The Mentalist: There Will Be Blood (5x16)

This week's episode was pretty great, actually. I'm finding more and more often that with The Mentalist, the crime-of-the-week episodes fall flat, while the ones that advance the Red John plot are interesting. This show should definitely consider sticking to its existing mythology rather than giving us more of the same old crime stories. I think the reason that episodes like this work so well is that it gives these actors (especially Simon Baker) a chance to really shine.

This was not a flawless episode by any means, but it did have a lot of really great stuff going for it. I liked that we once again revisit Jane and Lisbon's continued dialogue about Red John and revenge and all that. You would think that this conversation would get old, but the actors do such a great job with it that I don't mind.

I also liked the reincorporation of Lorelei Martins. It was really disconcerting to see a woman that Jane has actually slept with torturing and murdering people. However, I love how this show never pulls its punches in terms of pushing the darkness of Jane's character to the edge. His dilemma in this week's episode was really fascinating to see, because it put him up against his need for vengeance in a very real way. I loved the bit where Lisbon told Jane that she was his partner, not Lorelei. It was also interesting to see Lisbon struggle with the idea of Jane and Lorelei having an attraction towards one another.

Let's see... not much else to say about this episode. Cho and Rigsby were hardly in it. The show's attempts to remind us about Van Pelt are just getting annoying - yeah, we get it, she's not there. When Rigsby got hurt, I was initially really excited about the possibilities that this contained, but it got brushed over. The bromance between Cho and Rigsby is nice and understated, but it would have been nice to see a hint of concern on his face when he found Rigsby in the wreck. Ah well. A minor nitpick I guess.

I liked that our episode ended with the death of Lorelei... somehow it ups the stakes even more for Jane. Here's another person with a real reason to get revenge, and she ends up dead. What if this happens to Jane? I appreciated that we get to see at least one person who was previously under Red John's thumb who breaks out of the delusion. Now it's time to get a real confrontation between Red John and Jane.

Here's hoping that they keep up the momentum next week.

9/10