- Title: The Mentalist – White as the Driven Snow
- wiki: link
With Van Pelt (Amanda Righetti) kidnapped and Richard Haibach (William Mapother) turning himself over to the FBI while denying any involvement in either her disappearance or the murders of Oscar Ardiles (David Norona) and LaRoche (Pruitt Taylor Vince) the FBI frantically searches to discover the truth. Agent Abbot (Rockmond Dunbar) puts Wiley (Joe Adler) and the team to punching a hole into Haibach’s ironclad alibi while searching for an accomplice he must be using to commit the crimes. With the FBI not having any solid evidence to hold him, Jane (Simon Baker) and Rigsby (Owain Yeoman) get unpredictable including kidnapping Haibach and stranding his lawyer (Penny Peyser) in the middle of nowhere.
While Grace escapes the cabin in the middle of nowhere only to be found and captured again by Haibach’s sister Hazel (Lisa Darr), who appears every bit as deranged as her brother, Jane and Rigsby set-up an elaborate ploy to make Haibach think he’s gotten the upper hand and lead them straight to Rigsby’s missing wife. Although successful, Jane’s plan gets Rigsby severally wounded and almost costs the mentalist a few of his favorite fingers.
Despite twice teasing the possibility of Rigsby and Van Pelt joining the FBI twice over the course of the episode, “White as the Driven Snow” proves to be a nice way to send them both out in style by highlighting Grace’s resourcefulness under extreme circumstances and the super-human lengths Rigsby goes to in order to save his wife. With the CBI piece of the story now firmly in the show’s rear-view mirror it will be interesting to see if the show goes back to the murder of the week or if the season has anymore grander plans heading into its final seven episodes.
