- Title: The Mentalist – Red Dawn
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The Mentalist‘s 100th episode takes a look back at Patrick Jane’s (Simon Baker) first case with the CBI. The episode begins with a disheveled Jane showing up in the CBI offices to talk with Lisbon (Robin Tunney) after learning she is now in charge of the Red John case. Less than 10-minutes in the building Jane is asked to leave and provokes an agent (Gary Basaraba) into punching him in the face, which gets the a short conversation with Lisbon and Virgil Minelli (Gregory Itzin) and a ride in the country to his first official crime scene.
Through a series of events Jane begins unofficially shadowing Lisbon in the preliminary stages of the murder of the alcoholic son of a prominent judge (David Clennon). While hoping for insight into the CBI’s case concerning Red John, Jane makes insights and ticks off potential suspects and witnesses leading to his first fight with Lisbon, and new leads for her team to follow.
The suspects on the case include the ex-boyfriend (Ryan Ahern) of the woman (Amanda Clayton) the victim was out on a date with that night, a police officer (Ian Anthony Dale) with a history with the victim, and the mother and husband (Kirk Acevedo) of a hit-and-run victim whose wife the victim killed while driving drunk. At a standstill, and also wanting to keep Jane from throwing himself into the Red John files, Lisbon convinces the former fake psychic to use his “psuedo-psychic powers” to find her a killer.
Although Lisbon and Cho (Tim Kang) are presented very much the same (other than the height of Cho’s hair), the show does have fun with a younger Rigsby (Owain Yeoman) complete with goatee and leather suit coat. The episode also introduces a couple of interesting ideas. First, it turns out it was Lisbon who came up with the idea of Jane using his showmanship to help smoke out a killer. And the second, which very much ties into this season’s story arc, the final scene with FBI Agent Alexis Shultz (Polly Walker) suggests her interest in Jane and the Red John case is far more complicated than just a CBI/FBI rivalry.
