Saturday, May 19, 2012

The Mentalist - The Crimson Hat


Six months after giving up the Red John case and being fired from the CBI, Jane (Simon Baker) hits rock bottom and returns to his roots as a con man in Las Vegas. While the team investigates the murder of a John Doe without him they learn their former partner has been arrest for assault, fraud, narcotics, and resisting arrest.

Jane is unexpectedly bailed out of jail by a new acquaintance, a showgirl name Lorelei (Emmanuelle Chriqui) who was talking to Jane shortly before he run for his life from a man who he had conned out of $10,000 which led to him being beaten up and thrown in jail. But Jane's brief moment of happiness in his spiral out of control is immediately yanked from him when he learns the woman he just spent the night with is a disciple of Red John who is behind Jane's release from prison and is offering the mentalist his friendship and a new life in exchange for a small gift as a show of respect.


Lisbon (Robin Tunney) is upset to learn that Jane's breadown was nothing more than a ruse to lure out Red John and is concerned for her friend who is risking his life on a "stupid plan" to capture the man who killed his wife and daughter. She's also surprised to learn Luther Wainwright (Michael Rady), the man who fired Jane after he humilated him in front of the office, is looking to reach out to the mentalist and help put him back on the path to working with the CBI again, especially now that their number of closed cases has dropped significantly since his absence.

After faking the deaths of both Lisbon and Risby (Owain Yeoman) for Red John's benefit, Jane finally gets a meeting with the serial killer. Smelling something fishy Susan Darcy (Catherine Dent) starts poking around the crime scene and discovers the body in the morgue is far too short to belong to Rigsby and puts warrants out for the entire team almost destroying the sting operation and leaving Jane alone with Red John, his hired muscle, and Lorelei without any backup.

The episode's conclusion, with the FBI's eventual arrest of Lorelei and the yet another twist by Red John to escape custody is a little awkward for the season's finale but the moments leading up the FBI taking the limo work quite well. As to Jane's future with the CBI, the show has been renewed for another season, and with a solid lead in custody I think it's unlikely Jane will be going anywhere anytime soon.

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