The Mentalist inexplicably disappeared from UK television for a few months, but it has now returned! Here are some thoughts on 'The Redshirt' and 'Fugue in Red'.



Regarding 'The Redshirt':

'Tempting, really, but I shot and killed my last boyfriend. I'm not ready for a relationship yet.'

Grace Van Pelt, I love you.

I also love Lisbon. 'You pissed off a mob boss and you didn't tell us? You're about as helpful as an actual murder victim.' (Which I initially mistyped in the subject line as 'You're about as helpful as an actual murder weapon.' Murder weapons can be helpful! I mean, they're helpful for murders, obviously, but candlesticks hold candles and everything!) Also:

'Arrest this man.'
'For what?'
'For... questioning.'
'That's not arresting!'

This was generally a rather quotable episode. AND CHO WAS ON JANE'S COUCH. THAT'S NOT ALLOWED. I was genuinely shocked!


Since I wrote that, 'Fugue in Red' has been broadcast. I sort of love that Van Pelt's response to hearing Jane fancies her is a grin and a 'Really?', and Cho trying to take advantage of Jane's amnesiac state by telling him he liked going door-to-door was excellent.

I do not, however, love Jane's personality after he loses his memory. I hope it isn't supposed to be a reflection of his personality before the Red John incident, because that just doesn't make any sense to me. Jane's a git, but he's not that sort of a git. Before he met his wife, maybe, but I'm still very dubious.

I wondered for a while whether Jane was just pretending to have lost his memory. I knew for a fact that it was genuine when he pretended to remember his family in order to get Cho out of the room; I don't believe he would use the memory of his family like that.

I'd like to be able to say that Jane hit on both Lisbon and Van Pelt because HE'S IN LOVE WITH BOTH OF THEM AND HIS SUBCONSCIOUS MEMORY OF THAT CAUSED HIM TO FLIRT, but he also pursued random women, so, you know, probably not. He is in love with both of them, though. The fact that this episode isn't solid evidence for it doesn't make it untrue.

Incidentally, Lisbon's desperation when she didn't know whether Jane was going to survive or not broke my little heart.

(Augh, episode, why did you have to cut off there? I so, so, so want to know what happened between Jane and Lisbon immediately after Jane got his memories back in that violent, horrible way. Plus I really missed Jane during that episode; I would have liked to see 'our' Jane again before it ended.)



Finally, a non-spoilery thought on something that's appeared a few times before: I'm so amused by the way Jane likes to dramatically dismiss suspects, and how Lisbon always ruins his plans for a dramatic wave-of-the-hand, 'This person is innocent; you can go' dismissal by actually, you know, doing her job. JANE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD THERE'S PAPERWORK.