The Mentalist: Little Yellow House (7x07)

What a precious episode! This is what I'm talking about! Let's just get right to it.

Lisbon receives the disturbing news that her brother Jimmy is wanted by the police in connection with a murder. Lisbon and Jane take time off work to try and track him down and see what's going on. They go back to Lisbon's hometown and meet up with one of Lisbon's other brothers, Stan. Turns out, Jimmy's business card was in the pocket of the victim because Jimmy had met him through a poker game. Jane figures out that the murderer must be one of the other players of this high-stakes poker game.

There are a couple of mis-directions in this episode, such as the fact that a man jumps Jane inside of Lisbon's old childhood home. At first Lisbon believes that it has something to do with Jimmy's money problems, but the truth comes out when we learn that Stan actually borrowed money from a loan shark and is in a lot of trouble.

Jane and Lisbon go under cover as a rich and irresponsible man and his hot girlfriend. Jane throws money around like it's nothing, and gets invited to the poker game. Vega and Wylie make sure to have the room rigged with hidden cameras and the like. While in the game, Jane identifies everybody's "tell," and then Lisbon plays her part, pretending to be a psychic who has sensed negative energy in the room and knows that one of the poker players murdered someone. She then ominously says that the murderer is the person with the ace. Turns out, all of the suspects have one of the aces, but only the murderer does his "tell" at this point.

The murderer has to go down the hall to use the restroom, because Vega and Wylie had planned it so the toilet would be broken. Cho accosts this man and tells him that they know he's a murderer. Back in the room, Jane "discovers" one of the hidden cameras and says that the suspect must have been having someone feed him cards, which is how he was winning so much. The rest of the players get really mad, and one of them, a mob boss, is livid. The suspect agrees to talk, mostly just to avoid being left to the justice of the criminals he was playing cards with.

Jane and Lisbon attend the christening of her brother Stan's newest child. Lisbon tells Jane that she loves him.

I guess my only complaint would be that in the case, I was a bit confused about a couple of the tricks, and I wish we could have seen the whole plan a little better. For example, how was information getting to Lisbon from the cameras? How did she know that they all had aces, and how did Jane arrange it like that? I know he was counting the cards, but did he stack the deck? Did we see him do that? Maybe this isn't really a complaint, and more of an admission that I'm not so good at figuring these kinds of things out. Maybe somebody else can tell me what I'm missing?

Mostly, I loved the case this week. I thought it was creative, and I continue to appreciate how different Jane is at the FBI from how he was in the early days at the CBI. He doesn't pull some kind of trick without telling anybody. He plans elaborate schemes that use every member of the team, and he doesn't keep anybody in the dark. And the plan was so creative! I think my favorite bit was Vega and Wylie posing as an entitled engaged couple looking for a room in the hotel. Very funny. I also liked Lisbon playing the psychic again. She's had to do that twice this season. I'm pretty sure Jane arranges it that way because he thinks it's cute!

I also loved seeing Lisbon with her brothers. There was something of a subplot winding its way through the episode. When they were all kids, Lisbon was sort of like the mother of her three younger brothers. When she got older, she left. She feels guilty, like she abandoned them, but in reality they don't blame her at all. They just miss her now that she's not around. She makes time to come and celebrate with Stan and his family, which seems to go some way in mending fences. I liked the way that Jane was insightful enough to understand all the complexities of the family situation, but that he basically just stayed out of it. He helped Lisbon to feel better without sticking his nose where it didn't belong. Go Jane!

Of course, I have to talk about that "I love you" moment at the end. I've said it before, I think, but I'll say it again: these two are just so cute that I almost don't mind the lack of kisses. They have this really sweet, simple love that is sort of lacking in the big passionate displays (barring Jane's original confession of course). They care about each other with the sort of familiarity born out of long friendship. I love the way they are playing their relationship. It's perfect.

I think that's really all I have to say. A fantastic episode! I'm so sad that we're nearing the end of this show, even if I think ultimately it's the right time to bow out.

9/10