‘The Mentalist’ season 6, episode 9 review: Who is Kim Fischer, really?

“The Mentalist” on Sunday night basically started out on a new path for Patrick Jane, and clearly one that feels different than anything that we have seen on the show so far. Gone is much of the grand drama and hoopla surrounding the Red John case, and in its place, we have a much simpler story that is really all about a man in Patrick Jane trying to find his path again. He no longer has that driving force courtesy of solving the Red John case, and so it only makes sense that the story would pick up with him spending the past two years or so in Latin America, hiding out after being wanted for homicide.

But what was interesting from here was watching how the entire episode felt almost like a pilot, since it was all about him making a decision to come back and (as predicted) work with the FBI in return for having his charges there dropped over the murder of Red John. It makes a little sense that a woman in Kim Fischer would actually be the catalyst for him making the decision to come back and work with Abbott and his team, even if we’re not that big of a fan of it.

The reason why we don’t like the Kim twist is because it was obvious to basically everyone other than Jane that she was a woman working on the inside with the FBI, who was there to ensure that he was convinced to come back and consult with that team. Remember that whole list of demands that Patrick made? None of that, at least according to Abbott, mattered now that he is back on American soil. He may not get a chance to work with Lisbon again, or really do much of anything. Jane’s refusal to sign the new deal means that he is basically stuck behind bars until he changes his mind and agrees.

There are parts of this new chapter of the show that we like, in particular that Jane has a little more of a spring to his step. But, we cannot shake the fact that this feels quite a bit like “Psych” meets “White Collar,” and we really don’t need any sort of love interest for him. Then again, we don’t really assume that Kim will be one anyway in the long-term. This was more about some sort of trick just to get him to move.

So while we’re skeptical that this part of the show could hold our interest without some sort of Jane / Lisbon story, we are at least willing to give it a few more chances. Tonight didn’t blow us away, but it was still entertaining. Grade: B-.

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Photo: CBS