The Mentalist: Orange Blossom Ice Cream (7x03)

The cuteness continues to grow! Although I'm getting a bit annoyed that there hasn't been another Jane/Lisbon kiss. Let's jump right in.

So. The CIA wants the FBI's help in tracking down a group of criminals that might have plans to attack on US soil. There's one guy who has connections to this group, and his girlfriend happens to be Erica Flynn. Erica agrees to work with the police to apprehend her boyfriend, in exchange for her freedom, since she had escaped from prison and has been on the run for the past couple of years. Erica also has one other condition - she demands to work with Patrick Jane.

So, Jane and Lisbon go off to help Erica deceive her criminal boyfriend. Here's what will happen: Jane has to earn the trust of Jan, Erica's boyfriend. He will then give Jane a set of numbers that he will have to memorize. Jane will then give these numbers to a contact. Jane doesn't get to know what the numbers mean. The plan doesn't exactly go off without a hitch, as Jan has his men push Jane's head into a bathtub while reading off a bunch of words. Jane then has to repeat those words to Jan to prove he is capable of remembering. Lisbon is then pulled into the room - apparently Erica told Jan about Lisbon to "gain his trust." In any case, it's a close call, but Jane and Lisbon get out of the situation alright.

Jan gives Jane the numbers, and Jane turns around and gives them to Wylie. Cho suggests that they go meet with Jan's contact, since of course this man won't know what Jane's supposed to look like. Vega wants to go with Cho, so she lies and says Abbott gave the okay. They go to the meet, but things go wrong and Cho is forced to shoot the contact. Later, Cho learns that Vega lied about Abbott giving her his permission. Even though Vega did good work, Cho says that he can't trust her, and he won't be bringing her out in the field again.

Back in Beirut, Jane and Lisbon have dinner together and they talk about their past dalliances, but they agree that the past is in the past. Jane and Lisbon learn from the team back home that Jan's contact is dead. Jane has an idea about getting the cipher for the code inside of Jan's apartment. Erica helps Jane into the apartment. They are nearly caught by Jan, but Jane manages to get the book.

He is able to pass the information on to the FBI so they can crack the code. The FBI find the right address and find passport chips. Mystery solved.

Jan is arrested. Lisbon has a fight with Jane wherein she says that clearly there's still something going on between him and Erica. Turns out, though, this was just a fake fight: Jane gets Erica to fess up that she has the money that Jan was going to pay Jane with, inside the apartment. She has no plans of going back to the US and going into witness protection. Jane says that he's going to turn her into the real police, but Erica tazes Jane and runs out. Lisbon is waiting outside, and Erica is taken in to custody.

Jane and Lisbon have a romantic night up on the roof, watching fireworks and eating orange blossom ice cream together. Aww!

I must complain about the lack of Jane/Lisbon kisses. I want kisses, dammit! But in all honesty... there's not a lot to complain about here.

I did get a little bit irritated with the Vega stuff in this episode. I thought they were doing something really promising with her by not falling into cliches and showing her as a really mature and professional force, sort of as a counter to Jane. But her pointless little lie to Cho really put in wrench in that. And it doesn't even make sense! Would Abbott have said no if Vega had asked? I don't know! Why would he? Why didn't Vega just ask Abbott? That was a rather clumsy plot device, I felt.

So, that little subplot did have its problems, but I ultimately loved the main plot with Jane, Lisbon and Erica Flynn.

I'm so glad to see Morena Baccarin back to play Erica Flynn! She just kills it with the kinda creepy, kinda sexy attitude. I can see why Jane would be drawn to her, but at the same time she's just such a villain. The love-triangle aspect of this episode normally would have bothered me, but here it worked out so nicely. We see this mysterious, passionate woman from Jane's past reappear, and yet we can see how much happier Jane and Lisbon are together. The best moment was Jane and Lisbon's little "fight," which was so obviously a setup. Poor Erica is just totally oblivious. After everything they've been through, Jane and Lisbon are not breaking up.

They didn't have a kiss, but at least Jane and Lisbon did have a few adorable couple-moments! After their near miss with Jan, they held hands in the car! Aww! And there's this lovely moment of domesticity in the hotel, where Lisbon is walking around in her bathrobe and Jane is just lounging on the bed. And of course the scene on the roof... Lisbon in that dress, fireworks, ice cream... awwww! These two are just so perfect I can't even stand it.

I also liked the idea of this case. This show tends to do a lot of plot lines wherein it's not about discovering the bad guy, but about proving something that they already know. I guess it makes sense, since this show deals with the CBI/FBI instead of with a normal police department. In any case, I really like it, because it offers more creative possibilities.

I always love the fact that Jane isn't more of a bad ass than he needs to be. He's a genius, and that's really impressive, but he gets scared easily, and he's not afraid to come across as weak. In this episode, he makes several mistakes and looks very awkward on multiple occasions, but his intelligence still wins the day. Jane is definitely one of my favorite protagonists on TV today, right up there with Emma from Once Upon a Time and Claire from Outlander.

I think that's all I've got for this one. I really enjoyed this episode, and I think we can expect lots of further adorable-ness with our favorite couple very soon!

8.5/10