The Menalist - Rose-Colored Glasses

Network: CBS
Time: Thursdays, 10:00-11:00pm
Cast: Simon Baker, Robin Tunney, Tim Kang, Owain Yeoman, Amanda Righetti

Summary: Rigsby goes undercover as an alumnus after a double homicide at a high school reunion.

Review: I'm fairly new to The Mentalist, but I've seen every episode and it has quickly become one of my most-anticipated shows each week.  There's something about Patrick Jane that, even when you want to smack him for being so obnoxious, you can't help but laugh at him and root for him.


In that vein, any episode where you learn a little more about his past is a good one.  In this episode, the audience learns Jane never went to high school (no spoiler there; it's really a minor detail).  Everything that happens from that point on, Janesees with a kind of child-like enthusiasm.  Everything's a new experience for him, and he seems to relish it all.

One of the nicest things about The Mentalist is that the characters are used to further the audience's understanding of the cases, not the other way around.  In some shows (namely NCIS), the cases fall a distant second to character interaction.  As anyone who reads my articles regularly knows, I love NCIS, so clearly I don't find this process detrimental to the overall effect of the show.  However, it's nice to watch a show like The Mentalist, where the cases are just as important as character development. 

And it really is almost a 50/50 split.  Each episode is nicely balanced.  Sometimes they focus on the case, sometimes they focus on the characters, but most often the two are intertwined so neatly that you can't have one without the other.  In this episode, the case is used to give the audience more about Jane's childhood, to develop Van Pelt more as an agent, and to further explore the Rigsby/Van Pelt relationship.  But, in a wonderfully Newtonian twist, those character developments are also used to bring down the killer, because there's no way Rigsby would have posed as an alumnus if it hadn't been for his insecurities about Van Pelt (both as an agent and a partner).

Plus, we got just the tiniest little Jane/Lisbon moment, for those of us who enjoy watching them be really sweet toward each other once in awhile.

In the long run, I don't think this episode will stand out in my mind as a particular favorite, but it was solid and enjoyable.  Not every episode needs to be a season finale, nor does each episode need to blow the audience away.  If the case is interesting and the characters are fun, the episode is going to be good, and that's what happened with this episode.  It was a solid first episode after the winter hiatus, and it makes me highly anticipate the next one.



Favorite lines:
Lisbon: I'm a far cry from what I was in high-school.
Jane: Nah, I wouldn't be so sure. Driven to succeed to the point of developing an ulcer, no tolerance for superiors less sharp than yourself, shutting out girls who wanted to hang out with you, blowing off boys that wanna get close, all the while, at every turn, wondering: What is it I really want in life?
Lisbon: (smiling, shaking her head, and amused) No.
Jane: And you played an instrument. My guess? Hmm, clarinet.
Lisbon: Not even close.

Jane: Well, obviously you wanna dance.
Lisbon: With you? No.
Jane: Oh, come on. You can pretend that I'm that mean, cold-hearted guy that you used to worship from afar but never talked to.
Lisbon: No funny stuff.
Jane: Really?

Rating:
[5] Excellent
[4] Good
[3] Average
[2] OK
[1] Bad

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