CBS
(Season 1, Episode 3)
“What, you thought he’d crack under bad lighting conditions?” – Teresa, to Jane, about a suspect’s interrogation
So, are all of the episode titles for The Mentalist going to have the word “Red” in them? We had “Red Hair and Silver Tape” and now “Red Tide.” With the serial killer’s name being Red John maybe it’s a theme they’re going for. May I suggest “Red Lobster,” “Red Buttons,” and “Red Rover, Red Rover?”
Tonight Jane has to figure out who killed a young female surfer. Was it one of her high school friends? Her dad? A secret boyfriend? A long-haired dude who plays chess?
This is actually my favorite episode so far, for three reasons.
1. I didn’t guess the killer at all. I had three suspects, and it turns out that two of them are the killers. Four in all. I really love that last scene, with the various friends telling their version of what happened, and we find out that they all did it. In fact, they killed two people. Kids today.
2. Jane’s questions about the animals. “What kind of animal would you be?” and all that. Not sure if it all makes sense or is realistic, but it’s a cool little casual interrogation trick.
3. The girl asks the team if they are cops and Teresa says “CBI.” The girls asks “What’s CBI?” and I’m really glad somebody finally asked that question. I wanted someone to answer, “California Bureau of Investigation…a completely made up thing. Like The United Federation of Planets, or Retsyn.”
I could have done without another demonstration of Jane’s hypnotism abilities, but at least this one was a ruse to smoke out the real killer(s). But I hope he doesn’t use this every single week. And did you notice that when Jane gets the kids altogether on the beach to hypnotize them near the fire, one minute it was day and a few minutes later it’s pitch black? Jane can hypnotize when he wants and he can control time!
Three more quotes I really like in this episode:
– “Everything’s relevant.” – Patrick Jane
– “I guess you must be ‘bad cop.’ ” – suspect Flipper, to Teresa
– “How is it you don’t even notice a nose in your pool?” – Teresa, to a construction site worker, about a dead body in cement
I like Jane’s scenes with the creepy dad who was seeing the murder victim. The unflappable, arrogant guy with powerful ties. I like that “battle of wits,” and I hope that this asshole makes another appearance in a future episode. I don’t know how they’d do that, but this guy needs his comeuppance.
Oh, for the record, I’d be a dog. Not sure what that says about me.
Clacked by Bob Sassone 
on Oct 14, 2008 @ 22:30 EST5EDT
I liked this ep of the Mentalist, because the first half showed the CBI team actually investigating the crime instead of waiting for Jane’s insight. However, I believe the show makes the killer pretty obvious. Last week, from his first introduction it was clear it was the chef (altho’ I didn’t guess his wife as a participant) and this week the weepy teens at the intro signaled a ‘Killing Mr. Griffin’ like thing. While Teresa still looks 15, as creepy dad pointed out, I liked her character reveal.
On another note, I can’t stop comparing The Mentalist to Psych. While it might be comparing apples with oranges, one apple (the Mentalist) was clearly influenced by one orange (Psych). While I think they’re both well done, Psych explains Sean’s need for showmanship. However, I don’t quite understand what guides the Mentalist.
About the titles. I was curious too as to if “red” would be included in all titles and did a little research…
1 – Pilot
2 – Red Hair and Silver Tape
3 – Red Tide
4 – Ladies in Red
5 – Redwood
6 – Red Brick and Ivy
7 – The Thin Red Line
8 – Red Handed
9 – Seeing Red
10 – Red John’s Friend
Note that it’s possible that titles for episodes 6 to 10 be slightly out of order since this is based on shooting of episodes and sometimes the airing order is different.
So as we can see “Red” is definitely part of all titles. I wonder why they chose “Red”… red = blood? because they decided the serial killer was named Red John? Red has a special significance in the lead character’s life?
If it’s because Red John is the serial killer, maybe once they catch him the new serial killer of the season will be named “John Greene” and all titles will have “Green” in them?