The Mentalist: Green Thumb (6x10)

The scheduling of The Mentalist this season is sort of weird. I mean, we take care of Red John in episode eight, then have two episodes set two years later, and now we go on hiatus for winter. It's just sort of... well, at first I was thinking that the hiatus should have come directly after the Red John conclusion, but upon reflection I actually think things worked out okay. This way, we get two episodes post-Red John to establish the formula for the rebooted show. Last week, we got Jane back to the states. In this episode, he went from being imprisoned to working for the FBI. Let's take a look!

So, the FBI are working on a case involving a missing computer programmer. They believe someone is going to ask ransom for him, but that hasn't happened yet. They need to bring Jane in on the case, but Jane refuses to help unless Lisbon works with him as well. The FBI brings Lisbon in, but she makes it clear that it's just for this one case. She doesn't want to uproot her new life. At one point on the case, Jane escapes the FBI and runs off. Although he later comes back, Libson is angry at Jane for vanishing again.

Jane figures out that the case is actually more personal than anything else - it doesn't have much to do with the man's job as a comupter programmer. The missing man's wife, a Romani Gypsy, has a psychic friend whom the missing man believes is sleeping with his wife. He kills the psychic. Then, it turns out one of the neighbors is involved in a gang, and he's been keeping the man hostage. They manage to rescue him, but of course he is in trouble for murdering his wife's psychic.

In the end, Jane plays a trick on the FBI, pretending that he knows more names from the Blake Association, and that he'll only talk if all of his demands are met. Lisbon is offered a job at the FBI, and she accepts, but she makes it clear to Jane that this is her choice, and she's doing it because her other job was boring, not because he expects her to.

So, as you can probably gather from the way I wrote that summary, the case wasn't the most interesting part. Actually, if I was going to be picky about it, I'd say that the plot of the case was rather disjointed and all over the place. You've got this sort of interesting thing going with the Romani woman and her psychic and all of that, and then suddenly the shifty neighbor is involved? The whole thing had no reason to be an FBI case after all, since it was really just a murder for petty jealousy reasons. I was never sure where they were going with everything, and it sort of fell apart.

Luckily, I'm more than willing to overlook the weakness of the case, because the character development was beautiful. First off we've got Cho, who despite his typical stoic attitude actually cracked a few smiles in this episode. You can tell he's really happy to have Jane back, and it warms the heart.

There are a few new characters gaining prominence. First off, we've got more Kim Fischer. I'm still not sure what to think about her... she could be interesting, but thus far she seems rather cliche, like she's just your average "I'm super tough and spunky" type of character. That's too bad, because The Mentalist usually has really unique characters, and they do a good job of staying away from the overused idea of a "strong independent woman" thing. Because think about it - Lisbon and Van Pelt are both really strong women, but they are nothing alike and they are very full and rich characters. I'm hoping we just haven't seen enough of this Kim character yet, and that she will fill out into a more developed character very soon.

There was also some kid working in the FBI named Wylie. He was adorable. I can see him being sort of like a baby Rigsby, teaming up with Cho and pestering him. I hope this character sticks around. Speaking of Rigsby... he and Van Pelt were very missed this week. I want them back.

To finish off, let's discuss the Lisbon and Jane stuff, because it really does need to be talked about. Jane, for most of this episode, acted like his usual self. He didn't fill people in on his plans, he pulled all sorts of tricks, and worst of all, he assumed that he could get away with all of that. Lisbon was quick to put him in his place. The scene on the airplane was really lovely - Lisbon basically said she was scared Jane was going to leave her again, and Jane sincerely apologized for that and promised to do better. My heart melted. It's also of extreme importance to note that Lisbon chooses to come to the FBI because it's a better career move for her - sure, Jane has a lot to do with that, because she really does value Jane in her life. But there's nothing sexist about her leaving her job to work with Jane again - keep in mind that Jane was willing to stay in jail if he couldn't work with Lisbon. They are both making sacrifices. In the end, Lisbon chooses to stay with Jane, but she also re-establishes their boundaries and tells him that he can't make choices for her.

The very last scene was extremely sweet. Lisbon, noticing Jane doesn't have socks with him in the detention cell, brings him some as a gift. He looks like a little kid on Christmas, and you can just see the joy and affection these two people feel for each other jump right out of the screen. It was a nice sweet way to bow out before the hiatus. Over all, this episode gave me all sorts of good impressions, and I'm very optimistic about the new direction the show is taking.

8.5/10