I'll be honest.  The advertising for The Mentalist didn't exactly inspire me.  I was initially under the impression that the show was a cross between The Dead Zone and Monk.  Also, the fact that he had been a fraud hinted at some essence of Psych too.  Boy was I wrong!


While the image of The Mentalist wasn't well defined by its commercials, for me, the first episode hammered home just who Patrick Jane (played by Simon Baker) really is.  The episode, simply called "Pilot," opens on the scene of a murder investigation.  Jane, who introduces himself as being with the police, slips into the house of the murdered girl's family and confronts her mother.  

It is clear to him after only a short few moments in her kitchen that her husband had been abusing their daughter and was responsible for her death.  Unfortunately, his words strike too close to home for the mother and she kills her husband with a revolver.  After the police rush in he says, "Honestly, it's not as bad as it looks."  That one scene pretty much sums up Jane's character right along with his relationship toward the people he works with.  What a way to open a new show!

This is the first we see of Jane's remarkable mental abilities.  Those skills, honed from years as a television psychic (his show is almost identical to the real-life "Crossing Over with John Edward"), are put to good use after a tragic event in his past turns his attentions to tracking down killers.  He works for the California Bureau of Investigation with a major case unit headed by Teresa Lisbon (played by Robin Tunney).  Their relationship ranges from icy to confusing, just the way TV audiences like it.

After the incident at the house, Jane is suspended by the powers that be, but he finds his way over to the next case on the team's list: a murder at another house, this time the work of Red John.  If you look over the episode list for the series you might notice a pattern:

• Red Hair and Silver Tape
• Red Tide
• Ladies in Red
• Red Brick and Ivy

That's right, "red" is the keyword for this show.  As it is revealed over the course of flashbacks throughout the episode, Patrick Jane pissed off the cereal killer, Red John, back while he was a fake psychic.  Out of retaliation, Jane's family was murdered, which marked the end of Jane's career on TV and the beginning of one in law enforcement.

Back to the case at hand, Jane follows Lisbon around until she allows him back on the case (or until he is able to convince her superiors that he is worthy, it is unclear).  Either way, he accompanies the team to the scene of the crime and almost immediately declares that Red John wasn't responsible.  He cites the location of the Red Smiley as evidence that it was a copycat killing.  The camera work for this scene was really stellar, in my opinion, as it gradually takes you from the victim's position, to her personal items, then to the bloody painting on the wall.

The episode begins to float through the normal steps of a crime drama.  They look first at the husband (who turns out to be gay) and then they interview the family shrink.  After a fruitless number of interviews, Red John pays a visit to Jane at his hotel with a little note and then runs out of sight.  Jane takes this encounter to once again indicate that the killer is an imposter as it doesn't fit the profile.

They begin to suspect the brother, but that turns out to be a side-story, not relevant to the case.  In the end, Jane's suspicions return to the family psychiatrist, who he lures into a cunning trap by implying that one of the victims kept a diary that he hid in his old office.  After pretending to leave, our mental detective returns to the office and finds the psychiatrist frantically searching through the office.  Jane corners him and the truth comes out that the female victim was incidental to the murder of the male victim.  The real motive was money and a misplaced sense of ego.

I don't want to go into too much detail about the ending.  Jane's house is a very dark shadow of his former life and as we discover the last bit of his history, the weight resting on his mind becomes very clear.  A pretty creepy ending where a triumphant "case closed" scene usually rests.

This is a less detailed synopsis than usual because you should really check this pilot out for yourself to get the full brunt of it.  I've only talked with a few others who have even seen The Mentalist, but all of them have agreed about the power and darkness in the first episode.  I'm excited about the rest of the season for sure!