The Mentalist is a show I always watch, but don’t necessarily love. One of my favourite little undiscovered gems is a show from a few years ago called The Guardian, my introduction to Simon Baker (who I since realised I saw in LA Confidential as the Hollywood rent boy and as a charming aquaintance of Andi’s in The Devil Wears Prada.) I could spend a while talking about The Guardian and how much I loved the Nick/Lulu relationship on that show. Simon Baker proved to be a huge hit on The Mentalist as a totally charming ex-tv type psychic who helps Robin Tunney and the California Bureau of Investigation solve crimes. His Patrick Jane is a world away from the emotionally stunted Nick Fallin on The Guardian, a show that featured him and Wendy Moniz as two of the most beautiful smiles on tv!! While Baker went on to huge success on The Mentalist, Moniz got a small role on Damages and that’s about it. The TV industry only likes its women very young while men can be sexy no matter their age…
Anyway, I digress. One of the main storylines on The Mentalist is Patrick’s search for the serial killer Red John (definitely one of the lamest names for a super villain ever!) and this third season finale finally revealed him and his accomplice. The accomplice was a no brainer. As soon as Grace van Pelt’s FBI agent fiance gave her his mother’s necklace and they looked all lovely dovey preparing for their wedding I knew she was either going to die or he was the mole. Right – it was him! The double length episode ended with Patrick at a Shipping mall and I spotted Bradley Whitford sitting a few tables away. They had already said Red John would appear and he would be a name actor so mystery solved there too!
The Mentalist works mainly due to the appealing actors – chiefly Simon Baker, but the team have grown on me too. It is a pretty fun proceedural with nice little bits of show mythology (although I am still a bit confused about what happened to Teri Bauer, sorry, actress Leslie Hope as a psychic almost love interest for Patrick. Was she kidnapped and went doo lally? I needed to pay attention more I think..)
This was a pretty satisfying finale, with some really impressive acting from Baker as he is faced with his nemesis, and Whitford surprisingly creepy – he is usually a stand up kind of bloke. Definitely one of the show’s best episodes.
A few news round ups. VERY upset to head Lisa Edelstein is leaving House. I am a Huddy fan, and have moaned here about what they are doing with House the show and House the character. I liked them as a couple partly because it was some growth and development for House from just the irascible genius. Big shame that Edelstein could (presumably) agree terms as the network cuts costs.
Also sad news that Hellcats has been cancelled. I’ve raved over the super sweet Ashley Tisdale and hos I have enjoyed the musical numbers, but it was a pretty frothy show and the last few episodes have not been stand outs.
Also alarmed to read that Mariska Hargitay will be backing away from Law & Order SVU next year. She and her actor husband have just adopted a young child and I guess she wants to scale back a bit, but Olivia Benson is one of my all time favourite tv cops. SVU has had a mixed bag of episodes lately with some good but some over the top daft ones too.
It is finale season and the Castle one was a real departure in that it abandoned the usual light hearted crime solving for a big conspiracy story, a continuing one about Beckett’s mother’s murder. The ep killed off Captain Montgomery and ended with Beckett shot at his funeral while Castle told her he loved her. Big cliffhanger there in a fun but not terribly deep show (similar to The Mentalist in how I enjoy but don’t obsessively love it!)