Post by Spidey 1923 on Jul 26, 2011 5:21:25 GMT -5
The Mentalist follows the story of Patrick Jane who, as a paid consultant, uses unorthodox methods to aid the California Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in homicide investigations. He is unconventional and commonly defies police procedure, often acting without apparent empathy for suspects or families suffering loss.
Years prior to the first season, he married his wife and the couple had a young daughter. Jane became celebrity, making a very comfortable living working as a psychic using skills he learned from his father.
5 Years prior to the first season Jane, appearing on a television talk show, claims that he was using his psychic abilities to help the police find Red John, a serial killer. He also makes fun of Red John, calling him weak. When he returns home, he finds a note on the door to his bedroom by Red John. The note says:
"Dear mister Jane, I do not like to be slandered in the media, especially by a dirty money-grubbing fraud. If you were a real psychic, instead of a dishonest little worm, you wouldn't need to open the door to see what I've done to your lovely wife and child.
Upon opening the door, Jane sees Red John's trademark smiley face drawn on the wall, in his wife and child's blood.
Jane subsequently abandoned his job as a psychic and teamed up with the CBI, using his skills to help them solve various crimes. His main focus is on the cases involving Red John or Red John copycats. He admits to faking the supernatural aspects of his skills, often asserting that "there's no such thing as psychics", yet he has finely honed skills in cold reading, hypnotism, and pickpocketing, as well as powerful observational skill and a deep insight into the human psyche and behavior. These skills come in handy in every episode, but his unorthodox and bizarre techniques to solve crimes sometimes offend the team of agents he works with.
Spoilers ahead.
Jane has suggested on a number of occasions that he considers Red John's death or capture to be a higher priority than his own life. In turn, Red John appears to hold a similar obsession with Jane, to the point of risking capture for the purpose of observing him. In the episode "His Right Red Hand", he is described as being like Jane in his ability to "see through people" and he murders a CBI team, along with help from a mole on the inside, just so he can have Jane back on his case. However, in the episode "Red John's Footsteps", Jane shoots and kills Sheriff "Dumar" Hardy, an associate of Red John in order to protect Agent Lisbon and Maya.
During the second season finale, Jane and Red John finally meet. However, Jane is unable to see Red John's face because it is hidden by a rubber mask, and is tied to a chair. Ironically Red John saves Patrick from three students who had committed a Red John Copycat Crime and were about to kill Jane.
At the end of the third season finale Jane finally sees Red John after catching him watching on Jane's scheme in a shopping mall. During their conversation, Red John encouraged Jane to forget about him and that seeking vengeance is a waste of his valuable life. Patrick asks if he is the real Red John, to which he gives comments about Patrick's wife and daughter. However, Jane disregarded his comments and while Red John was walking away after their brief talk, Jane kills Red John with the gun given to him by Max Winter, ending season 3.
It's not known if the man Jane killed was the real Red John.
Speaking of the 4th season, creator Bruno Heller said, "Every season you kind of take a chance to reset things. ... Last season was almost serialized. There was a great deal of plot and story that you could follow through the whole season. We're going to need less of that this season." He commented that the new season would explore Jane's feelings about finally catching his 'white whale', Red John: "What does revenge mean? Because, as you saw in that final moment, after you've killed someone, what's left? ... That kind of bitterness and hate kills things. But then, what do you do?"
The Season 4 will premiere on September 22, 2011.