I'm thoroughly enjoying my own rewatch, so I'd recommend it!
I remember thinking that certain bits of Jane's characterization (and even certain things that he did) in fic were just fanon until I watched the episode and realised that no, he's really that messed up in canon as well.
The first time I saw 'Flame Red', I was taken aback by Jane talking about how people deserve to suffer and die for the bad things they do - I was going 'is he a proponent of the death penalty? that... doesn't really fit with my reading of his character' - and then he mentioned his plan for Red John and I went 'oh, wow, of course. Wow. This guy's more damaged than I realised.'
I still don't think he believes in the death penalty; I think he believes in revenge. If someone harms you, the state shouldn't be able to kill them, but you should. The state doesn't have a stake in their suffering. That belongs to you.
That post of yours was really interesting! (There was definitely something very weird about the Sophie-and-Jane dynamic.) And I love your description of Jane as a 'morally dubious cupid' in the comments.
The Mentalist really cries out for character analysis. A lot of my fandoms just have me going 'I LOVE THIS, I LOVE THAT,' whereas The Mentalist makes me go 'let's pick apart these characters and find out what they're thinking,' and I've found that other people's posts on The Mentalist tend to be heavy on the analysis as well.
no subject
I remember thinking that certain bits of Jane's characterization (and even certain things that he did) in fic were just fanon until I watched the episode and realised that no, he's really that messed up in canon as well.
The first time I saw 'Flame Red', I was taken aback by Jane talking about how people deserve to suffer and die for the bad things they do - I was going 'is he a proponent of the death penalty? that... doesn't really fit with my reading of his character' - and then he mentioned his plan for Red John and I went 'oh, wow, of course. Wow. This guy's more damaged than I realised.'
I still don't think he believes in the death penalty; I think he believes in revenge. If someone harms you, the state shouldn't be able to kill them, but you should. The state doesn't have a stake in their suffering. That belongs to you.
That post of yours was really interesting! (There was definitely something very weird about the Sophie-and-Jane dynamic.) And I love your description of Jane as a 'morally dubious cupid' in the comments.
The Mentalist really cries out for character analysis. A lot of my fandoms just have me going 'I LOVE THIS, I LOVE THAT,' whereas The Mentalist makes me go 'let's pick apart these characters and find out what they're thinking,' and I've found that other people's posts on The Mentalist tend to be heavy on the analysis as well.