The Mentalist

[jamo]

Does anyone else here watch The Mentalist (Thursdays at 10 on CBS)? Today's episode that just ended was maybe the best yet, and that's saying a lot. Among the shows that I watch regularly (House, the Office, Law and Order Parks and Recreation, Lie to Me, Modern Family), The Mentalist has BY FAR the best writing. It's amazing haw there are just no boring episodes. House has been on for 7 seasons, and they have to stick at least somewhat to medical reality, and the Office has a lot of just plain dull episodes, but every episode of The Mentalist is enjoyable. And they cancelled Law and Order (though the last episode ever was also the bets ever). I got into it midway through the second season, and have been hooked ever since. If you've never seen it but like "dramas" or cop shows (even if you don't like dramas or cop shows) you should at least rent some episodes.

A quick synopsis: the main character is Patrick Jane (played by Simon Baker) who is a consultant for the California Bureau of Investigation. Jane spent his childhood as a "psychic" (though he says there is no such thing as psychics) in a carnival, and later spent several years with his own TV show. On one show he speaks down to a California serial killed named Red John, who proceeded to murder his wife and daughter. That all happened before the plot-line of the show starts. During the show he closely works with the CBI, and he is able to make connections and read people in ways no one else can (similar to House and Sherlock Holmes). He has an amazing case-closing rate, although he rattles some feathers along the way. Throughout the seasons he has come in close encounter with Red John, and a lot of the show is based around the fact that he says if he ever finds Red John, he will kill him in cold blood and accept the punishment.

Basically, it's awesome. Anyone else watch it?

[Dad-2-3]

This is one of my favorites also, but didn't get to see tonight's episode because of work. My wife is in love with Simon Baker the actor who plays Patrick Jane.

[jamo]

Originally Posted by Dad-2-3

This is one of my favorites also, but didn't get to see tonight's episode because of work. My wife is in love with Simon Baker the actor who plays Patrick Jane.

I'd love to give away the ending of tonight's, but it'd be doing a total disservice. It was that good.

The only thing that pisses me off about The Mentalist is that it's not on Hulu, Comcast, TV.com, or even iTunes. That really sucks.

[MiniBlueDragon]

I love The Mentalist but not quite as much as I love Dexter or Fringe.

Dexter > Fringe > Mentalist

[michaeljames92]

Inbetweeners is the funniest show i have ever seen. period.

[iacas]

I watch it as well, though it's lower on my priorities list than 30 Rock. I find it a bit formulaic and wish Aaron Sorkin had a tv show on. You don't know good writing until you've spent a lot of time with Aaron Sorkin. I still dig out episodes of West Wing and Sports Night. And Studio 60...

[JetFan1983]

Originally Posted by iacas

I watch it as well, though it's lower on my priorities list than 30 Rock. I find it a bit formulaic and wish Aaron Sorkin had a tv show on. You don't know good writing until you've spent a lot of time with Aaron Sorkin. I still dig out episodes of West Wing and Sports Night. And Studio 60...

I read a draft of Sorkin's new pilot on HBO that they've yet to cast or film. If I recall correctly, it's called More as this Story Develops. That could have also been a clever working title too though, I'm not sure. It's about the inner workings of a major news station and the pilot revolved around the BP Oil Spill as the story first broke. I enjoyed it. Catchy dialogue. I never got into the West Wing, but I'll probably check it out in the future.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by JetFan1983

I read a draft of Sorkin's new pilot on HBO that they've yet to cast or film. If I recall correctly, it's called More as this Story Develops. That could have also been a clever working title too though, I'm not sure. It's about the inner workings of a major news station and the pilot revolved around the BP Oil Spill as the story first broke. I enjoyed it. Catchy dialogue. I never got into the West Wing, but I'll probably check it out in the future.

Perhaps the best show of all time (to me). Until Sorkin left. The last two seasons sucked (but had a lot to live up to - they were probably still better than 95% of the shows on TV).

I like Fringe a lot as well - finally a good replacement for X-Files. Big Bang Theory, 30 Rock as I mentioned... etc.

But this thread's about The Mentalist and, yeah, it's good enough for me to record... but not so good that I watch the episodes right away. As I said, I'm three behind on my DVR. Yet I've watched every episode of Castle (Stana Katic is easy on the eyes and the writing is formulaic but funny).

[jamo]

The preview that I saw of this weeks episode that it's about golf, or at least the murder is. Golf on cop shows is usually really lame, so we'll see.

[jamo]

I don't know if anyone else watched tonight's episode, but I have to say it was one of the best TV episodes that I have ever seen. My previous gold standard was the last ever episode of Law and Order, but this was so much better it's not even close. I won't give away the ending, but I have to say, I was texting a friend of mine the whole time, and I called Red John's man in the CBI before the episode started (I actually called it months ago, but that's enough self-horn tooting :-)). If you didn't watch it, it started off as a normal CBI case, but they found connections to Hightower that led to to find Red John's rat in the CBI, and things went from there. If you like TV, or even if you live under a rock that doesn't get cable, this is an absolute must watch. Truly awesome.

[iacas]

I haven't watched it all yet, but I do think it was a little cheap to use the insider they used. A little too convenient.

[jamo]

After a hit-or-miss season, the finale, which just ended, was pretty interesting. It was sort of Ocean's Eleven-like, where there are a bunch of twists and turns (ironic because Community also did an Ocean's homage a few hours ago), and while I saw many of the twists coming, I did not see that last one at all. [SPOILER=Warning: Spoiler!]I do think it was a little cheap that Red John had yet another rat inside the FBI. They just did that last year. The Wainwright death was sort of weak as well because that character wasn't very well defined. I still don't know what we're supposed to know and not know about FBI agent Darcy. Red John on the phone said that he had a rat in the FBI, and at that time I assumed it was Darcy, but she went all out on the limo at the end so she's probably not it. I now have no idea where they go from here. Jane has shown so little aptitude at catching Red John it's almost more believable that he would just join him. Almost. [/SPOILER]

[brocks]

I kind of liked the Mentalist the first season, when it was a blatant ripoff of "Psych," and he made all these deductions from minute details, so you could follow along and see how he solved a case, kind of like Columbo. But I lost interest when they changed it to him just goofing off, smiling at everybody and watching the CBI team fumblefart around, and then pulled something completely out of left field at the end of the show. And even worse, the cases that didn't involve Red John were just boring, so I stopped watching it. I started watching it again this season because it follows Person of Interest, which I enjoy as good escapist fun. I'll usually just watch the first few minutes of the Mentalist (which comes on right after POI) to see if it's about Red John. So I watched the last two episodes. I liked last week's episode, where he whacked the guy with a shovel, even though it's ridiculous to think he could do that and not be looking at jail time. And yet all that happened was he got fired, and even that was more for calling his boss a ***** than for aggravated assault, kidnapping, and torture, which is basically what he did. But as I said, I watch Person of Interest, so I can't complain about the lack of realistic consequences. I'm guessing George Zimmerman is feeling kind of dumb for thinking those shows are real, though. And then this week, I liked the hot girl, but once again they make Red John look like a god rather than a twisted sicko. He is not only a rich super genius, but he has all these people who will literally do anything for him, without question, and without regard for personal safety, let alone any regard for morality or decency. I honestly don't see how they can ever reveal who Red John is and have it make any sense at all, unless he's an Eddorian or something.

[jamo]

And even worse, the cases that didn't involve Red John were just boring, so I stopped watching it.

Yep. IMO they used up all of their good cases in season 1, the cases were boring in season 2, and in season 3 they were able to weave small Red John nuggets in often enough to keep the cases interesting. Season 4 has been a let down. They'll go several episodes, which end up being the weakest episodes, without mentioning Red John at all. [quote name="brocks" url="/t/44275/the-mentalist#post_713505"] And then this week, I liked the hot girl, but once again they make Red John look like a god rather than a twisted sicko. He is not only a rich super genius, but he has all these people who will literally do anything for him, without question, and without regard for personal safety, let alone any regard for morality or decency. I honestly don't see how they can ever reveal who Red John is and have it make any sense at all, unless he's an Eddorian or something.[/quote] Agreed. It's gotten to the point that Red John is so far ahead it's ridiculous. (I'd say unbelievable, but they jumped that shark a long time ago.) Also, it was a real shame to see that hot girl arrested. I was kind of hoping she'd be a regular. :-P One of the things that annoys me the most about The Mentalist is that there are no great reviewers of the show. It's on CBS so it gets almost 15 million viewers an episode, but apparently none of those are talented reviewers. I know why that is - it's a procedural that doesn't do character growth that well and without a definite ending date the writers have no sense of urgency or finality with the Red John case - but that's kind of annoying. The best I've seen is [URL=http://swampofboredom.com/category/reviews/the-mentalist/]here[/URL], and even that is just a novelist who watches the show and review episodes on her blog. I think an interesting episode would be from the vantage point of Red John. It's getting harder and harder to imagine that Red John could put this many people completely under his control, and an episode revealing just that, independent of Jane, would be cool. I don't see it happening, but y'know. I can hope.