The Mentalist - Recap & Review - A Dozen Red Roses

The Mentalist
"A Dozen Red Roses"

Original Air Date: April 7, 2009.

Liz - Associate Staff Writer
liz@thetwocentscorp.com

Okay, today's lesson was this: Hollywood is clearly awesome. Marilyn Monroe and Charlie Chaplin impersonators walk the streets, nepotism is well and a live, and every time you turn around someone is getting shot or telling on someone else for shooting someone. Clearly, Liz has a different definition of awesome than most people, but in her fiction, she'll take it.

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[photo: CBS]

The Mentalist - Recap & Review - Russet Potatoes

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.

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[photo: CBS]

The Mentalist - Recap & Review - Carnelian Inc.

The Mentalist
"Carnelian Inc."

Original Air Date: March 24, 2009.

Liz - Associate Staff Writer
liz@thetwocentscorp.com

So crime dramas aren't exactly usually my cup of tea and therefore I have not seen very many, but if I had to make a guess I would say that this week's Mentalist had one of the best openings, ever. Giant sharks in the desert and then a guy falls out of the sky into the Mojave Desert, right in front of Jane and company. Admit it, you laughed a little.

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[photo: CBS]

The Mentalist - Recap & Review - Bloodshot

The Mentalist
"Bloodshot"

Original Air Date: Mar 17, 2009.

Liz - Associate Staff Writer
liz@thetwocentscorp.com

So The Mentalist returned tonight after a month of hiatus with an episode that did more to confuse me than it did. Actually, we started out all right. Jane tattles on Grace snogging a guy at the coffee cart, which gets Rigsby's panties in a knot. There was a bomb threat delivered via text message to Patrick Jane's phone, and then there was actually a bomb with a man in a van, which actually explodes and blows Jane over. When he rises again, we are all being subjected to the old television gimmick of Blind For An Episode.

Raise you hand if you're confused, or at least a little perturbed.

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[photo: CBS]

The Mentalist - Recap & Review - Scarlett Fever

The Mentalist
"Scarlett Fever"

Original Air Date: Feb 17, 2009

Liz - Associate Staff Writer
liz@thetwocentscorp.com

Tonight's episode dealt with a motive that we have seen time and again: revenge. It seems like more and more like this show is less of a crime procedural than it is Patrick Jane's tour of the nine circles of Hell. Where's Virgil when you need him?

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[photo: CBS]

The Mentalist - Recap & Review -Crimson Casanova

The Mentalist
Crimson Casanova

Original Air Date: Feb 10, 2009.

Liz - TwoCents Reviewer
liz@thetwocentscorp.com


What appears to be the murder of a cheating wife, Claire Walcott, turns out to be the unfortunate accidental death of a somewhat innocent bystander. I hate it when I accidentally murder the woman my intended victim is sleeping with, don't you?

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[photo: CBS.com]

The Mentalist - Recap & Review - Paint It Red

The Mentalist
"Paint It Red"

Original Air Date: Jan 18, 2009.

Liz - TwoCents Reviewer
liz@thetwocentscorp.com

Surprise! Mentalist came this week on a Sunday and somebody forgot to tell me. Well, truthfully, it's more likely that I just forgot. Compared to the busy, plot-heavy episode of a couple weeks ago, this one was a light-hearted romp in the park. As are most things involving stealing from a Russian mobster, obviously.

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[photo: CBS]

The Mentalist - Recap & Review - Red Rum

The Mentalist
"Red Rum"

Original Air Date: Jan 13, 2009

Liz - TwoCents Reviewer
liz@thetwocentscorp.com

First, let me just say that I'm not going to make jokes about this episode being a witch hunt. Okay, I might, but please don't hold it against me. The best part about this episode was not the murder mystery, but the frame it created for the characters to interact on. The varied reactions to the idea of witchcraft was fodder in itself for reactions from the unrepentant skepticism of Rigsby to the cautious brand of the same from Cho. Jane's reaction was arguably the best -- he was totally loving the whole magic thing. It was like a piece of theatre for him.

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The Mentalist - Recap & Review - Red John's Friends

The Mentalist
Red John's Friends

Original Air Date: 6 Jan 2009

Liz - TwoCents Reviewer
liz@thetwocentscorp.com


If that return from our winter break did not catch your attention, have your attention span checked. Mind games, cyberhacking, tomfoolery, fab five team unity, and Red John in two different countries. Plus, you have to love an episode that begins with a murder. Not that that's unusual for this show.

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[photo: CBS.com]

The Mentalist - Recap & Review - Red Brick and Ivy

The Mentalist
"Red Brick and Ivy "

Original Air Date: Dec 16, 2008.

Liz - TwoCents Reviewer
liz@thetwocentscorp.com

A top scientist, Alexander Nelson, is dead, poisoned by hydrogen cyanide, and his ex-wife, Sophie Miller, looks good for the crime. Why do we care, you ask? Because this ex-wife is also Patrick Jane's former psychiatrist. That's right, Patrick Jane had a crazy-go-nuts episode, and I only make light of it because Jane made a Star Wars joke in avoidance of the matter. Mental breaks are no laughing matter.

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[photo: CBS]

The Mentalist - Recap & Review - "Flame Red"

The Mentalist
Flame Red

Original Air Date: 2 Dec 2008

Liz - TwoCents Reviewer
liz@thetwocentscorp.com

Oh, finally. Another episode where the theme was the most interesting part of the show. We had a case, and Patrick was up to some of his normal tricks (if scarecrow didn't have you in stitches, have your funnybone checked), but we got a real taste of how intense Patrick Jane can be. Using Moby Dick as a parallel, the question of justice versus vengeance comes up, and redemption to be found in revenge a la Captain Ahab. I know, it's some pretty deep shit, but stay with me on this one.

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[photo: CBS.com]

The Mentalist - Recap & Review - "The Thin Red Line "

The Mentalist
The Thin Red Line

Original Air Date: 25 Nov 2008

Liz - TwoCents Reviewer
liz@thetwocentscorp.com

Patrice Madigan and Joe Purcell are discovered dead in a motel room in Davis, California. Joe was a state's witness in a narcotics case against Rick Carris -- although Patrick Jane thinks Patrice was the target, rather than Joe. Thus starts a trip with police partners protecting one's secret, betrayal of a wife by a husband, and an unwitting sororicide. There is always a reckoning.

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[photo: CBS.com]

The Mentalist - Recap & Review - Seeing Red

The Mentalist
"Seeing Red "

Original Air Date: November 11, 2008.

Liz - TwoCents Reviewer
liz@thetwocentscorp.com

If you think Patrick was unbearable before and managed to miss this episode, let me assure you that he is just as unbearable (albeit hilarious) as ever when you add "indignant" to "smug" and "arrogant." Angst! Drama! Sarcasm! This is what I come to television for.

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[photo: Michael Ansell/Warner Bros.]

The Mentalist - Recap & Review - Red-Handed

The Mentalist
"Red-Handed "

Original Air Date: Nov 11, 2008.

Liz - TwoCents Reviewer
liz@thetwocentscorp.com

The truly amazing thing about this episode is that you realize Patrick Jane could probably be making his living as a professional gambler. Even without cheating, with his memory and his poker face, it would be a lucrative hobby. Or he could even be one of those people who catches cheaters at tables, or he could have the son-in-law's job of stopping the whales! (Man, if you hadn't seen the episode, that would be a really confusing sentence, wouldn't it?)

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[photo: Sonja Flemming/CBS]

The Mentalist - Recap & Review - Redwood

The Mentalist
"Redwood"

Original Air Date: October 28, 2008.

Liz - TwoCents Reviewer
liz@thetwocentscorp.com

Among the things we learned this week: bad karma does have an expiration date according to traditional Buddhist teachings, and that nobody is going to appropriately appreciate this pedantic little detail if you bring it up as a rebuttal to the dry quip that TV detectives are so disposed towards. Who knew?

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[photo: Cliff Lipson/CBS]

The Mentalist - Recap & Review - Ladies in Red

The Mentalist
"Ladies in Red"

Original Air Date: October 21, 2008.

Liz - TwoCents Reviewer
liz@thetwocentscorp.com

So, this episode makes a lot more sense the first time around if your mother wasn't humming/whistling the Peter theme from "Peter and the Wolf" every time someone brought it up and thus impeding your ability to hear the dialogue. But I'm going to presume that I was the only one who had that problem. My mom is good but not even she can go into the millions of homes in America this show was viewed in inside of an hour.

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[photo: Joel Warren/Warner Bros.]

The Mentalist Can Predict More Episodes

CBS has given a full season order to its new drama THE MENTALIST, the season's top new freshman series in viewers and adults 25-54.

THE MENTALIST is the #1 program in its Tuesday (9:00-10:00 PM) time period in viewers and adults 25-54.

THE MENTALIST stars Golden Globe Award nominee Simon Baker as Patrick Jane, an independent consultant with the California Bureau of Investigation (CBI), who has a remarkable track record for solving serious crimes by using his razor sharp skills of observation.

THE MENTALIST also stars Robin Tunney, Tim Kang, Owain Yeoman and Amanda Righetti.

[photo: Lance Staedler/CBS]

The Mentalist - Recap & Review - Red Tide

The Mentalist
"Red Tide"

Original Air Date: Oct 14, 2008.

Liz - TwoCents Reviewer
liz@thetwocentscorp.com

Say what you want about Patrick Jane, but I stand by what I said two weeks ago: his unorthodox methods of investigation apparently work. It is for this reason that his arrogance is probably well earned and we think him charming. (Okay, even if there are some out there who do not, I believe it is the intention that his character be charming.) There aren't many people who can prove that they are the smartest person in the room (or at least the one with the sharpest skills of deduction), and fewer still who could say something like, "My name is Patrick Jane and I have no superiors." Quite frankly, I am surprised it took him this long for him to get socked in the nose.

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[photo: Michael Ansell/Warner Bros.]

The Mentalist - Recap & Review - Red Hair and Silver Tape

The Mentalist
"Red Hair and Silver Tape"

Original Air Date: September 30, 2008.

Liz - TwoCents Reviewer
liz@thetwocentscorp.com

We open to a field, our heroes, and a dead girl's body, bound in duct tape at the wrist and ankles. When the local sheriff gives his opinion on the matter and the team starts -- oh, wait, Patrick has been looking at the body for the three minutes that everyone else has been talking. He has a better story. Also, he's going to kick the sheriff's butt at Rock, Paper, Scissors. Repeatedly. Why didn't we just call this show "Patrick Jane Is Better Than You"?

Oh right. This is a crime drama.

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[photo: Monty Brinton/CBS]

The Mentalist - Recap & Review - Pilot

The Mentalist
"Pilot"

Original Air Date: September 23, 2008.

Liz - TwoCents Reviewer
liz@thetwocentscorp.com

All summer long I have seen comments decrying this new show as a, "Psych ripoff!" with varying degrees of misspelling, capitalization, and punctuation abuse. I'm forced to disagree with anyone who's ever said that -- if you need to compare it to Psych, say, "Psych played straight." Because in The Mentalist, there is no plucky sidekick or a father who gruffly dispenses advice to the hero (at least, not yet). There is only Patrick Jane, a former John Edwards-like faux psychic of some celebrity who has since put his keen powers of observation to use for the greater good with the California Bureau of Investigation. His outlook is cynical, his wit is dry, and his methods are… questionable at best.

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[photo: Cliff Lipson/CBS]