CBS
(Season 1, Episode 6)
“So you come from carny folk? It’s all beginning to make sense now.” – Teresa, to Jane
I’ve been wondering whether or not I like Patrick Jane as part of a team or if I want to see him on his own, solving cases himself. Do I like him helping other people, a la Bones or Criminal Minds or CSI? Or do I want to see him solving mysteries alone, like Columbo, Banacek, and or one of the gazillion private eye shows over the years. I was heavily leaning towards the latter because we’d get to know the character more and the other characters wouldn’t get in the way (really, the other people on this show are wrong too much and just seem to question people and don’t really “solve” anything), but then I decided that it’s fun to see this outsider with the odd techniques bounce off of the other investigators.
This is actually my favorite episode of The Mentalist so far. It has a nice mix of mystery, wise-ass humor, and clever deductions. This show needs all of those things because, let’s be honest, it works on a formula like a lot of these police procedurals do. This one stands out because of the lead and the mix above. Plus this episode has gambling, which always makes for a fun background in a drama (and you just know Jane is going to use his powers of observation and logic to play some cards and win some money – maybe he should just quit the force and join the pro poker circuit).
I made some observations, too. Here they are:
– My favorite parts of the episode, and probably my favorite parts of the series in general so far, are the scenes where Jane gives gifts to the team: big necklaces for the ladies and ugly watches for the guys (“It’s not a big turd, open it”). And giving his winnings to the dealer at the end of the episode? That’s a very “TV hero” thing to do, to not really care about money and give it away to help someone anonymously.
– I don’t think that you could pay me enough to bend down and smell the severed hand of a murder victim. Though that does help create a new, hip phrase to replace “Talk to the hand.”
– The Sinatra pic? Is that really Ol’ Blue Eyes or a lookalike? Curious as to whether or not the family would give permission to use his likeness.
– Jane sleeps in pajamas?
I have to admit that the killer practically wears a neon sign in this episode. I was hoping against hope that it was going to be someone else. Alas, it was exactly who I thought it was. I thought they were going to make Gregg Henry (Eyes, Payback) the bad guy just because, well, Gregg Henry plays bad guys better than anyone. When it comes to scuzziness, he’s always in “the zone.”
I would really like to see the mystery more confounding, but this is still one damn entertaining show.
Clacked by Bob Sassone 
on Nov 12, 2008 @ 01:00 EST5EDT
Gotta agree on all points with this episode. I knew it was either Gregg Henry (for the reasons mentioned above), or the person who turned out to be the killer (not going to spoil the episode in the comments section).
You know, there should really be a list as to which actors send up red flags that they may be the bad guy on certain crime dramas. I’m thinking of the aforementioned Gregg Henry, the late, great J.T. Walsh, Bob Gunton, Clancy Brown, etc. That’s gotta make for a good conversation starter.
I agree that I think this was one of the better episodes. First of all, Lisbon actually showed emotion. Second of all, I liked the peek into Jane’s insomnia. I also liked the .35 bet. However, I’ve realized the Mentalist always reveals the killer in the first 5 min. Plus, I guess the show doesn’t really surround discovering the criminal but discovering how Jane will reveal the criminal to others.
On a side note, I don’t understand why the team didn’t investigate the husband automatically. Wouldn’t a gambling addict who shows more interest in the game be a red flag for anyone?