The Mentalist The Scarlett Letter S02E02 (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.

* * * * *

The victim’s name is Kristin Marley. She worked for a senator and having an affair with the senator’s husband. Van Pelt has got some strong feelings about suicide. When Rigsby makes fun of it, she tells him to stop.

When examing the body, Van Pelt notices that one shoe is missing. The pathologist was being an ass and Jane helps diffuse the situation. This means that she was killed and dumped.

Kristin was working for Melinda Battsen. There is a rumor that she was having an affair with Elliott Battsen. He’s his wife’s chief of staff. Lisbon starts the interview. Jane examines her desk. The senator says that Kristin’s step-mother called a few times that day. She was adopted. Her natural parents are dead. Elliott has got an alibi. After investigating, Jane comes in and claims that they aren’t having any sex.

Walter Crew, Melinda’s dad, brought Agent Virgil Monelli to come. He liked Kristin. When he is gone, Monelli tells them to tread carefully on this case.

Lisbon is late for her therapy session with Dr. Roy Carmen. She’s almost missed her session. Counseling is mandatory for agents involved in a shooting.

The step-mom called Kristin 11 times in the two days before she disappeared. The son was arrested for a carjacking and bailed the day that she was killed. He used Kristin as her alibi. Jane wants them to find her lover. He says that Kristin was a collector. She kept sand from every beach she visited. She would have kept a memento of her lover, something small. He gives Van Pelt a clue to find it in her jewelry box. There is a secret compartment. Jane glances at Bosco and knows that he found something new on the case.

Jane tells Bosco that if he found new evidence it’s because Red John wanted him to find it. Bosco tells him to leave. Van Pelt didn’t find anything in the secret compartment.

Charla Macadew is the step-mom. She hasn’t been answering her phone. Cho and Rigsby trace her. She is being evasive. Her son Harlan is missing since he’s been released on bail. They take him in. He was hiding in the closet.

He isn’t very forthcoming when they question him. Lisbon has Van Pelt talk to him while they get a warrant for his car.

Jane goes to see Crew. He tells him that he knows that hew as sleeping with Kristin. He doesn’t deny this very forcefully, but it doesn’t really implicate him in her death.

They find Kristin’s shoe in Harlan’s trunk. Jane thinks that Harlan is too stupid to come up with the body dump idea. Jane goes back to Kristin’s desk. He takes her things. This surprises the senator and her husband. Jane guesses that someone is leaning hard on Monelli to get this case closed, even in they don’t think that Harlan did this.

Jane plans smoking out the killer by planting some “evidence” in Lisbon’s office. He’s not a cleaner. He’s planted some bugs all over the place. He placed the shoe in Harlan’s car. He takes Jane hostage and has Lisbon cuff herself to the door. He leaves when security does a patrol. Lisbon sends Jane after him. The fixer gets in an accident while he is trying to leave. The PI confesses.

Lisbon convenes Elliott, Melinda, and Crew at the station. Elliott starts talking. He doesn’t want to be involved. Jane tells Elliott that Melinda is gay. There is no love. Elliott married Melinda for money. Melinda was having an affair with Kristin. She broke it off before she disappeared. He doesn’t have an alibi for Melinda. It turns out that both Melinda and her dad were having an affair with Kristin. Crew was just trying to show her that Kristin was a fluzie.

Melinda followed Kristin and saw her father having an affair with her. After he left, she killed her. She called her father to clean up the mess.

It turns out that the fixer was dead and they just used his body to make them believe that he was telling all.

Monelli isn’t happy by the way that this went down.

Jane plants a bug in Bosco’s office.

* * * * *

Relevant Posts

• The Mentalist S01E01
• The Mentalist S01E02
• The Mentalist S01E03
• The Mentalist S01E04
• The Mentalist S01E05
• The Mentalist S01E06
• The Mentalist S01E07
• The Mentalist S01E08
• The Mentalist S01E09
• The Mentalist S01E10
• The Mentalist S01E11
• The Mentalist S01E12
• The Mentalist S01E13
• The Mentalist S01E15
• The Mentalist S02E01