- Title: The Mentalist – Red Velvet Cupcakes
- wiki: link
The murder of a housewife who spent her free time teaching ex-cons to cook sends Jane (Simon Baker) and Lisbon (Robin Tunney) to a radio love doctor (John O’Hurley) who was acting as the marriage counselor for the victim and her husband (Chris Marrs). Meanwhile Rigsby (Owain Yeoman) and Van Pelt (Amanda Righetti) try to track down one of the victim’s recently paroled students (Samantha Esteban) who slashed her tires after the teacher reported the young woman for dealing drugs.
To find the victim’s husband, who ditched his water rafting trip to spend time with his dominatrix mistress (Sara Maraffino), Jane goes on the air and gets the love doctor’s listeners to help locate them by offering a cash prize and guest radio DJ duties the show’s agitated producer (Patrick Fischler) has no intention of awarding to the winner. After watching the couple’s webcam appearance on the radio Jane sends Rigsby and Cho (Tim Kang) back to the victim’s home to search for a missing pair of sexy gold sandals that Jane believes is the clue to solving the case.
After sinking the love doctor’s newest couple, Jane opens the door to send Rigsby and Van Pelt in undercover as the replacement troubled couple. Although the on-air confession gets more personal than the pair had planned, the sting not only reveals the radio host’s secret fetish but also nabs the CBI a killer (Molly Hagan), although it wasn’t the one that Jane expected. The final twist works well, and it’s always nice once in a while to see the mentalist surprised by the killer not being who he expected.
It’s good to see the show dealing with, rather than running away from, the Rigsby/Van Pelt relationship. The reheating of their passions may cause them new trouble at work, but it’s obvious the pair belong together. The episode also includes an amusing early sequence where Jane, refusing to leave the comfort of his CBI loft, has Rigsby talk him through the crime scene, and even guess when Rigsby has snagged one of the victim’s red velvet cupcakes for himself. Although Red John has been put on hold again, next week’s episode promises the return of LaRoche (Pruitt Taylor Vince) and the hanging plot thread of the mystery of the item Jane lifted from the investigator’s safe to blackmail him with back in Season Three.
That scene with the cupcakes was my favorite!