'The Mentalist': Going up in flames

Tonight on The Mentalist, we have a small-town murder. Does anybody remember Murder in Small Town X? I liked that show. Every night when they'd send two contestants off to a creepy locale and only one would return, I would always get pretty freaked out even though I knew nothing would actually happen to either of them. Yes, I'm a wuss. Anyway...

This week, The Mentalist let's us get to the crime scene before the intrepid team. We join a cop at a motor lodge as he finds a couple dead in one of them rooms. Patrick and the gang don't join them until the next morning.

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.

Previously on The Mentalist, we heard a few things about a serial killer named Red John in the pilot episode and then any mention of him disappeared over the next 4 episodes. Here's hoping we get some developments on that front tonight.

Our Mentalist team is at the scene of an abandoned car. Two girls are missing and one is named Cara Palmer. Is she dead? Wrapped in plastic? The other missing girl is Nicole Gilbert. They were on their way home from a wild party but never made it. Patrick advises the cops to look under the car and they find Cara's body. She bled to death. Nicole is still missing.

We haven't really touched The Mentalist's Red John plotline in awhile, so I hope that comes up tonight. I do enjoy all the episode titles using the word "red," though. Tonight we have "Ladies in Red." Let's see what Patrick Jane has in store for us...

When we last left The Mentalist and our pseudo-psychic hero, Patrick Jane, he had wowed his new crew with his powers of observation/telepathy and was tracking a serial killer named Red John, who killed Patrick's wife and daughter years ago.

We're starting The Mentalist recaps here at IHLN. Last week we were introduced to Patrick, Debra from Empire Records Teresa, and their supporting investigation team. The Mystery of the Week (MOTW) wasn't super-exciting, but the running mystery of serial killer Red John, who murdered Patrick's wife and child, hooked me. Patrick isn't "psychic," just observant. Disconcertingly so. Like House, only less misanthropic and more charming.