The Mentalist: Sharp Smarts

USA TODAY recently ran an article stating that in 2009, seventeen hours of network television a week consist of procedurals. That’s a whole lot of cops and forensic people investigating dead bodies. It amounts to a whole lot of predictable and often tedious formula. I mean after all, how many different scenarios can writers come up with revolving around murder victims, cops and murder suspects?

I can’t watch any of the CSIs or Law & Orders any more, or Criminal Minds. But the procedural isn’t going away any time soon (if ever), and it can be an enjoyable and safe framework providing that the lead character(s) can rise above the inconsequentials of the disposable investigation-of-the-week. Life was the best example of this idea, but like most great shows, it was canceled to make room for America’s Next Top Gigolo. The only show now that even approaches the greatness of Life? CBS’s The Mentalist.

The show stars Simon Baker—a CBS veteran of The Guardian and the awful and short-lived Ray Liotta starrer Smith—as Patrick Jane, a freelancer with a haunted past working for the California Bureau of Investigation (no, that’s not a real agency). Throughout the first season, the show parceled out little windows into Jane’s backstory. He used to make a sleazy living pretending to be a psychic and manipulating people into throwing money at him by telling them what they wanted to hear. He had his own bogus tv show and loved the spotlight. His fatal mistake: openly mocking the serial killer Red John on his show. One night, he went home to find that Red John had viciously murdered his wife and young daughter out of spite.

As a result, he had a breakdown and had to be shipped off to a mental ward. But he got better and got out and worked some less-than-legal magic and managed to keep his breakdown off his records. His next step was to offer his skills as a mentalist to the CBI and help them solve murder investigations. He is basically employed as a private contractor, and the cops keep him around because he has a gift for reading people and setting mental traps. In other words, he may not be a cop, but he closes cases. But really, solving murders just gives him something to do. His real motive for joining the CBI? To catch Red John. And he states repeatedly when pressed that when he catches Red John, he will kill him and he will enjoy it. He cares more about catching and punishing and killing Red John more than he cares about his own life. He is obsessed. He is singularly focused on catching this guy and avenging his wife and daughter.

What makes Jane such a fascinating and fun character is that on the surface he’s all fun and games, a coolfire bad boy mischief-maker that always finds the levity in a situation and delights in playing with people. But underneath, he is driven by an intensely dark and violent mission. Baker simply exudes charisma, and CBS was wise to realize that they had a star with this guy. The Mentalist is built as a star vehicle for Baker, but Robin Tunney brings a lot of appeal as Teresa Lisbon, a senior CBI agent who is in charge of keeping Jane on a leash. Besides Jane, she oversees three other agents: Kimball Cho, Wayne Rigsby and Grace Van Pelt. She has a difficult past of her own, but in the show she manages to be the Good Cop to Jane’s bad boy while also preserving a sense of fun for her own.

The showrunners have wisely steered clear of developing any overt romantic sparks between Jane and Lisbon. Their relationship is too complex and too interesting to resort to any of that conventional crap. The rest of the cast is appealing, but it really boils down to Baker and Tunney. Yes, we have to deal with the murder-of-the-week all the time, but how Jane solves the crimes is refreshingly low-tech and fun. Here, crimes aren’t solved by forensic techno voodoo as much as by old-fashioned detective work and deductive logic. And seeing Jane always trying to piece together Red John’s clues gives the show a serial drive, as did Life. (I’m sorry I keep mentioning that show but I still haven’t gotten over it being canceled yet).

The characters keep evolving and the show keeps pushing forward. The second season, now half over, introduced Sam Bosco, an agent brought in to take charge of the Red John case and keep Jane away. Bosco provided a nice antagonistic dimension to the show. The season has progressed smoothly and evenly—no sophomore slump. In a sea of monotonous procedurals, The Mentalist stands out—quite an achievement.

Thursdays at 10/9c on CBS

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Photographs courtesy of CBS and Michael Ansell.