Friday, May 20, 2011

The Mentalist "Strawberries and Cream" Review

I want to start this review by saying one thing: MAJOR SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!  IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FINALE, DON'T READ THIS!!!! Now that that's out of the way...

      The Mentalist is my favorite of the CBS procedurals and as such last night episode was...well...shocking. Not just shocking. Shockingly good. Not that I didn't think that this episode was going to be bad, but, wow. Just wow. Jane killed Red John. Patrick Jane finally met the infamous Red John and shot him dead in the middle of the food court. And then got arrested. Maybe I should back up a bit.
      The episode opened with a supposed bank robber dentonating a bomb in front of a gas station. The CBI was called and Jane and Lisbon soon discovered that the "robber" was forced to steal the money and he was just trying to get help when a mysterious caller detonated the bomb. The episode that followed featured secret codes, locked vaults, Lisbon getting a bomb strapped to her (Which was surprisingly intense seeing as we knew Lisbon and Jane wouldn't die) and of course, the discovery that the whole thing tied back to Red John.
      See, Red John was trying to find Hightower (Who Jane helped disappear when it was believed she was Red John's mole in the CBI) by using a security list from the bank. Jane then used this chance to catch Red John once and for all. In one of the most well done bait-and-switch/whose-the-real-bad-guy moments, with Jane using La Roche's list to find which of the suspects was really Red John's mole. The hotel scene was very well done and the show almost had me believing that CBI boss Bertram was the mole, only to reveal it was Van Plet's fiance O' Laughlin. While, yes, this could be seen coming a mile away it was still really well done.
      And now for the ending. Most people would think that this would be stupid. I mean think about it. The closing scene was just two characters sitting in a food court talking to each other. That's really it. But for fans of the show, this was the biggest, most intense and shocking moment of The Mentalist, PERIOD. Bradley Whitford is exactly what I thought Red John would be. Ordinary, could-be-your-neighbor terrifying killer that would do some horrible things to a man like Jane. Jane and John's converstion was truely scary and intense, know that at any minute something was going to happen. And boy did something happen! After confirming that Red John was Red John, Jane shot and killed him. It was nice to see Jane actually kill Red John. There was no "I forgive you" or "I won't kill you, because I want to show I'm the better person." No. Jane said he would kill Red John when he met him. Jane met him. And he killed him. So the season ended with Jane getting arrested for the shooting.
      What's going to happen next season? Who knows? But I'm super excited for next year and personally out of all of the finales I've seen so far this week, The Mentalist's finale was easily the best so far. But we still have Supernatural and Glee to get through. See you later.

No comments:

Post a Comment