- Title: The Mentalist – The Red Barn
- wiki: link
Jane (Simon Baker) and Cho (Tim Kang) discover ties to Red John while investigating the discovery of three bodies hidden in the basement of a barn for more than 25 years, and 10 years before the first documented Red John murder. When the victims turn out to be members of Visualize, which also owned the barn back in 1988, Jane and Lisbon (Robin Tunney) head to the Visualize HQ to talk with the cult’s second-in-command Jason Cooper (Robert Picardo).
Returning to the rural town where the bodies were found, Jane chats up the town gossip (George Gerdes) who isn’t a fan of the local Chief of Police (Jacob Vargas) and gives them the name of a gun-totting local farmer (Chris Mulkey) who had scuffles with the Visualize members. Jane and Lisbon also talk with the daughter (Jenica Bergere) of town’s former veterinarian (Roxana Brusso) over rumors that the group were drugging the farm workers and torturing animals for satanic rituals. Grace (Amanda Righetti) talks with a priest (Kyle Secor) and former member of Visualize who worked at the farm months before Red John’s mark first appeared, the disappearance of the three core members, and farm’s eventual failure and shutdown.
The episode’s B-story marks Lisbon’s 10 year anniversary with the California Bureau of Investigation means an unexpected surprise party and an offer from Ray Hafner (Reed Diamond) to join him in the private sector in his new business venture providing security and investigation for high-end clients. In the course of solving the case she learns something new about Ray and source of the funding for his new firm that gives her more than a moment’s pause on his very attractive offer.
Gathering the suspect together in the town’s diner, Jane uses one of his elaborate stunts to nab the killer and discover the motive for one of the murders. It’s the murders of the other two men, however, that are of interest to Jane as he discovers not only was Red John a member of Visualize in 1988 but he worked on the farm where the men died. This drastically narrows the list of potential identities of the serial killer and moves Jane that much closer to finding the man who butchered his wife and child.
