‘The Mentalist’ season 6, episode 18 review: Agent Pike makes Lisbon an offer
“The Mentalist” had itself another case Sunday night that brought the country-club universe into Patrick Jane’s jurisdiction, but let’s face it: How many of you are sitting around and talking about that? As much as we enjoy this show, the stories since Risgby and Van Pelt’s exit have been flat and completely forgettable.
The one major card that the show has left to deal right now is what is going on with Jane and Lisbon as a couple, and the story is starting to make progress in that direction … with the emphasis on the word “starting.” The truth here is that they could be going a heck of a lot faster if they wanted us to get some substantial movement before the finale. This is already episode 18, and there are only four episodes left after this one to address six years of slow-moving tension. You cannot have it go from zero to sixty; that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
But, we don’t want to completely rag on what they did in “Forest Green,” since there were some welcome steps in the right direction. You can see in some of the Jane / Lisbon scenes together that he is starting to figure it out, almost in a way that a guy realizes in a movie that the best friend character has been the right person for him the whole time, but he never figured it out before now. Robin Tunney and Simon Baker had some nice moments together in here, even if the closing scene was Pike asking Lisbon if she wanted to go to DC with him thanks to a new job offer.
That very thing is what makes us excited about the rest of “The Mentalist” after “Forest Green,” and it bumps up a grade past a C (which is what it would’ve gotten without some sort of stakes). When Jane hears this, he will be forced to really analyze some of what he feels. Otherwise, he runs the risk of losing her forever. Kudos to that sort of drama. Grade: B-.
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Photo: CBS
Em
April 23, 2014 @ 2:05 pm
I think Van Pelt’s and Rigsby’s story was told and concluded in them being happy outside of law-enforcement with their little family. I liked the fact that the writers did not kill them off, but gave them a send-off that wound up their story-line. Once you have a family and children your attitude to the “dangerous life” changes as you want to be there to see your children grow up with both parents. Good luck to them, in my opinion, they made the right choice.
As for Jane and Lisbon, there is still a lot of stories to tell. They are both complex characters with an unhappy past, his more so than hers.
Can he manage to move on? What does it take for him to talk about it all, take his ring off and have a life after all that has happened to him? I’d like to know how “the smartest man in the room” negotiates the rapids coming his way.
Lisbon has had a good man before and ran away from him (after getting engaged, I think?). Until she is married, there is hope ….
Connor Davey
April 21, 2014 @ 9:38 am
The cases of the week are important to the identity of this show, and I completely disagree that the stories have been flat since Rigsby and Van Pelt left. In fact, their last episode (6.15) was the point in which this reboot finally started to come together completely. Every ep since then has been great, cases AND ongoing plots.
(I’m not trying to link them leaving and the reboot working, I loved them and it’s a coincidence, it’s just an observation…)
Just my opinion of course, but it seems to be echoed by most fans as well.