The Mentalist: The Golden Hammer (6x12)

I liked this one! It was sort of just your usual fare, but it was done in a cute way and I was entertained.

So, the plot is that a guy who was secretly working for the pentagon dies of a drug overdose, and people aren't sure if he was murdered or if it was suicide. Fischer wants to bring Jane in on this case, but he doesn't have high enough clearance. He is granted the clearance, to the displeasure of some of the higher ups. Jane discovers a newspaper at the victim's house with coded messages in it. In order to catch the killer, they need to catch whoever was working inside the company to sell secrets to foreign intelligence. The victim, Jane believes, discovered the traitor and was going to turn him or her in.

The bad guy ends up being the company's mousy female secretary, which I saw coming from a mile away, but even with the obvious twist, I still liked the case a lot. The character stuff was really good. Jane and Lisbon had some cute moments together on screen, particularly when they're sitting on the bench and Jane compliments her hat.

There was quite an intense subplot in this episode, which I found extremely strong. Osvaldo Ardilles contacts Lisbon, and the two of them have lunch. He thinks he's being followed, and that his phone has been bugged. Lisbon recommends Rigsby and Van Pelt. Ardilles goes to the two of them, and they take on his case. When Rigsby follows a GPS tracker to Ardilles' last known location, he finds his body, tied up to a chair. Van Pelt, meanwhile, discovers that Ardilles isn't the only one being bugged - they all are, including Jane, Lisbon, and a bunch of other old CBI and FBI people.

So, yeah. That's really intense. Let me talk briefly about the few not-so-good parts of this episode. Like I mentioned before, the identity of the murderer was obvious to me from practically the second she appeared on screen. I wish there could have been a bit more of a twist at the end. Also, I thought that Travis Schuldt, the actor who played the victim's brother, didn't do a very good job. I know him from his work on Scrubs, so I was surprised by his rather lackluster performance here.

But there were a lot more positives than negatives in this episode. I'm enjoying the continued development of Kim Fischer. I'm a bit worried that her characterization is very similar to Lisbon's at this point, but on the other hand I guess Lisbon can't be the only person in the world who's curious about Patrick Jane. Mostly, I love the hints of a friendship that are developing between Fischer and Lisbon.

As I mentioned before, lots of good Jane/Lisbon stuff in here. Another good moment was from the beginning of the episode, when Lisbon calls Jane "boss," and Jane immediately looks at her with concern and says "we're equals." I liked this moment because it shows how both of them are trying to adjust to their new roles in the FBI. Lisbon is no longer Jane's boss, or anyone's boss really, and it's not an easy transition for her. Jane did a good job of respecting this. Also, it was painfully obvious that Jane was jealous of Lisbon going on a date. He kept bringing it up and talking about it. So cute! I can't wait for these two love birds to finally get together.

Rigsby and Van Pelt! I sort of thought we were going to have to say goodbye to these two for good, and I'm happy to see that's not the case. What we learn at the end of this episode about everyone's phone being bugged... well, it's creepy, but I think it's just about the smartest thing this show could do right now. The last few FBI cases have been your typical procedural-cop-show type of thing. There's nothing wrong with that, but The Mentalist has always been strongest when it had an encompassing arc. I'm glad to see we have that again!

8.5/10