The Mentalist Review: Is He Red John?
Christine Orlando
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Did Jane finally found the man who slaughtered his wife and daughter in The Mentalist Season 6 Episode 7?
Is it all just another ruse?
As the house explodes, we know two things:
- Reede, Smith and Gail Bertram are alive.
- But are the other three really dead?
Cho seemed convinced. There was enough DNA to positively identify Bret Stiles, Ray Haffner and Tom McAllister in the wreckage but their remains were so charred they couldn't be identified any other way.
I don't know about you but unless I see an actual dead body on my screen I'm not trusting anyone's lab results. That's what The Mentalist has done to me. It's made me completely paranoid.
I couldn't blame Lisbon for letting her guard down around Bertram. When she saw those three dots on Smith's shoulder she assumed he was Red John. She's lucky that assumption didn't get her killed. We know it almost meant the end for Patrick Jane.
I was shocked when Bertram took the scalpel to Jane's throat but what was his plan? He would have had Jane's blood all over him. Perhaps he was going to act as though he stopped the perpetrator. Either way, he never got the chance.
Van Pelt did a great job of tracking down the doctor from Reede's past and Rigsby covered his reaction well when Jane told him over the phone not to trust anyone in law enforcement.
I was surprised that Cordero had no problem trying to kill the CBI agents but perhaps I shouldn't have been. He might have expected Tyger, Tyger to cover have his back.
But really, can anyone expect that anymore? Since Cordero was sent to kill Reede, it appears that Tiger, Tiger is more than willing to kill off its own members to protect the group.
The interrogation of the Officer didn't reveal much that we didn't already know but watching Jane work as a human lie detector is always fun. I had to smile when the man looked at Jane and told him, "Get out of my head."
After a pow wow with Lisbon, Jane realized that when Partridge told Lisbon "Tyger, Tyger" as he lay dying he was actually hoping she was a member, He was asking for help. That led to Cho heading out to find the man's body.
Lisbon: I'll have Cho track down the body but Partridge could be buried by now.
Jane: Well, have Cho bring a shovel.
Jane was so close to finding his answers that nothing was going to stop him, certainly not a little dirt. Thankfully it didn't come to that and Cho was able to find his body with the skin ripped off the man's shoulder. Definitely Tyger, Tyger at work.
That Cho let Detective Cordero get away was a bit surprising but I suppose the goal was to get Reede Smith back safely.
Reede's interview was illuminating. Off course he wanted immunity but Patrick quickly explained why that wasn't going to happen in this The Mentalist quote…
Get up off your ass and walk but hey, good luck getting out of the building before your friends catch up with you.
Jane
Reede Smith's story was innocuous enough. A back injury led to a pain medication addiction. But things spiraled out of control when it caused him to accidentally shoot and kill a 12-year-old girl. It should have meant the end of his career and prison time. Instead it led to The Blake Association. Tyger, Tyger burning bright. Someone must really like that poem.
There are certainly similarities to a tiger and Red John. They are both vicious in their kills yet stealthy enough that you probably won't see it coming until it's far too late.
The Blake Association could be 100s. It could be 1000s. We don't know for certain but we do know it includes Gail Bertram.
I was shocked that Jane told the media that Gail Bertram was Red John. Does he truly believe that he is or was it just a way to flush him out?
Bertram obviously has no qualms about getting blood on his hands and quite a lot of it considering what he did to that poor bartender.
The fake out at his aunt's house was kind of brilliant. There was so much chaos that he simply slipped out as another member of SWAT. I was half waiting for Jane to ask every one of them to remove their shirts on the spot.
And just as the CBI team was getting close, in strutted FBI Supervisory Agent Dennis Abbott from Austin, Texas. Unfortunately, I couldn't really blame the powers that be for sending him. The corruption within the CBI has made the organization completely untrustworthy.
But they took Jane's couch. They broke his favorite teacup! No good will come of this.
What does this mean for our CBI team? No one, including Lisbon believes that Jane's about to walk away.
Do you believe that Stiles, Haffner and McAllister are truly dead or could one of them still be pulling the strings? Is Gail Bertram actually Red John? I'd say he's got the arrogance and the capacity for horrific violence that could make it so. At this point nothing on The Mentalist would surprise me.
What about you?
C. Orlando was a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.
