The Mentalist"Russet Potatoes"
Original Air Date: March 31, 2009.
Liz - Associate Staff Writer
liz@thetwocentscorp.com
So it's a normal day at CBI. Our heroes wait patiently in the security line to get into their offices, whispering about the people ahead of them, when a guy pulls in a bag of potatoes for the police. And when I say potatoes, of course I mean a dead body. There's a reason for the confusion, though. The man, Carl Reznick, is convinced that the bag is full of potatoes and nothing will persuade him otherwise. Using certain cues -- dilated pupils, steady heartbeat -- Jane quickly deduces that he has been hypnotized. Awesome.
Continue Reading...
[photo: CBS]
Posts
The Mentalist
ReplyDelete"Russet Potatoes"
Original Air Date: March 31, 2009.
Liz - Associate Staff Writer
liz@thetwocentscorp.com
So it's a normal day at CBI. Our heroes wait patiently in the security line to get into their offices, whispering about the people ahead of them, when a guy pulls in a bag of potatoes for the police. And when I say potatoes, of course I mean a dead body. There's a reason for the confusion, though. The man, Carl Reznick, is convinced that the bag is full of potatoes and nothing will persuade him otherwise. Using certain cues -- dilated pupils, steady heartbeat -- Jane quickly deduces that he has been hypnotized. Awesome.
Of course, Lisbon isn't buying this malarkey. She tells Jane, "Hypnotism is what you use against my orders to get witnesses to tell the truth," but Jane is quick with a rebuttal, as always. The main point he makes in Reznick's favor is that while you are highly suggestible in a trance, no suggestion can make you do something that you wouldn't do anyway. Or, as Lisbon puts it, only someone who would kill can be hypnotized to kill.
Once they know that Reznick knew the girl -- Mary Beth, by name -- and that they both worked at the Model Life Center as Doctor Daniel's assistant, along with Mary Beth's sister, who got her the job in the first place. Doctor Daniel and the Model Life Center do what is known as neurolinguistic programming, or NLP, which is really just a fancy name for hypnosis. They interrupt the doctor's seminar to get him for questioning, and his assistant Rick Teagler takes over while they head to the doctor's office. He's pretty unconcerned about the fact that his assistant was just killed while another of his employees was hypnotized to deliver the body to the police and believe that it was a bag of potatoes. Just when your head is about to explode, they cut to Teagler, working the seminar while Lisbon and Reznick wait in the back. Teagler approaches close enough to see Reznick and after demanding to know what he's doing there, runs away. Always a quick thinker, Lisbon handcuffs Reznick to the railing and follows after Teagler in hot pursuit, finally tackling him on the staircase. Lisbon always gets her man.
In questioning, Teagler reveals that he had asked Mary Beth out on a date, although her words were, "No way in hell." So he went to the bar to drown his sorrows and before he knew it… he was standing over Mary Beth's body with a gun in his hand. He supposes that he did kill her, but does not consider himself responsible. They speak to the sister again, although she says she doesn't believe Teagler killed Mary Beth. She does also say, however, that it is not likely that Mary Beth would let him into the apartment. She didn't like Teagler, and she had been very vigilant about safety since she had been mugged after returning from a trip with Doctor Daniel.
WHOA, wait a second. Yes, Doctor Daniel and Mary Beth had been dating, although of course Doctor Daniel hadn't considered this information important enough to disclose.
At this point, when Rigsby smashes the doctor's face into the table in the interrogation room, it becomes apparent that Rigsby has been hypnotized. I know, holy crap, right? It's not apparent who has hypnotized Rigsby, although Jane is trying to break through the trance without anyone getting hurt. If Rigsby would not run out in front of cars on the street, that would be a good start. There are other, slightly less dangerous things he can do instead. Like kiss Grace again. (Seriously. Especially after two weeks ago, it's about time.)
In the last fifteen minutes, the show takes a turn from simply to confusing to massive cluster*#%!. Mary Beth's sister was the one who was hypnotizing Rigsby, and she was doing so to have him help her murder Doctor Daniel because she was in love with him and jealous of her sister, and even after Mary Beth was dead he still didn't want anything to do with her. Jane runs in, although she is covering him with a gun -- but of course, he isn't an idiot. Lisbon steps out from the shadows with her own gun drawn. But wait! Our villainess isn't without her own back up. Teagler then steps out of the shadows with his gun drawn on Lisbon. I personally could have stood for that Mexican standoff to last a few minutes longer. I was waiting for Waldo to pop up with his striped shirt and jaunty knit hat. (It would have been awesome and you would have laughed, admit it.)
A struggle ensues, wherein the crazy lady orders Rigsby to throw first Doctor Daniel, and then Jane over the side of the building when he tries to interfere, calling it "the ocean." Jane puts a kibosh on this, pointing out a "shark" in the "water." This gives him the chance to see her use the trigger she programmed into Rigsby and order him to wake, just in time for her to disarm the Small Crazy Woman With A Gun. And damn, was it exciting.
Once again, the show uses one of Jane's tricks of the trade as a central element in the case. The last time I remember it being so used is with the psychic. You remember the one, the one who gave him the news about his daughter. Yes. Again, they neither condemn nor give an endorsement of believing hypnosis. For my money, I've seen it work and I believe that people can be in a state like that and not know what their doing. Does that make them guilty of a crime? I don't know, I'm not a lawyer, and it's not really my area of expertise anyway, but it's interesting to think about. As for the show itself, we're coming in on the final stretch before the season finale -- anyone want to place any bets on if we're going to hear from Red John again before the season's end, and if we do, how it will be? It's never exactly escapable, always hanging over Patrick Jane's -- and therefore, our -- head. See you next week!