porn, finds a condom, and a picture of what I’m only going to assume is him and an old girlfriend/wife. With all that going on, I wouldn’t be surprised if Jane rubbed one out in the shower before he decided to leave.
Uh-oh, Sloan is in on it! After being dropped off at her place by Rigsby, she reaches up into her chimney and grabs the cell phone that was hidden there, calls Vince, the kidnapper, and tells him they don’t suspect a thing about her being in on it. But, poor Vincey is nervous about having killed the guard, letting her go this early in the ruse, and also having to kill Gary tomorrow after they make the money drop. Well, you already killed one guy, Vince, what’s the difference if you have to kill Gary now, or not? My only thing is why leave Gary alive at this point? I know they wanted proof of life and all, but who really cares. Film a short video on your phone and send it to them at 9 in the morning. With what you two had planned, anyway, you didn’t need Gary to be alive in the morning. Eh, I don’t get it, but like I said, I never truly understanded kidnapping.
Agent Rigsby at his finest again. I’m thinking you are working undercover, you’re dealing with a kidnapper who says if he even sniffs out a cop near the drop sight, he’ll kill Gary, and here you are talking into your sleeve asking Sloan how she is doing? Yes, I know you guys already knew she was in on it at this point, but still. Be professional here. Lisbon comes over the earpiece, calling out that she’s found the kidnapper, chases after him and is “shot.” Rigsby and Cho run off to help her, play along, and say that the kidnapper is shot and is down. With that news, Sloan runs off with the money, changes clothes and walks away as a dark-haired mom with a stroller used for carrying out the $4 million in cash!
Oh, but how smart is she being by leaving her damn cell phone in her old clothes that she left behind. Why wouldn’t you put your clothes in the fucking stroller with the bags of money?!? Or, at least keep the cell phone. You know, go through the pockets before you just up and run off. It’s not like you were being chased, you had some time on your hands. Moron. And, also, you’re dealing with the police here and you don’t think to check for a tracking device in the money bags?!? You deserved to get caught…I just wish they had waited another few minutes so you would have been caught while in the midst of dying your hair. That would have made for a better mug shot!
I guess Jane didn’t get enough of the porn he watched at Walter’s, because he’s back, and is waiting for him as he returns home from work, no doubtably ready to watch that same porn he had cued up on his laptop! Jane tells him that he knows everything about him, and that the FBI contacted him to move Lorelei because he raped an inmate and they were going to use that information as leverage against him. And, let me make a quick sidenote, here is an officer of the law being contacted by the fucking FBI and he’s going to believe that they’re going to let him slide on a rape charge if he just helps them out this one time by moving a prisoner out of custody. Child please! You should have known once he told you his name was Agent Nemo that everything was not what it seemed. Anyway, he tells Jane where he took Lorelei, or so we’re led to believe by Jane walking out of the house with a smug look on his face as police officers arrive at the home to take away Walter for his rape!!
Another case solved by Patrick Jane while barely lifting a finger, and having his complete concentration still being focused on the Red John/Lorelei case. This is almost getting too easy for him.
MVP of the Episode
Has to be, right? As much as I’d like to give it to Rigsby for his crazy good police work, it’s Jane all the way on this one. I, seriously, can’t take this CBI team seriously, because without Jane I don’t believe they’d ever solve one case.
Line of the Night
“And no, hitting me wouldn’t do you any good.” – Patrick Jane
Eh, I didn’t really want to choose a line of the night, but this one was semi-worthy, so I went with it. There weren’t any real quality lines dropped in this episode, but this one had a little zing to it, so I gave it the distinction of being line of the night.
tvonthedaily episode rating
B-minus
I felt bad giving this show a C grade, so I felt as if they did enough to get up to a B-minus. I’m starting to believe this show is losing some steam. It’s not as good and fresh as it used to be. Part of the reason is because they’ve taken so fucking long to wrap up this stupid Red John story. Jesus, just have it be over already. I’m tired of it being a HUGE deal for two episodes, and then going away for 7 episodes, then having a role for 15 seconds of 2 episodes, then playing another HUGE deal in the final 3 episodes of the season. Let’s just get it over with. Show us his face, at least. Do something. Let’s find out that Red John is Wayne Rigsby, I don’t give a shit at this point, let’s just get it over with…
Nielsen Ratings
Ratings are released after 11am est, so check back after that time for an update.
**Ratings are in, and they’re down in total viewers to 9.48 Million viewers, but up a bit in 18-49 to 1.9 (from 1.8). I think that CBS is going to cancel The Mentalist. I hear rumblings about them planning on canceling two shows, and The Mentalist is one of five shows mentioned. With the numbers down, I think it will be one of the two getting the axe. It’s unfortunate, because I think that the show is getting screwed by the time and day it’s on. It’s never going to win against NFL football, and starting at 9:30 at night is such an oddball time…
————————————————————————-
Episode 5 – “Red Dawn”
Air Date: October 28th, 2012
written by: Scott Ottersen
I have been waiting for this episode the entire run of this show. If anything, I was just hoping that they would have a flashback scene in another episode of Patrick Jane’s first day on the job with the CBI. I have always been interested in how he got started with the crew over at the California Bureau of Investigation. I’m glad it has finally been graced upon our television screens. Even if it wasn’t all I would have hoped it was…
What the hell is with the “Several Years Ago?” We can’t know when Jane started with the CBI? Anyway, he walks into the offices looking raggedy as can be, dirty shirt and all. The first person he runs into was Rigsby, who has no idea who he is. I was expecting this to be his first day of work, but even when Rigsby told Lisbon about him, she had no idea who he was, either. They just knew that it was his wife and daughter who were killed by Red John and that he had been off the grid for the past year or so. Lisbon is standoffish with him and even has him escorted out of the building by Agent Hannigan, who is obviously the resident Grace Van Pelt of the past. Jane pulls his usual word games on Agent Hannigan, who turns around and punches him for his efforts. We’re no strangers to seeing Jane get punched in the face, that’s for sure. I’d imagine it would happen quite often more than how often it actually has, though.
“We must find a way to make him happy.” Are you serious? I HIGHLY doubt that is how the CBI would react to something like this. They most definitely are not going to just sit down with him and tell him that they’ll allow him to read police records and crime scene photos and everything they have on the Red John case. And, they are most definitely not going to let him ride along with Agent Lisbon to the scene of a murder case they just caught! I don’t buy this happening at all. This is what they came up with for how Patrick got started with the CBI? They had 100 episodes worth of time to write this episode and THIS is the best they could do? Ouch.
Oh, and if taking him to the crime scene, where he was actually the first one to approach the dead body, she’s going to take him to the family’s house to interrogate them about their dead son? And, if she wanted him to not come inside, why not tell him that when he’s in the car? That way, he doesn’t even get out of the car.
She chides his hide in the car, afterwards, but what good is that going to do? And, then of course she gets the call from Cho, finding that Jane is a genius, and got it right that the man was on a date before he was murdered. She tries to tell him the same thing Hannigan did, that he needs to move on, move somewhere else, and just start a new life with a new family, but that’s not going to happen. Definitely not only one year after his wife and daughter were murdered by a serial killer, who he provoked on national television into killing said wife and daughter. But, she ends it by telling him that he can show up to the offices the next day to see the Red John files.
“Fresh batch of Red John.” Classy. But, before Jane can start digging into his reading for the day, Lisbon wants his help on the case they are working at the moment. She tells him that they’re too stupid (seriously, I don’t know how any of them still have a job) to figure out who the killer is on their own, so she wants him to use his “gifts” to find out who the liar in the room is. They brought together every suspect in the case, sat them in a room together, and had Jane play some Tarot card trick on them to divulge that Officer Kim was the killer. He killed him because he once made a deal with his father (a Judge) to have him rule in the favor of his bar, that was being sued, in exchange for Officer Kim fixing the evidence in a hit-and-run accident involving Winston. Because of that, Winston called Officer Kim that night, after believing he hit somebody else on the road, and wanted Officer Kim to help him fix this problem. Kim so no other choice than to kill him, seeing it as the start of something he didn’t want to have to deal with for the rest of his life.
From that, Patrick Jane was officially hired as a Consultant for the CBI. Because of that hire, Hannigan wanted a transfer out of the department, therefore bringing about an opening on the team, which Lisbon said they would fill with a new agent out of the academy. And, guess who Rigsby found in the first batch he opened? The great Agent Grace Van Pelt. Oy.
The second-to-last scene made the whole show for me, though. Agent Alexa Schulze calls up Virgil, telling him that she wants updates on the Red John case as they learn about them. She says it never hurts to have a friend in the FBI, which leads me to believe she’s the friend Red John as in the FBI. And, who might that man be they showed in the limo with her? That wouldn’t be how they chose to introduce Red John to us, is it? If so, I may not be too pleased at that, but it’s looking that way for now. Until we learn differently. And, she also informs Virgil that Patrick Jane spent the last year in an insane asylum. Good to know. I wouldn’t doubt if it were true, either.
MVP of the Episode
Patrick Jane. Nuff said.
Line of the Night
“You want to hurt a man? You don’t kill him. You kill his family.” – Judge Dellinger
He didn’t know it, but he was hitting home with the man sitting two benches over from him, at the time. Jane was once hurt that same exact way. Perfect way to touch upon that in this episode.
tvonthedaily episode rating
B
Good episode, but could have been SOOOO much better. I didn’t like the approach they took. They lost me with how they let him just ride along and play cop for the day just because he got punched. They redeemed themselves quite a bit with the limo scene, but still not enough to score above an average rating. For me, a B is average. I don’t give out D’s (if I ever did, that would mean I’m done watching the show), so a B is average between C and A.
Nielsen Ratings
Ratings are released after 11am est, so check back after then for an update.
**Ratings are in, and it seems like it’s going to be an up-and-down like season for The Mentalist. They were down to 8 Million last week, and now 10.09 Million this week. I think this is why I don’t always trust the Nielsen ratings and hate that shows get canceled because of them. How do 2 Million people decide to not watch a show one week and then all of the sudden come back the next week? What changed in that one week that made them want to watch the show more? Whatever, at least it’s good news for fans of The Mentalist since if it continued to go down, chances are it wouldn’t last the entire season.
————————————————————————-
Episode 4 – “Blood Feud”
Air Date: October 21st, 2012
written by: Scott Ottersen
Opening with Rigsby, leaving his son, and getting a knock on the door from federal agents, who are arresting him for some reason or another, but refusing to handcuff him in front of his child, who wouldn’t know the difference anyway. Then, we come to CBI HQ where Jane and the rest of the gang are seemingly waiting around, worried about what is going on with Rigsby. Part of me wants to believe that if he was being arrested, he wouldn’t be taken into the CBI HQ, but into the police station wherever he committed the crime he is being arrested for.
LaRoche tells Rigsby that he may walk out of his office being charged with murder. And, we are going to be taken on a journey through Wayne Rigsby’s memoirs and why he may be going to prison for murder. Some shows do the whole “36 hours ago…” thing the right way, but I’m just not feeling how this one opened. Most of that probably has to do with that it doesn’t revolve around Patrick Jane.
Jane leads Rigsby and Lisbon to a barn, after noticing something as simple as a towel missing on the line, then finding a blood trail leading to said barn. After Lisbon announces that the entire California Bureau of Investigation knows they’re in there, Rigsby hears a familiar voice through the wall. Now, we all like to play that game with our loved ones where if we were blindfolded, and they touched us or kissed us as a few other people did the same, we’d always know which one was our loved one. Me, personally, I don’t think it’s that easy. Especially when it comes to voice. As often as I’ve talked to my parents throughout my lifetime, I don’t think I’d be expecting to hear their voice coming through a barn wall, when I’m out hunting for a murder suspect. Even if my parents were as delinquented as Rigsby’s father is, who ends up being that man inside the barn.
“What the hell did you do, dad?”
“I love you too, son.”
Perfect father-son moment. So tender and heartfelt. Brought tears to my eyes that I had to choke back.
The doctor tells Rigsby that his father is ok right now, but there is a shotgun pellet near his heart, and that if it ever moved, it could be fatal. He recommends an easy life, avoiding excitement, which sounds right up the alley of a former head of a Biker gang.
Lisbon and Jane interview a “Stew,” who went to barber school with the victim (Andy Huff). She tells them that Tom Overton was his father, and Tom Overton ran Carson Springs, or at least half of it. It was at this point that I was semi-lost. I’m guessing she meant he ran some sort of criminal “family,” but didn’t go into too much detail. But, after her interview, Van Pelt and Cho broke it down for us. The Overton’s handle the drug business while the East side has been run by The Lo Ryders (had to wait halfway through the episode to get the right spelling on this one), who came into town during the 80s. And, wouldn’t you know it, this wouldn’t be the first time people died over their feud, because about 10 years ago they fought a war that ended up with the division of Carson Springs into two halves, each gang running a different side.
Van Pelt meets with a Fletcher Moss, who runs a local gym that is considered neutral ground between the two gangs. He tells her that the only way Andy Huff would have been shot just for being on Lo Ryders turf is if The Lo Ryders were looking to start up a war, which he insinuated wasn’t too far-fetched, since The Overtons had better customers, better turf, and less trouble.
Jane and Cho go to question Steve Rigsby, but he fled the hospital. And, LaRoche asks the obvious question as to how he just up and walked out of the hospital, in his condition, without anybody noticing. I will answer that one for you, sir. If you’ve ever been in a hospital, you know how easy it is to just up and walk out at any time. It’s why the bastards take your payment information first and foremost, because they know they’re only going to check on you in your room once every 3 hours. And you could, literally, get out of your bed, walk up to a nurse in the hallway, ask a question, and get an answer without them even looking up from their computer screen. So, it’s not that difficult to imagine how Steve ol’ pal got out without being noticed.
Rigsby tells LaRoche that he spoke with an ex-girlfriend of his fathers, named Rocket, who told him that his dad did contact her and wanted to meet up at a local bar (you know, you’re wanted for questioning involving a murder, you’d think you might want to meet up at a bar OUTSIDE of town or so – just a thought). Anyway, she didn’t want to meet up with him because of all that was going on, so Rigsby went by himself.
“You can never trust a woman.” No, no you can’t.
Jane and Lisbon head on over to the Overton Home, where they learn Sue is the head of the gang, and she’s not exactly
welcoming to Jane and his line of questioning. She claims to be in the dry cleaning business, and knows nothing about a drug business, nothing about anybody calling themselves The Lo Ryders, or anything in regards to who killed her bastard nephew.
“Your rug to dry clean, I guess.”
Anybody else have trouble understanding what the hell this Fletcher guy is saying? I rewound tape a few times, paused here and there, and still couldn’t come up with whatever the hell words came out of his mouth. But, that’s ok, I know any scene involving Van Pelt isn’t an important scene to the plot, so I’m ok not knowing what the hell just happened.
Seriously, a big bad gang calls their hangout a “Club House.”
Jane and Lisbon head to the Club House to speak with Beltran to discuss the killing of Andy Huff as a message to The Overtons. Beltran tells them that there is a new park in town and that the two gangs may have had a little tiff about the land, and who had rights to it. Jane realizes that if Beltran and the Lo Ryders didn’t kill Huff, then someone else killed him to start the feud back up. Jane tells us, and Lisbon, that it’s neither Beltran or Overton who killed Huff.
Rigsby learns from his father that Huff was at that location because someone called him and told him they would burn down his barber shop if he didn’t show up. Rigsby’s father was there because Huff was scared and called him to help. And, then they share another father-son moment, but this one doesn’t involve each of them pointing guns at each other. It involves a cell phone, with pictures of Rigsby – the third generation. And, we also learn that Rigsby and Sarah are no longer together. That’s probably a good thing, because I was never fond of her character.
And then Rigsby’s dad dies. Just like that, in the middle of the bar, after what was probably the best moment the two of them had shared in their entire lives together. As sad as that moment should have been, I still didn’t find it all that moving. Just a quick moment in passing, really. I know Steve Rigsby wasn’t a main character, but I felt as if his death maybe should have taken longer than 3 seconds to happen.
And, apparently after your dad dies, you go right back to the office. That makes sense. At least they did the right thing and sent him home on bereavement leave. Before he leaves, Cho tries to stop him from doing what he’s thinking about doing, which is going out and killing the man who shot his father. Sidenote here – as crooked as it sounds, I almost would want something like this to happen in my life just to see what type of revenge I may seek on the person responsible. Not saying I want any of my family members to die, but I think you know what I mean.
“Maybe she’s not asking the right questions.” Hahahaha, no, Van Pelt most definitely is not asking the right questions. And, of course, I think we all know that Fletcher is the killer. He wants to throw his hat back in the gang business, taking over the land for himself. I feel as if these cases are getting easier and easier to solve on my own. Either the writers are getting worse at hiding things from us, or I’m just getting damn good at detective. You know, I do hold the record for guessing “Clue” in the least amount of turns. Jane tells Fletcher that he is going to set up a meeting with The Overtons and the Lo Ryders at his gym. This ought to be good.
Jane plays his typical games on both Sue Overton and Beltran, in order to get them both to Fletcher’s Gym to meet the informant and guns are pulled immediately. And, for some reason, Rigsby is hiding in the background, most likely hoping to hear one of them admit they pulled the trigger of the shotgun aimed at his father.
While the two are talkng it out, they realize that Fletcher is working both sides, trying to start the feud between the two gangs again, so that him and his new gang he’s assembled can take over. As they realize this, Fletcher pulls a weapon, runs through backyards of houses and fires aimlessly at Rigsby, who is chasing after him. I have to say that I’m no bullseye-hitting shooter, myself, but even I, half asleep, would have come closer to hitting Rigsby than he did. And, for his efforts, he gots shot twice in the chest by Rigsby. Enjoy death, sir.
Before you die, though, enjoy a third shot in the chest as you try to trick Rigsby into believing you couldn’t move and then firing a third, and even worse shot into the air.
And, for Rigsby’s efforts, he gets suspended with pay. No matter what happens in my life, I’d like to have a job where I can screw up in the eyes of my bosses and be suspended with pay.
LaRoche tells Lisbon that Rigsby was just in his killing. But, then he turns it on Patrick, congratulating him on getting away with setting up the entire scene, so that Rigsby would have the opportunity to kill the man who killed his father, all with doing so legally. LaRoche then takes his turn on Lisbon, telling her that her desire to protect her team (something any good boss would do) is her biggest flaw. And, the reason I love Patrick Jane as much as I do is for what he said (and how he said it) to Agent LaRoche after that comment. I am still waiting to find out what was in that tupperware in his safe, which is part of what I assume Patrick was referring to here with what LaRoche’s flaw may be.
After becoming a father, myself, I’ve become a bit of a softie. The ending of this episode ALMOST had me teared up. My guess is that had it gone on for ten seconds longer, it may have achieved its goal, but as we stand right now, I can say I held it together. My daughter had that exact same pacifier, so seeing that took me back to when I used to hold her in my arms (when she was that little) and feel emotions that she didn’t even have the understanding of yet. I felt Wayne Rigsby’s pain in that moment. I truly did.
MVP of the Episode
Wayne Rigsby. Shit, I feel like an idiot, because back in the recap of episode 1, I said it would probably take the appearance of Red John, himself, to unseat Patrick Jane as the MVP of any episode, but here we are 4 episodes into the season, and we’ve already had two episodes where Jane wasn’t the MVP. I am actually going to go out on a limb and say that is because this has been the weakest season to date. But, I’m going to give Rigsby the MVP for that final scene. Jane was still the ACTUAL MVP of this episode, but since I felt that last scene with Rigsby, I will throw him a bone. Never again, though.
Line of the Night
“Well, I think it’s better to regret something you did, rather than something you didn’t do.” – Patrick Jane
If that last scene didn’t happen, with Rigsby crying, this line would have won Patrick the MVP. I love it. So true. Most of our regrets in life do stem from things we didn’t do, or couldn’t do. It’s just how we work as humans. However, regretting the fact that you killed another human being is a heavy weight to hold onto the rest of your life. So, maybe I will back off my stance a little, now that I’ve had another 2 seconds to think about it. I think, in that sense, I’d rather regret not killing someone than actually have killed someone, and then regretted doing it.
tvonthedaily episode rating
C
Ugh, I hate to do it, but I have to. I just didn’t like this episode. Like at all. This was definitely the worst episode of The Mentalist I’ve seen. And, that makes me sad, because I truly love this show. I just feel as if they’re trying to branch off too much from the Patrick Jane character and grow the secondary cast. What is this, the fifth season? And, you now want to start building those characters more, and giving them more screen time? No, it’s not working. Go back to all Patrick Jane, all the time.
Nielsen Ratings
Ratings aren’t released until after 11am est, so check back after then for an update.
**Ratings are finally in, and they’re NOT good. Down to 8.1 Million. Now, I believe most of that has to do with the fact that it started so late and many people may have thought it was not on when they turned their tv to CBS at 9:30. Hell, people probably didn’t even know it was going to be on at 9:30 and tuned it at 9 to see that it wasn’t on. But, either way it goes, this is not good news for the show. I have a bad feeling they are going to cancel this show pretty early in its run this season. Which is sad, because it’s been good for so long. But, maybe they moved it to Sunday nights because they knew the writers had hit a wall or something. I don’t know, seems pretty suspicious.
————————————————————————
Episode 3 – “Not One Red Cent”
Air Date: October 14th, 2012
written by: Scott Ottersen
The episode starts off by letting us know that Jane is in North Sacramento. For me, I’ve never liked that cities can be broken up into “North” or “South” or whatever else they want to be considered. If you are Sacramento, just be Sacramento, you don’t need to be North Sacremento. What is the point? At that point, just come up with a new name for your city. Don’t get lazy on your citizens now, it’s not that difficult to come up with a new name for your city. Stage a contest if you have to. Just don’t go with “North” Soandso.
Jane is dropping off his shoes to have the soles redone, and it’s almost where I want to ask him why he doesn’t just buy new shoes, but I guess if you have a good pair, and it’s cheaper to have them repaired each year than it is to buy completely new shoes, go for it. It’s also 100% apparent that the bank across the street is about to be robbed, judging by the guys in the back of the van, with ski masks on their heads. As they break into the vault, I suddenly get the urge to rob a bank on my own. Can you imagine walking into a room with that much money in it and knowing it was going to be yours? I can’t. People always ask what is the first thing you’d buy if you suddenly came into some money, and for me, it’s not about the first thing I’d buy, but something like the first one hundred things I’d buy! That very day. Sixty of those hundred would probably be vehicles of some sort. Anyway, Jane hears the gunshot that kills the assistant manager, and heads to the door just in time to get shot at.
Also, if I’m robbing the bank and get out of the doors cleanly, why would I fire several shots into the air? It’s not as if it was heavily crowded, and even if it was, that might work to your advantage. That part I didn’t quite get. And, shooting at a meter maid is even worse. Terrible crew on this job.
After Lisbon and the team arrive on the scene, Jane ventures off on his own into the safety deposit box vault, which just so happened to be open (even though it wasn’t during the actual robbery). I’m sure we’re going to see that play a big role. As well as the fact that the Sacramento PD has a string of robberies eerily similar to this one happening in the past six months, however this is the first victim the crew has taken out.
Ah, welcome back Agent Mancini (FBI agent from premiere episode). You taking some time out to get sweet on Agent Lisbon? Not my type, but to each his own, right? It would appear the FBI is going to be sticking around this year, since Bertrand wants them to play nice and work together on this crime.
If I rob a bank and have a million dollars in a bag (give or take), I don’t think I’m going to just leave that bag in the back of a pickup truck. Why take the unnecessary risk of some jackwagon walking past your truck and stealing your shit? Wouldn’t that be your luck, anyway, to rob a bank, become a millionaire, and then have someone else run off with the money while you still end up getting fingered for the job, because your dumb ass had the money stolen and you had to stick around and head back to work the next day? At least put that bag up front with you, dummy.
Agent Rigsby is just as much of a genius as Jane is, because he determines from the security tape that only one man from all four bank robberies has the same body type. Even though all the men are wearing all black, ski masks, and he only has 30 seconds of tape from each bank, he comes to that conclusion. I don’t know, but every time the FBI sends out Wanted information about bank robberies, in real life, they can have the guy on camera for an hour and still only tell us that the person is “White, between 5’8″ and 6’5″, between 150 and 250 pounds, and dressed in all black.” I think Rigsby oughta link up with the FBI and solve a bunch of bank robberies.
Through interviews with the employees, we learn that two of the bank employees were holed up in the bathrooms that are right next to the vault doors. I’m not sure what banks have bathrooms right next to the vaults, but in this case, it came in handy to add two new suspects to the list. With the knowledge that the security deposit vault door was open, we’d have to imagine one of these two were in on the job somehow.
Jane heads back to the bank, meets with Armen (the bank manager) to inquire about the security deposit vault being open or not before the CBI arrived. He remembers that the door was open when he walked out of the bathroom, which tells Jane that someone stole something from inside that vault, as well, most likely meaning that the robbery was committed by a customer of the bank.
I’m having all kinds of issues with these bank robbers. You rob four banks, walk away with millions (most likely), and you just go back to work at the freight yard? Well, I guess I should expect that from the same guy who stores that money in the back of his pickup truck, shouldn’t I?
Patrick works his magic on the crowd at Ernie’s memorial, and I just wish for one day I had the intelligence to be able to gain as much knowledge about people as he does from asking one or two meaningless questions. While snooping around in his bedroom, he finds a ticket to Brazil tucked underneath one of the drawers. However, as a man, I’d suggest we all have a one-way ticket to Brazil stashed away somewhere in our house, seeing as how every girl in Brazil looks like this (and this girl isn’t even all that attractive – it’s just the cleanest picture I could post). He tells Lisbon that he knows now that it was Ernie who was the inside man working with the bank robbers. Of course, he tells her this right in front of his mourning family.
Jane wakes up in the morning, after staying up all night studying the names of the customers who had security deposit boxes at the bank. He is now sure that someone put something IN a safety deposit box, rather than taking something out. Jane and Lisbon gather the bank employees down in the vault, where Jane tells them that one of them is the killer, and that they hid the gun they used to kill him in one of the safety deposit boxes. It takes him a while to get the killer to come forward, but we finally learn it was Nancy, Ernie’s fiancee. She tells us she killed him because he was losing some weight, being noticed more by ladies, and was planning on leaving her even though she was busy planning their wedding. She found the ticket to Brazil and the emails he exchanged with John Hutten, the bank robber.
And, come on, seriously, who would deduce that her safety deposit box was under the name Hudson just because she was from upstate New York. Nobody can be that smart, can they?!?
Oh, and bullshit he can “tread your pen.” I need to sit down with a real-life mentalist one day, because I need them to teach me these tricks of theirs.
MVP of the Episode
Patrick Jane. It kinda has to be, right? Was anybody else even in this episode? I’d give it to him based on the shoes alone. Those were dope.
Line of the Night
“It’s an idea; I don’t know if I’d call it great.” – Patrick Jane
Typical Jane. Rigsby probably hit it on the head with that he was slightly jealous. And, probably because it was Van Pelt who came up with it, who it seems the showrunners are desperately trying to make seem legit this season. Ever since the show started, she’s been the weak link of the team and it just seems that after this many years on the job, they’d probably have found a suitable replacement for her as a junior agent.
tvonthedaily episode rating
B-minus
Eh. I think I’m going to have to start dipping into the C’s for this show. They need to bring back the Red John storyline every week, otherwise this show is just getting to be one of those cutsie type shows that you watch because you’ve always watched, and you like because Patrick Jane’s personality and quick wit. I enjoy watching intelligent people at work, so that’s the main reason I like this show so much, but on an episode-by-episode basis, on a rating scale, it’s not going to equal up to the heavyweights on tv these days.
Nielsen Ratings
The ratings are released after 11am est, so check back then for an update.
**Ratings are in and The Mentalist hit an all new high for the season, putting it back on track for the season, with 10.62 Million viewers, winning the night outright in total viewers (outside of football). This is great news for fans of the show. It’s almost as if all the fans forgot the show moved to Sunday and didn’t realize it until last night. But, hey, better late than before they cancel the show, right?
———————————————————————————————–—————————————————
Episode 2 – “Devil’s Cherry
Air Date: October 7th, 2012
written by: Scott Ottersen
I know I made mention of how I like to pay attention to episode titles, but I’d like to clarify that I only recently started doing so. The show that made me start paying attention to them: The Mentalist. It was last season when I realized that every episode title had some form of the word “red” in it, or a simile of red, or something like “cherry” in the title, which is red. From that point on, I went back in the episode library and noticed that all of the previous seasons had it in the title, and so it made me more conscious of other shows and the titles of their episodes. Cool story, bro, I know. Just thought I’d share that before I moved on to the recap of the episode.
Something I have always laughed about with The Mentalist is how Patrick Jane always seems to be the last one to arrive at the crime scene. I know that it’s not in every episode, but I find it funny that the man who lives in the CBI headquarters building is ever last to arrive at the crime scene. You would imagine he would always be able to hitch a ride with one of the other agents, or at least show up within the same hour as they did. But, Jane always does his own thing and that is why we love him so much.
The victim this episode is Victor Mendelssohn, a diamond cutter who owns a shop in the San Francisco diamond district. At the crime scene, we see Jane almost step into the pool of blood, and as he’s walking away Rigsby asks Cho if he’s been noticing how Jane has been a little off since the FBI took Lorelei away from him. Because he’s been off a little, Rigsby wants to ask Jane out for a night with the boys. Now, that would be a great episode. If there were three more unlikely friends in the world than Rigsby, Cho, and Jane, I’d like to meet them.
How does every house he goes into always happen to have a tea kettle at the ready? I don’t own a tea kettle? Do you? And, if you do, do you just leave it out on your stove for anyone to use? I find his love for tea a tad quirky, like his personality, but if drinking tea can help me become as intelligent as he is, I may have to start dropping in on people’s homes and drinking their tea some more. He doesn’t find any tea bags, so he uses a used tea filter that was left behind in the sink to fill up his saucer. As he’s drinking the tea, he watches a CGI-led butterfly fly in the backyard, which leads him to notice the neighbors (Betty) bedroom window, with a perfect view of the victims kitchen, the same kitchen she told Lisbon she couldn’t see into as she told a story about two men arguing over a flower, the blue orchid. The cover of the pot on the stove starts to rattle, so Jane walks over to investigate and as he lifts the lid, he drops his tea to the ground and we cut to commercial as he lifts the cover…to find a rabbit (as we come back from commercial).
Jane carries the rabbit into the foyer, where Cho is interviewing the maid, who tells them that she warned Mr. Mendelssohn that something bad was coming to him because she found black ants in his home. In some South American countries, they believe black ants mean death is coming to your family, so because Jane understands this, the maid gives him an eagle’s claw necklace to help him find the killer.
The rabbit jumps out of Jane’s grip, and leads him across the street to a beautiful garden where a young girl walks out and tells Jane she has been expecting him, and that the rabbit is hers. She plays some of Jane’s mental games with him, giving him a run for his money, but as Jane is about to leave, she tells him that she will help him out of boredom more than because his tricks are working. She leads him to Victor’s workshop where she continues to play his games with him and then drops the bomb on him that she is his daughter, Charlotte. Lisbon and Cho walk in on them and play nice with Charlotte as Jane is in disarray as to what is going on. Jane faints and we go back into time to the kitchen, where we see that when he dropped his tea, he actually fell to the ground and hit his head, leading us to believe that he is dreaming all of this.
As they are investigating why Jane has passed out and convulsing, Cho recognizes the tea as “Devil’s Cherry,” a hallucinogen. That would explain now why Jane is seeing his dead daughter.
Julian Gallego, Victor’s assistant, is interviewed by Van Pelt. He tells her that they recently were given a 102-carat blue diamond that would be worth $20 million once they cut it and sold it. He also tells her that Victor always took his clients stones home with him, and kept them safe in a shouler wallet he never took off. And, that he was also recently threatened Fahad Ranjani, the man who believed he was supposed to receive the “blue orchid” (going back to Betty’s interview).
Jane wakes up wearing a straight jacket, with Charlotte standing next to him. She tells him that her mother, Jane’s wife, would not be happy that he’s stuck on Red John, meaning that he needs to stop obsessing about finding his family’s killer. He wakes up to reality, calling for Lisbon, and when she arrives, he asks her for a drink of water and when she goes off to get him a cup, he runs off, leaving the hospital. You have to love those hospital rooms that have multiple exits. Every hospital room I’ve ever been in has had one door where people walk in, as well as walk out. Nothing like convenience, right?
I also like how he had time to grab all his clothes on the way out, as well, because he’s back in his three-piece suit as he walks up to his curbside-parked car, in which his daughter now informs him is actually an ambulance, which was actually pretty funny. I think they were aiming for some definite laughs in this episode. They missed the mark with a few, but did catch me with others. Lisbon finds Jane in the ambulance, tells him he needs to get back to his bed, but of course he talks her into taking him back to the crime scene, seeing as how he was given the drugs for a reason and he needs to continue on with the journey, because he believes it is going to help him solve the case.
Perhaps the writers at The Mentalist are going to try and branch out the talents of Grace Van Pelt this season, because that trick she pulled while interviewing Fahad, having Betty sit nearby to compare the voices, was actually quite clever. A Patrick Jane-worthy trick, indeed. Well played, Grace. Well played. I still like you the least, but at least you’re pretty.
Jane is back at the crime scene, where he shows Lisbon where he saw the butterfly, and where he found the rabbit. He leads her across the street, where the rabbit led him, and where he also spoke to a Scandinavian couple that happened to be a pair of garden gnomes, which led him to believe the killer might have a December birthday, because of the Christmas connection. Funnily enough, I am Scandinavian, however I do not have a December birthday. He takes her further into the backyard, where he found the garden, only this time it was a pool, and not the beautifully manicured garden. He tells Lisbon that he met his daughter in this garden, which I would imagine might have been a bigger deal to her than it actually was, but because of time constraints on the episode, she couldn’t delve deeper into the scenario, so he instead led her to the workshop. Rigsby was waiting there for them, with the key, as they also run into Julian who is packing up the shop.
Jane sees his daughter, who is drying off from her backstroke efforts in the pool. She tells him that his obsession with Red John is creepy and weird (are the showrunners trying to tell us something – is he going to give up the Red John case without any closure, because if that happens, I will have to quit this show) and that he shouldn’t continue with his efforts to finding him, because finding him won’t do her and her mother any good. She tells him that they don’t give a damn what happens to Red John, which goes back to Nicola’s quote from the previous episode, which leads me to truly believe he is going to give up the Red John hunt. Which is something I did ask for, but I’d also like them to wrap it up with his capture/killing, not with Patrick giving up on finding him. I can tell that is going to be his personal battle this season, but I don’t think he, if he were real, would give up that task. It means too much to the person Patrick Jane has become.
Jane finds the blue orchid in Julian’s personal bag, he tries to run away after denying knowing how the gem was left in his bag. But, he later admits to fighting with Victor in his home, the night before, but that the argument was over how to cut the stone, not whether or not he should have ownership of it.
Julian’s prints are found on the murder weapon, but Jane (and his daughter Charlotte) believe that it is all too easy. He also realizes that he hallucinated the maid and eagle claw necklace, and knows that it was his subconscious trying to tell him something. He deduces that an eagle is a sky hunter, with precise vision, which leads him back to his memory of Betty’s bedroom window, which had a perfect view of Mr. Mendelssohn’s kitchen, which is something she definitely lied about to the CBI. They head back over to the house, where they run into Betty (of course she would stop and offer her help again, not trying to get away with murder or anything), and they have a cup of tea with her in her house. She sees a rabbit under her kitchen table, and Jane and Lisbon begin to act erratically in a way to get her to believe she has drank the Bella Donna tea. She does, and runs into the kitchen to get Mendelssohn’s shoulder pouch, and then runs out of the house into the waiting arms of CBI Agent Kimble Cho.
She tells Van Pelt that she saw him in his kitchen for years with his shoulder pouch, and had thought out several other plans on how to get the diamonds off of him. His daughter being away and the fight between him and Julian just led her to the perfect plan, where she would get him to drink the tea, he would hallucinate and be an easier target, she’d take the diamonds, and then to top it all off she convinced Victor to kill himself by telling him, in his hallucinative state, that the diamonds were trapped in his stomach. He cut himself open trying to get his diamonds back. Tragic end to a life. And, just another reason why you should never do drugs!!
Stay off drugs, kids!
The show ends with Jane pouring himself another cup of the Bella Donna tea, no doubtably as a way to meet with his daughter once more, possibly even his wife.
MVP of the Episode
Charlotte Jane. And, here I was just last week talking about how it would take the appearance of Red John to supplant Patrick Jane as the MVP of any episode, right? Then walked in his daughter, Charlotte. I don’t think that she did anything particularly outstanding in this episode, but just the fact that she was present, that she was a little version of Patrick Jane, and that she stuck around the entire episode, I had to give her the MVP. She helped lead him to the killer, and also helped lead him to realizing something that he is probably going to realize by the end of this season.
Line of the Night
“I’m all over it. I already have a call into Clooney.” – Agent Rigsby
This was one of those understated humorous moments of The Mentalist that I so like. I don’t think I’d ever say this was one of the best acted shows on television, or the best produced, directed, or written, but they always offer up great entertainment with their secondary characters. And, when Cho answered Rigsby’s phone and pretended that it was George Clooney, I definitely got a good, hearty laugh out of that as it was unexpected from Cho’s character, but a great addition to the episode. I said they were going for the laughs this episode, and they definitely got one right on this exchange.
tvonthedaily episode rating
B
I wanted to give it a better rating with the addition of his daughter, but for my liking, I’m not sure I’m liking the direction the show is taking so far this season. If they are going to make it about him giving up the Red John case, I definitely won’t appreciate that. I know they may just be making it seem that way for the beginning, and then hook him back in later in the season, but for right now, I can’t give this episode any better than a B. It had some lackadaisacal moments that weren’t followed with great moments to make me forget about them. I thought the daughter could have done more, I thought Jane could have done more, I didn’t like the end result of the murder and who had done it, it just seemed somewhat lame.
Nielsen Ratings
8.7 Million, which is not good. The first episode had over 11 million viewers, so to see a dip of over 2 million viewers is never good from week-to-week. It easily beat out 666 Park Avenue, but that show blows, so it should beat that out. It lost to just about every other show that night, except Revenge (8.27 Million) and the cartoon shows on Fox Sunday Night. I am not sure why CBS decided to move The Mentalist to Sunday night, but perhaps it’s a way to end the show. That is all I can assume. I’m quite sure the dreadful drop in numbers isn’t helping the case for renewal. Let’s hope for better numbers, and better episodes, starting next week.
————————————————————————-
EPISODE 1 – “The Crimson Ticket”
Air Date: September 30th, 2012
written by: Scott Ottersen
Being as this is the season premiere for the show, they gave us a quick run down of where we last left off. Good thing that they did, because I had completely forgotten!! Of course, after the first second of the recap, I remembered everything, in how Patrick Jane met a beautiful woman (Lorelei Martins), ended up sleeping with her, and then learned she was owned by Red John. They set up a trap involving her and Patrick meeting with Red John, but the FBI learned of Jane’s tricks, went to arrest him and his CBI counterparts, and in doing so, screwed up the trap, killed Wainwright, and let Red John skate free once again, but still did manage to capture Lorelei, who Patrick can’t wait to speak with in order to get her to tell him who Red John is and how to find him.
Personally, I am hoping that it is this season where we finally learn the identity of Red John, and can put this storyline to rest. I think that The Mentalist has established itself as a great television series, and they no longer need the gimmick that is the Red John killer. I know gimmick is a strong word, but at this point, I just feel as if that is what it is. For as smart as Patrick Jane is, I would have to imagine he would have put together the pieces by now and caught up with Red John. I was hopeful at the end of season 3 that with Jane shooting, and killing, who he believed to be Red John, that the storyline would be complete, but as we found out the next season; not so much. That is just my wishes for Season 5 – to end the Red John saga.
But for now, he lives. And, we open the season premiere episode with a close-up on Patrick Jane. The biggest reason I watch this show is for the delivery of Patrick Jane by Simon Baker. I think he portrays Patrick Jane phenomenally. The pain on his face was completely real in that opening scene and I just knew we were in for a great episode. Him staring at Lorelei, knowing he was going to have his minute with her was the perfect opening for this season, and this episode.
But, before he could get his chance to talk to her, he was called away by Teresa Lisbon for a new case. They arrive at the scene, where two people (a man and a woman) were found dead by the responding officer, who agrees with Rigsby that it was a love triangle gone awry, seeing as how they were found dead near a bottle of champagne and the man (Rex Lango) had lipstick on his cheek.
Jane, however, has other thoughts. He notices that the champagne is an expensive vintage, and that the lady (Callie Karlsen) doesn’t have a steady boyfriend (no toothbrush – because, that is the obvious sign of whether or not someone has a steady significant other or not), and she comes from money, which doesn’t seem to be an obvious scenario since she cleans rooms at the local hotel, where Rex also worked.
Outside the apartment, the FBI agents (Agents Smith & Mancini) show up to the crime scene and immediately ask why the CBI agents are there, seeing as how last they heard they had been suspended. They argue with each other about who screwed up more with the Red John sting, and Patrick throws in his typical observational jabs, with quotable pieces such as “inarticulate rage,” basically calling the FBI agent stupid. This is another reason why I love the character of Patrick Jane so much. He’s just intelligent and quick-witted, even though he’s not always intended on being witty. I wish I could understand situations as quickly as he does, because I’d be all over people, calling them what they truly are.
But what Jane starts, the FBI agent finishes, ending with Cho getting in Agent Smith’s face, Agent Smith pushing Lisbon off of him, Cho taking offense, and a fight starting in the middle of the street, in front of the entire neighborhood, and police officers alike. I am still not sold on Cho being a hard ass, but I guess someone has to play that role, right? We know it’s not going to be Rigsby and his boy-band hair over the years.
Agent Bertram tells Jane he’s now on his last chance with the agency after this latest scuffle with the FBI. We learn here that the FBI and CBI are covering up the scandal the Red John sting caused, along with the death of CBI head man-in-charge Wainwright. We also learn that Jane is not even allowed to speak with Lorelei at his moment, due to the two agencies arguing over whose witness she is at the moment.
Now that the two agencies need to get along, Jane and Lisbon head on over to the hotel with their new friends, the FBI agents Smith and Mancini. They question the hotel manager, Mr. Norris, who they later find out from some of Ms. Karlsen’s coworkers likes to play grab-ass with the pretty ladies of the hotel staff. Basically, he’s small-handed scumbag according to Patrick Jane. Jane asks him if he’s ever seen his mother naked (who hasn’t, right – well, I haven’t, thank God) and plants the roll of pictures he found at the crime scene into his jacket pocket in order for the FBI agents to take him in as a suspect, so he and Lisbon can concentrate on finding the real killer.
Ah, on to the real reason why I don’t think I’d like this show if it wasn’t for Patrick Jane – Grace Van Pelt. I just think they need to recast the character, because Amanda Raghetti may be pretty, but she is not that wondeful of an actress. Just my two cents is all. She informs the group that the Karlsens’ family does come from money, but they lost it all at one point, which would explain now why she is working at the hotel, cleaning rooms. We also learn that Rex Lango is now a suspect, seeing as how he has nothing on his record and Cho and Rigsby found absolutely nothing in his apartment other than a mattress on the floor, leading them to believe he may be running from something he did in his past.
The scene with Rigsby and Cho on the tiny loveseat got a light chuckle out of me. Why one of them wouldn’t have just stood, or sat somewhere else, I’m not sure of, but for television purposes, it made for a quick laugh. The lady they are interviewing tells them that she heard the scream come from the apartment, but she believed it to be a scream of passion and she was happy that Calli was finally getting some action! She makes mention of the lottery, which makes me believe something about the lottery will be important in this episode.
One thing shows like this always play around is the travel time. From Sacramento, California (where the CBI HQ is located) to Boone, California, it is a 2-hour trip without traffic. They always make these drives seem like they’re right around the corner, and that the crime can be solved in one day. Four-plus hours of driving, and probably an hour spent on location takes up just about all of your day. So, when Patrick gets the call that he can now speak to Lorelei and that the FBI “folded on her,” I’m guessing it wouldn’t be just as easy as them hopping back in the car and traveling right on over to go and speak with her. But, this is television, so we roll with the misconceptions of time in order to save “face,” because let’s be honest, nobody wants to see a show where cops are just driving around for a few hours here and there, and knocking on doors with nobody answering. They have to take liberties like this in order to make it work within the 42 minute time limit the shows have (with commercials).
On the way back to headquarters, Lisbon mentions the sex he had with Lorelei and that Patrick may have feelings for her because of that, seeing as how she is probably the first woman since his wife died that he slept with. This was in response to Patrick wanting to speak to Lorelei alone, with nobody listening or watching the conversation. Lisbon is worried that he is too attached and may say/do something to damage the case. He argues that he only sees her as a stepping stone to Red John, which I am going to believe on the account that the man killed his wife and daughter, and if that ever happened to me, I wouldn’t care what girl I was banging, if she knew the guy who killed my wife and daughter, I’m going to do anything I can with her to find out where the bastard is hiding.
Jane gets his wish (or so he thinks) of talking to Lorelei with no audience, yet we see Lisbon in her office, listening in on their conversation on some sort of ancient listening device. Lorelei asks Patrick why he bothers “trying to hold back the tide with a broom,” solving crimes. It’s unfathomable that people who kill other people actually think they’re doing some sort of good, or maybe not think that they’re doing any good, but that the policemen trying to catch them aren’t. It’s a shame that people like Lorelei Martins actually do exist in the real world today. But, I digress. She digs at him a little more, telling him that he doesn’t do it just to do some good in the world, but rather to stay close to Teresa Lisbon, who he may be a tad in love with.
As their conversation moves along, Jane tells her that he can offer her a better life than Red John can, because he’s going to just kill her. He tells her that he can set her up with a new life and a new identity in a place far, far away. She tells him all she wants is to earn his trust, and to do so, he must kiss her. Which he does. Which any man should, considering the looks of Emmanuelle Chriqui and all the sexy that goes along with that.
Afterwards, Lisbon meets up with Patrick to tell him that he’s crazy and that he is jeopardizing the case by kissing her and offering to help her escape. For my liking, I don’t know why she’s so upset. He’s done hundreds of worse things in his time with the CBI, but this is setting her off? I know they’re doing it for drama inside the episode, but Lisbon should realize that she still has a job because of Patrick Jane, and if he wants to kiss a suspect and offer to help her escape, she should let him. Hell, if he wanted to have sex with said suspect, she should play the role of fluffer, unzip him and get him hard before his big scene. Get over it, Teresa.
Grace tells Lisbon that the Medical Examiner confirmed it was impossible for the two of them to have killed each other, so they’re now back at square one trying to find a motive, and a third participant. Which, again, leads me to say that the perfect crime/murder is a random one…just as long as Patrick Jane doesn’t live in your town and help the police out from time to time. If so, you’re fucked. The girl also had a feather lodged in her throat, meaning that she was first strangled and then suffocated with a pillow, which means even more that a third person was involved. She ends with the fact that Rex Lango changed his name and that Cho and Rigsby were out meeting with the family.
Sweep on over to the Lango residence, where I have to say the weirdest police interview takes place. Why is that guy just sitting on the porch, reading the paper while the police are questioning his daughter/niece/whatever about his relative, who had just been killed? And, why is that boy just in the pool, playing with his toys? I mean, the police come to my door to question me about my brother/cousin/whatever being killed, I think I, at least take my son out of the pool and have someone take him inside so I can speak freely with the police and not worry about him drowning or anything of that sort. But, there’s the lottery being mentioned again. Well, more shown than mentioned, but still. So now, at this point, we definitely know the lottery is playing a part in this murder somehow.
When Jane left Lorelei last, she told him they’d speak again later that night. As that time was approaching, Jane goes to meet her from holding while Agent Mancini sweeps in with a warrant to take Lorelei into his custody, therefore taking her away from Patrick Jane and his opportunity to help her escape/make out with her/learn about Red John. Jane takes it to Bertram, asking him to get her back from the FBI, telling him that Red John has a friend in the FBI and they will kill her or, at the very least, make her disappear. Bertram is unwilling to help, so Patrick says he will blow the cover on the scandal, and speak to the press about everything that happened with the botched sting, even if it meant him going to jail.
Next scene is in a judge’s chambers, where the FBI and CBI are out to plead their cases on who should have Lorelei Martins in custody. The FBI state their case as Patrick Jane having had a sexual relationship with the suspect, as well as being a vigilante who has no proper police training in his background, and on top of that Red John killed his family, so take your pick as to why he shouldn’t have her in his custody. Jane gives some speech about how Lorelei told him about how all of Red John’s cohorts carry a blood-red bead on them at all times, as a sign of affiliation. Of course, from the past scene with Nicola Karlsen, the victims sister, he bought a bracelet which contained blood-red beads on it. We all know what is coming; the same trick he pulled on Mr. Norris, with the pictures in his jacket pocket. Except this time, it was a bead in the pocket of FBI Agent Mancini. Because of this, the Judge gives Lorelei back to the CBI.
Grace is late for work due to the lottery commission setting up a stage to announce the winner of the jackpot. There’s another mention of the lottery (I counted 5 inside the episode, but may have missed one – nothing like making it obvious, huh CBS?) and Jane puts it all together, calls Nicola (who lives two hours away, remember) to come and meet them at the stage, so he can question the winner, Valerie Whittaker, about knowing an Officer Yannick, who runs away after she crumbles under the pressure, after realizing what he had done to get the winning ticket. Case solved. Another notch on the belt of Mr. Patrick Jane.
Closing scene of Jane and Lisbon at the County Jail, waiting to pick up Lorelei and take her back into custody. Only problem is the prisoner the officer presents them as Lorelei Martins is NOT Lorelei Martins. Seriously? The County Jail is that inept that they lost a prisoner and believed a different prisoner to be the other? I know people who work in prisons (and people who have been in prison) and all of them tell me how secure the inside of the prison is, and how many times they are subjected to identification. No way she just got snuck out and someone else took her place in her cell without notice.
MVP of the Episode
Patrick Jane, of course. It’s probably going to take the appearance of Red John to unseed Patrick Jane as MVP of any episode. The man is just too smart, too fun to watch, too smooth, too everything to the show/CBI. But, I will say I look forward to Season 5 making the effort to give us a new MVP of an episode. Not many people believed anyone other than Don Draper could be MVP of an episode of Mad Men, but that happened, so you never know. Stay tuned for that.
Line Of The Night:
“I don’t really care who did this. Justice for them won’t help me or Callie.” – Nicola Karlsen
How true is that statement? I know we all make a big deal about justice, but isn’t justice more for society than it is for the people actually affected by the crime? I guess in the sense of robbery, justice may matter, but when it comes to murder, I may have to side with Nicola on this one, and not really care about catching the person who murdered my relative. The only justice I might care about in that matter is me actually killing said person.
tvonthedaily episode rating
A-minus
I thought about giving the episode an A, but took a few points away for technicalities, and basically giving away the lottery portion of the crime.
Nielsen Ratings
11.06 Million viewers, winning its time slot easily over 666 Park Avenue, but losing out to Once Upon A Time and even 60 Minutes in total viewers, as well as Sunday Night Football, which is a given.
tvonthedaily 