Monsters of Television

“I’m sure we can all think of examples where revenge has worked splendidly.”

I received a pretty high compliment from Justin Fowler on Twitter a few days ago: “One of the reasons I like your blog is that you guys write about shows most other blogs don’t. No Mentalist, tho.”

I like that we write (and now talk) about shows that don’t get a lot coverage at the more visited blogs (though A.V. Club’s new leadership will be adjusting some of that I think). In any case, I decided to thank Justin for his compliment by reviewing this week’s The Mentalist. This was a bit of fun because I’ve never seen an entire episode of The Mentalist (Pysch for life, yo). Based on the promos, I expected a reasonably light, but not too light, procedural about a stylish guy who is seeking the man who murdered his family.

I think I got a different kind of episode than what is normal for this show, as it appears I stumbled onto an episode concerned in some way with the Red John storyline and it was a little darker than I was expecting, especially Patrick Jane himself.Expecting the lightness might’ve been a bit silly on my part. CBS’s procedurals, The Defenders to a degree aside, aren’t very light. There’s a dark humor surround the CSI: shows, Good Wife does comedy, but in very specific ways, and I have no idea what Blue Bloods does since I haven’t watched it.

In any case, this particular episode of The Mentalist isn’t Patrick being bemused at the operations of the highly trained investigators he consults with. Instead, it feels like an incredibly serious episode as he and Teresa had a fairly blunt talk about what would happen if Patrick ran into Red John. I suppose this conversation feels organic to those who watch the show regularly, as one of the victims of the episode’s serial killer wants revenge.

For me, however, the conversation, and thus the theme of the episode, was just kind of there. I was able to extract, from the blurred and swirling flashback-y fragments, that PAtrick’s family was murdered pretty brutally by Red John, and that it haunts him. Hence his teaming up with the CBI to hunt down other serial killers (there are a lot of them on CBS). But because I don’t have a history with the show, nothing clicked for me thematically or from a character standpoint.

One thing that that did strike me was the idea that the fellow seeking revenge was himself the killer. Now, if it weren’t for Twitter, the theory that Patrick himself is Red John wouldn’t have been jogged in my memory. The episode plays with this notion as Patrick has worked out (somehow, I couldn’t really figure it out myself) the revenge-seeking brother is the killer. It could be read as lipservice by the show to the theory, though, again, I can’t say for sure.

And since none of this really clicked for me, I have no idea why “Tiger, tiger” (or is it “Tyger, tyger“?) is significant. I can assume it’s a Red John catchphrase and that he has someone influenced this young man’s mind to toy with Patrick, but I honestly don’t know how crafty this guy is.

Which speaks to larger problems I may have hit as I watched the show. I came in on an arc-ish episode in what is probably an otherwise a very episodic show. I’m sure some of the character elements between Patrick and Teresa are serialized, but to no great depth. So to land on an episode that is probably a bit more loaded with Red John stuff than any other week would be (was it?), might be influencing my enjoyment. And since I felt more compelled by the Red John stuff, because I didn’t understand it, I think it got in the way of the mystery itself. Perhaps I missed some vital clue that led to Patrick’s deduction, or he was just going by his gut (though that methodology belongs on another show)

So, I may try a random episode elsewhere, see what more normal episode of this show is like. Who knows. Justin might get lucky and get two reviews of The Mentalist instead of just one.

FINAL THOUGHTS

• I thought that, based on their repartee, the CBI group was familiar with the sheriff. I let out a pretty audible gasp when he got shot, thinking the show had just killed off a semi-recurring character my first episode in. IMDb quickly corrected my perceptions.
• Car = ugly. Suits = smooth.