The Mentalist: The Silver Briefcase (7x05)

Aww! Another adorable episode for Jane and Lisbon. I cannot get enough of these two. Let's jump right in.

The FBI and other officials are participating in a training exercise. Cho and Lisbon are kicking ass, beating a lot of the other teams at the exercises. While there, Jane and Lisbon meet a colonel. Jane thinks something is odd about this man, and when he finds out his wife was murdered several months ago, he wants to dig into the case. Abbott gives Jane and Lisbon permission to discreetly investigate, but he warns them that the colonel can't find out.

Jane and Lisbon investigate the crime, getting Cho, Wylie, and Vega to help along the way. They discover that the colonel must have killed his wife. Well, it was either him or his lover, a woman who Wylie discovers due to the type of decorations in her office. In the end, Jane and Lisbon force the colonel and this woman to confess in order to save themselves, bluffing that they have irrefutable evidence. The truth is left unclear as to which one of them actually stabbed the victim - they both insist it was the other.

Jane and Lisbon also continue to talk about the possibility of leaving the FBI. Lisbon says that this job is her life, but Jane thinks that they might both be happy doing something else, too. There also seems to be the beginnings of a romance between Vega and Wylie, which is cute.

I simply adored this episode. I don't really know that there's anything to gripe about. Maybe I can lodge another complaint about the lack of Jane and Lisbon kisses, but in all honesty, I'm okay that they're not sucking face in every episode. They're a sweet, chaste sort of couple, and I love them dearly.

I think my favorite part was when Lisbon and Jane pretended to be house hunting together. Lisbon got the biggest smile on her face when Jane said the world "girlfriend." What a beautiful thing. And then their crime-solving tactics inside the house were so wonderful. They worked off of each other so flawlessly. Lisbon was just as much a part of figuring out the answer as Jane was. They discovered the truth based off of Jane's intuition that something strange was going on, but also because of Lisbon's meticulous skills.

Wylie had a bigger part to play than he has in quite a while. He was the one who discovered the colonel's accomplice, and he also helped to find the discarded clothes which helped to solve the case. I was glad to see more of him. I'm also really intrigued by the possibility of a cute little romance between Wylie and Vega. Jane very subtly teases Vega about it, and Vega responds with a grin and a "stop it!" I think there's almost a brotherly vibe to the way that Jane sees Vega, which is also really cute. It's a shame that this is the last season, since there won't be time to properly develop these many relationships. Still, I have fun watching them in the meantime!

The case itself was a really interesting one. I feel like a broken record, but I love all of the cases where you kind of already know the answer, but you just need to figure out the pieces of how to get there. We're pretty sure from the very beginning that the colonel is guilty - what we don't know is the how and the why. With this particular episode, we got even more intrigue, because we don't know for sure what happened. The utter sociopathic behavior of the colonel and his mistress was actually pretty chilling. One of them stabbed an innocent woman, and was also willing to tell a blatant lie to get out of the worst of the punishment, throwing his or her partner under the bus. The best part is - we don't know which one of them did it!

Of course, Jane and Lisbon's conversation to close out the episode was also really sweet. Jane says he's happier than he's been in... well, she knows how long. Even as they might disagree about what the future holds, they both know they will be facing it together. It's so perfect. I can't even handle it. What cuties.

We're getting close to the half-way mark of this last season of The Mentalist. I think it's time for this show to take its bow, but I'm still really going to miss it!

9.5/10