The Mentalist: The Greybar Hotel (7x02)

Jane and Lisbon are killing me with cuteness. I love them so much I'm not quite sure what to do about it. Let's take a look at this episode.

To start, we see a couple arrive at a fancy party and try to commit a robbery. Cole gets away, but his girlfriend Marie is caught. She won't rat Cole out, so she's sent to prison. The FBI are interested in this whole thing because Cole is working with some international car smugglers, and they think some of these smugglers might have ties to terrorism. If they can get Marie to give up Cole's location, they can make progress in catching some really bad people.

In order to accomplish this, Lisbon goes undercover as an inmate, and she bunks with Marie. Lisbon manages to form a bond with Marie, who then lets slip some information about Cole. However, they are unable to find Cole based on these hints. Jane has another idea - what if Marie and Lisbon break out of prison? Then, Marie will lead them right to Cole!

The plan is put into place, and Lisbon and Marie escape. The FBI were supposed to follow them, but they lose the trail when the escaped prisoners switch cars. Things start to heat up when Cole shows up to get them at a gas station. He shoots the gas station employee several times, killing him, before taking Lisbon and Marie away to meet up with a helicopter that's going to get them out of the state. Jane arrives at the crime scene and realizes that Lisbon has been there. Despite Vega's protests, Jane runs off to get to Lisbon before backup can arrive.

A good thing, too - while Marie, Cole, and Lisbon are waiting for the helicopter to be ready for take off, one of the other men notices Lisbon eyeing a nearby gun. They suspect her of not being totally honest, and they decide they have to kill her to cover their tracks. Just before they can carry out this plan, Jane shows up and tells them that they've been caught by the FBI. They quickly realize that he's bluffing, and that nobody is with him. However, turns out Jane distracted them just long enough, as Abbott and the others show up to take Cole, Marie, etc. into custody.

Vega talks to Cho, saying that she wants to work more with him to study his methods. Things on this team are a little crazy, but Cho is methodical, and Vega likes that. Cho says he's not sure, but promises to think about it.

It looks like Cole coughed up all sorts of information about the smugglers he worked with, including the girlfriend of one of the smugglers. Turns out, to Jane's dismay, that it's Erica Flynn.

I really liked this episode. It went by super fast, so when it ended, I was actually surprised to see the whole hour had gone by. I think I really only have one problem: No Jane/Lisbon scene at the end! I wanted to see them hug at least! I mean, they went through a near-death experience! Yeesh. But that's more a personal hangup than an actual critique. I think this episode was very strong.

First of all, there was a lot of great humor. I loved the scene were Jane was giving advice to Lisbon about jail, and especially the adorable little moment where he said "I'll wait for you." Later, when Jane and Lisbon are talking during visiting hours, Jane has to abruptly change the conversation to avoid being overheard, and he starts going on a rant about gall bladders. That was precious. Wylie had a really funny moment too, when he became very concerned for the cat of one of the inmates. He hopes someone is feeding Taco the cat!

This episode was also very intense and scary. Of course, you know from the beginning that Marie and Cole are bad people, but you sort of don't realize how bad, until suddenly Cole is killing someone for no good reason, and Marie is laughing about it. It then becomes clear that Lisbon is in serious danger. Jane's worry for her was really palpable. Every time something goes wrong, you can just see him tense up and fight to keep down the panic. He runs in to a very dangerous situation with no real plan, because he can't bear to just let Lisbon die. So adorable.

Vega didn't get as much to do this week, but we're still developing her as a by-the-books sort of person. She's not resistant to Jane's methods exactly, but she is confused by them, and she wants to take comfort in the logic and forthright nature of Cho. I hope Cho lets down his guard a little bit and allows Vega to work with him. Cho hasn't had a partner since Rigsby, and I think he could benefit from having someone.

Abbott's subtle shipping of Jane/Lisbon continues to delight me. I love how he just knows exactly what's going on, and without making Jane or Lisbon feel uncomfortable, he makes sure that they know that he knows, and that he approves. Aww!

I'll leave off there. I'm excited about the return of Inara - I mean, uh, Erica Flynn. :) She was great on this show in the past, and I'm sure she'll be great again. In any case, I'm sure things will get interesting!

9/10