‘The Mentalist’ season 7, episode 4 review: Lisbon becomes the new Jane

After a few episodes that had a mixture of great and okay moments, Sunday night’s new “Mentalist” episode “Black Market” was to us a combination of great fun, but also some great heartache.

When it comes to the latter, we are specifically referring to Dennis Abbott, and the devastating news about his personal life. He realized that due to his past in Rio Bravo, he will end up hurting his wife’s ability to move up the ranks in the Cabinet. He tried to figure out the best way to ensure that she got the promotion without questions, and the best way for her to do that was to get a little bit of separation between the two.

Now, we turn to the fun: Watching Lisbon have to operate like Jane, who was sick and unable to do his duties, in order to solve a case. Anytime that she is out of her element is a great TV moment for us, mostly because we’ve learned that she is really quite good at almost everything. This entire story for her was fun, and through that closing conversation, we wonder almost if the end of the series will be Jane convincing her to take off somewhere, away from the FBI. If not, maybe that is a point of contention for them moving forward.

As for Cho and Vega, we are glad that he has something more to do on the show. Still, we cannot escape the feeling still that she reminds us very much of the character of Amy Santiago from “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” from the ambitious attitude to the ponytail.

Overall, an enjoyable hour of “The Mentalist.” It didn’t change the world, but it at least entertained on a night with little in the way of new programming. Grade: B.

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