(Season 1, Episode 1 – Series Premiere)
I have to admit that I was a little nervous about The Mentalist when I first heard about it. It sounded like just another CSI/Criminal Minds retread with maybe a dash of Psych or Monk if we were lucky. But it turns out to be a lot different than any of those shows. It’s only been one episode so far, so I can’t say it’s the plots. The reason why this show comes down to two words.
Simon Baker.
I think there’s just so much that a show like this can do, so it really hinges on the cast. Baker is excellent in the title role of Patrick Jane, a former fake psychic who now helps the police with cases while dealing with the torment of his family being murdered years earlier. Baker has always had this selfish arrogance in many of the roles he’s had (see also The Guardian), but you can’t help but like and root for the guy. He’s a wiseass, but he’s also really good at what he does.
That personality goes a long way because the plot in the first episode is rather pedestrian. You probably guessed the killer the first time he’s on the screen (nice of Zeljko Ivanek to win an Emmy the other night to promote the show!). Like Columbo, I think this show won’t be about whodunnit or why, it will be the enjoyment of watching Jane interact with the rest of the team, the suspects, the victims, and other people, and how he goes about figuring things out. There are some clever touches in this first episode, including how Jane announces at the dinner table that Rigsby wants to sleep with the new girl on the team, Jane staying up all night in the diner filling an entire journal just so he can trick the bad guy in the end (now that’s dedication), and the little asides he makes throughout the show. He even guesses that a dead guy on a slab is gay, though we never find out exactly how he figures that out.
One of my favorite parts of the episode is the opening. Jane investigates the murder of a young girl and figures out that the dad did it by walking around the kitchen and talking to the mom. What’s great about the scene is that the killer dad is played by Steven Culp. He’s even listed as the first guest star in the credits (side note: this show doesn’t even get a three second theme song?). But he’s killed off before the first commercial! That could be a funny, Police Squad-like gag: get a famous TV star to guest star on the show and kill him off in the first scene. People will tune in just to see who gets bumped off that week.
All in all, a nifty opening episode. I think that there’s a law now that says all shows on TV have to have a continuing mystery along with the standalone eps, and this one is no exception (who killed Jane’s family). But it works out because the show is entertaining. As long as it stays with the same tone and cleverness, this could be fun.
Clacked by Bob Sassone 
on Sep 23, 2008 @ 23:00 EST5EDT
I totally agree, Bob. Out of all the new show screeners I saw this summer, The Mentalist was my favorite by a longshot. Some shows need a few episodes to get into their groove, but Mentalist hit its stride right away. I look forward to the rest of the season!
I didn’t watch the screener because of what you said in the beginning: Sound like the lovechild of CSI and Psych. Also – from looking at him – I did not like the main actor.
Now I did watch the show (only because I read that Amanda Righetti is starring and wanted to see what she’s up to) and was more than pleasantly surprised. It’s really entertaining to watch… and I didn’t dislike the main character as much as I initially thought. I am really looking forward to the next two episodes (I have a three episode rule) to see if the show can hold up :)
this was surprisingly well done. I don’t like most CBS procedurals, but my wife and I were intrigued by this. I’ve set it for a season pass — we’ll see if it stays there past the third or fourth episode.
and you are right, if they’re going to emphasize his powers of deduction, they need to give some clues about how he sees the dead guy as gay. This is tricky, as you don’t want to do an exposition dump, and Psych has already done the scanning over the scene and highlighting the pertinent details approach. But there needs to be more explanation or he’s just a deus ex machina who’s always right.
and the debate with the new girl over whether there are psychic powers and/or a heaven was an interesting part. I’ll be interested to see if they play that angle up in future episodes.