"Red Lacquer Nail Polish" wasn't as much fun as I had hoped it would be. Perhaps my expectations were what left me disappointed.

The creepy, overgrown mansion had so much potential. Even the security guard seemed freaked out just being there. When Jane slyly told Lisbon, "Ladies first" as they entered the house worthy of a horror movie, I found myself hoping the CBI team would be forced to spend a lot more time there. Unfortunately that didn't happen.  

With the entire body burned to ash, the coroner began explaining how a human being can be turned into a fatty wax candle. When he proclaimed, "Isn't that awful" he had a strange but gleeful smile on his face. Jane was right. The guy was a ghoul. 

The investigation quickly turned to Elise's nephew. Although he wasn't actually guilty of anything, I disliked Curtis the moment he referred to the men and women at the Soldier's Home as mentally unstable war veterans. He didn't seem to care much for the place which made his turn around at the end hard to swallow.

Lissie Calhoun was the obvious red herring all along as we never got to see her. That almost never happens. If they kept talking about her, I knew she had to have some significance, although I didn't guess that she was the actual burned body until the end.

Jane was lucky he didn't set the whole darn boat on fire when he threw that lit flare into the cabin. Then out popped Elise Vogelson, who turned out to be even odder than anticipated. How could someone who dedicated her life and her family's fortune to helping veterans kill a woman who was a nurse in Vietnam as though she was doing her a favor?

From there, Elise out and out mocked Casey at how easy it was to gain her trust and manipulate her. No wonder this strange woman ended up alone for so much of her life. 

With all of its twists and turns, this story never really hooked me. It felt like a bunch of aberrant pieces that never quite fit together. 

Cho's attempts to push Rigsby into moving on from Grace were amusing. He certainly knows his partner as he asked Wayne in this The Mentalist quote…

 So have you actually made any dates or are you just hesitating and second guessing yourself like you usually do? | permalink

No, Rigsby made the dates. He just didn't show up for any of them. How funny was it that they all looked like Grace?

I'm assuming it won't be long until we see him make another play for VanPelt, but won't that leave them with the same obstacle? CBI rules state that coworkers can't date one another. Unless they're willing to hide the relationship or have one of them transfer, they'll end up right back where they started.

Another favorite revelation was Jane's love of the sea and Lisbon's inability to see the appeal. Lisbon saw nothing romantic about sailing as she told Jane…

 Stuck on that thing in the middle of the ocean. It's like being in a prison cell with a chance of drowning. | permalink

Perhaps these two should stick to the beach.

With a Red John case looming ahead, what did you think of this serial killer-free episode?

C. Orlando was a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.