The Mentalist Paint it Red S01E13 (CBS)

The Mentalist tells the story of Patrick Jane played by Simon Baker, a man specializing in studying the micro-expressions of people who became involved with trying to catch a serial killer named Red John. Red John killed his wife and daughter. Since then, Jane has been working with the stupidly named CBI, California Bureau of Investigations, a kind of state police.

Robin Tunney plays Agent Lisbon, who is in charge of the unit. Van Pelt is the new agent on the squad. Rigsby has a crush on her. The Mentalist is kind of like the TNT show Psych, but it’s not a comedy, it’s a drama. I’ve enjoyed this series because it’s light and interesting. I’ve kind of come to despise Criminal Minds.

Jane uses his semi-celebrity and his lack of protocol to solve cases quickly, cases in which the CBI wouldn’t be able to come up with answers without him. Each episode has the color red in its title. The Mentalist resembles the show Lie to Me, which premiered in 2009 on Fox. The Mentalist started on the 23rd of September 2008 on CBS.

Warning: Spoilers ahead.

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A couple is having sex at the office. They find a body in the executive suite. Harry Lashley was a junior VP. His most valuable painting is missing. It was worth $50 million. His office was two floors down. Jane has already found the murder weapon. It turns out that the security man was having sex with the receptionist. Jane figures out that the body was dragged out from somewhere. He accuses the security man. Frank turned the security cameras off.

The painting belonged to A.P. Caid. Most of the office knew of Frank’s dallies with the receptionist in Caid’s office. They question Harry’s wife, who is Caid’s daughter. Harry was a jazz guitarist before. He joined Caid’s company when they married. Catherine Hawkes buys the art for Caid’s collection. She says that there are about 100 collectors in the world to get the painting. Caid beat out Orlov the Russian oil baron to get the painting. Lashley had a record. He stole some money 10 years ago in Canada. He served 6 months. Lashley paid $20K to RW Arts. Van Pelt and Jane pay a visit to Rob Wallace. He’s a painter. Jane searches his studio. Jane finds the painting. Wallace takes out a gun. It’s just a copy. He’s a good forger. He didn’t know that Lashley was dead. Lashley commissioned two copies of the Moreau. He picked up the copies two months ago. He made another one for himself. He paid $10K for each of them. He always adds a detail so that it will not pass as a real one. Jane borrows it.

Caid’s back from his trip. Caid asked Harry to make the copies. The one that Caid has in the vault is a fake. That means that the real one is missing.

Orlov has arrived in LA. He is travelling on a diplomatic passport. They cannot touch him. They show a scene of Orlov basking in the glory of the painting, the real one.

Jane wants to leave for LA with Rigsby and Cho. For some reason, they go with him. Jane goes to the Orlov party with the fake painting. Some atrocious Russian dance music is playing. The painting isn’t the fake, it’s just a prop. He says that it was a way to get into the room. Jane tells Orlov that he knows that he has the real painting. Jane asks to see the painting before he leaves. He gives the code word and Rigsby pulls the fire alarm. During the commotion, Jane switches the paintings and runs off. They go back home.

Jane and Lisbon go to see Caid. Jane takes the painting and burns it. Hawkes didn’t react. Jane knows that Hawkes still has the real painting in her possession. She killed Harry.

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