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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Some woman was run down, she was an important widow. Rosemary had filed a missing person’s report on her son Travis. He’s run off a few times. Mrs. Frye says that they were at her house before Rosemary was killed. Frye is a psychic. She warned Rosemary. Jane laughs it off. He finds that she’s a fake, especially since he posed as a psychic himself.
The next day, Frye says that she charged Rosemary $500 an hour, five to six hours a week. Frye says that she had trouble with her children. Frye will not cooperate with them any further, she says that she’s bound by state laws as a licensed therapist.
They visit the Tennant house. Some fashion photographer named Hill has taken up residence in her house six months ago, mooching off Rosemary. Jane finds out that Travis’ old room was taken up by the photographer. He took it as his studio. Jane sees signs of a struggle in the room. Jane thinks that the boy is staying in the attic.
It turns out that a lot of con artists and psychics had been hitting Rosemary up for money. Clara turns up. She’s the daughter. Clara says that her mom lost control when her dad died. It turns out that Travis became the man of the house. That’s when Jeremy moved in. He has a bad temper. Jane calls Travis. He leaves him a message. He plants post-hypnotic suggestions into the message to have him turn up at a merry-go-round.
Rigsby, Cho and Jane are waiting for him. He says that he ran away because there was nothing that anyone could do. After observing the interrogation a few minutes, Jane knows that Travis isn’t involved. Van Pelt thinks that Frye has a rare and precious gift. Jane makes fun of her. After Frye calls saying that she’s got some info for them, Van Pelt comes running. Jane tags along. Frye tells them where to find the car that murdered Rosemary. They find it in the reservoir.
The car belongs to Rosemary. The list of suspects still includes Jeremy and Travis. Jane thinks that Frye is involved. Lisbon doesn’t believe it. She thinks that Frye is a great con artist and that she guesses well. Jane thinks that the good ones are dangerous.
They go to see Jeremy, but he’s gone. Clara says that they had a heated exchange. She told him to leave and not return. Jane thinks that he’ll be back. Connie Adams was involved with Jeremy. He had taken her portrait a few weeks ago. The portrait was damaged by a heel, most probably by Rosermary. They argued.
They find Jeremy at Connie’s place. They take them in. Jeremy is a serial womanizer. He targets rich widows as benefactors. He knows Frye. He took her photograph. Jane noticed her portrait hanging in her home. In the last 10 years, Frye was placed on a lot of wills.
They question Frye again. She says that she had sex with Jeremy a few times. Frye agrees to hand over the CDs of her sessions with Rosemary. Jane wants to set up a séance to trap Frye. He informs Clara and Travis. This will take part during the reading of the will.
During the séance, they hear Rosemary accusing Clara of her murder. Clara confesses to being in the car. She says that she got mad. Rosemary was going to change the will to disinherit Travis. Matricide. Frye comes by to see Jane in private. She says that she talked to Jane’s wife. She says that his daughter never woke up before she died. Frye leaves. What a crock! She told him what she thought he needed to hear.
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