Who has been watching CBS’s “The Mentalist” this season? If you haven’t, allow me to fill you in on television’s most intense and suspenseful who-done-it ever.
As loyal fans will know, our tragic hero, rockstar consultant to the California Bureau of Investigation and ex-psychic, Patrick Jane, is on the hunt for the infamous and elusive serial killer “Red John.”
Like all good detective productions, this villain leaves a calling card. Red John’s tell-tale sign is an ironically simple happy face painted in the blood of his most recent victim. Chilling, isn’t it? Red John now seems to delight in this sinister game of cat and mouse with Jane, who, even years (and seasons) later, is haunted by the grief of losing his family to Red John’s mocking smile.
But, let’s be honest, the real reason for the extra intensity this season is that we are closer than ever to catching Red John! At the start of the season, we, I mean Jane, had a list (direct from Red John himself!) of seven suspects, and now we are down to five. I told you RJ’s game was sinister. Really, it’s a numbers game at this point. And, every episode the producers seem to be killing off or otherwise absolutely eliminating another suspect.
So, clearly, Red John must be The Machine.
Right now you might be thinking, “But, Michelle, some kid calling the shots from his sleep-and-eats frat-castle messing with a local election isn’t the same as a top-rated, money-making, epic, dramatic portrayal of the human condition in its most vulnerable condition, is it?”
No, of course, it isn’t. The writers at CBS are much better at witty dialogue than a few glib words from a small-town backcountry lawyer.
But, really.
Each time Jane and I, or Jane and the audience (whatever), think we are getting closer to Red John, or even that moment at the end of the third season when we thought we were, I mean Jane, was face to face with RJ himself, it always, always, turns out to be an operative, or an operative of an operative, if we are early in the season.
In Sunday’s episode, the FBI got in on the action. Now, we all know that crime dramas center around territorial pissing contests between agencies, but, generally, we like to think of law enforcement as all on the same side. There must be good guys and bad guys, right? But not with RJ. He’s so clever that he’s infiltrated the FBI, Homeland Security and who knows what other kinds of administrations. He’s got orders so turned around and directives upside down that not even the poor sheriff knows where to turn.
See? Classic Machine politics.
Unfortunately for RJ, the season won’t last forever, and the commercials are billing this as our last weeks to watch in suspense as Jane finally gets the villain!
Until next Sunday, Tiger, Tiger.
Michelle Fuentes is a Ph.D. candidate in political theory.
