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'The Mentalist': As long as we got each other...
The Mentalist opens at the Temple of Harmony, a new-age psychic type place. A blonde woman storms out as the psychic begs her to come back. As she walks downt he street, the blonde woman is hit pretty viciously by a car. Of course, she stepped right in front of it and just stood there like a big ninny, so my sympathy wanes.
Our intrepid team shows up, as Lisbon informs us the victim is Rosemary Tenant, the widow of Macon Tenant, a corporate bigwig who was friends with the governor. A few days ago she filed a missing person's report on her son Travis who has been gone for a week. He's diappeared before, though, and got a DUI at 14, so they don't think it's anything serious. Christina Frye joins them, saying she's Rosemary's spiritual advisor. They were trying to contact Macon, who was warning Rosemary. FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE! MWHAHAHA! Patrick laughs us into commercials.
At the station, Lisbon questions Christina. She was getting about $3000/week from Rosemary, saying Rosemary was a troubled soul after Macon's death. Her relationship with her children Claire and Travis was suffering because of it. Christina invokes her doctor/patient privilege (as a licensed therapist) and won't tell them any more. Christina turns her views on Patrick, saying he acts assured and arrogant but he inside he is troubled with deep guilt and self-loathing due to a recent trauma. She then turns to Lisbon and says, "You have your work cut out for you." I am reminded of the scene between Ally Walker and Julian McMahon on Profiler when he asks her for a theory and she says, "You want a theory? You have Chinese food in your refrigerator. You like your women in heels, your scotch straight, and yourself... definitely on top. But it's just a theory." That was a good show. Moving on...
They visit the victim's house. Jeremy Hale, the victim's live-in boyfriend and portrait photographer, answers the door. He has lived there 6 months and was at a gallery opening at the time of the murder. Patrick notices a family photos all over the living room, as Jeremy says Travis has gone pretty wild since his father's death. LIsbon points out that Rosemary put him in her will a couple months ago, but that two days before her death she made a new appointment with her estate-planning lawyer. Oooh, suspicious.
Patrick calls to the team from Jeremy's studio, where he has state-of-the-art equipment and a full dark room. Patrick says that the room has old poster tape on the wall and dents from a ball hitting it. He says it was Travis's room before it was Jeremy's and wonders if he took it as soon as Travis left or if Travis left because Jeremy took it.
At the station, Clara Tenant shows up and it's Chrissy Seaver! She wonders if anybody has found her brother yet and faux-cries over her mom dying in the gutter. I think Clara did it. She's not really crying. She tells them how her mom could be suckered in by any harebrained scheme and Travis didnt' like it. She also says Jeremy is a scary, dangerous man. There's a weird thing where Patrick touches her hands and she withdraws them after a minute or so. He also asks her to put Travis's number into his phone.
Patrick calls Travis and offers him peace of mind, giving him subliminal hints to meet him at the carousel from one of the family photographs. Once there, Cho, Rigsby and Patrick flank Travis. At the station, he cries about not being able to get any help in facing Jeremy. They wonder if he killed Rosemary because she was giving away money and shacking up with Jeremy. He cries about wanting to help her, not kill her. Behind the two-way mirror, Clara wants to see her brother. They let her into the interrogation room and the siblings hug.
The next day, the team finds out that Christina Frye was just added to Rosemary's will. She then conveniently calls them and says she's picking up on something that may help them. Van Pelt and Patrick head over to check it out. At the house, Patrick notices a portrait of Christina in the foyer. Christina then says she read about how Red John killed his family and that she's sorry he had to give up his gift. She also says the car used to run Rosemary down is now resting on concrete and water is rushing inside. That's the vision she saw. Van Pelt thinks reservoir and sure enough, they haul the car out of a reservoir outside of town.
The vehicle is registered to Travis but Jeremy would've had plenty of access too. So would Clara, right? It's CLARA! Patrick tells Lisbon that Christina needs to be arrested because she cannot have supernatural powers so that means she's involved somehow. Lisbon nails it by accusing Patrick of not liking someone being as good as he is about observing and guessing but Van Pelt offers that Christina might actually be in touch with something beyond his understanding. He replies, "Uh, that would be golf and musical theatre of the 30s and 40s." HAHAHA! In the back of the car, Cho finds high-grade coated nylon glove, like what is used in a photo lab. DUN DUN DUN!
Merchant Home. Clara and Travis say that they had words with Jeremy and he left, but some of their mom's jewelry is missing. The team says that Travis's car was the murder weapon and that his alibi is shakey (he says he was at a party), but they do put an APB out on Jeremy. In the photo lab, they find a portrait of a raven-haired woman with a hole punched in her face. Patrick thinks Rosemary put her heel through the woman's portrait. Travis says the woman is Connie, his mom's bridge partner's daughter.
Connie's house. Loud music blares and Connie answers the door in a bra, buttoning a shirt and wearing one of Rosemary's necklaces. Jeremy is there, shaking a can of whipped cream. Heh heh. At the station, they accuse him of running away. Jeremy says Clara is insane and that he loved Rosemary. Lisbon asks if he knows Christina Frye and he says no, but a portrait of Christina done by him is in her house. He lawyers up.
Rigsby reports that Christina has been left in multiple wills in the last 10 years. Lisbon wonders if Jeremy had a business relationship with Christina and they head off to talk to her. Christina confesses to having slept with Jeremy twice. Patrick wonders if Christina spoke with Rosemary yet and Christina says Rosemary is very taken with Patrick. Deeply misguided and tragic, but taken with him nonetheless. Patrick asks for the CDs of the sessions with Rosemary.
Merchant House. Interestingly, Travis asks, "Find out who did it yet?" and Clara asks, "Find anything?" Hmm. Patrick then asks them to ask Christina to conduct a seance to contact Rosemary at the will reading. Oooh, fake seance! AWESOME! Patrick says he's going to expose Christina as a fraud because he suspects she's involved in Rosemary's death.
Van Pelt is very much opposed to the fake seance, fearful it could be very wrong. Van Pelt then spits that it's really important to Patrick that Christina be a fraud because if she's not a fraud then everything he disproves and mocks will be turned upside down. She says what if his family is looking down on him at the seance and wants to talk to him but can't because he doesn't believe. He quietly says, "That would be very sad" and Van Pelt realizes she kind-of crossed the line there, so she apologizes and leaves. Nice scene little scene by Amanda Righetti and Simon Baker.
Will reading. Everyone is instructed to hold hands and Christina starts her mojo about how important belief is and concentrating on the candle on the table. The candle flickers. Rosemary's voice whispers and the kids look scared. Rosemary says, "Clara... why, Clara?" and Clara bolts from the room. Upstairs, Patrick tells Clara that her scheme isn't going to work. He also slyly hits connect on his cell phone so that they can broadcast the "Why, Clara, why?" again. She breaks down crying and confesses to killing her mother because her mother was going to disinherit Travis. She tried to talk to her on the phone but her mother wouldn't pick up, so she got mad and ran her down. Man, Ashley Johnson is quite the little criminal on these procedurals. A murderous prostitute on CSI and now a mom-killing girl on The Mentalist.
She wonders how he knew and he says she expressed great remorse that her mother died in the gutter, which was quite a word to use if she wasn't actually at the crime scene. Clara storms that her mother was supposed to protect them and she didn't, so Clara had to protect Travis. At her exclamation that "parents are supposed to protect their kids," Patrick looks sad. Out in the bullpen, Clara and Travis cry and hug as she is taken away in cuffs.
Christina shows up to speak with Patrick. She asks him not to interrupt and then says that she talked to his wife. Christina says that he's always had a question about that night's events and that his wife wants to tell him that his daughter never woke up and that she wasn't scared, not for a second. As Christina leaves, Patrick cries. Aww. Sniffle.
Also, I'm very glad that episode didn't end with Christina being killed by Nina Myers.
Always nice to see "24" alumna getting TV gigs--tonight on CBS we had Leslie Hope (Teri Bauer) on "The Mentalist" and Jude Ciccolella (Mike Novick) on back-to-back shows
trumanhorn | Nov 18, 2008 7:30:58 PM | #ALWAYS GOOD TO SEE "GROWING PAINS" ALUMS ASWELL
WHOLETRUTHY | Nov 18, 2008 9:57:27 PM | #What is the name of he actress who played the daughter Clara? I know I have seen her before... It is driving me crag! :)
Scott | Nov 19, 2008 5:20:06 AM | #Love "the Mentalist" -- it really is a smart, charismatic show with a deeper edge. And I like seeing Robin Tunney on TV.
BTW Scott, imdb lists Clara as Ashley Johnson (I)
pakopako | Nov 19, 2008 6:51:47 AM | #I didn't like this episode at all. The daughter's reason for killing Mom was really weak ("I just got really mad..."). Plus, I was all set for a big mentalist fight between Patrick and Mrs. Jack Bauer, where they try to one-up each other on the fake psychic front. Nothing really came of that. In fact, in the end, they made it look like she WAS a real psychic. That's no fun. Come on, Patrick, set up an elaborate trap to catch her in her lies! Maybe they'll bring her character back for a re-match.
Cornelius | Nov 19, 2008 6:52:32 AM | #This show started off a bit slow, but in the last few weeks, it really has taken quite nicely. I hope they continue to reveal more about the lives of all of the investigators. Those revelations, plus solid mysteries, will keep the show going for a few years.
Scott - Clara was played by Ashley Johnson. She was Mel Gibson's teen daughter in "What Women Want."
Pete | Nov 19, 2008 7:22:38 AM | #I think this was one of the best episodes so far. The writers are doing a good job in developing the Jane character. I have to keep reminding myself that Robin Tooney/Tuney is a good actress. However, when they brought in the spiritualist, she was definitely a match for both Baker and Patrick. I'm starting to realize that the show deliberately makes the killer obvious, so they can spend more time on Baker. It works, so I can't argue too much -
An | Nov 19, 2008 7:45:37 AM | #Get rid of Robin Tooney and this show would be awesome.
TV Fan | Nov 19, 2008 9:16:16 AM | #This episode didn't live up the hype. I expected more between the "pychics". And this ep it seemed like Baker smiled WAY to often in so many wrong places. I like him, and he is the main reason I have been watching this show. But this ep. didn't really come off.
Robin | Nov 19, 2008 10:07:18 AM | #People of a certain age either forget or never saw a series called Columbo, where the viewers knew who the murderer was pretty much right from the start. The point of the episodes was seeing if the seemingly-clueless detective could beat somebody who thought he/she was intelligent or crafty enough to get away with the crime. Ninety-nine percent of the time, Columbo won.
I think the fun of The Mentalist is keeping up with all the various elements that go into the crime scenes, from the make and model of a car, to the sparkle of a chandelier in a little girl's room that is completely out of place there. Details matter, and that is what Jane is best at uncovering. Sure, he does smile way too often and during scenes where such expressions seem inappropriate. The man is, in my opinion, so tightly-wound that it didn't surprise me when he broke down at the end of the episode. People who seem happy all the time often aren't, but they're very good at convincing people that everything's hunky-dory. Reality has already slapped him hard, and so he creates this happy-happy-joy-joy persona in order to cope. He's damaged, but he's very good at what he does.
In other words, The Mentalist is a lot deeper than it seems. And Simon Baker? He could read from the Los Angeles phone directory for eight hours, and I'd be glued to the screen. As I described another character on Bones last week, he's squeezable. :)
Kara Mel Apples | Nov 19, 2008 11:26:29 AM | #As soon as I saw Leslie Hope's name appear and noticed see was playing the psychic… um, spiritual advisor… I knew the show would NOT expose her character as a fraud, fake or killer.
If it was a different random actress, then maybe they would have gone in that direction. But hiring someone like Hope for that role indicated to me she was the red herring in the episode.
Sorry, I still think the show is just a tad over-rated.
It's just an average quality whodunit with a very charismatic lead actor, a kinda weak and bland supporting cast and your basic boilerplate procedural writing.
Doug | Nov 19, 2008 12:44:21 PM | #I enjoyed Patrick's conflicts with the psychic played by the wonderful Leslie Hope. His constant smirking annoys me sometimes, but Baker's face in that final scene where she talks about his daughter was very emotional and well acted by Baker. Not into the rest of the team that much but she show is entertaining fun.
Cath | Nov 19, 2008 4:33:50 PM | #This ep was definitely the worst i've seen so far, but it is still damn good. I too was expecting alot of tension and a bit of a faceoff between Jane and the psychic lady. Thought the last ep was way better.
But, it was also nice to see the secondary characters get some time to express their opinions.
Matt | Nov 19, 2008 5:13:29 PM | #What...kind of car does he drive??? I missed when the son said "nice....." car.
Anybody know?
Citroen DS21
rgr | Nov 21, 2008 10:11:38 PM | #First, about the episode ... it was so much better than I though it would be. Second, it was left fairly ambiguous as to whether or not this woman was for real or not. It's fairly easy to guess what fears or thoughts weigh heavily on the mind of a parent who'd lost a child that way. Regardless, it was enough to peel away another layer of Patrick and see the torture that he still goes through.
I love how he tells Rigsby the secret to seducing a woman is love and affection and then when a woman sincerely reaches out to hug him he seems kind of awkward, like he doesn't know what to do. - ex. Red handed when the daughter hugs him after he gives her nice words about her father.
And the laughing/smiling inappropriately is a part of us seeing who his character really is. It keeps him from dealing with a sensitive/serious/delicate moment. Personally, I find his facial expressions and body language to be spot on everytime and it adds to the charm of his character. I couldn't see anyone else but Simon Baker as Patrick Jane.Kudos to him for knowing exactly how to play it.
LionQueen | Nov 27, 2008 10:06:39 AM | #I think the fun of The Mentalist is keeping up with all the various elements that go into the crime scenes, from the make and model of a car, to the sparkle of a chandelier in a little girl's room that is completely out of place there.
Mike, Brain | Dec 3, 2008 3:15:54 AM | #/What kind of car does Jane drive in The Mentalist?
Gayle | Jan 27, 2009 7:54:52 PM | #http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citroën_DS
this is the type of car that Patrick Jane drives.
simone jane | Mar 17, 2009 7:11:23 PM | #what type of car does Jane drive
ray | Jun 9, 2009 7:05:14 PM | #
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