REVIEW: The Mentalist – Episode 3.04 “Red Carpet Treatment”

This is amazing. At this point during seasons 1 and 2 of The Mentalist, I already found myself becoming very critical of many of the episodes. The things that initially kept me glued to the set during the previous seasons were no longer present and I had a hard time retaining a huge interest. I hate to sound like a broken record, but clearly the first two seasons of the show were very good practice runs. This current season just continues to kick butt in a major way.

Episode 4 aired last night and was entitled “Red Carpet Treatment”. Kudos, writers, for the consistency from episode to episode. After all of the brokenness and guilt that we watched Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) become immersed in regarding Kristina Frye last episode, no one was surprised to see last night’s episode open up with him looking a complete mess (as much of a mess as Simon Baker is able to look), lying on a couch with folders strewn across his chest. Mind you, Lisbon found him in this condition in the attic of the CBI building first thing in the morning, which suggests that he slept there.

This attic appears to be Jane’s new refuge. He is definitely isolating himself from the rest of his team this season, as Lisbon has already pointed out in previous episodes. When she wakes him up, she ignores his attempt to blow her off and outright says “Jane…as a friend, this does NOT look good”. Translation: “…dude just get some help, for the love of God!”

Lisbon and Jane meet the rest of the gang at a hotel room where a man named Henry Dahl has been found dead. Based on the responses of the CBI agents who look at dead bodies for a living, this guy must have looked especially gruesome. Agent Rigsby: “He took 10 rounds to the head.” Lisbon: “What head?” Yikes. Jane can’t even look at the body. In fact, Jane expresses that he has zero interest in clue hunting or fact finding at the moment because Henry Dahl was convicted of raping/murdering a woman nine years ago. (makes sense that Jane would be extra sensitive to this) His conviction was reversed due to DNA evidence. This fact does not weigh heavily on Jane’s conscious. Jane’s “…you woke me up for this?” directed at Lisbon makes that pretty clear. Jane walking out of the hotel room before they even finished investigating made it even clearer.

Upon heading back to the CBI van to take a snooze, Jane runs into talk show host, Karen Cross. When her attempt to get more info about the murder out of Jane falls flat, she waits until Jane closes the door of the CBI van with a yawn, and has her camera man get footage of Jane’s peaceful slumber. This was later broadcast on her talk show, to the disdain of CBI Director Bertram. How embarrassing!

So, Karen Cross is calling the shots initially. Van Pelt does some research on her, and finds out that Cross’s production company footed the bill for the victim’s hotel room, that he was ultimately found dead in. Turns out that Cross had invited him as a guest on her show. Van Pelt also discovers that Cross was actually a former state prosecutor with a 100% conviction record, and Dahl was one of those convictions. This seems familiar. Almost reminds me of a similarity to a certain female talk show host on CNN’s Headline News. That’s all I have to say about that.

One interesting scene to note includes Lisbon asking Van Pelt and Cho to go get a statement from a suspect which obviously gives Van Pelt the sads. Agent Rigsby notices, and tells Van Pelt that he’ll clear it with Lisbon so that he will go with Cho instead. Van Pelt looks so happy, and just as Rigsby is looking pleased as well for being able to bring her a little joy, Agent Chris O’Loughlin (Eric Winters) shows up to pick up Van Pelt for their lunch date! Ouch! IN YOUR FACE, RIGSBY! You may remember Agent O’Loughlin (Eric Winters, Brothers and Sisters) from last week when he ran into the side of the CBI van that Van Pelt and Rigsby were in. Looks like Van Pelt can get over you after all, Rigsby! Okay, enough about those two. Back to things that actually concern the overall plot and crux of the show as a whole.

Here’s where things get interesting. Henry Dahl was originally convicted of killing a woman named Jenny Winters. Jenny’s husband Max played a HUGE part of what made this an emotional episode as far as our beloved Jane is concerned. We begin to make the connection between the two men as the episode progresses. Jane begins to appear curious about this man who is now living with the knowledge that the slimeball who killed his wife was dead. We know Jane would kill (literally) for a taste of what this must feel like. He visits Max’s son at the Winters’ home, and later he even visits Max at a gun range! We know that Jane is deathly afraid of guns, so the gun range visit was somewhat comical.

Once Jane has it all figured out, he ultimately uses Cross’s talk show as a medium to get Max Winters to confess to killing Henry Dahl. Of course WHAT Jane does is never as interesting as HOW he does it. I can’t tell whether Jane is mocking Kristina or relishing the memory of her by handing everyone in the audience candles and pretending to use psychic powers to call on the soul of the murdered Henry Dahl to light the candle of his killer! The candle being held by Max Winters’ son is the one that goes aflame. As Jane knows in advance that he will, Max Winters rushes to his son’s aid and confesses his own guilt.

Then things take a twist. We find out later at the CBI that Max Winters did in fact shoot Henry Dahl in the face, but Winters says that Henry Dahl was already dead when Winter shot him! When Cho asked why he would shoot a man that was already dead nine times in the head, Winters’ response “…because he murdered my wife” got a couple of chills out of me. This is because my mind instantly went to Jane and the moment several seasons from now if and when he finally gets to make this same choice with Red John.

So, it turns out that a husband and wife that had been interrogated earlier by the CBI, had an alibi for the “shooting” of Henry Dahl, but did NOT have an alibi for his bludgeoning death, which is what occurred prior to Winters’ postmortem shooting of Dahl. The wife had an affair with Henry Dahl and her husband killed him. Simple as that. It just makes way too much sense. And, no, I honestly didn’t see that one coming.

The end of the episode affected me in a way that caught me off guard, though. Jane ran into Max Winters at CBI headquarters and delivered a present to Jane. Max asks Jane not to open it until Winters has left. Jane stares at Winters for a moment, and then Jane and Winters deliver the lines of the evening:

Jane: Was it worth it?
Max: Was what worth it?
Jane: The man that killed your wife no longer exists, the time you took pursuing him, the pain the sacrifice…was it worth it?
Max: (with no hesitation or thought) Yes, it was.

Talk about MAJOR chills. The episode ends with Jane back in his space in the CBI attic, opening Winters’ gift. It is a wooden box containing a brand new gun, that Jane picks up and holds without any sign of apprehension or fear. This left me speechless. We are witnessing a new Jane, my friends.

Again, SUPERB job writing team, cast, everyone involved. “Red Carpet Treatment” gets a rating of 3 1/2 out of 5 stars overall. This season should garner several awards when the time comes. I keep expecting the next episode to be the one where I go: Eh, this was wasn’t as good, but that hasn’t happened. You know why? It’s because they have us hooked now. Not only are we passively aware that Jane is completely consumed with seeking vengeance against Red John, but every episode is building on this theme in a subtle, heartfelt way.

My lines of the night:

CBI Director Bertram (after watching Karen Cross’s footage of Jane sleeping in the CBI van): It looks like he puked in the fishtank.
Lisbon: It kinda does, yeah.

Van Pelt: Before Cross joined Trial TV, she was a state prosecuter with a 102 violent felony convictions, no losses…guess who one of those convictions was?
Rigsby: Hello Dolly! (a play on Henry Dahl’s last name)
Cho: Don’t do that.

Jane: It’s like watching a symphony orchestra come together (and then you hear the strings instruments loudly going into the next musical sequence! Loved it!!).

Max Winters (at CBI after confessing to shooting Henry Dahl): I didn’t kill Henry Dahl, he was already dead.
Jane: That’s a development.

Agent Cho: If you knew Dahl was dead then why’d you shoot him 9 times?
Max Winters: Because he murdered my wife!

Be sure to catch The Mentalist Episode 5 entitled “Red Ponies” next week at the same time. Enjoy a preview of this episode!

Photo Cred: Greg Gayne/Warner Bros

Similar Posts:

• REVIEW: The Mentalist – Episode 3.08 ‘Ball of Fire’
• REVIEW: The Mentalist – ‘The Red Ponies’
• The Mentalist: Review of Season 3 Episode 2 – Cackle-Bladder Blood
• Gearing Up for The Mentalist season premiere this Thursday!
• The Mentalist: Review of Season 3 Episode 1 – Red Sky At Night

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