‘The Mentalist’ season 6, episode 6 preview: Simon Baker vs. all the Red John suspects

For Simon Baker as an actor, we wonder what the feeling is like when doing scenes like the one below. You have been playing a man in Patrick Jane for over half a decade now who has been motivated primarily by one simple thing, and that is seeing the man responsible for destroying his life in Red John finally brought to justice. Now, we are closer than ever to actually making that moment happen. We have all of the suspects lined up, and we also know a valuable piece of information that will tie one of them to being the guilty party.

While the sneak peek below of Sunday’s “The Mentalist” may not be particularly long or satisfying, it does serve the purpose of showing that Jane is not going to pull punches with these five people. Almost immediately after they are all in the room together, he informs them that the reason that they have all been brought together is because one of them is Red John, and he is going to figure out who.

There are going to be times in the midst of this where Baker is forced to give an even more gut-wrenching performance than usual, since Jane will realize in this moment that he is closer than ever to finally getting justice. After so much suffering, would you imagine that you would be able to keep it together? He doesn’t trust anyone else seemingly with the evidence or knowledge that he has, and in some ways that is a shame. He is obviously far too close to the case to see everything as he otherwise should, and Lisbon is a trusted confidante who has shown time and time again that she can do the job.

But while the suspects are all together and the case will be closer than ever to being solved, we know already that the case will not be closed during “Fire and Brimstone.” Two weeks from Sunday, the end will be here during the November 17 installment titled “Red John,” and it is from here that Jane will be able to start to move forward … and hopefully start thinking about how he sees Lisbon as possibly more than a partner.

Photo: CBS