The Mentalist: A Dozen Red Roses
By fred | April 8, 2009
(S01E19) The Mentalist is one of those shows where you’re not really tuning in to see a crime being solver and a murderer get caught, but more to see how the team of detectives – and, especially, their favorite consultant – will eventually get there. So if the case of the week is rather predictable it’s not the end of the world, and it might not even be that big of a deal.
On many occasions in the past we’ve been able to figure out who had done it (long) before they did, or at least before they arrested him/her/them as Jane usually knows quite early on as well, and it didn’t made the episode any less good, because the fun parts isn’t there. The problem with this week’s episode isn’t that it was very easy to figure out who was the bad guy, it goes deeper than that.
You’d think that putting Jane in Hollywood would have been the occasion for an episode filled with lots of fun, a very dynamic one that might even feel a little crazy or over the top at times, but instead it kinda felt flat. It was exactly what had been seen many times before, it’s almost as if they just got an old script and only “adapted” it by putting in their own characters in.
But my biggest problem isn’t that it was very easy to figure out who the killer was pretty much from the start, it’s that as soon as we did, so did Jane, or at least that’s how it looked. He’s usually ahead of everyone from the CBI if not us, and here it seemed obvious (to me) he had it figured out, because of the way he was amused by how the widow would lie and hide things, or everything I’m sure he picked up when watching her get really mad and slappy on set, not to mention how she made physical contact with Lisbon while thanking her.
Jane watched all that and seemed very amused by it, commenting on how good she was at hiding stuff (like that the drugs found were her daughter’s) so I was fairly sure, like me, he figured out that the mother was behind it all, that she used the boy to get ride of her husband and then had him to come over with the gun, so she could wait for him and kill him, making sure he’s stay quiet.
It even seemed to be that way, as Jane told them he would pay a visit that night. But apparently he didn’t warn them about the risk of him getting shot, and it’s only luck that he didn’t die - because she certainly meant to kill him. But Jane wanted to resolve the case as he always does, pulling out a little trick on the murderer to get him/her to reveal himself/herself, and admit everything.
After having the actual case sounding like an old cliché, they also pulled one for the resolution, with the lies and the truth all mixed up at once on the set, of course. It was a cliché, and I also thought it felt odd, like how the daughter first appeared pretty pissed at her mom because she knew she did it, only to look almost scared and sorry for her later, hoping she wouldn’t fall in that trap or something…
In the end the episode was quite disappointing, it was another take at an old cliché that didn’t bring anything new, lacking a fresh, dynamic tone to it. Thank God there were still a few things to like, whether it was Lisbon having those amused looks as Jane works his magic, or Cho being Cho. Hopefully though, it’ll get better next time…
What did everybody else think?
Posted in Reviews
Shows: The Mentalist
I completely agree.
I love the Mentalist and look forward to every episode, but this was a complete disaster! Jane didn’t even get many speaking parts at all. There were barely any of his fun tricks, either…
This episode was sloppy and seems like it was put together in a rush.
But I’ll forgive them and (attempt) to wait patiently and eagerly for the next episode! :3