The Mentalist: Red Sauce
By fred | April 29, 2009
(S01E20) Yesterday it was Castle and today it is The Mentalist. Both shows share obvious similarities, starting with that they each have a crime to be solved at the center of their episodes each week, but that’s not really the reason we tune in and watch the show. The reason we do, is to see the main characters - here Patrick Jane – work their magic and have fun doing what they do, all the while solving that crime of course.
But if in both cases the solving of the crime isn’t really the most interesting part of the episode or even the reason we watch the show in the first place, it still matters of course. What does matter, is that it doesn’t suck, that it’s not completely boring and not making any sense, it needs at least that much not to spoil the whole fun. Unfortunately, this episode suffered from that same weakness/problem as did Castle on Monday…
First off, and that one might be just be, but I never liked it when Jane just pulls off the hypnosis card, when he can just get someone to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth just by snapping his fingers. Partly because I don’t believe this can be done like that, especially not while playing a video game, and also because it’s too easy, it’s a cheap trick to get info and move things forward without having to come up with a good explanation on how it’s done.
I really didn’t like that scene, because it felt like they just needed to get some info out of those kids, they wanted Jane to get it easily and figure things out while Lisbon and the rest of the team was busy getting guns pointed at them, so he just snapped his fingers and suddenly there’s nothing left to do : ask any question, and you don’t have to wonder or try, the kid will answer, he will not lie nor will he hide anything.
I just don’t like that at all, and much prefer to see Jane using his skills to get accepted, to get people to feel comfortable with him around and to talk frankly, not because they somehow “have to” or can’t do otherwise, but because he got them to do so, to be honest and say what they wanted to say. That’s why I loved to see Jane go mess with some mafia guys, again – seems he loves to chat with such people.
And here, he just used his observation skills, his talent to get liked and look inoffensive, and he just did the same thing : he got out of the guy the information he was looking for. Even better, he made fun of him and used him to solve the case, he played the guy, and that was just a lot of fun to watch!
I also have to hand it to him, once again he used a trick to get a confession out of the killer, as always, but this once was more elaborated than most of the other tricks he pulled, and it was very fun to see how he got there and used everyone. That being said, I have a huge problem with that being the end of it, the resolution of the case.
It just doesn’t make sense. Because they don’t have any kind of actual evidence, do they? Just that confession Jane recorded, one that is obviously not worth anything and would not stand in court for a second. Seriously, it was coerced and it even shows in the record, as she begs him to stop the guy, because she thought he was coming in to kill her, because Jane threatened her to either tell what he wanted to hear, or she would be killed.
That’s the exact definition of what a lawyer need to make this whole thing go away, make Jane look like an idiot and bring the actual cops back to square one, where they have… nothing. I don’t have anything against Jane pulling this, but it shouldn’t have been to get a confession, but to get (access to) some actual evidence, something that they could actually use to close the case. The way it was now, that’s just non-sense.
Maybe Jane is only about finding out the truth, after all he’s not a cop himself, but since this remains a cop show and we’re not following Jane doing this for his own purpose but helping the CBI, then we need an actual conclusion to the case that makes sense, and this was nothing like it.
Much like Castle though, still lots of things to enjoy in this episode, including Cho not being afraid, so overall I had a good time. I will just say this, though: a pony?? Really? Maybe she wanted one, when she was a little girl, but what the Hell is she supposed to do now? Bring it to her apartment and treat him like a pet?? Seriously, that thing is going back where it came faster than it came here, it was not a nice gift.
What did everybody else think?
Posted in Reviews
Shows: The Mentalist
