The Mentalist: Russet Potatoes
By fred | April 1, 2009
(S01E18) Jane is, or more accurately used to be, a psychic, but has now admitted that it was a lie, a manipulation, while what he really is is simply a mentalist. And hypnosis is one of the many tricks mentalists have become masters at, as per the definition of a mentalist we get before every episode : someone who uses mental acuity, hypnosis and/or suggestion.
That said, I have personally never been a fan of the use of hypnosis on the show, I just find it way too convenient to just have Jane use it to make a witness or suspect just tell the whole truth because he asked and touched them on the shoulder. I’ll admit that I’m also not a believer, and when I see such hypnosis done on TV, I tend not to like it very much…
I’m sure one can have an affect on people, of course, but to just get a guy to act as you want, thinks he’s somebody else, or get him to respond to your orders, just within a 5-minute “session” always seems wrong to me (not to mention too easy), just like I have a hard time believing one could really not see a dead body but potatoes, even in pictures. I’ll admit that it might/does affect the way I feel about this episode, but that’s how it is.
I’m not trying to say this episode was bad, because it wasn’t. It was a good episode, and despite being all about hypnosis and everyone being either a master at it, or under the influence of someone, they managed not to turn this into a Patrick Jane show. He was obviously the one with the knowledge, and the talent, but the entire team was involved, and even though Jane was clearly leading the investigation (although, when is he not?) they all had a part to play.
And the case was actually good, and not that predictable. I mean, if you think about it, as soon as Rigsby was found to be hypnotized, the murdered might have been more or less obvious. In all fairness though, I had my money – even before that – on Karl, the guy who dragged the bag of “potatoes” in. I thought that he was actually a lot better than he led people to believe, and I bought that during his little time with Rigsby (when he was mimicking Lisbon) he planted the seed for his hypnosis. I wasn’t sure about the motives, and when I started to think about it the girl rapidly became a better choice, but they still had me fooled for most of the episode.
Quick note about the kiss though: I didn’t like it that much. Not too long ago those two almost kissed, but it was really them (not under the influence of anything) and it was a lot more meaningful. This one was more of a “joke,” even though he really wanted to, she knew it (that’s why she was walking away) but she didn’t even try to stop him. But this was clearly to fuel in this relationship that cannot be, and I just didn’t like it done that way, up to the “I don’t remember a thing” but at the end, even though they made fun of it.
But overall I just don’t really like when they go into hypnosis territory, I’d much rather like to see Jane (and others) stay on more traditional ground, where they can read people, manipulate them, trick them, but not with going as far as hypnosis. Personal taste I’ll admit, but for me while this episode was good, it wasn’t that good, and even if I enjoyed it, I probably wouldn’t watched it again.
What did everybody else think?
Posted in Reviews
Shows: The Mentalist
