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Sunday 2 December 2012

The Mentalist 5.5 "Red Dawn" Review

                                              
Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) comes to the CBI for news on their investigation into Red John who committed the murders of his wife and daughter.  Looking dishevelled and rather out of sorts, though his hair is immaculate ha.  Lisbon (Robin Tunney) is adamant about sharing the info but he is determined and he wants to speak to her boss, Minelli )Gregory Itzin)  who is sympathetic towards Patrick and wants her to show him the files.  Hannigan (Gar Basaraba)  is  weary of Patrick and doesn't like him when Lisbon asks him to show  Patty out.  Patrick questions him about the Red John case and he can't divulge.  His advice is to move on, find someone else, which he takes exception to.  Next thing you know, Patrick gets another punch in the face cos he antagonizes Hannigan by asking why Lisbon made boss and he's much older and didn't.  Adding "That's why they gave you to Lisbon, cos no one else would work with you."

Well who would, the man was downright cruel and unfeeling, you don't talk to Vics or their families like that, which explains why Lisbon has him stalk around the office, or gets someone like Cho (Tim Kang) to go with him.  Bet Lisbon was glad to see the back of him when he left, not that she couldn't handle him, but constantly having to keep him in check would have wasted valuable time on her part.  Nor that she doesn't have to do that with Patrick, but at least he helps her solve cases.  As well as not being bad to look at either!  A call comes in about a homicide ad Minelli tells her to take Patrick.  Also so he doesn't sue the CBI for assault.  Oh the line about who talks to Vic and their families like that, scratch that, Patrick often gets away with doing just that!

Strangely Lisbon tells him Sacramento PD (SAC PD for short) lost track of him about six months ago and we get to know why at the end of the episode, though we already know having watched the episode Red Brick and Ivy when we found out Patrick spent time in a mental facility.  And we were also shown his psychiatrist, Sophie Miller.

A driver is found dead in the car and Patrick tells her to find the woman Winston (Christopher Carver) was on a date since had had breath mints, heavy scent and his clothes and Hannigan fears he really is a psychic.  Patrick: "there's no such thing as psychics."  Later on he says he hasn't met one yet, well that was remedied later on with the introduction of Kristina Frye.  Liked the way Patrick tells Cho to ignore him and that's exactly what he does.  Before telling Lisbon what they discovered at the CS.

Lisbon interviews the Vic's father, a judge and Patrick isn't meant to be part of the conversation but inadvertently becomes part of it.  Judge Dillinger (David Clennon) explains how any of the defendants he imprisoned could have a motive for killing his son, adding if you want to hurt someone you "don't kill the man, you go after his family."  Exactly the Patrick Jane scenario, that would have hurt.  Patrick discerns his son was an alcoholic and misreads the judge here by saying he was disappointed in his son.  The judge replies he's annoyed with himself  for the way he brought him up and asks if Patrick has children.  Again an oft asked question, of course he did but he won't say that.

Cho explains Winston had been on a date and she's in the interview room, Lisbon thinks that's a good call, but Patrick interjects it was based on a cold reading.  Something Lisbon isn't familiar with so he gives her an example using her "Dysfunctional, alcoholic" father as the subject and that's why she puts up with Hannigan.  Lisbon suggests he should move away, get on with his life and Patrick responds Hannigan said the same.  Thus having a change of heart she tells him to come back in the morning and to lean up.

Patrick turns up next day much to the surprise of Cho and Rigsby (Owain Yeoman) and adds Lisbon told him to come by to look at the Red John files.  They point him to a desk by the window in the corner, well a table really, the same on in his attic now?   Lisbon is also surprised he came back and at this point in time she only had a cubicle for an office.  Rigsby tells her the files haven't arrived yet.  Lisbon commenting also that Patrick has "a homeless vibe about you."  Grief will do that to you.

The files finally arrive and being called "an eager beaver" by the delivery guy, Lisbon asks Patrick to help her solve the case.  Before we get into that, there are other suspects not mentioned, the officer, Nathanial Kim (Ian Anthony Dale) who investigated the drink driving case and the killing of Maria De Santos who tells Cho there was no match to her blood.  He was my suspect, sorry he was cos he could get away with so much being a former policeman.  Cho doesn't look too happy about him wither, not that Cho looks happy about much of anything.  We didn't get his character trait here of enjoying his reading either.

Maria's parents were also possible suspects.  They found out the Vic was dead as their lawyer told them, they were suing him for wrongful death.  Another suspect was Emmet (Ryan Ahern) who is brought in for questioning.  He was going to rough Winston up and steal some money from him but denies killing him.

Lisbon tells Patrick everyone's gathered in the room and one of them must be the killer.  Patrick tells her he's not a psychic, he's a fraud.  Lisbon: "...whatever it is it's a gift..." Plus she has no leads.  Patrick asks for tarot cards which Lisbon doesn't have, so he draws his own.  He leaves them on the table and asks them to close their eyes and think of the last fearful dream they had.  Even Rigsby does the same, until Cho looks at him.  He was a bit like Van Pelt here (absent from this episode and taking time off as she was pregnant at the time.)  Van Pelt is always willing to take Patrick on when he comes up with something.  Maria's mother dreams about helping her daughter but she can't.

Kim had the magician card cos he can get away with anything cos of his job.  I said that even before Patrick did, great minds, ha.  Emmet had the magician card also but Patrick says he couldn't have had that.  Neat trick, notice Patrick kept one card back for himself, this was the hanged man card which he swapped with Kim's card.

Kim tells Cho the motive behind it, being a silent owner of the bar he was being sued and would have gone out of business.  He made a deal with the judge he'd doctor the evidence, keep his son out of jail if he ruled in his favour in the civil trial.   He was called out to the CS and Winston was going to expose the deal if he didn't help him, so he shot him.  Cho tells him he ran over a deer, so really it was for nothing.  Lisbon is happy with the outcome, Patrick also caught a crooked judge too.

Patrick is now consultant with the CBI and she leaves him with the files. Also finding him asleep on the couch, his home from now on.  Rigsby and Cho look through the files for a new agent as Hannigan refuses to work with Patrick and Rigsby takes a shining to Van Pelt.  Cho telling him she's out of his league.  A throw away comment, as she certainly wasn't.

Minelli thinks Patrick an asset to the CBI.  He gets a call from FBI Director Alexa Shulz (Polly Walker) (whom we met this season) and tells him she would appreciate heads up on the Red John case if they uncover anything.  Also not so subtly adding Patrick has been in an asylum for the past year.

Immediately alarm bells start ringing since we know that Red John has mole in the FBI and other acolytes.  Minelli believes in inter-agency cooperation and agrees to this.  She hangs up and asks the man, Robert Kirkland (Kevin Corrigan) in the car with her  if that was okay.  Was this our first glimpse of Red John?  That would be too easy  For all the time we've heard his voice and decided he could be a she, this man did have effeminate features, so...for the one hundredth episode of The Mentalist were we indeed given a shot of him?  More like we were being teased to keep us guessing and our interest peaked.

Patrick hugging Lisbon was cute, not in the romantic way either.  She was surprised and a bit reluctant to hug him back.  Rigsby with a goatee, made him look a little older, didn't like Lisbon's wig, but hey we can't like everything but the cast did an exceptional job in going back to their (pre)season 1 personalities and characters.   Though they don't seem to have changed much, aside from the two leads.  Patrick showed his vulnerability here and how he was rather coy and reserved when talking about his family and wanting to know how the investigation is proceeding.  That didn't last long.  A nice touch was also the way in which he was hit by Hannigan, something which is an ongoing theme for him.

                                             

Note this ep was billed as taking place "Several years ago."  Note it was actually nine years ago as they have been together for four years when he joined them in season 1 and we're into season 5, so simple maths here.  Also this ep told us the real reasons behind Patrick being at the CBI, it was for info and not to seek revenge, though at that point he could have been doing both.  We know how cunning he is and how his mind works, maybe he had the year to think about revenge during his time getting help and treatment.  He just didn't reveal it here. Especially since his emotions at losing his family were still very raw.  Lisbon then hired him and from presumably reading the files, getting to know them inside out, his thoughts turned to revenge, or at least catching Red John himself.

I still think he manipulated Hannigan after cold reading him and thought he could get some info out of him.  He got out of the asylum and he came here first, which explained his physical appearance, but that's cos he had made up his mind about revenge over Red John even before he got here.  Also why would Minelli be so eager to keep Patrick around, lawsuit aside, the police don't do things like that, was it to keep a watchful eye on him, perhaps he's in league with red John, then again he got he call from the FBI after Patrick was already hired as a consultant, so I don't think he's a possibility of being Red John or being in cahoots with him.

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