The Mentalist: Copper Bullet (7x09)

I apologize for my forthcoming brevity, but I'm going to have to power through this one rather quickly.

In this episode, we wrap up the story with Abbott, Bill Peterson, his wife, and the Rio Bravo incident. Basically, Peterson has a terrible grudge against Abbott because of the events of "Green Light" and he's ready to turn Abbott in for killing a man so many years before. Peterson actually goes to the site, has the grave dug up, and retrieves the bullets that Abbott used to kill the man. So, it's a race against the clock as Jane and the others attempt to find something incriminating on Peterson to stop him from turning in the evidence that will ruin Abbott's career and stop his wife from getting her big promotion.

Very quickly, everybody on the team gets involved. Cho wants to help, as do Wylie and Vega. At first, Cho tries to stop Vega from getting involved, but she insists. The plan is this: break into Peterson's house and find the money he has been hoarding there. They know he has illegal funds from somewhere because of his lifestyle and his income. They figure he's probably skimming money from drug raids and keeping it stored in his house.

Cho, Lisbon, and Jane all break into the house and look for the hidden money. Meanwhile, Vega is keeping eyes on Peterson. Peterson thinks that he's met with some people who can help him turn in evidence against Abbott, but in reality it's some of Jane's carny friends, helping him out. As Peterson gets ready to come home, Vega has to stall him by crashing into his car.

Jane, Lisbon, and Cho don't find the money, so they have Wylie bring in money from the FBI evidence lockers. He has to get Abbott's help to get the clearance. They manage to take pictures of the money inside the house and get out before Peterson comes home.

Abbott then confronts Peterson and shows him the pictures, proving that he has evidence against Peterson. Peterson says that it doesn't matter, because he's already turned in the proof of Abbott's own crimes. However, Peterson then learns to his horror that the whole thing was a setup, and he never talked to people who could help him, but rather just to Jane's friends.

Now that Abbott's wife will be getting her promotion, Abbott will be moving. He tells Cho that he'll be promoted to head the unit. At a lovely carnival party, Abbott and his wife thank everybody for all their help. Wylie and Vega share a dance, Cho basks in the news of his promotion, and Jane and Lisbon talk about what happened in last week's episode. Lisbon tells Jane that he can't be jealous of her love for her job, but Jane says that's not it at all: he's just afraid of losing her. Lisbon and Jane dance, and the episode closes out.

I have very few complaints, but there is one thing that's sort of irksome to me. That scene at the end between Jane and Lisbon was cute in theory, but I found myself getting just the tiniest bit annoyed at Lisbon's obliviousness. Did she seriously not understand why Jane did what he did? Of course it was because he was scared of losing her. What's all this weird crap about Jane being jealous of her job? That's just ridiculous.

But mostly, this episode was all about teamwork, and it was generally fantastic. After last week, when Jane betrayed Lisbon's trust, it was nice to see every member of the team coming together to save Abbott. Each one of them played a vital role, and they worked together so well.

Wylie was so adorable. He was so willing to follow Jane's lead no matter what it was. He was also willing to go to Abbott for a sketchy favor, which I thought was great. Vega, however, was probably the star of the show. Her determination to be part of the team was lovely to see, and I admired her so much for actually hitting Peterson's car! Way to be a bad ass! And of course Wylie and Vega are absolutely adorable. I'm glad that Vega is bringing Wylie out of his shell a little bit, and I'm glad that Wylie is helping Vega find her footing in her new job. They make a great team.

I loved seeing Jane's carny friends again! Pete and Samantha were both really helpful in the case, and they also both commented on Jane's new relationship. They both want what's best for him. I was so happy when Pete mentioned Jane's wedding ring. I think Jane knows that Angela would want him to be happy and move on, but I also understand how weird it would be for him to take the ring off. This show is a lot more serious about its main relationship than a lot of other shows of this type. Jane is a widower, for goodness' sake. That's not something you can brush off.

I really liked the actual case itself, if you can call it that. The best part was when they failed to find Peterson's money. I was getting more and more nervous for them, but it was really cool when Peterson fell for the bluff, thus proving that even if Jane didn't find it, Peterson did have illegal money.

Abbott and his wife are lovely characters, and I'm glad we got this little subplot about the two of them throughout the season. Also, to point out the obvious, I think it's delightful that as the black director of the unit leaves, a Korean-American man is taking the spot. Woo hoo for diversity on TV!

The conversation between Jane and Lisbon, even if Lisbon kind of annoyed me in it, was still an important moment. According to the very scary promo, we'll be digging into that more next week. Jane's fear of losing a loved one is about the most predictable thing in the world - of course he's scared of losing Lisbon! But how are they going to find balance in their relationship if he can't let Lisbon do her job? I can't wait to see what happens!

Only four more episodes left. This is going to hurt!

9/10