Mentalist Finale Brown Shag Carpet-White Orchids Review

‘Brown Shag Carpet’

Synopsis

Following the events of ‘Byzantium’, the team is chasing a serial killer who’s obsessed with the after-life. That leads Jane (Baker) to pull his psychic act as a bait to lure their prey in. Meanwhile, this step in the limelight leads Jane to come to terms with life-changing decisions regarding his relation with his girlfriend Lisbon (Tunney).

Concise Verdict

This ending for Season 7 comes as a two-parter, like it was for S3 (‘Strawberry and Cream’) and S4 (with the diptych ‘Red Rover, Red Rover’/‘The Crimson Hat’). It doubles as the series finale and rivals ‘Blue Bird’, the other potential ending intended for the story, for the closure and the fulfilling emotional commitment both provide. A new door opens for Jane and he accepts at long last to grab a new chance at happiness. The storyline concludes on a cheerful and moving goodbye to faithful viewers from the home-coming wayward consultant and his extended family.

Detailed AKA Humungous Review (Spoilers Galore)

Right from the start, the episode is one for tests. After finding Gabriel’s body, when Lisbon asks Jane why the killer would care if he was a real psychic, Jane answers that “he wants one for some reason and Gabriel didn’t pass the test”. It echoes Jane’s own wanderings in the emotional turmoil represented by the wilderness, since it was a nod to Jesus being tested and tempted by the devil. This double episode is the final test for Jane: after crossing path with death in a way reminding of his previous failings, fate will determine the new path he’ll take from now on.

VIS#1: Jane shows his love nest cabin to Lisbon

The storyline opens with a random couple half-arguing about the possibility that the rumored serial killer –whose killings have been made public- may be sitting outside their house. They state that “serial killers don’t sit in cars, they lurk in the shadows”…. which is ironical, since the actual killer strikes when the husband goes out to check on the suspicious yet innocent bystander. The husband has put himself in danger by getting out, but it is his wife who is taken from inside the house. It draws a troubling parallel with Jane’s family, targeted in the security of their home… and the man finds the front door alarmingly open, just like Jane met his fate under the guise of a closed door. How not to be reminded that Jane fears for a repeat by having Lisbon taken from him too?

This frightening opening is in dire contrast with the cheerful serenity surrounding the isolated cabin that Jane bought and that he is eager to show to Lisbon… In response to the way he’d been drifting apart after the shock of Vega’s death, he tells his beloved: “it’s a little shack that I’m gonna renovate. Make some additions… We both knew things had to change: I couldn’t make you quit and I need something to do”. Lisbon is surprised and a little bit skeptical (“so you’re gonna build us a house…”), but the sudden decision has been building up for some time. Their increased intimacy is expressed by the endearing way he closes her eyes to surprise her and her playful question “did you buy me another horse?”, which is of course a cute reminder of the pony he gave her for her birthday when she was still his boss. Plus the fresh air he wants her to “breath in” to try and make her impressions as good as possible is a nod to his familiar love for nature (and her wariness in front of it): having a house in the middle of this kind of environment is implicitly his way to meet her in the middle, instead of making her leave in a long boat trip like he alluded to in the beginning of the season…

Yet, Lisbon’s lack of enthusiasm propels him to explain: “when I’m done, if nothing else, we have a place to live. It’s a start”. Indeed, it’s a start in more ways than one: it’s the first hint he’s given her that he’s ready to stay in a long-term commitment after freaking out, but it’s also a new start for him, given that it would be the first real home he’ll be allowing himself after the debacle at the Malibu house… He’s willing to prove himself to her again, not by talking about what’s in his head, but by showing her that he’s trying to progress and make amends… The fastest way to hint at his will to share her life and start anew is to build a house: like the teacup, the “shack” will be renovated as the visible sign of his mended self. And again, this action echoes the progress of their relationship as they’ve been playing with the idea of moving in together for a few episodes, like when they visited the killer’s house as potential buyers in ‘The Silver Briefcase’ or as hinted by Jane’s fascination with her childhood ‘Little Yellow House’…

An interesting point is that, if Jane’s ready to prove his commitment to Lisbon, it doesn’t involve staying where she wants him to be, though. When she asks him if he wants to quit the FBI, he answers “maybe, I don’t know. I haven’t decided yet”. In a way, it shows that he’s having a more adult reaction than the flying reflex that leaded him to take a break when he was emotionally distraught: he doesn’t have to have all the answers yet. He’s just showing that he’s willing to make the effort and to start thinking about what he wants from life instead of just conning his way out of difficulties or hiding behind his fears. And given the trouble he always had to let her know of his thinking process when it got too touchy, the fact that he’s understood how important it is to share this with the woman he chose as his companion is an indication that he’s grown as a person.

Lisbon is able to sense the progress, yet she’s also afraid that he might take off again without as much as a warning. She tells him that she’s “glad”, albeit understandably shocked by his new acquisition, but that she needs to make sure that he’s “committed to this, to us”, probably because she’s dealt with enough of his lies to know that his word may not be enough. In that line of logic, she dares to broach a subject she never mentioned before: “are you gonna take off your wedding ring? It just, it seems like you don’t want to let go of it…” When she sees his stress over the question, she backpedals “I understand why it’s difficult for you”, leading Jane to answer rather lamely “it’s just that I’m used to it”.

It’s interesting that Lisbon basically asked for that as a sign of commitment for him, whereas she never seemed to mind much the offending object binding him to another woman and another life. She’s been extremely understanding on this point, certainly due to her own history with this dark part of Jane’s life: as the leading officer on the investigation on his family’s murder for more than a decade, she’s also part of this past, even more so considering her nurturing nature and the concern that she felt towards the revengeful widower that she took under her wing. But it looks like having Jane give her the cold shoulder made her greedier, as it happened when Pike entered her life and Jane started hiding his jealousy. As soon as she could, she turned tables on him: before Michelle’s death, it’s been Jane pressuring her to change her life in order to protect her, while now she’s the one pressuring him into giving her more than he thinks he’s ready for… Like it was after his escapade in Vegas and the surge of feelings his two-year long hiatus provided, this last break was probably an eye opener for her. She wants something more instead of risking him not answering her calls again and she no longer feels afraid to demand it. In a way, it shows how much more secure she feels about herself and her relationship with her stubborn lover: after the debacle with Lorelei, she couldn’t bring herself to be straightforward with her feelings for him, just like she blew cold (the plane argument) and hot (the socks) on him when he got back from Venezuela, which lead to a misunderstanding on what she really wanted and Jane clinging to status quo. Now, after having admitted out loud that she loved him (‘Little Yellow House’) and what they had was good (‘Copper Bullet’), she has no claims in asking him to give her more too, in making their relationship progress. By asking him a token of his faith in them, she’s thus willing to back give her trust.

VIS#2: the plan to catch the serial killer

But Lisbon is not the only one getting bolder: the villain is too. Things get ugly when they’re called at a new crime scene: the serial killer they are after since the previous episode has made another victim, whose body he didn’t bother hiding this time. His “playful” display for the FBI to find is briefly enhanced by how the scene is shot from the dark tunnel towards the light; even though it gives the impression that the killer is creepily watching them, it also hints at Jane’s willingness to step out of the darkness and into the light. Plus, the association with the well known “light at the end of the tunnel” that some people have seen after near-death experiences brings forward the notion of death and resurrection, an important theme in the series (cf. the questions of psychics and the afterlife and the reference to Jesus Christ in ‘Byzantium’ for instance). In that same perspective, the difference in the killer’s ways gives them another clue. His pattern is roughly the same, yet since the body is not decayed, they can spot a puncture wound along with the usual missing fingernail: he’s been taking “a cup of blood” from his victim… This choice of words immediately links the murderer to a vampire. Wylie later presents the vampire theory as the most popular online, leading them to investigate a potential link with the occult; this connection is based on the murderer’s interest in Gabriel as a psychic and the fact that “he is stealing blood from a corpse; he’s got to be doing something weird with it”. Interestingly, the “vampire” aspect might also be a nod to Bret Stiles’ golden chalice filled with blood during the Visualize ceremony in ‘Fire and Brimstone’. Indeed, both the cult leader and the vampire use blood as a mean to gain immortality and/or resurrection: Bret promised “I will return” to his followers, while the vampire is an undead/immortal creature. Therefore, they hint at Jane’s fear of Lisbon dying and the Christian references involved with Jane’s wanderings in the wilderness, as well as the psychic angle used in the previous episode.

Back in the bullpen, they get another surprise in the person of Rick Tork, from the Santa Fe office. He’s going to help them on the case because they’re short-handed. Said Tork worked briefly with Jane and Cho in the SCU under the supervision of Ray Haffner in ‘Little Red Notebook’, when Lisbon was almost fired by Bertram. Tork’s memories from that time are far from good. Jane’s used his complex over his short stature to get him into a fight with a coworker in order to undermine Haffner’s new team: “he’ll never tell you what he’s up to; whatever he does, you’ll look like an idiot. And always keep your hand on your wallet”… It’s noteworthy that Tork is one of the rare secondary characters from the CBI era that doesn’t get killed off after crossing paths with the new team –unlike Ardiles, LaRoche and creepy Haibach. As such, he shows indirectly how Jane’s gotten more at peace with his past, because when he first met Tork he was trying to make up with Lisbon for the consequences of his restless actions, like he’s doing here… Both Tork and Jane get therefore an occasion to evaluate how much the consultant has changed, which is bound to give them closure. Before that, though, Jane gets his comeuppance when Tork suggests that they need to set a decoy psychic to lure their killer out. And that Jane should be the bait, of course. Jane is miffed by the idea and leaves the room (“Uh, not a psychic, dude”) and his team members get very protective of him because “the last time Jane tried something like that, it didn’t go well”. Tork only then remembers about “the wife and kid”.

Meanwhile, Lisbon follows Jane to offer some comfort. She doesn’t pry, because she knows it’s still a very sensitive topic, which hints that their couple is not yet over that part of Jane’s history. So, she only informs him that they got Gabriel’s autopsy report back: he had tiny tumors in the brain that caused seizures and delusions, which explains why he was so convinced that his gift was real. By satisfying Jane’s curiosity over the kid’s unexplainable sincerity when he tried to cold read him, Lisbon tries to reassure him by showing him that he was right again: “there’s no such thing as psychics”… It was his mantra to justify his conman ways that got his family killed, so it’s no wonder Lisbon chose this angle to offer support. When she broaches the hurtful topic again, she doesn’t mention Tork’s suggestion or which memories it brought to mind. Instead, she sidesteps by apologizing for having brought the ring up earlier at the cabin: she feels bad for pressuring him into moving on and Tork’s lack of sensibility has awakened this feeling of guilt. Jane simply tells her that he’s okay. Obviously, talking about his way of (not) dealing with the loss of family is not something Lisbon has dared to do sooner in their relationship; this makes one wonder about the status each of them gives to their love story, compared with his idealized married life with Angela.

On the other hand, this disagreement with Tork is also subtly oriented towards Jane’s future: the mention of how he provoked the demise of his loved ones echoes his fears of getting Lisbon killed on the job. Plus, when Tork was told about the investigation, a detail suggests something for Jane’s relationship with her: the buried first victims were killed “between two and nine months ago”. Nine months is the standard duration for a pregnancy. Again, life/birth and death are linked as it has been with the underlying concept of resurrection.

VIS#3: Jane’s psychic act

In spite of his reluctance, when a man is mistakenly killed by a frightened citizen, Jane is convinced that he should follow Tork’s plan to avoid more collateral victims of the panic over the serial killer. While Lisbon argues over his dangerous decision to risk the same fate as Gabriel in the hands of the murderer, Jane tells her: “I appreciate your spirited defense, but it’s not necessary”. The tables have turned, since he was before the one trying to stop his brave Teresa from playing the target… Plus the word “spirited” alludes indirectly to the psychic world Jane’s once again about to enter, another nod to the death/life theme coursing through the episode.

This aspect is discreetly hinted at when Jane is preparing to take part in a TV show. One of the news announced is that “according to state forestry officials, once the bear was tranquillized, he was relocated to a wilderness area”… The wildlife might be a nod to the RJ-related tiger, but it’s interesting that the anecdotic fate of that bear matches Jane’s: he too is more tranquil after coming to terms with his fears and he’s “relocated” himself to a “wilderness area” by buying his large cabin.

The TV show itself –with its dark red setting- is reminiscent of the act Jane pulled in the flashback from the pilot and which got his family killed. The anchorman alludes to it by mentioning Jane’s experience with shows (“oh, you’ve done this before? –Yep”) as well as the long-standing game metaphor, which was used to symbolize RJ’s interactions with the consultant: “all right, I’m gonna throw you a couple easy questions, we’ll have some fun, just keep the ball in the air”… The progression of the scene is in direct opposition with the pilot: back then, Jane showed his skills, then answered to the interview about his work with the police on RJ. Here, he’s first introduced as “a psychic who works with the FBI” –enhancing that he’s no longer a conman seeking glory and money, but part of law enforcement- then he’s asked to explain how he works: “what is a psychic? What is it you do?”

For a fleeting moment, Jane is throw back in the decisive moment of his past, looking straight at the camera with an anguished music playing. This moment reminds of his tormented performances in Karen Cross’ shows, both in ‘Red Carpet Treatment’ (another “carpet” episode where his forced to live again that fateful first interview about RJ) and ‘Blinking Red Light’ (where his drastic choice concerning Panzer lead him to his first serious occasion to approach the man… and where his staring at the camera was equally, if more sinisterly, significant). Then he comes back to the far brighter-present and starts cold-reading the host, telling Dan “your wife… just had a baby… a girl, I believe”. The choice of this particular point regarding Dan is interesting: of course, a personal and emotionally charged detail has more impact on the mark and the audience, but this description of Dan’s family situation, being the happy father of a daughter, matches the one Jane lost when he did the same interview years before. Moreover, it also hints for the second time at the presence of a baby… Jane adds about the baby girl “her name begins with a vowel, “a”…, “Alexan” “A… Alexa” right?” It echoes the encounter he had before entering the wilderness: when he was away from Lisbon in the previous episode, he guessed that the kind bartender’s name started with an “a” too. His first guess was “Angela”, his late wife’s first name, while, now, he’s got enough distance to choose another one. The fact that he accepted to start facing his fears and his grief at long last shows that he’s really moving on instead on hiding emotionally like he’s been doing for years. It’s the last step of letting go: he’s finally able to give his “congratulations” to a happy father instead of chasing guilty parents as he’s been doing since the very first case in the pilot with the abusive father.

Jane’s credibility as a psychic is further set up with another interview, in the afternoon this time. He’s facing two women who are hanging on his lips. He tells to one of them “your aunt passed away about a year ago”. It echoes his performance with a member of the audience with a deceased loved one in the interview from the flashback. Yet, back then, he told the woman that her father asked her “to forgive him”, that he was “deeply sorry”, whereas now this soul he’s supposed to be talking to doesn’t seek redemption: “she used to help people” and “she really wants you to be happy because she loves you very much”. Basically, he’s telling her what he feels like his own family would be hoping for him: that’s what his hallucinated ghost Charlotte meant to tell him and what his carnie friends/family insisted on in ‘Copper Bullet’. That also represents that he’s made peace and finally mourned them in the process of moving on.

Those TV appearances therefore contrast with the badmouthing he did against RJ in the past. Now, he’s not seen “slaughtering” another killer “in the media”, but he’s showing his skills peacefully, he’s accepted this part of him and the past it entails. Before, it just caused death –his family’s, Panzer’s, even Kristina Fry ended up in a half-death after following the same path-, yet now he does it in order to save lives. He’s putting himself at risk to protect others instead of acting in the name of greed or of a vengeful and somewhat selfish hidden agenda. That’s why the interviews follow the course of a day: he starts with Dan in ‘Austin Today’, probably in the morning; he’s in the afternoon edition later and finishes in a “Night Talk” on the radio: these interviews follow the steps of his career at the CBI. ‘Austin Today’ reminds of the pilot and a little bit of his performance to catch a shady anchorman in ‘If It Bleeds, It Leads’ in the Volker arc. The two female journalists remind of Karen Cross and the radio show is a nod to ‘Red Velvet Cupcakes’. All in all, in the course of a day, he’s experiencing again the same situations, but with a new goal and a new peace of mind which symbolizes again that he’s finished his grieving process.

The radio interview is undoubtedly the most telling. First, Jane states his position as part of a team: like he’s been doing for years, he explains that he’s not a cop. Still, unlike his previous insistence about not being “above or below” of Lisbon or the other agents, but “on the side”, now he just tells much more humbly “I’m not a detective, I don’t do police work. I’m just trying to help my colleagues understand this man”. The contrast is great with his attention-seeking behavior in the TV show from the pilot… The difference is made even more blatant when Jane describes “cautiously” the serial killer –instead of pretending to force himself to look into the “terrible cold, dark flame” of “true demonic evil” like he did back then when he used to lay it on thick with the mystical aspect of his persona… He says “I would say that he’s obviously angry, probably in a lot of pain, but I think he’s trying to get in touch with someone from the other side”, because “who isn’t?” He doesn’t insult his prey this time, there’s no “ugly, tormented little man”. He only describes the emotional state of the man, who’s “angry”, “in pain” and seeking comfort from a dead loved one: it’s a far more understanding point of view than the “lonely soul, sad, very sad” that he used for RJ. Of course, it’s intended as a bait to lure the psychic seeking murderer to him, so it makes sense Jane is subtler and kinder in his reading, even more so when his past arrogance cost him so much. Yet at the same time, it shows that Jane himself has become less angry and thus less confronting: he’s more mature than he used to be.

When Jane begins taking calls, the first woman to talk to him is an “Anna Marie” whose names come from the Bible: Mary/Marie is Jesus’ mother while Ann is her own mother, which entwines the baby/family aspect with the story of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, Anna in the Old Testament is also the name of a prophetess who spoke as the redemption brought by the child to come. But of course, the caller who’s most interesting and loaded with Biblical meaning is Lazarus who “rose from the dead” as one of Jesus’ performed miracles: his name can be linked to the notion of avoiding death, just like the vampire, which already hints at the secret motives behind the killings… The mysterious man dives straight into questioning Jane’s knowledge about “the man the FBI is hunting”, in complete contrast with the previous callers’ more personal worries. When Jane starts asking questions himself about what the man might know, the other simply remarks “you’re the one who knows everything”, because “you claim to be in contact with his spirit”… Underneath the slightly ironic phrasing –given that Jane has already guessed that he’s talking with the killer-, the man can’t mask his very real interest in Jane’s supposed gift. That is meaningful, because it reminds of how Jane’s comments on RJ lead the late serial killer to make contact too, in a most gruesome way. Plus RJ’s first direct contact with vengeful Jane was also by phone: he called after killing off Renfrew/Jane’s first real lead to taunt him with his laugh in ‘Red John’s Friends’.

Jane further tests the waters by making Lazarus admit that he spoke to another psychic before: “he was a complete fake. You could practically see it written on him”. This comment is obviously dark humor: it’s a way to hint that he was the one who killed Gabriel and who “wrote” the word “fake” on his corpse… In a way, Gabriel thus reaped the same consequences than Jane did when he provoked RJ: he was labeled as fake (echoing the sarcastic letter RJ left pinned on the bedroom door) and his career ended in bloodshed… which in turn means that Jane might avoid following the same path since Lazarus wants to believe in his abilities. Unlike RJ who wanted to set himself as god or at least who presented himself as sent by him, playing on Blake references, Lazarus believes “in spirits very much, just not everybody who claims to be in touch with them”. Jane’s therefore been given a chance to put things to right. He’s rewriting his past with RJ, this time avoiding making the same mistakes, in order to gain a different ending. He’s literally facing the past that been plaguing him for years and he’s finally fully ready to deal with it, hence his statement that nobody haunts him when Lazarus asks him: even though the man remarks “there must be spirits in your life”, Jane answers “fortunately, they leave me alone”. He’s spelling out that he’s finished mourning, in case the many hints were not clear enough.

However, Jane’s strength of mind is tested when the new woman in his life is in danger, just like Angela was: Lisbon is coming back at his place and asks over the phone “did you leave the door of the Airstream open this morning?” This moment ends the long string of phone calls between them when he was afraid to have her get killed ever since S1 ‘Redwood’ (‘Strawberry and Cream’, ‘Red All Over’, ‘The Desert Rose’ for instance). It also happens to be the first phone conversation they have since he stopped ignoring her calls: he had felt the need to get away from the FBI for fear of what danger might befall her, while now he’s presented with the very same possibility that he did try to run away from. Unlike with Angela, here he can stand by Lisbon instead of letting her face danger alone; when she opens the door in the same way that he was about to open that fateful bedroom door years ago, he tells her “okay, stop, don’t go anywhere near it, don’t do anything until someone gets there”. He insists “you’re not hanging up”. Yet, like it was with the couple in the opening of the episode, it’s the apparently safest one who’s actually in danger: the killer has set his eyes on Jane. Lazarus crashes his car against the one the consultant is in. It’s what Michelle did with their suspect in ‘Copper Bullet’: the scent of death is looming closer over him. Jane’s kidnapped like he was during his ordeal with Kirkland (‘Red Listed’) and the scene has also shades of his risky encounter with Lorelei in the limo in ‘The Crimson Hat’.

Later, the team makes plans to get him back and orders are given. Interestingly, one of the agents who’s given a specific task is called Elias. This is another version of prophet Elijah’s name, whom John the Baptist –who used to preach in that wilderness that brought peace to Jane- was compared to when he announced the Day of Judgment and that the Messiah was coming… It also symbolizes how Jane is getting over his fears about death by getting committed to a new life. Nonetheless, Elias has a different attitude towards sin than Jesus: while the latter forgives the sinner, Elias is more willing to call the fire of a vengeful justice on the Samaritan who doesn’t respect him enough to be a good host (Luke, 9, 51-56). It foreshadows Jane’s own behavior towards the bad “host” that made him captive and threatens to kill him… Last amusing point: Elias is also known for having resurrected people as a miracle (King 4, 35; 17, 17-24), which again hints at the thing Lazarus is after…

The second agent mentioned by name is trickier: Merrick might or might not allude to Joseph Merrick, better known as the ‘Elephant Man’, a man whose physical deformities lead him to be exhibited in 19th century fairs. If this name is more than a simple coincidence, it might allude both to Jane’s past carny life and to his efforts to become human again –an important theme of the 1980 movie based on Merrick and directed by David Lynch: indeed, in ‘Blue Bird’, he admitted to a scornful Lisbon that he’d “forgotten how to act like a normal human being”. Now, he’s trying to go further into this form of redemption by accepting both his past and future. By forgiving himself, he’s willing to commit himself to her fully.

VIS#4: Jane and Lazarus

While Abbott is telling Lisbon how sorry he is not to have listened to her misgivings concerning this dangerous plan, Jane is held captive in Lazarus’ den. His position, tied up on a chair, reminds of all the other occurrences when he’s been kidnapped and at the mercy of a dangerous criminal (with Kirkland; when he was saved by RJ in S2 ‘Red Sky in the Morning’; in S2 ‘Bleeding Heart’). He’s forced to buy some time, study his abductor and use his wits to get out of the situation, in the vein of S3 ‘Ball of Fire’. Thus, he’s observing intensely his surroundings. He remarks “interesting place. Could do with a little update”: the decoration of the room, including the brown shag carpet, is indeed pretty old fashioned. It’s like it’s been frozen in time, without Lazarus making any change, like an echo of Jane’s empty house in Malibu used to be, with the bedroom containing only a mattress and the dreadful smiley face: Lazarus too is too caught up in his history to move on. The situation enlightens his character and way of life, because it reminds of RJ’s career in crime – a parallel enhanced by him asking Jane if he’s a liar like Gabriel was, then telling him to prove that he isn’t. It also makes him a bit similar to Jane who used to reach for darkness out of distress. Plus, the consultant stays intriguingly true to his word with the man during their talk; he said “I’m not lying” and he keeps indeed telling the truth, explaining that he doesn’t know that Lazarus has kept the room unchanged since his father’s days because of a spirit but because of the outdated furniture…

The similarities are developed when Jane cold reads Lazarus. His mother died when he was very young and he was raised by his father. As far as viewers know, that probably matches Jane’s own carny childhood even as he adds that Lazarus’ father was “strict”, mirroring how Jane’s abusive father tried to make him a conman… This detail is even more interesting since it also corresponds with what Jane deduced from Vega’s father: fatherhood has been particularly stressed on recently and those three examples give a different perspective on what those dads taught to their children. Vega’s father used to be loyal and tried to raise Vega in the respect of rules; as an adult, she had to learn how to bend them in order to become her own woman… On the other hand, Jane’s dad had taught his son how to live in the margin of society, but the consequences that befell him lead Jane to change and become less selfish and more moral, even if he doesn’t always follow the letter of the law. On the contrary, Lazarus has apparently not reached the point where he chose to make his own choices: he’s still completely under the influence of what he’s been raised to be, which proves to be very dark in his case… As such, Lazarus is the inverted reflection of what Jane could have become had he not decided to use his free will for the better. Indeed, Jane insists that Lazarus now feels that he “deserved it”: “he was right to punish you”. Again, Jane’s telling the truth: he doesn’t play the psychic yet, he just says “It’s what I’m getting from you”. This odd honesty hints that Jane’s no longer a conman: he’s seeking justice instead.

But the consultant keeps talking and progressively puts up his best performance in getting in someone’s head: “you didn’t have any friends when you were a kid. You usually ate alone, not because people wouldn’t sit with you, but because you were disgusted by the sounds they made when they ate. Sometimes, other people don’t feel real to you: they’re like robots wearing human skin.” He adds “you’re an exterminator. Yet, again, it doesn’t feel real. It’s like a movie being projected on a screen”. This “impressive” and eerily intimate description of Lazarus’ misophonia and more especially his generally distanced state of mind might be based on something that Jane could spot in the room. Even though the titles on the shelves are too small to read, one can wonder if there could be some classic science fictions novels featuring human-looking robots like ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ by Philipp K. Dick, some of Isaac Asimov’s works or even an old copy of the 1984 movie ‘The Terminator’ (the man’s work as an “ex-terminator” might be a nod). It would fit since this movie’s storyline involves an (still unborn) character who’s destined to be the savior of humanity; two possible futures await this futuristic Messiah: either his mother is killed by an human-skinned android before he’s born, or he’s saved by his father, two options that respectively hint at Lazarus’ disgust with humans and his motivations. Anyway, Jane is perceptive enough to understand the man’s detachment and loneliness; in a way, it matches Jane’s own isolation in middle of the mind games he used to play on others, before he decided to open up and let Lisbon in. Then he too probably used to see other people as somewhat different from him, given that he was the smartest in the room and others were just marks… The way he also used someone else’s story- instead of a science-fiction based metaphor- to avoid telling the truth to Dr Wagner in the pilot might have hinted at the same avoidance of reality he was tempted to hide behind.

In spite of being already half-convinced that Jane has a gift, Lazarus isn’t much into introspection and he doesn’t lose sight of his real goal for targeting him: “I don’t need to know about me: I want contact with another”. He insists to a skeptic Jane that “the spirit is here, if you don’t know that, then you’re a fraud”, “just like the other one”, “a liar and a cheat”. His obsessive eagerness is of course Jane’s clue fort snooping some more: the resourceful consultant understands that the answer to his plight is “here”, inside the place instead of inside the man’s head… Therefore, when Lazarus goes out, Jane accepts the water bottle that he was offered earlier. In addition of earning a tiny little bit of the man’s trust by asking for a small favor, like he advised Lisbon to do in ‘The Greybar Hotel’, the bottle cap can be used as a tool to pull a nail off the table. This clever way to get his freedom of movement ties back to two aspects previously hinted at in the earlier seasons. First, there’s the idea that he’s been locked down in his self-imposed obsession for years, just like he’s about to discover that Lazarus is too. Then the hammer concept was linked to his relationship with Lisbon. Back in the previous season, that tool suggested that his tendency to take her for granted by simply keeping her occupied with “nailing” bad guys, for instance in ‘The Golden Hammer’, was about to smash his chance at happiness to bits; now, the fact that he can take the nail off without an actual tool might symbolize that he has managed to get over this propensity, by listening to her wishes and trying to play more by her rules. Again, it may be an indirect sign that he’s made progress in many (if not every) aspects of his personality.

It enlightens even more clearly how Lazarus mirrors Jane’s past attitude, like RJ tended to do, only this time the emphasis is on the differences rather than the similarities. Lazarus has obviously lost someone dear and is at a different point in his mourning process (in addition to living in isolation, he shows signs of anger, denial and a willingness to bargain to bring the spirit back), whereas Jane has reached acceptance and he’s thus freed from the nastier and more destructive parts of his grieving. This is why the book he looks at in the shelf is accurately titled “Full Circle”: seeing the state Lazarus has put himself in by refusing to accept death, Jane can fully distance himself from his part of his life. By facing a situation rather comparable to the one he lived through, involving the danger of becoming a monster himself that was always lingering at the corner of his long-standing fight against RJ, he can let go of the last shreds of this phase: he’s able to gain more objectivity and detachment towards himself by studying Lazarus. Especially when he sees the length of Lazarus’ insanity: the man is keeping the two years old desiccated body of his father in a little storage area on the side of the room Jane is locked in, just like the serial killer in Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’. That was what the man hinted at when he said that “the spirit is here”. It’s also the hidden reason for the choice of “Lazarus” as his own nickname since he wants to bring the dead man back to life and he identifies with him, albeit in a smaller scale than ‘Psycho’ character Norman Bates. This is further hinted by the name “Joe” that he shares with his father “big Joe”, not to mention that it starts with the same letter as (Red) John…
When the younger Joe comes back, Jane ups his psychic act, prompted by the various bits of new knowledge he collected. He tells him that his father “says thank you for keeping him, for taking care of him. The passing over was hard, but now he’s good. His back doesn’t hurt anymore, he feels better now than he ever did when Dr Hannigan was feeding him his meds”. The words echo what Gabriel told Wylie about Vega’s spirit which wanted him to stop feeling sad over her death. Also, interestingly, big Joe’s doctor shares his name with the rough agent who first told Jane to move on by starting a new family when he met Lisbon in ‘Red Dawn’: past and future are again connected. The time she took him in is thus linked to the new start he’s willing to take now. To put Lazarus’s alleged “doubts” to rest, Jane also tells him about “a lake” called “Pickasee” and that “he didn’t catch a fish that day”, but “you caught a fish, a small one”. This reminds of course of the recurring fishing theme representing the struggle with RJ.
Lazarus then explains why he’s keeping the mummified corpse: “there’s something in me… A voice… And when it starts, I can’t ignore it… I can’t think about anything else until I go out, find someone… And then it goes away again. For a while. Is that your voice, Daddy? Is that you in me? Are you sending me out? Am I doing this for you?” Like Bates in ‘Psycho’, Joe is convinced that the serial killer part of himself is actually his dad, like he lacks so much substance himself that he’s only a receptacle to the older man’s will, because as Jane put it earlier he thinks that he deserves it. He’s again distancing himself from the world around him: himself, the “robots” that he kills and those disturbing and obsessive impulses that plague his mind. He still lives in a nightmarish dream world focused on his father.

Plus, that idea that he’s sent out to kill for his father reminds of how Jane’s been implicitly compared to Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Joe’s killing rampage is brought by a “voice” that he believes to be his dad, just like the prince of Denmark was convinced to set up a murderous revenge plan by his father’s ghost, a notion used for Jane’s quest in ‘Something Rotten in Redmund’. Again, it’s a situation that Jane has gotten over with and that he managed to turn into a happy ending instead of the tragedy Joe is heading to. Lazarus then appears as a counter-model: by looking into the abyss, or rather here by listening to its darkest advices, he has been tainted. His nickname instead of being linked to the biblical idea of light and resurrection as it should, only indicates that he’s already dead inside, because evil has made him a monster too by staring for too long into the Death’s eyes. Hence the concept of haunting spirits, of undead vampires-like creatures attached to his acts. It makes him in complete opposition with Jane, whose introspective wanderings have been conductive to embrace his own mortality in order to start living again. Ironically, Jane’s taken the better part of his close encounter with death and murder: instead of following RJ’s steps through hell, he’s chosen to listen to Carter’s sarcastic and hurtful words of letting go of his pain and start anew, at the very end of ‘Strawberry and Cream’.

This contrast is also intriguing in the way both grieving men managed to handle their fate. Joe doesn’t really have answers to explain his killings, he’s full of questions, which reminds of Jane’s refusal to ask anything of RJ. Yet Jane asks him his reasons and even though he only gets an enigmatic answer from Joe and even if he doesn’t press any further (it doesn’t really matter if he’s suffering from a really bad case of undiagnosed schizophrenia or some other mental disorder), the fact remains that this time Patrick’s mind is clear and devoid of passion enough to act as an investigator instead of out of revenge like he did before. This could explain why Jane chose not to lie to him outright, but to just give an artfully presented version of the truth.

That doesn’t stop him though for trying to put an abrupt stop to Lazarus’ career by setting a mortal trap of gum on the unscrewed light bulb once he’s left alone for an hour. Jane still believes that he’s got the right to play vigilante and the fact that the guy took him as a prisoner doesn’t make him question his desire to bring justice onto his head. When his kidnapper comes back, Jane tells him “if you want answers, they’re in that room. You can go in or not. It’s up to you” This time, it’s Joe’s turn to be standing in front of a door with a dead body behind: the step he’ll choose to take will decide on his fate. And, again, true to his word, Jane is not really lying per se: ironically, by getting himself killed, Jane would have Joe reunited with his father… It is probably noteworthy too that Jane is not the one in front of the crucial door this time –given that he was not aware that it was meaningful when he opened it while snooping for information. His own significant door was opened in ‘Blue Bird’ when he decided to step in the plane to grab at his chance to happiness. Now, it’s up to Lisbon to be left to decide to open the potentially threatening door of the Airstream, or to Lazarus who’s reenacting Jane’s past actions. Jane is past that point in his life: he’s come to forgive himself. In the same manner, he’s no longer the one who’s plagued with guilt in this episode; instead, it’s Tork who’s been feeling a sense of responsibility for having hatched the plan and having failed to protect their consultant, which leads Abbott to tell him to go home and that it wasn’t his fault.

The storage room explodes just as Lisbon comes running into the scene after having tracked the address down through Joseph Keller Sr.’s file. Lazarus’ father had been indeed suspected of being a serial killer too before suddenly falling “off the map”. The last name “Keller” might be playing with that notion in association with the “J” reminding of RJ: both father and son bear their wrong-doings in their real name, whereas it was Red John’s nickname that was meaningful… The scene obviously reminds of her desperate attempt to rescue him in ‘Fire and Brimstone’ –before the explosion, which wasn’t orchestrated by Jane back then. Things come full circle here too as Lisbon concludes their adventure with the words “don’t ever do that to me again, ever”.

This ‘Brown Shag Carpet’ also brings to a close the list of episodes involving floor covering. The previous instances were ‘Red Carpet Treatment’ (in which Jane was offered a gun to achieve revenge), ‘Pink Chanel Suit’ (Jane carrying a rolled carpet in lieu of a corpse out of the judge’s house and generally messing the investigation up) and ‘Redacted’ (in which Jane asserted that the hidden treasure was actually a precious rug, but only after hiring a burglar to break into LaRoche’s home…). All of those occurrences have taken place in Season 3 and showed how far Jane’s obsessive streak had leaden him. As such, the carpets might represent Jane’s immobility, his inability to move on. Yet, here, it’s the killer who’s trapped in a fanatical quest: his father’s brown shag carpet in the room where he keeps Jane, near the mummy, symbolizes this binding and debilitating past, while the ‘White Orchids’ coming up afterwards bring a reminder of Jane’s past, but also the long-standing barely acknowledged hope for something more. Jane leaving the mortiferous carpet behind along with his despair ends the shows on a happier note than he may have had hoped for.

At the same time that Jane’s been playing mind games and getting closure, his coworkers were busy looking for him while displaying how much they’ve learnt from him. Cho and Wylie teamed up to investigate the lead involving local black magic and occult. Both were the most emotionally involved in Vega’s death, it thus stands to reason they were very eager to try something, even as weird as that something might look. And here too, the nods to the past are visible: Cho explained to his young agent what a “Grimoire” is, which both reminds viewers of his uncomfortable encounter with a witch in S1 ‘Red Rum’ as well as it is a discreet allusion to Jane’s various books and notebooks through the series. Like the letter pinned by RJ on the bedroom door in the pilot, this last “magical textbook” opens new (and happier) possibilities…

Later, Wylie showed how much their charismatic consultant has influenced him: he was able to get the reluctant shopkeeper to trust him by bargaining his protection. She accepted to give them precious information on who would look for human blood and why. Even though he had seemed so uncertain on the field in the previous episode, Wylie was able to become a better, more confident member of law enforcement due to Jane’s teaching.

But the most startling example is provided by Lisbon. Earlier episodes showed how well groomed she’s been in the art of using manipulation in order to close a case (‘The Greybar Hotel’, ‘Black Market’, ‘The Silver Briefcase’). Here, after Wylie and Cho had found a man involved in the black magic aspect of buying human blood, she dismissed Abbott’s claims that the man already requested an attorney: she insisted ruthlessly “I don’t care”, “we don’t have time for this”, “let me talk to him”. Then, she cold read him: “you’re hiding something”, “I never would have noticed something like this before, but I’ve been working for a very long time with somebody who’s good at seeing into people what they’re thinking, feeling”. She was able to guess what he was hiding, “something violent or sexual, maybe both. But judging by how freaked out you are, I’d say it’s something really bad”. She was not above threatening the man, like Jane did so many times, to her chagrin: “I don’t think you understand how important this is to me. You give me a name, you can walk out of that door right now; you don’t and I will dig up every dirty secret you have”, “I will tell everybody you know: your coworkers, your friends, your family”, “you’re not gonna be able to hide”. She even added to show her cold determination “it’s not a threat, it’s a promise” and “my boss is right back there. Tell him, get me fired, ruin my career, I don’t care. I want those names”. Her worry-induced restless lack of regard for rule contrasts with her way of handling Jane’s disappearances in their CBI days. For instance in ‘Ball of Fire’, she was careful to hide her very real worry under professionalism, whereas here, she didn’t care about façades and even used her fear and anger to frighten her prey. She’s become much more open with her emotions.

Plus, by chasing after her lover’s trail, Lisbon was already proving that she doesn’t need him anymore in her professional life: what Jane has been trying to teach her for years (more notably since ‘Blinking Red Light’) has come to fruition and, surprisingly, this implicitly gives Jane space to invest more deeply the personal side of their relation. Indeed, for years, the main thing that bounded them together was their job, to the point that Lorelei commented that he was reduced to working cases with the CBI because he was “a little bit in love” with Teresa… Now that this need for his enlightening knowledge of the human mind is no longer as needed as it used to, they are to develop a union centered on their affection alone, instead of hiding behind the long-standing half-lie of getting along because “he closes cases”. In a way, Lisbon is therefore also tacitly committing herself more completely to him as a man she loves, instead of as a coworker she happens to date…

Once again, this ties back to their shared past of darkness, since he only started grooming her in order to manipulate her more easily to his views and to prepare her for his leaving the team at the end of his quest. The expression used earlier in the investigation to describe one way of getting blood is telling: “cutting yourself open” reminds of what Jane told Lisbon that he planned to do to RJ in ‘Red Flame’ (“when I catch Red John, I’m going to cut him open and then watch him die slowly, like he did with my wife and child”). It might also be a nod to Jane’s suicidal tendencies that have been more or less hinted at in the series (‘Red John’). Yet, as it systematically happens in this finale, this painful reminder is turned into a more positive one: this time, Lisbon’s grooming no longer implies sinister purposes, but it means getting Jane back for getting their happily ever after. Plus a detail is amusing: Lisbon managed to get “eight names” out of their unwilling witness. Given how often the “seven” number was used to refer to the last season (or to the seven suspects on Jane’s list of RJ candidates), the number eight here implies that they keep going with their happier life even after the closing episode.

‘White Orchids’

The conclusion to the fright caused by the kidnapping and the detonation is shown 24 hours later, when Jane is signing the lease for the house, the very first real home he’s acquired since his Malibu residence, after the shabby string of motel rooms/attic/Airstream. It’s a house that needs repair, just like the Lisbon old family home that he had been looking at in ‘Yellow Little House’.
It’s a sign of freedom and it’s stressed out by the real estate agent joking “now usually this is where I hand over the keys, but there aren’t any”. It obviously refers to the bad state the cabin is in, but it may also be a nod to the many keys that appeared through the series to show how Jane had been locked up by his obsession with revenge: there is no need for that kind of “keys” for him now that he has learnt to get free from his pain…

VIS#5: Jane’s proposal

Once he’s secured this haven in dire need of remodeling, Jane takes another big step into moving forward. Lisbon has been dropping not so subtle hints that she wants him to prove his commitment so he kills two birds with one stone by talking her about his wedding ring, the taboo topic that Lisbon is feeling sorry for bring up.

When they’re admiring the antic house and bantering about how the slanting to the left might be due to an optical illusion, Teresa notices suddenly that he’s not wearing his ring. Jane answers in a deceptively easy fashion: “I’m not married”, then keeps talking about the slanting of the house (“the ground is slanty, so it makes the structure look like it’s leaning, but it is, in fact, not”). When he gathers his wits, he broaches the real matter at hand: “this ring has been with me for a very long time and it has obvious significance with my past”. The ring has been indeed a token of his lost family and a symbol of his quest for revenge: Jane’s been using it for years to fence off women willing to distract him for his self-imposed reclusion and it was precisely the object that Lisbon mentioned to try and awaken memories of his past during his fugue state. Staying symbolically “married” instead of accepting that he was a widower was Jane’s way to avoid getting emotionally involved in normal human interactions during his CBI years. He explained to Kim in ‘My Blue Heaven’ that he was still wearing it because he didn’t know how to talk about his grief and the things he did after losing his wife. Jane being a creature of habit, it stands to reason that he would be reluctant to step forward without this comforting, familiar security blanket… Like the broken teacup, that has been lovingly mended, those items no longer show the narrowed life he had in the CBI, but the stability he longs for and finally achieves by incorporating to a new life those past emotions he used to avoid.

Yet Jane takes the plunge by adding swiftly “it also represents meeting you: if I didn’t have this ring, I would never have met you. So in a sense, it has the potential to represent my future as well”. Like he did with the vest in his three-piece suit, which used to be an emotional armor, a part of the façade he put between him and the world to keep his distance, Jane has managed to turn this emblem of his inability to reach for others into something much more emotionally charged. Indeed, he got his vests back after Lisbon told him she liked them (‘The Greybar Hotel’), so they’ve become a mean to please his lover. In the same manner the ring serves now to build something that would bind them closely together: “I’m not expecting you would ever wear it, but I want to share it with you and I want it to represent our future together. I want you to be my wife. Will you marry me?” the meaning of this powerful moment can be summed up by the title: ‘White Orchids’ are flowers used for marriage decoration but in the course of the series they’ve echoed Jane’s hope for a new beginning, most particularly since the Lorelei arc (see among others the post about ‘TM Major Themes, Symbols and Arcs: Part 2 –Seasons 3, 4 and 5’ for further reference as well as the reviews for the corresponding episodes).

Interestingly, the ring, along with the vest and the teacup, are quite similar to the magic items given to the characters of some fairy tales. In the perspective of initiation, these objects become filled with the meaningful wisdom that the protagonists acquired on their way. Jane has learnt to live again and the talisman guiding him in his destructive mission has turned into a symbol of the love he’s earned during his progression. Just like Dorothy and her ‘Ruby Slipper’ in ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’, he happened to have carried all along with him the means to going back home: his golden ring represents the capacity of loving again he’s been denying himself for too long… But here, Jane’s progress on a path of hardship is therefore no longer represented by his worn-out brown shoes, as it had been until ‘Blue Bird’; he’s no longer walking away from his deepest wishes, but instead he’s risen above his doubts by a more introspective reflection. He’s gained the power to use gold instead of shoes. Like Frost’s poem told viewers, ‘Nothing Gold Can’t Stay’ and his new-found happiness is bound to disappear at some point, but for Jane embracing its fragility also means understanding how valuable it still is to get it back.

Lisbon’s reaction is very different to her hesitation after Pike asked her the same question. She’s moved and agrees at once with enthusiasm. When Jane admits that he’s “glad” because he was “a little nervous”, she’s surprised: “oh, come on, you knew I was gonna say yes”. Jane’s next words are a confession that she’s probably been waiting for years to hear: “no, even after all these years, you’re still a mystery to me”. That closes the chapter of Jane’s attempts at “reading her like a book” as he once said he could: ever since ‘Red Flame’ in Season 1, he’s been trying to prove to her (and to himself) that he could handle her as a predictable creature, causing her alternatively to be on her guard or angered by it (she enjoyed the shock on his face when she showed him the hammer in her desk drawer in S5 ‘Panama Red’)… His truthful admission that she’s indeed the most mysterious character of them both should have felt gratifying had she not been already overwhelmed with joy, laugher and kisses.

The wedding planning: light and darkness mingled

As a consequence, whereas Joe Keller was heading towards a tragedy à la ‘Hamlet’, the end of Jane’s journey looks more like a Shakespearian comedy that parallels the romantic comedy vibe of ‘Blue Bird’. Indeed, in addition of the typical underlying threat of death intricately woven in a plot that takes place in a scenery featuring nature (the cabin), there’s a mixing of different atmospheres characteristic of the Bard’s plays. This latter point reminds of the series’ usual tone of a dark storyline interlaced with humor, while insisting for once on the more positive aspect. While Jane and Lisbon are inundated with the cheerful and funny aspect of their romance, they’re under the illusion that their latest enemy is dead. On the other hand, evil Lazarus is following their love story step by step with the prospect of ruining it: if we were for instance to compare the episode with one of the most famous of Shakespeare’s comedies, ‘Much Ado About Nothing’, Lazarus would be the ill-intentioned Don Pedro planning to crash their wedding and crush their happy ending… Meanwhile, here too the main couple is be too occupied by their friends’ more benevolent yet slightly annoying projects for them to notice that something is amiss.

From there, the plot follows then two directions, one laced with deadly plans, the other merrier.

1) Lazarus

The killer is lurking, quite like RJ had been for years. Like McAllister in ‘Red John’, he’s survived the explosion and he’s chasing after Jane, not stopping at killing collateral victims ruthlessly in his obsessive hunting. It might be worth remarking that, like RJ pretended to have given “purpose and meaning” to Jane’s life by killing his family (inferred by Rebecca’s words in ‘His Red Right Hand’), Jane has given its real meaning to the name “Lazarus”: what was only an impossible project involving his father has become reality for the serial killer, who’s really come back from the dead, at least from the agents’ point of view… Joe represents more clearly than ever the past that Jane has put behind. He’s linked to fire (cf. ‘Tyger, tyger burning bright”) and wears the mark of the beast under the form of fresh burnt marks instead of the three-dots Blake tattoo. As he says himself, his careful surveillance of what Jane’s up to is a “bad omen” since he threatens to force Jane back on the same tragic path he used to tread through. By playing with fire and taunting a serial killer for the second time, Jane is in danger of having again his new family ripped off from him.

2) Lisbon and Jane

The happy couple follows hastily and in quite a messy way the main points of a traditional wedding checklist. Those follow a bit more closely the bride’s steps (whereas the focus has been more on Jane so far) are presented with a humorous twist due to Lisbon’s wariness of how grand the event is getting.

The first official step is informing the team of their engagement. It also means announcing formally that they’ve been a couple for months… That doesn’t come as a great surprise for Abbott, matchmaker extraordinaire between two jobs, or for Cho who’s been more aware of his coworkers’ feelings this time (“I told you” he says, even though Abbott corrects “no you didn’t”). That leaves the role of the clueless colleague to Wylie, who later confesses to Cho that he didn’t see it coming. The couple hurries to insist that they don’t want “any wedding fuss”: “we’re just gonna slip away quietly in the next couple of days”.

The happy mood is dampened in the next scene when a determined and badly burnt Keller shows up in a shop. A song can be heard faintly as he limps his way around the store: it’s Tom Jone’s ‘It’s Not Unusual’, a 1965 hit that matches the old-fashioned setting of his dad’s house. The upbeat lyrics hint at the danger of heartbreak that might befall the lovebirds (“It’s not unusual to be loved by anyone/ It’s not unusual to have fun with anyone/ But when I see you hanging around with anyone/ It’s not unusual to see me cry, I want to die”).

Yet, oblivious to the threat, Lisbon keeps announcing the great news, this time to a more personal audience. As she contacts her brothers, they’re enthusiastic. Their first question is about their long-time estranged brother Tommy; Lisbon tells them that she left him a message but “he’s chasing a bail jumper in Alaska”. They comment simply “well, you snooze, you lose. We’re gonna miss him at the bachelor party, though”. As heartwarming as this effort to act like a family again may be, it leads to the prickly announcement: “there is no bachelor party”, “we’re getting married the day after tomorrow, just me and Jane and the Justice of the Peace: no big wedding, no guests”, “we want to get married quietly”… Stan and Jimmy are bewildered: “we’ll be quiet, but we’re gonna be there, T.” When they understand that they can’t argue with their stubborn big sister, family man Stan (sporting a cross matching Lisbon’s necklace) decides to make her feel guilty as she’s probably still feeling bad for avoiding family events for years: “if we’re not there, Mom’s gonna spin in her grave like a freaking crankshaft”, “she’ll be crying for shame”… Jimmy tries to reason him, but it only results in making Lisbon feel worse: “why would you want to be there if she doesn’t want us there?” The two overgrown kids start mock fighting: “you’re a sad, bitter man, Jimmy Lisbon”. This might or not be a moving echo to Jane’s reading of RJ as an “ugly, tormented little man, a lonely soul, sad, very sad”. Jimmy keeps fighting his bro and laughing “I smile through it”, “I smile through the sadness” (which is maybe a distant nod to the blood smiley that plagued Jane’s memories).

Jane spots immediately that Lisbon is worried because she ended up inviting them to the wedding. He just agrees that they’re family and eases the mood up by teasing her about asking how he did know what she had on her mind (“when we’re married, do you think you might stop asking that question?”). Lisbon nevertheless comments that, since her brothers are coming, “it feels funny not to invite just a couple of members from the team”. She’s torn between what feels right and their wish to “keep it small”… Jane tells her kindly “invite away, we’re gonna need a few more guests just to dilute the alcohol content”. They decide to settle on “just three or four” more guests, that promptly escalade to “just 8 or 9 close friends at the courthouse”. It is the official start of Teresa Lisbon’s ‘Doomsday of the Uncontrollable Guest List’… In spite of Jane’s misgivings, they are not fully aware that they’re tempting fate (“it’s not like we’re hiring a caterer, we don’t have a gift registry of anything…”) and they decide to head “to O’Malley’s bar afterwards. Or we could go to a restaurant”. O’Malley was the bar the team gathered at in ‘Strawberry and Cream’ to discuss their secret plan. Since this particular bar was located in Sacramento, it might be a pet peeve or a discreet allusion to their CBI days.

Then Jane takes upon himself to get her a ring. He explains that the old wedding band that served for his unusual proposal is “for us: you need one for you”. He wants to choose it alone as to not “waste time bickering” since he has “better taste”, but takes into consideration Lisbon’s plea for it not to be “too gauche”. Of course, Jane’s resourceful conman ways are a great help when he spots at the store the jeweler trying to trick the young couple before him by giving them a cheap replica instead of the genuine diamond they came with. The family theme is again explored by the lovebirds’ claim that the diamond they want to put in a necklace is a family heirloom (from a grandmother) and the maternity idea is subtly played with the second occurrence of the name “Anne”, which belongs to the Virgin’s mother in the New Testament. Jane steps in jovially, saves the day by uncovering the sleight-of-hand move called “French drop” that he witnessed and blackmails the dishonest jeweler into showing him his “very best selection, please” adding as an afterthought “nothing too gauche”.

His secrecy only heightens Lisbon’s curiosity over the ring. So, when they are busy with tedious bureaucracy at the County Clerk Office, he jokes “I could just give you the ring and we could elope” while making a show of touching the hidden box through his pocket. She playfully asks “you got a ring?”, then proceeds to poke his pocket while insisting “you gonna show it to me?” (Warning to Jane: physical teasing and poking tendencies appear to run deep in the Lisbon family. Judging by her brothers it can only get worse the more familiar she grows after marriage… Please refrain from starting any tickle fight and watch your ribs!)

Of course, Teresa can’t get over her shock when seeing his gift and readily believes that it’s too big to be real. Then when he assures her that it is real, she freaks out “oh my, are you out of your mind?”, “well, it’s gorgeous, but it’s too much, I can’t accept it”. Even though she managed before to give back the pricey emeralds that he offered her in ‘Red Handed’, this time he insists “you can accept it and you will. It’s yours, I want you to have it.” Those heartfelt words contrast with the clerk’s matter of fact statement that “we’ll need confirmation that the ceremony’s been performed within 72 hours or you will need to refile” and Jane delights sarcastically “who said romance is dead?”… The moment is laced with another allusion to their shared past: Jane’s wish for a romantic elopement followed by an honeymoon in Fiji is a nod to his island days and to his plans for running away on a boat to a no less exotic beach in Polynesia in ‘The Silver Briefcase’, only this time it’s not the temptation to escape the risks of reality that motivate him, but the eagerness to spend quality time with his beloved bride.

The rest of the planning takes place from Lisbon’s point of view and it displays how deep her relations with the people in her life have become. It’s thus easy to notice how much character development she underwent, from the workaholic loner from the pilot to the “popular” girl whose wedding everyone comments and wants to attend. The amusing part is of course her aggravated look at the orgy of wedding vocabulary and the way things are going out of hand.

1- With Abbott

Her former boss is happy to offer his house to stage the ceremony, which contrasts greatly with how harsh he’s been with Lisbon on their very first encounter in the CBI. Back then, he mistrusted Lisbon because of her supposed relation with Jane. It’s this very same involvement with a man whom he’s come to respect that he’s giving his blessing to now, putting emphasis on how a new leaf in their life has been turned. Both have earned his consideration; even though his suspicions about their mutual feelings at the CBI were well-founded, his own indulgence in Jane’s schemes has implicitly shown that he understands now how love was probably not the only reason why Lisbon followed her consultant’s lead.

Dennis has since then become protective of them. He’s pushed Jane into following his heart in the end of Season 6; he’s now offering to host the “casual wedding” and later he’s “covering the rental [of the tables] and the bartender and the caterer” as a wedding gift. All in all, Abbott is the closest they have to a nurturing parental figure who’s welcoming them into their new condition. Even if his rather fatherly role is not to guide the bride to Jane directly, his hand in sponsoring the event’s preparations financially goes far enough to both show his thankfulness for their help in ‘Copper Bullet’ and to place him as the godfather of their union.

2- With Cho

If Dennis plays the doting father, Cho acts as the friend/family member/bridesmaid/fashion consultant helping her choose her wedding dress, for Lisbon doesn’t have any real female friends in the FBI after Kim left. After all, Cho was already her fake-fiancé when they went undercover as a couple in a jewel store in ‘Black Market’. It foreboded Jane choosing the actual ring in an earlier scene. Cho is her oldest friend in the FBI team and the only available member of the SCU at hand at such short notice, but it’s nonetheless very telling that she felt comfortable enough to ask for his help in such a personal matter even more since he’s now technically her supervising agent. Her relaxed clothing when she asked him, only clad in her dark green form-fitting top with no jacket, speaks enough of how natural the question feels. In ‘Bloodstream’, when he was placed in a position of authority above her for the first time, he told her that, unlike her, he didn’t want walls between his team and him; isn’t that heartwarmingly ironic that now the only thing standing between her and this close stoic friend at a decisive moment in her womanly life is the door of a dressing room?

Of course, the fact that loafer-lover Lisbon has upgraded her wardrobe in the recent months to more feminine or even sexier outfits than her old reliable pantsuits doesn’t mean that she has any idea of what kind of gown she wants. Cho’s opinions on the different styles she tries on are as laconic as funny: “makes you look short”, “snow cone”, “slutty elf” sum up how difficult it is for petite Teresa to find her dream dress. At the end, the man decides to save time and he chooses for her, probably thinking that he has better taste just like did Jane about the ring: “you want a simple piece with clean lines, maybe something vintage and off-white”. Lisbon is relieved and simply agrees to ask the attendant for “what he said”.

Very pleased with her former second-in-command-turned-boss’s sage advice, Lisbon thanks him and tells him “I asked you along because I thought you’d be honest. I had no idea you were such a fashion expert”. This may be a nod to his seductive countenance when he rocked stylish clothes in ‘Crimson Casanova’. Kimball explains: “not me. My mom could run up a designer shop before breakfast, she cut her cloth by eye.” Emboldened and touched by this rare confidence, Lisbon discloses some personal information on her own: “my mom had a sewing machine, but it was always in hock…” Cho tells her then something very sweet: “she’d be proud of you”, even dressed in a far too revealing wedding gown. This allusion to her family ties back to her yielding to her brothers’ pressure for fear of what her mom would have wanted: like Jane, Lisbon has overcome the bad memories of her own tragedy and she’s now able to think about it with more serenity than she had showed in the pilot.

3- With Wylie

Wylie too achieved some peace of mind with his own tragedy. There’s some progress concerning how difficult he finds to accept Vega’s death. When he announced to Cho his decision to request a transfer in the Salt Lake City office, Cho familiarly smacked him over his head and told him to stop feeling sorry for himself and that making some mistakes is normal. As for his sadness about Michelle, he insists “you miss Vega. Now remember who she was: she’d never run away from a challenge like this and neither should you.” He concludes “I have to rebuild the team and I want to start with people that I know and trust, so stick around”, before adding almost fatherly “I’m asking you to stay, Wylie”. Cho already proves that he will be a stern but protective leader, just like he did with Michelle. Abbott who’s just “spinning” his “wheels here”, waiting for his new job to begin, can rest assured that the future of team looks encouraging, with or without Jane and even with the new dynamic brought by Lisbon putting more energy in her home.

Now that Wylie feels better about himself and his place in the team, his liveliness can be directed to more pressing matters… which is to say stressing Lisbon out by becoming her unofficial wedding planner. When she demands that he must keep the news to himself as to not hurt anyone’s feelings, for they want to keep is small, he starts his eager yet demoralizing mission by asking her if there is a “gift registry” or a “trousseau” (which leaves her puzzled). Later, at Abbott’s place, he’s already making arrangements: “you’d probably prefer to hold the ceremony outside and there isn’t really a room inside big enough”. Indeed, “a lot of people are talking about it” and the list has grown exponentially: from the “15 people” that Lisbon remembers inviting, they’ve reached the nerve-racking number of “mhm, more like 25, or…” He’s quick to try to reassure her: “I don’t think people are waiting for, like, a printed invitation seeing as there isn’t one. But, hey! On the plus side, you’re popular, girl!” There also a “menu” and the corresponding caterer that she didn’t ask for, of course…

4- With the most prominent members of the ever growing list of guests AKA her family

Lisbon’s wariness at being unable to stop more and more people from attending her wedding reaches a depressing peak when her brothers arrive with their whole family. Lisbon expresses her lack of gusto by those heartfelt words: “wow! You all came! So many people…” Jimmy even found himself a very giddy and annoying fiancée, who immediately launches on a distressed Lisbon exclaiming “I am so freaked out to meet you at last! We’re gonna be sisters! Yay! Yay!” Lisbon explains to her energetic relatives: “sorry, I’m freaking out right now”. Yet, despite her misgiving about what is now shaping to be a bigger wedding than she wished for, their enthusiasm at being with her shows that they’ve come a long way to become a close-knit family again.

The second family eager to share the happy event is her old team. When she announced them the good news to Grace and Wayne, they comment that “the news is spreading fast through the CBI grapevine” so they “had to call and say congratulations”. Wayne, who’s been teasing Jane about how they had always thought he and the fair agent Lisbon would end up together in ‘White as the Driven Snow’, says “so you and Jane, huh? We always knew”. Grace corrects “We always knew? I always knew!” Obviously, romantic Grace is the reason why oblivious Rigsby could have guessed a potential love story that had escaped Cho’s notice at the time…They accept gleefully the invitation (“we wouldn’t miss it for anything”) and think about how they’ll manage to get rid of their kids with “a little child-care juggling”. Rigsby even jokes “you know, worst comes to worst, we’ll just bring the little monkeys with us and keep them locked in the rental car”. It shows both how happy they are with their new life and how attached they still feel to Teresa, who remained a close friend through the years (cf. ‘My Blue Heaven’).

Their interaction implies that Lisbon is now at peace with that part of her past too. Even thought she lost her job at the CBI and had to face discredit to the point of being relegated in a small town Sheriff office, she’s gotten closure over her broken career. The professional image she worked so hard to project is somewhat restored as the “CBI grapevine” readily shares the news: people find the information interesting, which hints that she’s “popular” there too. Moreover, the fact that she’s the one who reaches for others might hint that people could be more taken in by her, because she was genuinely liked. After all, she always had good relations with others agents onscreen, even ones who had taken over her team like late Haffner (before he started getting creepy) and now Tork. In a way, one can wonder if in hindsight her care for duty and her genuine kindness may not be more fondly remembered by people who enjoyed celebrating her ten-year anniversary with the CBI (‘The Red Barn’) than her unruly and whimsical consultant who had a hand in the loss of their jobs… Anyway, the leaf is turned for the better since Teresa has been achieved her happy ending, like Grace and Wayne before her. More than the Lisbon brothers, these two represent what she wants from married life: to be able to get along merrily with her loved one and their family. This comforting domestic sight matches what she used not to want to acknowledge that she wished for in her younger years, from the horrendous pink bridesmaid dress Jane forced on her, because he guessed it was a secret desire of hers, to her discreet envy when Rigsby started being a doting dad.

Family has been a main theme of the last season. Family may often be a bad influence that holds you back (the Bittakers in ‘The White of His Eyes’; Lazarus); it may keep you stuck in neutral, overwhelmed by doubts about doing what they would approve of (Jane; Vega wondering about her actions under Jane’s guidance, until she took a decision, unlike Lazarus). But it can also be the very people who will support you (Lisbon and the team) and for whom you want to be a better person (the Stopparts in ‘The White of His Eyes’; Jane becoming again a normal human being for Lisbon). All in all, family is a way to build future with one’s past, like the young couple in the jeweler store who wants to make a necklace from a grandmother’s ring: it’s exactly what Lisbon and Jane are trying to do.

Finally the two plots of the episodes, featuring respectively evil Lazarus and the happy couple, meet when Lazarus tries to pinpoint where Jane is. As he calls Tork, pretending to be the TV show host that he just murdered, he’s been told that Jane “is pretty unfindable these days, he’s getting married in a few days”. This line contrasts with Jane’s words to Lisbon that he tries “to be more findable these days” at the end of ‘Byzantium’ after his Airstream escapade. Indeed, there’s a role reversal, for Jane is no longer the one chasing restlessly after his nemesis: this time, Lazarus is the one searching for him.

The role reversal continues when the team is alerted that Lazarus is alive and kicking his way onto warpath: in pure Jane’s fashion, they decide to keep the lovebirds in the dark because they can handle it without worrying them. They agree to lure the killer in by using their friends’ wedding as bait, just like Jane would do:”postpone the wedding? We’re the FBI!” In a way, that’s payback for all the times Jane (and Lisbon) didn’t let the team in their discoveries, especially about RJ being alive too, for example after the debacle with Carter or after Jane realized that Bertram was just a decoy for McAllister in ‘Red John’. Their main reason is not as selfish as Jane’s used to be though: they know that he and Teresa are “in a good space right now. If Lisbon found out that this case isn’t closed, it’s likely that she’ll cancel the wedding and join the hunt”. They decide therefore that “there’s plenty of time to tell them after”… which means that Abbott will probably add the names of more agents to the guest list in order be inconspicuous: “four, but now I think we should probably have more… at least ten” armed agents watching “the front and backyards and the surrounding neighborhoods”. Amusingly, Dennis’ listing for the party keeps growing, in parallel with the real guest list…

Of course, Jane is quickly able to spot that he’s been lying to when Abbott tells him that he was talking with Cho and Tork about “nothing special”. The perceptive consultant only says “I won’t pursue the point because you would tell me if it was something important”. He then lets Abbott wheedle him on a safer topic: “you know, I’ve been getting some calls about you and my bosses want to know if you’re sticking around”. There’s “no pressure” from his part (a dig at Pike’s favorite expression for planning his future…), yet he explains “if you’re going, there is some legal stuff that we need to handle to expunge that deal that we made.” Jane understands the need for talking about the deal written on “the napkin” when he left his island, but he reflects “I’m getting married tomorrow. Then I’m building a house and, beyond that, I genuinely have no idea. And I can’t do this job forever, but it’s gonna be tough to give up.” Abbott comments that “it’s hard giving up making a difference, huh?”, though Jane amends “no, everyone makes a difference. Hard to give up the chase.” Jane’s aware that the team doesn’t really need him: he’s past the need to prove that he’s the smartest in the room. Instead, he’s aware that what drives him is his tendency to focus on the man hunt provided by cornering bad guys as well as the intellectual stimulation offered by investigating a case. Lisbon remarked this very accurately when he first mentioned quitting ‘The Silver Briefcase’: “it’s not gonna be as easy to walk away as you think”, because “you enjoy the mental simulation far more than you let on”. It’s probably the secret reason why he was capable to devote himself so completely and for so many years to the pursuit of his goal in the RJ era: concentrating his clever mind on chasing down a shadow was a way to distract himself for the pain. On this point too it’s then a new beginning for him, for he should try to find some interests in life other than playing mind games on marks, may they be criminals or credulous people.

Yet, Jane is not quite over that peculiarity of him because he has no qualms in manipulating his friend into telling him what he’s trying to hide. He agrees with Dennis that “it has been very good working” with him. It’s in way as to make the other man feel guilty. He insists “I really appreciate your honesty. I love you for that” until Dennis relents and acquiesces “okay you got me: I was lying, there is something I need to talk to you about”.

Once he knows that he’s about to be targeted at the wedding, he goes to try and convince Lisbon to really avoid the risky situation by eloping. With her too, his old treacherous habits insensibly lead him to hide the ugly truth at first in order not to frighten her. He finds his grumpy dulcinea in Abbott’s garden moping in the middle of several elaborated bouquets of white roses and orchids mingled with pastel colored flowers. Jane tries to gauge the situation and tries to distract his tear-stricken fiancée by commenting cautiously: “nice flowers”. Lisbon recites “they’re centerpieces. It’s a Sylvan theme”. Seeing that she’s even more distraught by this statement, he senses that the problem is that the wedding preparations have gotten out of hand: “how many people are actually coming to this thing? –Nobody knows exactly”. Lisbon exclaims “how did this happen? This is not what I wanted. Well, I like the Sylvan theme… We should have eloped like you said”. All the while, he’s stroking her arm in a soothing motion. After she affirms that her family wouldn’t care (“I just talked to them at the hotel. They found a minibar, they’re like cavemen arguing over a dead antelope”), Jane seizes this golden opportunity to make her get her out of the killer’s way without alarming her: “let’s run, huh? We’ll tell nobody, just the judge. I’ll have her meet us at our little cabin tomorrow morning”, already planning to “get someone, a park ranger” as a witness. Lisbon is overjoyed by the perspective of giving the slip to their not-so-wanted guests, which fits the old habit for secrecy and plotting that has cemented their couple over the years: “you know what? Let’s do it!”, “it’s our life, damnit!”, “I’m gonna go get my dress and I’m gonna go to the Airstream, I’ll meet you here”. She even tells him that she loves him and kisses him by way of thanks, convinced that she is that her comforting and seemingly perfect fiancé is only trying to make her happy.

Lisbon’s candidness leads him then to spill the beans. The hastiness of his explanation makes the scene even funnier “well, there’s another very good reason why she should elope, all right? Keller is apparently still alive and he’s mad at me for some reason…” Lisbon is floored, so he keeps taking “yeah, so Cho and his people are gonna stake out of this house. When Keller shows up, they’ll nab him”. Even though Lisbon is at once assured that married life with Jane will never get dull, one may understand that this revelation fails to make her very satisfied with her groom. Yet the amusing part is that she’s not as much scared for their life as annoyed by his almost-lie: “you were gonna withhold this information from me?” She even lets slip that her main fear is still about attending to the too many guests by saying “you were gonna deprive me of a guilt-free elopement?” Jane protests “I just told you!” but that doesn’t cut it: “you almost didn’t! From now on, we need to be 100% honest with each other”, mirroring an old worry that has plagued her since the very start of the show. This claim might echoes her statement that she didn’t trust him 100% in ‘Scarlet Ribbons’ when he started being more open to her about his plans after killing Carter. Nonetheless, here he only agrees and seals this promise with a series of heartfelt sweet kisses. They decide to hurry away (“I’m gonna go get my dress, fire up the Airstream”).

This cute and comical discussion enlightens that the focus has shifted. Keller’s predatory and murderous intends are emphasized by the stone eagle at the gate when he slips into the judge’s trunk to get to the place where’s the marriage will be held, nevertheless, they’re less worried about the danger than they’re eager to enjoy their important day peacefully. They’re trying to get the wedding they want and to start their married life on the best, most thoughtful way possible; they’re already past the excitement of the chase. In that perspective, Keller is already bound to fail, all the more since the burnt mark he’s wearing makes him easy to spot. It gives the team time to prepare for his arrival.

VIS#6: the big day/ the ending

The tension is increasing as Jane is deep breathing in front of the pound in his new property. He’s contemplative, clad in his usual suit, with a satiny tie. A delicately veiled Lisbon gets out of the Airstream with her dress on, looking wonderful if slightly out of place. They promise each other “no matter what happens, from this point on”, “we will always look on the bright side”. It’s Jane’s commitment not to fall into despair again. Interestingly, the bouquet Lisbon is sporting is an arrangement of wild-looking flowers with white anemones. Anemones are traditionally associated with fading hope. This pretty dark meaning derivates from Greek mythology, because these usually dark red flowers were supposed to have sprung from the blood of Adonis, whose death had left Aphrodite inconsolable, just like Jane had once been. Yet, following Jane’s example, the flower can turn to a brighter meaning of anticipation and good luck for the couple’s plans.

They walk together through the shrubbery to the fateful door of the shack. This time, it’s not death by a serial killer that awaits them inside: when Lazarus sneaks behind them, he’s surprised (along with viewers) to see a trap set for him. The team and reinforcement are ready to arrest him. Unlike in ‘Strawberry and Cream’ with O’Laughlin’s shocking attack, they didn’t get caught unaware by the killer in the cabin… Some things will never change: Teresa looks badass as an armed bride who mutters “and see how much better things turn out when you’re honest with me?”, while Jane is hiding behind her. They’re comfortable enough in their unconventional respective roles for Jane to swiftly replace her gun by her bouquet in order to get on with the main event… There’s no place for bitterness in Jane’s heart: he tells “no hard feelings” to a shocked Keller and ushers Lisbon hastily towards the exit; even though did play vigilante by trying to kill him, he didn’t do it out of revenge or anguish, like he did with Carter, McAllister or even Panzer. The marriage takes place without a hitch, the guests gathered in front of the cabin. Grace holds the bouquet as the bridesmaid, like she once asked Lisbon to be hers. The couple kisses, they cheer and there’s much hugging.

By nightfall, the guests all dance cheerfully on a makeshift platform in the middle of the woods. The touching party shows the characters of the old team, the FBI coworkers and Lisbon’s family enjoying themselves together, which draws a tinge of nostalgia given that it’s also goodbye to viewers. Grace and Wayne are wildly dancing as the very much in love couple they are, then they take a selfie with Cho to commemorate the event. Abbott and Wylie are happily dancing alone, the latter probably trying to forget that he was reluctant to show his skills on the dance floor to Michelle not so long ago. The Lisbon brothers entertain their respective ladies.

All the while the upbeat song ‘September’ by Earth, Wind and Fire plays, its lyrics giving a glimpse of the happily ever after Patrick and Teresa are about to experience: “do you remember the 21st night of September?/ Love was changing the minds of pretenders/While chasing the clouds away”… For them too, viewers hope there won’t ever be “a cloudy day” anymore and that their future will make come true the lines “my thoughts are with you/ Holding hands with your heart to see you/ Only blue talk and love/ Remember how we knew love was here to stay?/Now December found the love that we shared in September”.

A bright and long-lasting future is indeed on its way, given that Lisbon takes the opportunity of being cuddled alone near the pond, more or less where he proposed to her, to give him her own share of good news. She places her now ring-laden hand on her belly, telling him without words that she’s pregnant. After a moment of surprise, he beams and kisses her. It’s his answers to Pike’s question about what future he could give to Teresa in the season premiere and it comes full circle with the pilot full of broken families –the victims’ ones and Jane’s- and empty houses. The soon-to-be-remodeled cabin and the baby to come are both a promise for hope, in complete opposition with the broken homes in the very first scene of the show with the deserted kitchen where Jane was wandering alone and in the end of the episode with the Malibu residence. The very last shot of the series shows their long, tight hug and his smiling face: the lengthy path leading back to home ends on this hopeful note.

Conclusion: Biblical references

Three implicit allusions to Jesus Christ can be associated with Jane and the rebirth of his happiness and hope.

1) Jane performs miracles: achieving redemption

Like Jesus revealed himself as the Messiah to the world through seven miracles, Jane proves that he’s earned his forgiveness for his past sins by achieving as many meaningful actions:

1-Jesus changed water into wine (John 2, 1-11); Jane used a water bottle to free himself when he was prisoner.

2- Jesus healed a royal official’s sick son (John, 4, 46-53); Jane started his psychic act by talking about family members on TV, healing part of the host’s grief over the loss of a loved one.

3- While Jesus healed a paralytic at Bethesda on the Sabbath (John 5, 1-29), it’s through Jane’s teachings that his team has been able to “stand” on their own two legs when he’s missing, even when they are blocked by a lack of plausible leads (Wylie insisting to follow a weird flimsy black magic connection, Lisbon threatening their only witness to get names). They’ve learnt to “walk” unorthodox paths to get results.

4- Jesus fed the multitude (John 6, 1-14), Jane manages to assuage Lisbon’s worries about the extended guest lists and finally holds a marriage with their close friends.

5- Jane was not able to walk on water like Jesus (John 6, 16-24), yet he convinces Lisbon that the house doesn’t slant when they look at it from the other side of the pond: it’s just an optical illusion that gives him the opportunity to display his ring-less finger and helps him not to fret about his proposal.

6- Jesus healed the blind (John 9, 1-17); Jane’s observation skills were a great help for the young couple who didn’t see the sleigh-of-hand of the unscrupulous jeweler.

7- Last, not least: Jesus resurrects Lazarus (John, 11, 1-45). This is part of Jane’s healing process: facing Lazarus and making him enter what he hoped will be his tomb makes Jane move forward. Plus, by surviving the explosion, Lazarus has symbolically raised from the dead, making Jane’s last miracle complete in calmly causing the man’s downfall without anymore disturbance on his own private life.

2) Back in the Garden of Eden: his past sins as a conman are forgiven and he can start anew

As Lisbon has remarked, this wedding has been graced with a Sylvan theme, may it be at Abbott’s place or as where has actually taken place at the cabin. Indeed, instead of the white centerpieces, they’re surrounded by woods and nature. In the same manner, the white roses representing purity and spirituality, the white orchids symbolizing a new beginning and the gentle colored roses, which convey an impression of joy and loveliness, are replaced with more brightly colored flowers giving a wilder aura and equally evocative anemones: they’ve manage to make their own “Sylvan theme” by including the meaning of their history to the moment.
It’s no surprise then to find some deep symbolism behind the wild setting. In ‘Byzantium’, Jane fist saw it as the Christian wilderness that tested him and helped him into starting to find answers to the doubts he was plagued with. Now, it’s the place where he’s willing to reach for happiness again, his own locus amoenus, a place where he can get joy, peace and love in the middle of nature. The trees are traditionally associated with personal growth (letting go of his pain in his case) and roots (getting married again and having a family): they bind the past and the future together.

Interestingly, Jane’s original sin was to taunt RJ and, in a deleted scene from the pilot, he added the detail to his description of the serial killer that he had a lemon tree growing near his house. This was alluded to by the many lemons associated with Jane’s quest in the first seasons: that fruit tree was the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis, 2-3) and it caused Jane to be banished from his family life, his own Garden of Eden and to suffer: “the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (all translations are from the New International Version). In the show, RJ plays God by manipulating Jane like a puppet in a game of death, then after Jane has proven to be a valuable adversary, RJ assumed the role of the serpent who was trying to tempt Jane into joining him by listening to his conception of the world, devoid of good and evil (‘The Crimson Hat’).

Now, Eden has been restored and the promise for redemption has been fulfilled. Jane follows the steps of what has been announced by an angel in the Book of Revelation (22): “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. […]. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever ». The river finds an echo in the pond: it’s really associated to life since Jane chose its bank to propose and he received the news of his paternity here too.

As such, Jane has earned the right to get back into his Garden of Eden, in his case a family life. Even though no tree is singled out during the episode, Jane’s symbolically gained access to the other tree in the garden, the Tree of Life guarded by angels (Genesis 3, 24: “After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life”). It concludes Jane’s wandering through biblical trees, from the oaks and cedars from the Lorelei arc to the now reclaimed wilderness: like the orchids, they started as a sign of his struggle between hope and obsession, until they fully became an emblem of his newfound happiness. In that perspective, they are following faithfully the general shift of meaning of the reminders of his past during this episode. Jane may not have gained faith in God and the afterlife, but he’s found hope in the future by getting into his forest of life. He’s gotten back his innocence and those plants now carry and support his world, like many primordial trees do in different mythologies.

For him, those wild woods have been a place for choosing the path he wants to follow and get to grow as a person: all in all, it’s once again very close to the symbolism of fairy tales. In a way, that kiss Jane and Lisbon exchanged as a promise of happiness definitely frees Jane from his demons: he has been like a Sleeping Beauty waiting in wilderness (as he actually did sleep there in ‘Byzantium’) for someone who will love him enough to reach for him and awaken him. And, last, not least, tree is also associated with genealogy and hints at Jane being a father again.

3) The child to be born: hope for a better future

The baby that Lisbon carries also fits the intricate net of references to the Bible, because it reminds of the birth of Jesus. Like the holy child, the baby’s presence may have been announced by Gabriel. In Luke, 1, 19-26, the archangel first visits Zechariah to let him know that God had sent a son who would be John the Baptist to his wife Elizabeth -who shares her name with a reporter in ‘Nothing Gold Can Stay’. Then, he foretells the same event to Mary (whose name is mentioned twice in this episode and who’s a character in ‘The Greybar Hotel’), wife of Joseph whom the Kellers, father and son are named after.

In the show, the same happens in hindsight: self-proclaimed psychic Gabriel told Jane “your cure will come with the number three”. Three is the number of the members of his new family after Lisbon told him: it’s the hope for this new life they’ve created that certainly definitely dissipates the remaining shadows. Plus, the idea of fatherhood has been played with for some time now. For instance, Jane wondered on which model parents should be in ‘The White of His Eyes’, whereas watching her boyfriend play with a kid triggered Lisbon’s first “I love you”.

A last parallel can thus be found in what the holy child represents, for it matches the meaning baby Jane holds for its parents. In Matthew, 1, 18, Jesus is to be called “Immanuel, which means ‘God with us’”, whereas in John, 3, 16, the child is a promise of redemption and salvation:”for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”.

With so great expectations and so high a mission, we can only hope that the Jane heir/heiress won’t be as prone to get into mischief as Daddy… 😉

Here endth the final review for TM. There will be soon a last post about the themes of the 7th season, which shall serve as conclusion for the series. 🙂 Thank you for reading and for supporting the blog!

Mentalist Byzantium Review

Synopsis

After a young couple is murdered by a mysterious killer, an even more puzzling psychic claims to have information on the case. Meanwhile, Jane is still dealing with his demons and has to make a choice regarding his life with Lisbon in the FBI.

Concise Verdict

Jordan Harper and Marisa Wegrzyn have managed to mix an interesting measure of continuity in the new challenge presented to Jane: it looks like the beginning of the conclusion of the show, with Jane starting to heal in a deeper level, not because of external actions, revenge or Lisbon’s love, but through introspection, while staying faithful to the logic behind a character prone to flying and to being selfish. At the same time, his progress as an individual gets more attention, especially in relation to his past as a phony psychic. All in all, it’s an intriguing episode, full of meaningful symbolism that paves the way for the finale.

Detailed AKA Humungous Review (Spoiler Galore)

VIS#1: The opening

A young couple is on a date: they’re sitting alone in a car, talking about the possibility of one of them leaving to study abroad in Greece (“okay, so where should I go? –You, you should stay. Study abroad is overrated…”). It obviously echoes the last conversation between Jane and Lisbon since, in both cases, leaving is a danger to the relationship. The parallel is even more visible when, as a repeat of Jane’s fears regarding Lisbon’s safety, the couple is suddenly attacked by a mysterious killer. They try to escape but they’re finally both murdered as a tragic example in the series of failed relationships developed in the most recent episodes… Interestingly, this double murder is probably inspired by the first killings attributed to the Zodiac killer in the 60’s: two high school students were parked in a well known lovers’ lane (Lake Herman Road) when the killer exited a second car and attacked them. Both students ended up dead in spite of an attempt to escape, just like the college students of the episode tried to drive away from danger. It already hints that the unknown murderer is a serial killer… Later, after the FBI has been called by the rangers to investigate, they’re told the killer moved one of the victims, maybe because he “tried to take the body up the hill and got to that steep part and realized it wasn’t gonna happen”. This chilling possibility is also a clue that the murderer might be a body collector in some way, which is confirmed by the fingernail that the killer took with him.

The lack of traces and the horrendous nature of the murders make Cho comment that they could “use Jane’s read on this” but Lisbon hasn’t heard from him “since the funeral”… Viewers also learn that Abbott is still leaving soon and as a consequence the team is shorthanded: “now’s not the time for one of his disappearing acts”. Apparently, Cho is not really worried about Jane, because the consultant has disappeared on them many times already, shortly during cases, or for longer periods of time when he spent six months in Vegas and two years in his island. Lisbon’s lack of comment in Jane’s reasons both for leaving and for not contacting her are more intriguing: she probably doesn’t want to display her romantic connection to the man of course, but she’s also worried and angry like she was in ‘The Crimson Hat’. Jane’s actions are interwoven with past cases through the setting of the double murder: the lovers’ lane location reminds of the murders in ‘Rose Colored Glasses’ and the comment that “sometimes national parks are used by drug cultivators. Now maybe these kids were at the wrong place at the wrong time” is a nod to the investigation in ‘Aingavite Baa’, both episodes taking place in S2 after the traumatic death of Bosco’s team, just like this one deals with the aftermath of Vega’s death.

Indeed, Jane’s silence is a way to put distance between him and his lover, like Lisbon attempted to silence her pain back then. Plus, his isolation in the Grand Canyon, drinking tea from a mug at the entrance of the Airstream hints that he’s trying to find solace but he’s stuck in unfamiliar territory –hence the mug-, like he was in Vegas when trying to drink himself to oblivion in a shabby motel room. Yet, unlike in Vegas when Lisbon wanted him to contact her first, here she decides at Abbott’s insistence to force him to come back. Her bossy side and her underlying anger shows in the way she handles it: she just issues a fake warrant for his arrest in Texas, the charge being “failure to appear”. Jane finds the ironic barb funny when he’s actually arrested and sent back to her but when his identity is confirmed his regret at being Patrick Jane “all day, every day, unfortunately” already indicates that he’s not ready to man up and assume his role by her side.

Vega’s death is still too fresh in everyone’s memory and it keeps affecting their actions: like Jane is fleeing in fear and Lisbon refuses to deal with her feelings, Cho turns to violence to vent his pain. When the stoic new team leader accompany the ranger in the forest to arrest two suspicious brothers who dab in poaching, he becomes a bit brutal when arresting one of the suspects, to the point that the ranger calls him on it. This violence has traces of the post-traumatic stress disorder that plagued Grace after the debacle with her fiancé and it also reminds of his brutality in ‘Blood In, Blood Out’, after one of his former friends was killed -also after Bosco’s demise. The incident also ties the episode with two important themes. The brothers are a family, which is an important notion introduced both in criminals (the Bittakers in ‘The White of His Eyes’) and from the protagonists’ perspective (Lisbon’s brothers; Jane’s carny friends; the team acting as Michelle’s family at the funeral). Also, the hunting metaphor used in the RJ era is alluded to by the poacher cutting one of his preys open: it’s a nod to Jane’s conversation with McAllister about gutting and skinning in ‘Wedding in Red’ and it too hints again at the current murderer being a serial killer.

VIS#2: The Psychic

While the team is busy dealing with their repressed emotions, an unexpected witness steps in the bullpen in front of a baffled Wylie: Gabriel, a supposed psychic, is introduced by his sister as having “seen” the crime. He’s “shy” so his sister had to “drag him over here” because “doesn’t like talking”: his subdued appearance contrasts with the boasting presence of the other psychics of the show, Jane in his younger days, Kristina Frye, Ellis Mars in ‘Red Moon’ and the spiritual advisor in ‘Pretty Red Balloon’. Yet, he’s as eager as them to prove his gift by telling a skeptical Wylie “the crying is loud. I hear you crying inside”… When brought to Abbott and Lisbon, he tells the boss that he’s leaving: “you’re moving on. You’re going to a new place” but “you have doubts inside you haven’t told anybody” to which Lisbon retorts “everybody has doubts when they’re going through a change in their life”. Interestingly, Gabriel doesn’t try to cold-read Lisbon, either because he realized she wouldn’t believe him anyway or because she’s learnt to be much more guarded and less translucent after learning from Jane how to play the same trick… Yet, it’s obvious that the young man knows something about the murderer, since he’s able to tell them that the man wanted to take his victims with him. Because he couldn’t, he “took a piece of them instead: fingertips”. His explanation is that six months ago, he spoke to a man: “he had so much wrongness in him, I could hardly look at him. It was like staring at the sun. I’ve been waiting ever since for something like this to happen.” Gabriel is unable to give a description (“he was a man, he was white. Sorry, I’m not good with faces, I only see what’s inside”) but what he says reminds of Jane’s psychic act in the pilot: ‘true demonic evil burns like fire. It burns with a terrible cold, dark flame. I force myself to look into that flame and I see an image of the evildoer, in this case Red John… He’s an ugly, tormented little man, a lonely soul. Sad, very sad”.

Anyway, Lisbon is not fooled by his act and she and Abbott try to rationalize it (“maybe he’s friends with the crime tech, or maybe he’s the killer”): they realize Gabriel is probably using this case as a career-making opportunity, like Mars tried to. Lisbon is particularly reticent to see him as “an actual honest-to-god psychic”, because of “years of experience” dealing with Jane –who is precisely exiting the elevator in front of her- have taught her better.

The talk between the two lovers consists mainly at first in avoiding the issue: they talk about the Grand Canyon and how Jane’s tea is until Lisbon ironically adds “I would have mailed you your cup, but I didn’t know where you were”. It’s a nod to him drinking from a mug in his Airstream and to the fact that the teacup is a symbol of their glued back together relationship. As such, Lisbon wouldn’t have kept it this time had he left for good: when he protests “well, you knew I’d be back”, she retorts “no, I didn’t: I can’t read minds”. It’s a barb at his psychic days reawaken by meeting Gabriel as well as a reproach at his lack of communication, both when he left her at the cemetery and during his one week vanishing. Soon, she makes her anger and her worries known: “the first time I called you, I though “he missed my call”. The second time, I though “he’s busy. Okay, he’ll call me back”. The third time, I thought “he’s dead, he is dead in a ditch on the side of the road”. This dreadful possibility reflects the fate of the two victims as well as it reminds of their talk in the church after he left for Vegas: she was worried sick back then and she told him “I tried calling you hundreds of times, begging you to talk to me, begging you to get help. Not a reply, not a word, not a text”. Like in that occasion, his “sorry” seems a rather lame reply, just like his “I didn’t mean to scare you”, because he couldn’t ignore that she would be scared after the dramatic funeral. Like in ‘The Crimson Hat’, his silence is a form of “betrayal”, because he inflicted on her the same fear he was reproaching her to force on him by wanting to be a cop: she’s in danger in her line of job, but by leaving and not contacting her, he’s made her live again the sleepless period of worried emptiness she experienced when she thought he was going through the darkest of depressions. He’s also made her face her fear of him leaving her again: in her speech, she’s using against him his very reason for leaving.

Jane’s only justification is “I’m working through something and I just need space to think”, adding a bit bitterly “I can’t soldier on like you, Lisbon”. He resents Lisbon for not following him blindly in his vague quest for peace of mind and for clinking to her work… She answers “we’re all upset. I can’t just run away from my work here. This job is too important to me”. She’s willing to help him “figure things out” but he tells her he just needs “time”. She agrees “okay, time’s good, I can give you time” but demands “one thing” from him: “don’t ignore my phone calls” to which he agrees is only “fair”. All in all, they’ve not solved anything but she accepted his need for solitude and he acknowledged her worry. They’ve proved to the other that their relationship still mattered.

Like commenter Rose remarked some time ago, Jane is prone to give into his flying reflex every time the daily life he’s crafted is threatened. He’s spent so much time fleeing from emotionally difficult situations that he needs to learn how to properly deal with them, because every new one brings back this grief and loneliness he’s been avoiding for more than a decade. As a result, moving on from his demons means that he has to finish his mourning process first: following the five stage of grief, he’s gone through denial and isolation when he was under the care of Sophie Miller; anger was his motivation for entering the CBI and finding RJ and he started a form of bargaining when he started facing his past as a psychic or when he imagined Charlotte forgiving him and urging him to build a new life. He’s still going through it when he made his deal with the FBI and when he started dating Lisbon: if he doesn’t make the same mistakes, Lisbon will be safe and everything will be fine… Now, he’s going through a bout of depression because everything is bound to come to an end at some time and he knows he can’t avoid it: he’s slowly learning to accept the mortality of his world, and acceptance means he’s ready to deal with it and to seek happiness even if that means he’ll lose it one day. In the meanwhile, he’s still running away from his own emotions, telling Abbott that he’s “not back, just stopping by”… Yet, Dennis knows him well enough to catch his interest: he knows that meeting Gabriel, who’s basically a younger version of his previous self will be an intellectual challenge worthy of distracting him from his impasse.

When meeting Gabriel, Jane sees him as mentally stimulating: right away, the psychic is able to say he’s not a FBI agent, because he’s “not stupid” and he’s able to tell because of the way Jane dresses, his posture, the way he cuts his hair, “any number of things”. Jane, as “a student of the form” just wants to shake his hand, which draws an interesting parallel with McAllister: he’s studying the psychic as a possible criminal like RJ used to do with him. Soon, it becomes a subdued battle of wills, with Jane telling him “I don’t think you’re a fraud. You are a fraud” and asking him to make a “prediction” and Gabriel retorting “there’s a thing inside you, it’s eating you. A thing that’s lingered in your mind for many years.” Jane ironically answers “that’s called the human condition.” Gabriel retorts that his “cure will come with the number three”, echoing the number of unanswered phone calls it took to Lisbon to start really worrying for his safety. Jane is not really fazed and he tells Abbott that the young man is “obviously not a real psychic, but he knows what he’s doing. He’s very smart very controlled… Either that or he’s an insane killer. I’d keep an eye on him”. His reaction is therefore interesting, because in the past, he’s always been angered by fake psychics who reminded him of his past self and his greedy manipulations. Plus, like Kristina Frye, Gabriel’s act is pretty convincing, much more than Ellis Mars had been. Now, Jane is much calmer and more intrigued than really irritated: he didn’t even utter his old mantra “there’s no such thing as real psychics”.
Meanwhile, the remaining members of the team also look for a way to deal with the sense of loss: Abbott talks to Cho about the fact that he came a little strong on one of their suspects and advices him to talk to someone, because it helps him. Cho refuses therapy, but is thankful for the talk and Abbott’s understanding nature. On the other hand, Wylie asks Cho if he can come with him to investigate: he knows they’re shorthanded and he wants to be useful. After he accepts, Wylie looks around but there’s nobody to be happy for him: Vega is still missed…

VIS#3: Jane at the bar

At night, Jane is still busy avoiding reality in a bar: he’s playing pinball, like he was playing Foosball in ‘The White of His Eyes’ with Lisbon. When the bartender tells him she’s kicking him out, he protests that he has a free game here which she nicely accepts to let him play. He tries to guess her name “Angela? Amy?”, because “a person with the initials A.P.J. has all the high scores on that machine over there.” It’s not a coincidence that the first name on his mind is his late wife’s, since mourning is at the heart of his predicament: he wouldn’t be as terrified of losing Lisbon if he accepted what had happened to Angela in the first place… Without really coming onto him, the woman’s attitude is nice and warm enough to pass for a tiny bit flirty and it distracts him from Lisbon’s call: in that aspect –and even if nothing will come out of this short meeting- the moment reminds a bit of the introduction of Lorelei’s character in ‘The Crimson Hat’. Plus, Jane wins “three free games” which makes him think of Gabriel: “he thinks he’s gonna impress me with a three”, explaining “well, three’s meaningful to you” “because three is meaningful to everyone. I say three and you’re impressed because you have three kids”. Interestingly, three must be meaningful for him too, because it was the number of members in his family: he, Angela and their daughter… The woman is in awe and, noticing that he’s drunk quite a bit, offers him to “sleep it off on the couch in the back. Keys will be there in the morning, coffee and aspirin too.” Jane refuses that “very generous offer” and tells her he needs to clear his head. He also denies being a psychic: “that is the one thing I am very sure I am not”. He ends up looking at the moon outside, in the nature, in contrast with the city lights in the next shot which only makes his self-imposed loneliness clear.

The next day, he awakens in what looks like a field of dry hay because a dog comes to him. It’s a Dalmatian dog, whose black and white skin enlightens the duality theme running through the series. Plus, spending the night in nature was something Jane did with Lorelei too: they slept on a deserted beach when he broke her out of jail in ‘Red Sails in The Sunset’.

Later again, his wanderings with his new friend bring him in the middle of nowhere: he’s standing in front of a pond. There’s an abandoned wooden cabin on the other side and a sign tells that the land is for sale. Some wild birds fish in the pond when Jane is called by Abbott. This peaceful and a bit surreal moment tie together two important themes –maybe for the last time: those birds and the water echo Jane’s long standing obsession and his willingness to overcome it.

Plus, commenter Rose noticed that this scene reminded of how Jesus was tested in the wilderness in the Bible (Matthew 4:1-11). He had been led by the Spirit into wilderness to be tempted and tested by the devil. After fasting forty days, the devil told him to turn some stones to bread, since he was the Son of God. Jesus refused for “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God”. Then the devil tempted him to hump from a pinnacle in the holy city: if he was the Son of God, he was to thrown himself down and to order the angels to break his fall by lifting him with their hands. Jesus declined again because “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test”. The third temptation came when the devil took him to a high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor, promising to give them to him if he bowed down and worshipped him. Jesus answered: “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only’”, which ended the test of his free will.

In a way, Jane’s steps follow the three questions imposed to Jesus: the test of hunger was alluded to by the free games he won at pinball. It was an opportunity to stay longer out of the reality, but he finally refused them. Then he could have relied on a woman, whom he called “Angela” as an echo to God’s angels, to feel better: there was no mention of turning to her arms to find solace like he did to Lorelei, but accepting her help would have only prolonged his separation to Lisbon, who’s the woman he usually trusts to protect him: in a way, by sleeping on another woman’s couch, it was his loyalty to Lisbon that was tested… Then, the third step is taken when he sees the land for sell, like the kingdoms of the world: he could buy it as the promised land of his Exodus and make his loneliness permanent… Yet he answers Abbott call, tells him he’s ready to come back, even though he has no idea where he is. In that line of reasoning, Gabriel is right and three was the lucky number that brought him his cure under the form of a religious-like test in the wilderness… though on the other hand, that cabin might very well have reminded him of his plans for the failed weekend with Lisbon, since he wanted to go to a rustic cabin with her. His reason for wanting to come back then would have been that seeing himself reach a place like this alone made him realize how much he really missed her, when he had no real necessity to be apart.

Interestingly, this moment in the story of Jesus is also mentioned in William Blake’s poetry. In ‘The Everlasting Gospel’, he asks for instance
[…] Was Jesus gentle, or did He
Give any marks of gentility?
When twelve years old He ran away,
And left His parents in dismay.
When after three days’ sorrow found,
Loud as Sinai’s trumpet-sound:
‘No earthly parents I confess—
My Heavenly Father’s business!
Ye understand not what I say,
And, angry, force Me to obey.
Obedience is a duty then,
And favour gains with God and men.’
John from the wilderness loud cried;
Satan gloried in his pride. […]

The number three is repeated at every step taken by Jesus as the number of days he ran from his parents. This glorified Jesus is a prideful one who doesn’t embodies what Blake believes in: “I am sure this Jesus will not do,/ Either for Englishman or Jew”. This “False Christ” finds an echo here in Gabriel’s character, who admits he’s “not stupid” and even though he pretends to be shy, seeks attention.

VIS#4: Gabriel and Michelle

Indeed, while Jane is finding his way in the wilderness, Cho and Wylie keep watch over Gabriel’s house. Wylie is surprised by the lack of action in the field and grabs Cho’s book, asking if it’s “any good”. Cho answers “it’s Dostoevsky”. It’s probably no coincidence that this classic writer studied human reactions when facing crime (‘Crime and Punishment’): the figure of Christ and religion and the question of free will are dominant in his work (like in ‘The Brothers Karamazov’), just like this episode is suffused with them. As a matter of fact, as commenter Kilgore Trout remarked about the previous episode on the poem ‘Nothing Gold Can Stay’ and the concept of Felix Culpa: “while humankind knew perfection in Eden, it was through the Fall that it realized far more in terms of life experience and meaning. Without the knowledge of good and evil man essentially had no choice, no free will”. The mention of Dostoevsky stresses this out for Jane: having known full happiness and having lost it to RJ, he’s come to a better understanding of his “human nature” like he said to Gabriel. Coming to term with his grief will bring him a better acceptance of the limitations of his condition and how to live to the fullest while he still can.

Religion is also at the heart of Gabriel’s character: he’s presented as a Fake Christ who is called like an angel. Gabriel’s the archangel in charge of delivering the word of God: he was the one who foretold the births of John the Baptist and of Jesus to Mary, whereas Michelle alluded to the archangel who fought evil. In a way, the season thus opened with a lost Mary who awakened Jane’s fears for Lisbon’s safety in ‘The Graybar Hotel’, while his Christ-like healing was prophesized by Gabriel.

The young man’s own Christ-like presence is stressed by his actions: he’s been introduced by his devoted sister who followed him like Jesus’ companions and his mother Mary; when talking to his neighbor, he’s simply sitting on the porch of the house in a humble attitude. The woman comes to him for love advice because she trusts his judgment; in a way, she’s his Mary Magdalene: “it’s crazy, I know. But I used to date this guy and Gabriel told me he was married and he had never met him. He just knew. I don’t believe in psychics but I believe in Gabriel.”

Having sensed that Wylie misses Michelle and is coming in the field because he’s tired of being back in the office when he could be useful, Gabriel talks to him alone: while seemingly having a seizure, he delivers words that are supposed to come from Wylie’s dead loved one in a true psychic way: “she says she’s okay, she says she’s okay”, “the pain is all gone, okay?” “you shouldn’t be sad anymore”. The touching of his abdomen in the place where Michelle was shot sells the trick to Wylie who asks “are you talking about Michelle?” Gabriel then adds that he sees “red clay. It’s white bones and they’re wrapped in red clay”. The red clay echoes again ‘The Everlasting Gospel’ by Blake, where the clay is associated with the Devil:

Then was perfected His galling pride.
In three nights He devour’d His prey,
And still He devours the body of clay;
For dust and clay is the Serpent’s meat,
Which never was made for Man to eat.

At Jason’s insistence, Lisbon accepts to search an era “known for its red-clay deposits” even though she insists that “Gabriel’s not a real psychic”. When she asks him what Gabriel said to make him believe his vision, she comments “Vega’s death was on the news. It’s no secret”, “he’s not a real psychic”, but Wylie is unconvinced “you can’t know that. I mean you can’t know that for sure”. He just wants to believe that Michelle is okay “wherever she is”. Lisbon going on a “wild goose chase” therefore matches Jane’s own quest in nature inhabited by wild birds: she’s giving her friend “a shot in the dark” and, as Abbott comments upon calling Jane, they’re “running a ghost ship right now”, whereas the consultant has no idea where he is, even though he is “trying to be more findable these days” at his lover’s request. The parallel between the two ends of the situation is enlightened by the presence of dogs: there’s a Dalmatian with Jane, representing the friendly side of the animal, while there’s a German Shepherd searching for human remains with Lisbon. Dogs are also sometimes seen as the guardian of the underworld: Cerberus guarded the gate of the Greek underworld, while the Egyptian god Anubis was the dog-like jackal-headed guide who helped the souls of the departed, for instance. As watchdogs of the underworld, the two canine companions of the characters are thus linked to finding a way to deal with the death of a loved one: it works for Wylie and for Jane and the Shepherd also uncovers the buried bodies of five more victims with removed fingernails; the murderer who is now classified as a “serial killer” and there are now seven victims, which is a nod to the last season of the show.
Jane arrives upon that frightening discovery and tells her that he’s back: “it means that I’m figuring stuff out”. He adds “it’s good to see you” which she repeats: it’s an allusion to the talk in the church in ‘The Crimson Hat’, since he greeted her with a simple “good to see you” after scaring her with a practical joke. Now, his first words are an apology: “I know I missed your call, I didn’t mean to”. In a way, he’s came back to her near open graves, like he told her goodbye in a cemetery: things are coming full circle.

VIS#5: talking on TV

Realizing that Gabriel’s lead was not pure intuition and that he knows something, they bring him into headquarters for being interrogated. He remarks immediately that Jane has changed: “there’s something different about you from the last time we talked. You look lighter, less conflicted. Number three: you saw it and found an answer, huh?”

Jane’s change of attitude towards psychics is even more palpable here: he doesn’t get sarcastic or biting like he used to. He doesn’t either try to manipulate the young man; instead, he lets him know that he understands how he works: “the number three is incredibly common, Gabriel. We see it everywhere. Red clay, a little rarer…” When the young man retorts “I didn’t want to be right”, trying to pass his skills as a cursed gift, Jane tells him “of course you did” and adds mockingly “yeah, visions are a real drag, I know how you feel.” He finally reveals “you know, I used to be you, Gabriel” in a calm, dispassionate voice that doesn’t betray anymore any struggle with his conscience. He then proceeds to cold-read the other man, who’s so surprised he reacts like his marks (“who told you all that? My sister?”). When he feels cornered by Jane who can understand his “little tricks”, he blurts out his trump card: “I had another vision you should know about: I saw that the killer is going to kill again, tonight. And if you won’t listen to me, I’ll tell everyone, okay, I have to warn people”. Jane’s reply is that he can’t leave, because he’s still studying him out: “I came in here to figure out if you are just a fraud or if you are a monster”… When Jane gets out of the room though, his words to Abbott are a little more ambiguous: “he’s not a fraud”, but he’s not really psychic either”… So Abbott asks him “what is he?”, Jane admits “I don’t know. We have to keep him here”.

There are two possibilities. Firstly, Gabriel might be so wrapped up in his psychic act that he’s convinced he’s the real thing, which will place him in that ambiguous category reserved for Kristina Frye, whose tricks Jane wasn’t able to explain and who was so confident that RJ could convince her that she was dead and could only be reached through a psychic session. Or he’s an accomplice or acquaintance of the killer, one way or another and he’s using his inside knowledge to stop the other while earning fame for himself.
Problem is, they have nothing to keep him here. They’re forced to release him and the young man is true to his word. He offers to the awaiting cameras a little speech: “I had a vision that helped them find five bodies today. They don’t have any suspects. FBI thinks it was me; they want to frame me, they want to hide the truth. There’s a serial killer out there: he’s a man with an evil heart and an appetite to kill. He’s not done killing. He won’t stop and he can’t stop, he’s gonna kill again.” Gabriel is doing the same thing that Jane did in the pilot: he’s tipping his hand to the killer and taunting him under the guise of warning people. Like Kristina before, he doesn’t seem to realize that what he does is dangerous because he’s stepped in the spotlight. The killer may now come after him and his loved ones: Jane was right, Gabriel was so eager to impress his audience that he acted just like Jane did when he was younger and less experienced.

Somehow, this scene was foretold by Jane talking to the reporter during the hostage situation in the previous episode. Only then, the name of the journalist “Elisabeth” was reminiscent of the Old Testament, while now it’s the New Testament that is referenced because Jane has progressed beyond his yearning for running away in his Exodus-like quest for emotional and physical security.

VIS#6: the ending

As a consequence after his little outburst in front of the reporters, Cho and Wylie are again on stake-out duty in front of Gabriel’s house. Suddenly, a movement in the shadows attracts Cho’s attention; it’s the neighbor who was running because she was scared. She explains: “Gabriel was on the news and said there was a serial killer on the loose and then I saw you lurking”. This remark is doubly intriguing: the woman was afraid, because she implicitly assumed that Gabriel was in danger after his interview, something the so-called psychic apparently failed to predict… Plus, her presence served as a distraction to separate the two agents since Cho running after her made Wylie more vulnerable again, this time to an attack. Thus, the neighbor, on purpose or not, gave an opportunity to act to the serial killer… Could she be the inside source that Gabriel used for his predictions? Did he get the clue about bones and clay from his talk with her? Could the serial killer be one of the men she was or had been dating and had Gabriel understood what was really going on with him?

Either way, the killer takes that opportunity and hits Wylie: in the house, they later find the sister killed (like Jane’s family) and Gabriel is missing (like Kristina Frye), which makes them suspect that the attacker might be him. Again, he’s either a fraud who’s fallen victim of his own tricks, or a monster…

The attack made Wylie doubt his abilities in the field: he’s still comparing himself to Vega and his assault probably reminded him of the dangers inherent to the job that cost his coworker her life. He tells Cho “I don’t think I’m cut out for the field”. Cho dismisses his worries: “you’re gonna get banged up every one in a while”, asking “you want to go back to the office and answer phones?” The idea of staying behind in a deserted bullpen makes Wylie think again: “I want to stay”. Obviously, he prefers danger to loneliness –just like Jane chooses in the end. When Cho tells him to go inside the house to meet up with Jane, the consultant hypnotizes him into remembering who attacked him. The lack of details contrasts with Jane’s very detailed description of his attacker in ‘Little Yellow House’: the roles are reversed now that Wylie takes a more active part in the investigation. The hypnosis scene is pure classic Jane trick and he’s able to make the young agent focus on an impression: “a faint scent”. Like he mentioned once before, scents are great vectors of memory and the clue reminds of how Jane was able to identify the killer in ‘Redwood’. Indeed, the scent reminded Wylie of his “Uncle’s fishing shed”, even though there was no actual fish involved: it’s not a coincidence that the fishing detail matches one of the biggest themes of the series too… Jason is finally able to pinpoint the exact scent: “beer, it smells like old, spilled beer” which leads them to an abandoned brewery “only a mile from where the bodies were found”.

There, in a silent scene, they find the body of a butchered Gabriel hanging by his wrists from the ceiling. The word “fake” is carved on his forearm; it is reminiscent of the smiley written in letters of blood and of the letter on the door addressing the “dirty money-grubbing fraud” that RJ left behind in Jane’s bedroom. The “fake” comment is both a comment on Gabriel’s visions and an implicit jab given that, even though he was right, he wasn’t able to foretell that he’d be the actual victim this time. It therefore further echoes RJ’s words: “if you were a real psychic instead of a dishonest little worm, you wouldn’t need to open the door to see what I’ve done to your lovely wife and child”. The atmosphere of the gory crime scene also matches the one surrounding the abandoned corpses left in warehouses by RJ (Panzer’s body in ‘Blinking Red Light’, even more given that the man committed the same error than Gabriel and taunted a serial killer on TV and Lorelei in ‘There Will Be Blood’), as well as the theatrical display of the morgue attendant’s corpse in Rosalind’s house in ‘Always Bet on Red’. Interestingly, Gabriel’s cadaver has again a Christ-like vibe to it, especially with the cuts on his body and the bloodied naked foot: it might mean that the mysterious killer took his toenail to add to his collection, but it also reminds of the colonel’s wife, whose bloodied beige shoe was the focal point of the violent murder in ‘The Silver Briefcase’… It might mean that things have come full circle in that perspective too: Jane has somehow gotten over his fear and he’s able to concentrate on investigating again.

Conclusion

After living again relieving his most traumatic experience and most feared scenario through the eyes of a younger version of him, Jane’s finally able to gain some distance… He realized that he’s more experienced, he’s not prey of not the same prideful attitude or the same mistakes that plagued his past: he’s changed… This is showed in the choice of the title of this episode: “Byzantium” is a dark purple that doesn’t appear in the show; instead, it’s an allusion to Yeat’s poem ‘Sailing to Byzantium’.
That is no country for old men. The young
In one another’s arms, birds in the trees
– Those dying generations – at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unaging intellect.
.

An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress,
Nor is there singing school but studying
Monuments of its own magnificence;
And therefore I have sailed the seas and come
To the holy city of Byzantium.
.

O sages standing in God’s holy fire
As in the gold mosaic of a wall,
Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,
And be the singing-masters of my soul.
Consume my heart away; sick with desire
And fastened to a dying animal
It knows not what it is; and gather me
Into the artifice of eternity.
.

Once out of nature I shall never take
My bodily form from any natural thing,
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
Of hammered gold and gold enamelling
To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;
Or set upon a golden bough to sing
To lords and ladies of Byzantium
Of what is past, or passing, or to come.

This poem echoes Jane’s life experience: he left behind the dying generations who were focused on love (Angela and Charlotte and more recently Vega who started dating Wylie) and the birds and fishes scattered through his quest (found in the cabin with the fishing wild birds on the pond). They represent the past he’s overcame, the brilliant glory he was yearning for in his younger years, in the “summer” of his life attuned to the “sensual music” of his earthly desires. Now, he’s one of the “old men” at the fall of his life: he knows he’s powerless to protect the people he loves (“An aged man is but a paltry thing,/ A tattered coat upon a stick”), but he’s also wiser. He’s learnt to observe the world and is a “student of the form” (“Nor is there singing school but studying/ Monuments of its own magnificence”): he observes and think, until he’s able to achieve a new, deeper level of gold, not the dawn whose gold couldn’t stay in the previous episode, but one which brings him a greater degree emotional fulfillment. Like the poet, Jane has therefore arrived at the conclusion of his spiritual journey –symbolized by his shoes before which now are alluded to by the missing shoe on Gabriel’s foot- that ties to the sea theme since he’s “sailing” towards an ideal happiness. In a second poem, simply called ‘Byzantium’ and written by Yeats a few years after ‘Sailing to Byzantium’, the results may be visible, even though the writing is more obscure: Jane along with the poet has managed a mystical union, the former with a new form of happiness at Lisbon’s side, the latter through appreciation of historical and eternal works of art. They’ve become a golden bird that has become immune to the deadly violence of the perishing world, in contrast with the peaceful marveling at spiritual beauty:
The unpurged images of day recede;
The Emperor’s drunken soldiery are abed;
Night resonance recedes, night walkers’ song
After great cathedral gong;
A starlit or a moonlit dome disdains
All that man is,
All mere complexities,
The fury and the mire of human veins.

Before me floats an image, man or shade,
Shade more than man, more image than a shade;
For Hades’ bobbin bound in mummy-cloth
May unwind the winding path;
A mouth that has no moisture and no breath
Breathless mouths may summon;
I hail the superhuman;
I call it death-in-life and life-in-death.

Miracle, bird or golden handiwork,
More miracle than bird or handiwork,
Planted on the star-lit golden bough,
Can like the cocks of Hades crow,
Or, by the moon embittered, scorn aloud
In glory of changeless metal
Common bird or petal
And all complexities of mire or blood.

At midnight on the Emperor’s pavement flit
Flames that no faggot feeds, nor steel has lit,
Nor storm disturbs, flames begotten of flame,
Where blood-begotten spirits come
And all complexities of fury leave,
Dying into a dance,
An agony of trance,
An agony of flame that cannot singe a sleeve.

Astraddle on the dolphin’s mire and blood,
Spirit after Spirit! The smithies break the flood.
The golden smithies of the Emperor!
Marbles of the dancing floor
Break bitter furies of complexity,
Those images that yet
Fresh images beget,
That dolphin-torn, that gong-tormented sea.

Mentalist Nothing Gold Can Stay Review

Synopsis

While investigating the case of a brutal armored car robbery and generally getting on happily with their respective projects, the team is shaken by an unexpected event: Michelle Vega (Josie Loren) is killed by one of the criminals they were trying to arrest.

Concise Verdict

The ‘Bullet’ mentioned in the vague threats of the more recent episodes has finally found a target: Vega is the very first team member killed in the show and no need to say it makes this episode very emotional… Even more so since writer Alex Berger also signed her first scene at character development in ‘Green Light’ when she started stopping seeking her father’s shadow behind rules and approval… After tragedy stoke, bonds are strained and boundaries change: all in all, ‘‘Nothing Gold Can Stay’ presents a sinister echo to ‘Nothing But Blues Skies’: it’s a reset button for the team, with altered dynamics and Jane threatening to fly the now painful premises.

Detailed AKA Humungous Review (Spoilers galore)

The violence displayed on the robbery contrasts with Jane and Lisbon cheerfully discussing their plans for a romantic weekend. This jarring note hints at unsettling events right from the star. Interestingly, their plans are a consequence of their talk at the end of the previous episode: Lisbon told him to focus on “what’s going on right now” because what they had was “very, very good”. Jane is therefore trying to work their disagreement out spending some nice time alone, out of work. Unsurprisingly, his choice for a dreamy getaway is getting them isolated from the world in a “rustic, charming, very romantic” little cabin. As usual, Lisbon is not depicted as a nature-loving girl, so she immediately picks up on the description: “rustic as in no running water?”… This detail reminds of her prison girl talk with Marie in ‘The Greybar Hotel’: back then, she commented about the life the girl was sharing with her outlaw of a boyfriend that “wild is one thing, no shower is another”. More than some demand for comfort in the choice of their lovers’ nest, with “the kind of place that leaves a mint on the pillow”, it’s implicitly their whole relationship and the dangers inherent to it that are about to be called into question, even more since ‘The Greybar Hotel’ started Jane’s round of worries about his sweetheart’s safety…

When the consultant starts interrogating witnesses under Cho’s supervision, viewers get treated to a classic cheeky Jane moment … In a few sentences, Jane manages to rub the whole bunch of witnesses off by asking right away “which one of you was the accomplice to the robbery this morning” and reading their reactions… The moment features that impertinent side that he used to display in the CBI era. It also shows Cho’s announced new charge of leader since Abbott is planning to leave because the stoic agent funnily defends Jane’s way of doing things by remarking that it’s not outrageous “not really, not yet” . On the other hand, Jane’s rapid and callous solving of the point is quite reminiscent of the case he cracked in record time at the beginning of ‘Blue Bird’, that is when he was about to lose Lisbon because she was walking out his life, which is quite telling of fears and foreshadowing of future events…

The second layer of subtext in that moment is Jane’s speech regarding guilt: he tells his marks that guilt is “physical, increased perspiration, racing heart”. Guilt has been his trademark emotion for years and is probably part of his current issue with Lisbon since he’s worried that she’ll get hurt like Angela and Charlotte were. Maybe he’s even terrified that one of his plans might be responsible for it because he’s the brain behind the team, just like his conman acted caused his family’s death… that much is hinted at when notes that “when I just shook your hands, most of you were relatively calm”, given that hands have been linked to guilt during his quest for revenge (Lady Macbeth, the handshake clue to RJ’s identity). One way of another, the menace he’s been afraid of is getting closer…

Meanwhile, the continuity with the happy party at the ending of ‘Copper Bullet’ is guaranteed by many changes, such as Abbott being content to let Cho direct the investigation because he’ll be in charge soon enough and Wylie finally gathering the courage to ask Michelle out. And she accepts, which shows how she has warmed up to the idea of getting closer after asking him to dance. A detail also brings attention to the connection with the previous events: Abbott is told that Jane “just said he was running an errand”. It was the same excuse Vega used for leaving the bullpen when she started tailing Peterson after convincing Cho to let her in the plan. It indicated that the focus is on her and her assumed choice to be a part of the team.

Wylie

The young agent’s interaction with Michelle leads him to go to Abbott for advice. Dennis is a sound expert on love matters since he’s been happily married to his college sweetheart for 17 years old. Although Jason might not be aware of it, he was also Jane’s official Cupid into earning Lisbon’s favors… He willingly takes the same part for Wylie and states right away that he knows the young man asked her out: his explanation for this knowledge is an amused “this isn’t my first rodeo”. This line hints again at cowboys and, through them, at the danger idea brought by the allusions to Western movies in the previous episodes… Same with Wylie’s comment that he doesn’t really know what kind of restaurant he should choose, arguing “I don’t want to tip my hand”: this reference to poker is a nod to the game metaphor from the RJ era and a way to convey an unsettling impression in the middle that joyful occasion… However, Dennis advice echoes Lisbon’s consideration for details and mints on pillows: “keep it casual. Not a hole in a wall, you know? Tablecloths, not necessarily white…” Is it reading too much into that line to see it as a subtle reminder of Lisbon’s description of her date with Pike in ‘Silver Wings of Time” with “cloth napkins and everything” after Jane asked her if his rival was taking her someplace nice? If that’s the case, it’s a clever way to foreshadow how this first date with Michelle is doomed from the start… The talk anyway ends up with Abbott reassuring the hopeful young man: “she already said yes, that was the hard part. Just try to have fun”.

Cho

Cho too has a meaningful moment in relation with Vega: without being as personal as Wylie’s progress with the brunette, his talk with her in the car shows how much their relation has been veering towards genuine friendship. Indeed, when Vega starts commenting about his new leadership position, she asks him “are you excited?” As he retorts that he doesn’t “really think about it that way”, she presses on “isn’t this something you’ve wanted your entire career?”, “so be excited about it”. Her gentle prodding turns to teasing when he tells her that the main change he’s going to make is “a new rule: rookie agents are seen and not heard”, which she brushes off (“good luck with that”). Cho turns his head to hide his half-smile from her: their wit makes them equals in a way. Since she faced him and his protectiveness of feeling “responsible” for her, she turned the tables and made their bond evolve from seeking him out for approbation and guidance to something more akin to a partnership. Plus, she’s happy for him and Cho likes her as a person obviously for he’s taken her under his wing and is amused by her eagerness.

Jane and Lisbon

Meanwhile, in the “fishbowl”, Jane meets Lisbon. He’s prepared a surprise to please her. As he offers her a gift box full of those mints she wanted, he tells her he made reservations for their weekend “at the Alhambra: resortish style place, room service, high-thread-count sheets… I think you’re gonna like it”. He wanted to indulge in her wish to have a high-end weekend –like he planned to at the ‘Blue Bird’- in order to spend time alone with her. He’s eager to make her happy, even though she’s aware that he would have preferred something more “rustic” (“yeah, I’ll find a tree”). His dismissal of his own desires is probably a way to make up with what he’d done to anger her in the first place: he’s willing to prove to her that she’s important and that, in spite of his fears and manipulations, he’s attuned to her needs… And one may wonder if both their insistence with bed-related details (“pillow” and “sheets”) is not a way to imply how they want to spend this time alone, given how little cuddling time those two get onscreen. Too bad this luxurious hotel as an ominous name in context: the original “Alhambra” is an ancient Moorish palace in Granada (Spain), whose name means “red house/castle”, tying it up with the red thread and threat from Jane’s history… Once again, danger, fear and the ghost of revenge are lurking.

The notion of partnership is also mentioned in that brief moment between the lovers: as Lisbon can follow Jane’s steps in cold-reading the criminals’ non-verbal clues in the video of the robbery, he acknowledges her “good eye” as a sign that her own set of skills is getting is par with his. She’s his equal. On the other hand, the gang is not as well equipped: both Jane and Lisbon manage to define a flaw in their team. The one in charge –the “Alpha”- doesn’t trust the new crew member whose “big gun stands out” during the violent assault… Plus the Alpha apparently works with his brother, who’s the third member of their organization: trust, bond and defiance are closely woven together in the dangerous trio. Plus, it’s probably only a meaningless detail but it’s still intriguing that Jane’s eye caught onto the fact that they were brothers because of a similar walk due to a lift on the left shoe –even more since it’s that clue that later tips Vega onto identifying the group. Indeed, Jane’s shoes are a long-standing symbol for his journey through tragedy and received special attention in ‘Blue Bird’: it might be a way to hint that his life is about to make a new leap in an unexpected direction as well as attracting viewers’ attention on the important theme of family…

VIS#1 The turning point: Vega is killed

Things take a sudden turn for the worst when Vega and Cho check a dinner in the hopes of spotting their men. Some red elements like walls and booths and the redhead waitress hint at the looming threat as well as the poster “eat, sleep, fish” behind their suspects alludes to the old fishing/sea theme mentioned in ‘Little Yellow House’. Indeed, the menace gets very pressing when the two agents recognize the three gang members and confront them: a violent gunfire ensues, very much like it would happen in a saloon in a Western movie. Interestingly, Vega recognizes the Alpha because of his shoe: in the movie ‘Rio Bravo’ (already referenced in the season), Wayne’s sheriff character and his deputy also plan to recognize their suspect because his boots are covered in mud when he managed to hide in the saloon. The two men enter separately, the sheriff from the back door while the deputy takes the main entrance (just like Vega stays in the dinning room while Cho pursues two of their suspects through the back storage room). The difference is that the deputy is able to spot and kill the hidden man who was planning to shoot at them from above… Vega isn’t not as lucky and when Cho comes back after the men had managed to escape, he finds her injured on the floor with the patrons gathered around her. He wasn’t here to protect here, which will probably weigh on his conscience later.

Cho takes her in his arms and presses her injury –which has probably pierced a lung- in an attempt to stop the bleeding. He tries to calm her by talking and ends up repeating endlessly the same lines like a distraught mantra “come here”, “keep breathing”, “I know”, “you’re okay”, “good”… he’s almost fatherly, using with her the same words one would with a frightened child, calling her “Michelle” to put emphasis on how personal the moment is. Vega doesn’t seem to fully realize her state as she first wants to take her phone to call for an ambulance, but she soon asks a heart-breaking question: “did I mess up?” Cho tells her “no, you did good, okay? You did good”. Her last words end up being “I did?” It shows to viewers the reason why she felt drawn to Cho in the first place: his stern but reassuring presence reminded her of her father; the “mess up” also reminds of their first contact when her recklessness and lies made him angry at her. Things are coming full circle in a poignant few words when she’s starting to lose consciousness in his embrace and his “you did good” line referring to the job morph into “you’re doing good” when he gets her to focus on staying with him (“just keep breathing for me”), then to “look at me” when he feels that she’s slipping away…

The outcome is shown at the hospital in a completely silent scene except for Blake Neely’s very slow tune: Lisbon is running in slow motion in the hallway (like she did in ‘Bloodstream’, when Cho was too appointed new team leader after she unknowingly insulted their new boss LaRoche), Jane close behind her. Abbott standing motionless in front of the door then Cho waiting for them already indicate that they have bad news: Michelle has passed away. Their expressions show their different way to deal with the tragedy: Lisbon’s face expresses shock and grief. Jane lowers his head, centered on his emotions, while a sad Abbott looks at Cho, who’s completely focused on Vega’s pale dead face.

Wylie’s tears

Wylie’s reaction is shown immediately afterwards: he’s sitting alone in the bullpen and doesn’t move or react when other agents walk by. He ten looks at her desk when the phone starts ringing: there’s on one to answer it anymore. The Austin homicide agent who’s now in charge of the investigation tells him “I’m very sorry for your loss” and later Lisbon hugs him, acknowledging that he’s most affected by the tragedy since he’d been creating personal ties with the young woman.

His grief stricken lack of activity contrasts with Abbott’s attitude in front on the man who wants to take the case from them: even though he’s polite and cooperative, Dennis outright tells him “but this case is ours and these men, they belong to us”. He’s even more eager to keep the case that he didn’t even get the chance to talk to Vega that day…

Cho’s guilt

As Cho is waiting to be interrogated, he’s displaying another emotion: the blood on his shirt and on his hands hint that he’s feeling guilty for not protecting the rookie. He’s already told her once that he felt responsible for her and he was moreover in charge of the case; his bloodied hands are thus reminiscent of Lady Macbeth’s guilty conscience, even though he’s not really at fault. Plus, his appearance is a distant echo to Lisbon’s own bloodied shirt after discovering that Bosco and his men were shot by a RJ minion in ‘His Red Right Hand’.

Just as Lisbon acknowledged Wylie’s pain as somewhat leading the mourning given that he’d been her love interest, Abbott refers to Kimball to know more about Vega’s family: he’s the one able to tell that the next-of-kin in her file, “an aunt in Tampa”, is her only living relative and that she’s her father’s sister. Cho even furthers take side as surrogate family by telling that he’ll call the woman: he considers it his responsibility. When alone on Abbott’s office, he starts crying when he sees her file on the screen. The image of him finally making the call in a composed voice, shot through the window and framed by two littler glass panels give even more solemnity to the moment.

Jane and Lisbon are falling apart

Vega’s demise has unexpected consequences on the other coworkers: Jane is drinking his tea alone in the kitchen instead of seeking comfort close to his sweetheart. When she comes into the room asking for coffee, he tells her they’re out of it, yet she refuses his offer to have a cup of tea… Before Jane had been seen many times preparing a mug of coffee for her, but now he’s again centered on the pain and fear plaguing his thoughts and he’s closing himself off.

On the other hand, Lisbon broaches immediately the subject on her mind: “you don’t believe in the afterlife at all, do you?” Given that the theme was an important part of Jane’s grief after losing his family, Lisbon’s question ties the current situation to his past tragedy. When he confirms that he does not, she pushes further “I do. Do you think that’s foolish?” Again, he denies and she explains “I just need to believe that she’s someplace”. She’s in need of comfort and the only form of soothing he can provide her is by touching her arm –not even hugging her like she did with Wylie… Both are in need of the other’s presence, but a certain distance is growing between them… which is why Jane stays in the kitchen drinking his tea and watches her go with Abbott as she’s called for the investigation. When he finally joins the remaining team members and the homicide detective in their talk about the criminals’ whereabouts, he tells them “maybe we should all just take a breath”, echoing Cho’s words to the dying Vega. He explains to the agents who are eager for action “when you’re hunting a wounded animal, you just don’t start chasing it immediately. You’ll drive it to the ground”. Two more old themes are alluded to in that conversation: the hunting theme –linked to revenge- and the theme of birds (the possibility to send helicopters is mentioned with the line “a couple of birds in the air”); the latter is altogether associated with the hunt, with RJ’s ultimate demise and Jane’s hope for a new life by Lisbon’s side (‘Blue Bird’).

VIS#2 Jane’s methods are questioned again: are they enough to keep everyone safe?

1) Jane’s plan

While Wylie had been listening to the operation, a female dark-haired agent with a ponytail can be seen behind him: it’s an allusion to the missing Vega, just like both Abbott and Cho sitting in cars with the seat at their side remaining empty is a nod to Cho and Vega’s last friendly conversation before the catastrophe. Her loss is at the heart of the operation, because the whole team is trying to avenge her.

Yet the level of grief only increases as the criminals are cornered, for they take a woman then a man hostages. Plus Tommy, the Alpha’s brother, is injured: the blood on his torso and his brother’s comforting words “okay, it’s gonna be okay” while taking his hand draw a parallel with Vega’s last moments.

Jane understands the situation and remarks that “they’re in there because he was trying to get medicine for his brother, that’s compassion”. Nevertheless, instead of demanding a trade for a hostage, Jane plans to manipulate their feelings. He wants to use the Ace’s desperation to save his brother against the new member’s eagerness for money: “we drive an edge between them. Divide to conquer”. In order to do so, he plants a listening device in the pizza that Cho delivers to the bad guys trapped in one of their hostage’s house.

2) Cho’s counteroffensive

Yet, while Jane is busy playing mastermind, Cho took this opportunity to take a look inside. He asks for a word in private with Abbott and tells him that he wants to take them out. He’s aware that Jane doesn’t really have a plan: “he’s improvising”. He states “Now, I’ve followed Jane down a lot of paths, but I’m not sure he’s right this time.”

Abbott correctly surmises that it’s “about payback for Vega” and Cho simply answers “maybe. What if it is?” The older man prudently decides to let “Jane’s plan play out for a little bit”, but orders Cho to “talk to SWAT, let them know we might go in.” He realizes that, as much as Cho is right about Jane and about the urgency of the situation, he’s also recklessly out for revenge, like he was in ‘Blood In, Blood Out’: when one of his friends is targeted, Cho lets free rein to his wild streak… He’s briefly following into Jane’s footsteps, like Rigsby had been with his father’s killer; only now Jane is not as eager to avenge their lost friend as he is to protect his beloved…

3) Jane talks with the TV reporter

Blissfully unaware that he’s being passed over by his friends, the consultant pulls all the stops to mess with the mind of the criminals. To mislead them, he’s willing to use the TV crew in front of the house, in the same way he used Karen Cross’ show in the CBI. He tells the woman that he’s a “well-placed source” and that they’re secretly negotiating with one of the hostage takers, a fake news she relays on air for the benefit of the distrusting Sellers, the dangerous new gang member who killed Vega. He doesn’t care about hurting the hostages or about his accomplice’s endangered life: Seller’s only in for the money and his own greed leads him to believe that Ace may have been making a deal and selling him out…

The names of the news reporters might also prove remarkable: it may be a coincidence, but the leading man is called “George”, as the Christian Saint who fought the dragon that represented Evil. It used to be Jane’s position, but now it’s Lisbon’s, since she wants to keep stopping bad guys (hence Jane marveling at one of her clever remarks on Peterson’s skimming in ‘Copper Bullet’ by saying “by George, I think she got it”). And the news lady’s called “Elizabeth”, who’s Aaron’s wife in the Bible. Her name is associated with “seven” in Hebrew, making it another nod to the last season, but more interestingly she’s part of the Exodus history. Indeed, Aaron was alluded to in ‘The Silver Briefcase’ for it was the colonel’s first name. As explained in the review for that episode, Aaron was Moses’ older brother and helped him to lead their people out of Egypt, but they had a disagreement over how to worship God (Exodus, 32, 1-5). This divergence was a symbol for the different positions held by Jane, who wants to quit and make his own ‘Exodus’ real, and Lisbon, who wants to stay in the FBI. The Exodus was also hinted at by another character’s name in ‘The White of His Eyes’, when Jane decided to take measures to force Lisbon into safety: one of the Bittakers was called Caleb. Caleb was in the Old Testament one of Moses’ men who first saw the Promised Land after he was sent to explore Canaan; he was also the one who praised it with Joshua (Numbers 14, 6-9). In a nutshell, the journalists’ names sum up both Jane’s and Lisbon’s respective opinion on the matter of quitting law enforcement…

Moreover, the whole setting with Jane using the reporters to curb the situation to his advantage is reminiscent of Lisbon doing the same thing in ‘Red Alert’ to force Bertram to give her control of the operation. Back there too, a hot-headed cop with guilt issues wanted to take the hostage taker out by shooting him… and shades of the not so bad guy’s personality can be glimpsed into the altercation between the two angered accomplices here as Jane succeeds in driving an edge between them: the violent one who takes his rage on the male hostage is in direct contrast with the other one who simply asks the excited female captive to “sit down”…

4) Jane’s suicidal initiative

As things progress, the similarities with ‘Red Alert’ get more obvious. Indeed, Jane quickly realizes that he’s losing control of thesituation. Even when he pleads that he only needs a little more time, Abbott answers him “I’m sorry, Jane, I’ve tried”… Problem is that Jane wanted to avoid Lisbon getting into the dangerous house… So, when his smarts aren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, he resorts to more direct methods, telling her “don’t go with them” and taking her by the arm before adding “you don’t have to”. Lisbon disagrees but her usual reassurances don’t work on him: he knows that she can’t foretell if anyone will be hurt and Vega’s fate is too fresh in his mind for him to react rationally… Out of anger and fear, he takes a spur-of-the-moment decision as soon as she leaves at Cho’s order: he walks himself straight to the house, ignoring the others’ call to stop. If he can’t convince her to stay put, he’d force her to by taking the risks instead of her… Since he doesn’t have much time for finessing this out, he goes straight to the point with the surprised Ace when the man opens the door: he can help him and his brother, but he has to release a hostage first. His determining argument is “I am FBI, take me instead”, given that he’s “more valuable, better leverage”… he goes as far as pleading to the man to take him in: “come on, it’s a good deal”. Like in ‘Red Alert’, the criminal is not entirely cold-blooded and accepts to release the male hostage instead of keeping the three of them: he knows he doesn’t have much time because someone inside is bleeding to death, like it was back then. Again, the moment echoes a bit the movie ‘Rio Bravo’ ending with the criminal gang being out powered during a trading of hostages…

Outside, Lisbon tries to pacify the other infuriated cops: “I am just as angry as you are, but he’s just going in there, let him have some time”. She understands Jane’s plan and wants to avoid getting him in further danger in a potential gunfight. She explains that he’s trying to drive an edge between these two guys, giving him a vote of confidence (“if anybody can do that, it’s Jane”).

Jane’s improvised plan is to do the reverse of what he did to calm the panicky hostage in ‘Red Alert’: he’s driving the bad guys into a corner by causing their only remaining civil captive to have a panic attack. By messing with their mind, he manages to convince the men to free her in order to avoid the cops -who are listening on them- to barge in to save her from a supposed diabetic coma… While Ace is leading her outside, Jane manipulates the other by talking about how much money they took, causing his two marks to get into a violent argument. In the end, in the two criminals are killed another silent scene, except for the sound of the bullets: Ace is taken out by his ruthless accomplice, while the latter is shot by Cho. Ironically, the only one who makes it out of it alive is the injured brother, unlike Vega.

VIS#3 The funeral: saying goodbye

One last silent scene takes place in the cemetery when the team along with a number of other law enforcers gives Vega the last tributes: the music is drowning out the words. The official and well-attended funeral contrasts with the deserted graveyard in the opening of ‘Copper Bullet’ in the same way that this sad ending is in direct opposition with the joyous gathering to celebrate their victory.

Abbott and Cho are carrying the coffin as the higher ranked people in the team, whereas Jane’s walking alone, Lisbon preferring to stay by Wylie’s side… The distance between them fades a little as they’re sitting as a group to listen to the priest and when each of them –except Jane, at least onscreen- shovels some dirt onto the coffin as Michelle’s professional family. Abbott is comforting Wylie when they leave, Cho walking alone nearby.

Lisbon finds her lover crouched near a tree and she tells him that she’d like to postpone their plans for the weekend because “it just doesn’t feel right”. She’s aware that “places like this must be hard for” him, given the loss of his whole family, but she’s still taken aback when Jane tells her “I can’t do this anymore”. He pours his heart out, helped by the emotion from burying their friend: “I can’t watch you do this work. I mean it, it could have been you in that coffin. I don’t, I can’t go through that again”. Lisbon is right: the funeral has awakened painful memories for Jane, but what she didn’t expect is that he would take out his fear on their relationship. Even more since she’s probably still smarting from his latest stunt after all: “Jane, you were the one who walked in that house”. He was the one who was more in danger to catch a bullet than her. But Jane’s peculiar logic comes into play: “yes, so that you wouldn’t”. The difference is that in Jane’s mind, his life is not worth much: “me dying, it’s, it doesn’t hurt me”, a self-deprecating point of view illustrated many times by the risks he was willing to take to kill his nemesis –and by the temptation of suicide lurking after the deed was done… Lisbon tries to state reasonably “you can’t keep pulling me from the path of oncoming trains”, “because there’s always new train coming every day”… Jane’s solution is more drastic than simply accepting the dangers inherent to her job –and to life itself-: “I’m leaving. You can come with me or stay here, but I have to go”. He’s taking himself out of the situation before getting even more hurt, since he cannot bend her to his will… As she asks him where he’s going, he simply answers “someplace nice” before kissing her on the cheek. Lisbon keeps watching him go with tears on her eyes… Each of their most deep-seated fears has become real: Jane lost her to danger (since she didn’t follow him), which was his main motive for not confessing his feelings in the previous season, and Lisbon couldn’t keep him from leaving her, the very reason why she didn’t want to get close to him before he made his love clear. Yet neither wants to understand the other’s point of view… They’re both centered on not losing the other and are blinded by that.

Conclusion: a ray of hope in the darkness

Two texts are referred to during that episode. The first one is quoted in the title; it’s a poem written by Robert Frost in 1923:

“Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.”

In that poem, nature (with the metaphor of the Fall), and religion (the lost Eden) are combined to draw an history of humankind doomed to suffer and fail since everything is only ephemeral: “nothing gold can stay” means that every ounce of beauty and happiness is condemned from the start to end. It reflects both Vega’s demise when she was starting to become a valuable part of the team (hence the falling leaves when they were carrying her coffin) as well as Jane’s fears concerning Lisbon’s possible death which keep him from focusing on what they have right now. That piece of poetry is reminiscent of Blake’s ‘Tyger, Tyger’, given that the divine creation brings in itself its own demise, just like for Blake good and evil were tied together as a guarantee of balance: in their own different ways, both poets build a picture of the world defined by religion, in a rather dark perspective since the all things good are bound to have drastic limitations. There’s nothing absolute.

Eden for Jane is thus no longer that past he shared with his family and which met an end because of his own original sin: it’s the new life he managed to craft for himself, with his new team and Lisbon’s love. This life full of hope was crystallized in ‘Blue Bird’ and ‘Nothing But Blue Skies’, but in Jane’s mind it is somehow destined to end in death and violence too… Vega’s fate only confirmed this fear: time ineluctably takes people from him and it gets even faster in their line of job. On the other hand, it’s interesting that Death chose the rookie as its victim, since her name is telling: Michelle is the French feminine for Michel/Michael, the name used for Kirkland’s twin for it referred to the Archangel who fought Satan in the Book of Revelation. Yet, it may be another of the angel’s role that’s called into action here, since Michael is also the one in charge of saving innocent souls from the Devil and carrying them to heaven. This, associated with the fact that “Vega” is actually a star, makes for a positive symbol: Michelle is linked to the sky and to heaven (hence maybe her cheeky remark to Cho in the car “we’re wearing jetpacks”). The poem is also related to the religious concept of felix culpa (from Saint Augustine’s texts and in the “Exultet” in Catholic Easter liturgy): it’s the original fault that convinced God to send the Messiah on Earth, so paradoxically that sin is somewhat blessed. Meaning that something good can come of an unfortunate event. The notion of felix culpa is also linked to the Exodus: without exile, there would be no promised land after all… Even more since “gold” for Jane has not so happy connotations of leaving Lisbon on a cliff at sunset and of clinking to his wedding band… Maybe once the conflicting emotions have settled down he would be ready for a more permanent emotional commitment instead of living in fear and regret.

The other meaningful text is the song playing at the funeral, “Letters From The Sky”, by Civil Twilight:

“One of these days the sky’s gonna break
And everything will escape and I’ll know
One of these days the mountains
Are gonna fall into the sea and they’ll know

That you and I were made for this
I was made to taste your kiss
We were made to never fall away
Never fall away

One of these days letters are gonna fall
From the sky telling us all to go free
But until that day I’ll find a way
To let everybody know that you’re coming back
You’re coming back for me

‘Cause even though you left me here
I have nothing left to fear
These are only walls that hold me here
Hold me here, hold me here, hold me here
Only walls that hold me here

One day soon I’ll hold you like the sun holds the moon
And we will hear those planes overhead
And we won’t have to be scared
‘Cause we won’t have to be scared
We won’t have to be, yeah, scared, no

You’re coming back for me”

The idea of Eden and happiness coming to an end (“One of these days the sky’s gonna break/And everything will escape”) is associated with departure and return: Vega’s, in Lisbon’s conception of a rewarding afterlife, or Jane’s, given that he probably took the decision to leave during the funeral. The lyrics therefore tell viewers that he’ll come back to her (“I’ll find a way/To let everybody know that you’re coming back/ You’re coming back for me”) and that he’ll have no more reason to be afraid of losing her, nor Lisbon of him leaving her (“we won’t have to be scared”). The song foreshadows Jane’s heart-wrenching decision to go away, while also hinting that it won’t last. Interestingly, his leaving out of fear was also hinted by the location of Vega’s demise since she was shot at the “Tastee Pancake House”. Pancakes were the food Pike used to seduce Lisbon into going on a date with him: back then too, Jane had been on the verge of losing her because he couldn’t face his fears, until he found the courage to accept the risk of living fully again.

Mentalist Copper Bullet Review

Synopsis

Bill Peterson (Dylan Baker), Abbott’s former boss turned nasty nemesis, digs up some evidence that Abbott committed a murder years ago. Jane decides to take the matter into his own hands and with help from the team, elaborates a layered scheme in order to save his friend.

Concise Verdict

After Jane’s manipulation in ‘The White of His Eye’, writer Tom Donaghy chose to deliver another nostalgic glimpse into Jane’s old character, who always stays one step ahead with secret drawer type of plans. At the same time, questions are still raised about lies and trust –on many levels- and the moral perspective is interesting: the murder case this time involves Abbot’s old crime (the corpse being represented by the desiccated skeleton in the coffin) and it’s already solved. Yet the real crime the investigation focuses on is Peterson’s theft of drug money for years. This implied double standard parallels Jane’s actions in the closed RJ case, and coupled with the team moments, it makes this episode a pretty intriguing one.

Detailed AKA Humungous Review (Spoilers Galore)

VIS#1: the opening

Right from the start, the episode deals with couple troubles treated in parallel, as both Abbott and Jane tried to protect their beloved from danger.

Indeed, in the deserted Rio Bravo cemetery, Bill Peterson is true to his word to make Abbott pay for not obeying his blackmail in ‘Green Light’ and he’s looking for evidence to convict his former protégé… To obtain it, he’s eager to dig Abbott’s past up along with his victim’s decayed body. He’s planning to search the skull for the bullet that would incriminate him, even going as far as check if the item is in there with his own hand before the tech moves in to remove it… This ‘Copper Bullet’ continues the notion of Western movies and battles (along with later Wylie comparing the man’s house security with Fort Knox and the team wanting to leave Vega behind to “hold the fort out here”) that hint that a violent dangerous confrontation is still to be expected sometimes in the future. Moreover, Lisbon’s been grazed by a bullet too in the previous episode which caused Jane to panic in the shot-related ‘The White of His Eyes’… And the metal mentioned in the title reminds of ‘The Silver Briefcase’, an episode that also showed the team investigating a case outside of the normal regulations to catch a criminal hiding among law enforcement members… From silver to copper, the metal shade is slowly turning to that golden color reminiscent of heartbreaking sunsets on cliffs or on paradisiacal beaches like Jane dreams of and of course of his forlorn wedding ring.

This scene at the desolated cemetery contrasts with the next one, in the city at night… Lisbon and Jane are eating ice cream and talking about the events in ‘The White of His Eyes’ that probably took place the same day or the day before–because, even though Teresa’s not wearing the same black suit as when the discussion started in the bullpen, that dark red shirt and tan jacket were seen in the previous episode. Interestingly, they’re not sharing like they did at the end of ‘Orange Blossom Ice Cream’ when they reconciled after Erica managed to wedge somewhat of an edge between them and like in ‘The Red Shirt’ when he was making unacknowledged overtures to her. Both times he was trying to be more open with her and make her see his point of view, like he’s now, but they still eat their vanilla cones separately, because there’s a distance born of his breach of trust. But they’re working on it: they try to talk about Jane’s choice in a calm manner, like an adult couple willing to face their disagreements.

Jane insists that the “mission” was “accomplished” and “everything turned out exactly as we planned” and that “no one was hurt”, “except the bad guy”… until Lisbon points out the main problem: he removed her from the action when things got more heated. He explains that he “was concerned” about her safety, but she states that he doesn’t get that she’s a FBI agent. For her, it sums up the issue: Jane cannot accept that danger is an inherent part of her job that she comprehends and accepts. It’s part of her life and she’s dealt with it for years. Yet she doesn’t get herself what are Jane’s motivations in that respect. They’re not on the same wavelength here, because he refused far too often to open up to her in the past, both on his feelings and on his fear of the past repeating itself, and she hasn’t taken the measure of how deep his terror runs. On the other hand, she clings to a surface justification for his actions –the issue with her job, that he’s been bringing up for some time to get her to quit- probably because it’s safer than to think that there’s a real and more difficult problem she’d had to deal with. Thinking that he’s his usual disrespectful self that likes to mess with her job and overall authority is easier than to address grieving issues she’s not good with. Indeed, her usual grieving pattern is to sweep the feeling under the carpet –Bosco, for instance- and she avoided the family house after her father’s suicide brought the situation down. Moreover, she probably doesn’t realize what Jane is feeling, because she never thought of herself as meaning so much for anyone. Her surprise at hearing Gregg’s wife tell her that she left him heartbroken was genuine. And her mother and father’s deaths were different from Jane’s loss: she probably doesn’t feel like they were taken from her in the same way as the haven provided by Angela and Charlotte was wrenched from Jane. Hers were linked to getting into abuse and breaking free of it. She wouldn’t be terrified of it repeating itself, or she wouldn’t have taken a broken Jane under her wing especially after he started showing his darker manipulative tendencies…

They’re interrupted by the news that Peterson is making a move against Abbott. Lisbon’s obviously in the loop both regarding the murder and the threats made by Peterson, which proves Jane’s transparency with her. It contrasts with the other times when he was saving his boss’s career, like in ‘Blood Money’. In ‘Little Red book’ too, for instance, after Lisbon got fired in reaction of his killing a man in a mall, he took action behind her back, mostly, because she wouldn’t go along with making fools of Haffner and his men. Now, both Abbott and Lisbon give him carte blanche and the team is fully cooperating. The news is spreading in one to one confidences and Abbott even notices that “everyone’s whispering”.

Proof is further showed of Teresa’s involvement when she waits at the door for Jane to finish talking with Dennis. She’s worried that their boss would lose his job and that he could go to prison. Jane assures her than they’ll prevent it, but his posture sprawled on the couch does not make his statement very convincing: she tells him that “this is serious’. His only answer is mysterious: “I know. Don’t you love it when the stakes are high?” Once again, the poker game metaphor characterizes his actions.

On the other hand, Abbott explains the situation to Lena and apologizes profusely. He’s sorry and he says her “I should have told you everything”, “it’s my fault”. Lena supports him and tells him “you don’t have to apologize, not to me, not to anyone”: it’s “this person” who’s trying to bring him down that makes her angry. Both are willing to lose their job to protect to other, him by telling Peterson that he’s resigning, her by letting go of her dream situation. Abbot is horrified by the prospect and tells her that he doesn’t want to have her quit because of him –which is an interesting line, given that Jane wants precisely that from Lisbon…- and he’s even ready to go along with the story that they’re separated: in other words, he’s eager to sacrifice both his job and his private life to protect her… As Jane puts it when entering the office, they’re both offering to fall on their sword for the other, in the most chivalrous and in their case useless kind of way, since Jane’s lucid enough to guess that Peterson won’t stop until he destroyed them both.

As the distraught lovebirds place themselves into Jane’s scheming hands, his skills are once again called into question. In the previous episode, Ken mentioned that he needed Jane’s charm, a detail that surprised Jane enough to ask if he should feel insulted or flattered, whereas now Lena outright tells him that Dennis told her that he has “one of the trickiest and most devious mind he’s worked with”… It’s not his intelligence that’s called for, but his ability to trick and manipulate people, as the “charm” remark hinted at. Jane replies in the same kind too: “I didn’t come here to be flattered, but please, go on”. Lena then tells him that Abbott considers him as a friend and that “he would trust [Jane] with his life” which softens the blow… Jane wants to protect them so much that he decides not to tell them what he has in mind, in order to give them deniability. He’s using the very same method he used to enforce on Lisbon in the CBI era: earning her trust in protecting her by lying to her and keeping her in the dark… the very same thing he’s been trying to do in the previous episode.

Meanwhile, as Wylie, who’s “awful at keeping secrets” has told Cho, they’re all investigating discreetly Peterson’s life in order to find a flaw. The man is divorced – a failed relationship again…- and have expensive tastes like tennis, scuba-diving in the Caribbean and French wine… which reinforces Jane’s previous assumption that he’s keeping an hidden stash of dirty money. Not to mention that those Caribbean paradise islands remind of Jane’s dream of sailing to beaches in Polynesia… and therefore also hint at the double-edged metaphor of sea linked with his obsession with his history. In order to reel the corrupt man in, Jane is precisely planning to “catch up with an old friend” and reunite with his past: the scheme is therefore two-folds, as Jane will “take care of the bullet” that their mark dug out the tomb, while Wylie and the others should “dig down on Peterson”… That digging hints that the two parts are matching, yet the implications and link with death and past are telling.
The only person who’s left out is Vega, the newbie, even though Cho is almost as bad as Wylie in distracting Vega’s suspicions away from their not-case with his one word answers… Interestingly, her first guess for him not wanting to tell her is “did I do something wrong?”, an allusion to her previous issues with the older agent.

VIS#2: Jane meets Pete

That old friend Jane is meeting with is Peter, the carny buddy he introduced to Lisbon in ‘Cackle-Bladder Blood’ and who’s made another appearance with his wife Sam in ‘Red John’s Rules’. Like then, the men greet each other with friendly teasing and insults and Peter Barsocky even alludes to the former episode by telling that he’s “as fat and wrinkled as Daisy the amazing elephant”, the same one who got Lisbon entranced and distracted enough for Jane to give her the slip. Jane paid for his and presumably Sam’s first class tickets and fancy hotel room and Peter’s relaxing at the pool. His fish themed shirt is another nod to the fishing/sea theme that had been running since the RJ era…
Apparently, Jane is eager to inform the man that he’s “seeing someone”. Instead of coming as a shock for Pete, who knew Angela and whose last apparition involved Jane realizing that his nemesis was targeting people from his childhood, the man correctly surmises that Jane’s sweetheart is that “pretty brunette who come around with you a couple of years back… the cop” and explains that he already knew that “she was sweet on” Jane. Is he referring to his first meeting with the one he used to call “Pepper”, before she handcuffed him to his own truck? Or to the discussion about Lily Barlow, whose uncle was also able to guess that she was lying on her bed at night, thinking of Patrick? His remark is ambiguous enough to let in the shadow the moment when he started suspecting Lisbon’s feelings, but it anyway put emphasis on the fact that one more character saw what was going on between them at the time, in addition to Grace, Wayne and Abbott. It is a little disturbing that Pete doesn’t mention the letters that Jane sent to Lisbon through “carny friends”: is that a pet peeve or is the man sly enough not to mention his major clue in Jane’s reciprocating Lisbon’s interest?

One way or another, and even if the pretty brunette cop is a little “cranky” with Jane right now, Pete wholeheartedly approves of the relationship: he insists “you should be happy” and even dare to broach a touchy subject that obviously makes Jane’s uncomfortable by telling « maybe it’s time, you know, to take the ring off… There’s no shame in moving on, Angela would want you to”. This friendly and almost fatherly talk serves as a counterpoint to the meeting with Lisbon’s brothers in ‘Little Yellow House’: Jane obtains the approbation of his family through the words of someone who knew them and who’s cared for him for a long time.

As he used to do with Lisbon in the CBI, Jane quickly hides the personal question behind work: he tells Peter that he needs a favor in order to help a friend in need. Both seem to consider this as some “fun” “gag”, which enlightens where Jane’s conception of investigations as cons comes from…

VIS#3 Jane meets Peterson

Once this part of the plan is taken care of, Jane decides to visit Peterson. He likes to confront bad guys face to face obviously, since he did it with Lisbon’s adversary Volker and more recently with the colonel: when his friends are threatened, things get personal and he’s eager to let the other man know that he’s in the game… To continue this game allegory, Peterson is busy playing tennis at his club and Jane sneaks in to outright tell him that he’s not “gonna sit back and watch [him] destroy Dennis Abbott”. To make his words more hostile, he even touches the other’s dark blue, white and red “velour” sport jacket. The red color associated with the red polo underneath hint at a threat and Peterson’s behavior becomes accordingly more menacing: he grabs Patrick by the neck and stats that he doesn’t “a rat’s ass about Dennis Abbott”. He’s only seeing this as an opportunity for his career to get on a Congressman’s good side and “screwing Dennis Abbott, that’s just icing on the cake”. Yet, in spite of his cold words and his blatant interesting in money and saving his job, the repetition of Abbott’s full name indicates that things are actually very personal: he’s trying to get revenge because in his eyes, Abbott betrayed him by not “having his back” when he ordered him to…

It’s interesting to watch how different those two manipulative men act when trying to put pressure on others: Peterson is brutal and uses physical threatening, whereas Jane is sneakier. He provokes the other man by implicitly belittling him and the club employee comments that “he was very persuasive” when making her let him in, which echoes the remark about his charm. Plus, Jane’s “devious mind” had one single goal by ticking Bill off, since he wanted to get close and distract him enough to lift his cell phone.

The plan: breaking into Peterson’s house

Soon, the main part of the plan comes into play as the team decides that they need to get a look inside Peterson’s home, given that it’s the most likely place where he’d hide the money. It isn’t the first time Jane decides that breaking and entering is a good way to pursue his goal: the main difference is that now Lisbon is on his not-so lawful side of justice… For instance, he chose to lie to Rigsby and Cho when breaking into the empty house in ‘Redemption’ and his illegal search of their suspect in ‘Blood Money’ caused the clueless Lisbon to be suspended. Same when he chose to hire Culpepper to attempt a burglary into in LaRoche’s house to find the infamous list: any of those times, Lisbon wasn’t included in the plan and the reveal of his illicit activities caused quite the uproar even though she helped him in the end. Now, she’s the one to decipher how Peterson has been able to commit his “perfect crime” for years. He’s been “skimming”, stealing dirty money during low-level busts, something almost impossible to check giving that nobody would believe the convicted drug dealers had they a mind to tell.

Same when the operation is on motion: she’s Jane’s accomplice and she shares his goal and methods. She calls him on how he would figure out the pass code –a small measure of distrust that might catch viewers’ attention since it’s the second time his way of doing things is questioned this episode. His answer to her question is an airy “the way I figure things out” after using a rather simple plan: “pick the lock, open the door, see what happens” when “alarms give you a minute to 90-second grace period before they alert anyone”, then go and find where malicious Bill may have hidden is safe and open it… Is that me, or is it roughly the same basis that he used to rob the casino in ‘Pink Champagne on Ice’? Even the mirror illusion and the substitution are somewhat used after they later realize that they cannot open the biometric safe: they take money from the evidence room to stage some photos in order to give Peterson the illusion that they busted him…. It’s a trick on a large scale, plus Jane remarks when Lisbon guesses how he knew the pass code to the alarm that she’s “killing the magic here” by telling out loud. It is further proof that she’s getting as good as him. Indeed, unlike in the heist at the casino, she’s neither an assistant nor a trump card, now she’s his equal because she gets him and how his tricks work… On the other hand, the trick with the candlestick hiding a secret safe is a bit reminiscent of ‘Red Scare’ with its secret passageways: it gives to the episode an old school impression of familiarity. The same thing happens when Wylie asks for Abbott’s help into getting clearance to take a couple millions dollars from the evidence room; after being told “you know how Jane said h wouldn’t need your help?” Abbott only replies resignedly “he lied, didn’t he?” That’s classic Jane for you.

Meanwhile, Vega feels left out and she confronts Cho to let him know her feelings: “I’m here to protest my exclusion”, “if Abbott is in trouble, I want to help”. Cho flats out refuses and draws a line at getting her involved, even though he had no qualms about Wylie, because he doesn’t “feel responsible for him”. Vega retorts: “you’re not responsible for me”, even though Cho is worried for her career. It enlightens how the fatherly bond between them works both ways: he’s chosen to lie by omission to protect her for a “career killer”, just like Jane and Abbott did with someone they care about. He’s giving her deniability in case things go wrong. But Vega won’t leave it at that: like Lisbon, she understands and accepts the dangers of what she’s chosen to get involved in. She states ““listen, I’m a part of this team, or I’m not”. This talk is reminiscent of the one she had with Jane in ‘Green Light’: back then she questioned Jane’s methods too, before finally accepting to partake in the “fun” of his plans even though they wouldn’t have met with her stern father’s standards. Now she’s fully part of the team. It’s even hinted at by her pretext for leaving the bullpen: she tells Abbott that he has an errand to run, the same excuse Jane had given her to get her help… It’s a pivotal moment both for Vega and for Cho and it is emphasized by Cho’s line “what we’re discussing involves breaking about seven laws” and Michelle’s casual answer “as long as it’s only seven” echo Lisbon being lured to the 7th floor in the previous episode; it’s a discreet nod to the 7th and last season of the show and, as usual, it’s linked with transgression and tricks.

The same extended metaphor of tricks and performances that has been running during the whole operation is also mentioned when Vega is executing the traditional undercover job of the episode. She’s put a pair of glasses on to tail Peterson in the restaurant when he’s spitting his venomous revelations to the Congressman’s legislative director. She then can the other woman say “a hearing’s a tricky thing. It’s about showmanship. You display it, a little theatrics, if you will.”

As the plan unfolds, she’s later asked to stall him while the others break into the house and Wylie is busing gathering the money from the evidence room, pretty much like she was supposed to fake arresting Peterson in ‘Green Light’. And her method is reckless since she cannot think of another plan than to get the man involved in a car wreck, like she did in ‘Orange Blossom Ice Cream’: she’s as eager to prove herself to the other team members as she was back then, only now she doesn’t want to prove her skills as an agent but rather her trustworthiness and dedication. Unfortunately Peterson recognizes her and the schedule is getting even more airtight for the others. Cho and Lisbon hurry to tidy everything out in the house, Wylie rushes in with the cash and Jane actively fights all that frenzied tension by calmly sitting in the kitchen and eating a banana. He’s partaking in his age old habit of making himself cozy in the suspects’ home, like he did innumerable times when making himself some tea (‘Blood Money’, ‘Devil’s Cherry’) or a sandwich (in the pilot).

Nevertheless, Vega and Lisbon are not the only ones whose role in the team is being reaffirmed. As Abbott is worried by Michelle’s involvement, Jane tells him “what you did at Rio Bravo… you risked your life to take out a mass murderer that no one else could. No one else would. You did that because you’re a good man. Peterson is not a good man. He’s a greedy, corrupt bureaucrat with a very healthy sprinkling of sociopath on top”. Jane recognizes the similarities between himself who risked everything to take his own villain out and Abbott. They’re kindred spirits in vigilantism and the risks are very much present even now: “if we stop now, you’re going to prison, your wife’s going to lose her career and Peterson on his way to be being the head of the DEA… Is that what you want? It’s not what I want. And for what it’s worth, everyone else feels the same way”, so Abbott needs to “chin up” and “trust” them. The team is all gathering around their leader in his quest for justice, just like the SCU protected Jane when Abbott was threatening to arrest and stop him, even though they didn’t completely agree with the means he would be using. It’s a nice counterpoint and role reversal to their first meeting and in a way it concludes Abbott’s interactions with the unruly consultant. Once again, “trust” is the key word when interacting with the devilish consultant…

VIS#4: the reveal

After getting their much needed evidence (or rather fake evidence) on Peterson, Abbott goes to DC to reassure Lena. He knows that she’s terrified of the outcome but tells her that everything will be fine. His main argument is a declaration of faith, even though Lena states that they “need a miracle”: “I trust Jane and he hasn’t let me down so far”.

Unsurprisingly, Peterson is here too to sabotage Lena’s hearing. The change of dynamic and the tension between him and his former employee is palpable: he calls the younger man “Abbott” instead of “Dennis” as he used to patronize him with. It’s emphasized by the other man still calling him “Bill”, as a reminder of their former familiarity and an indirect way to let him know he’s not afraid of his threats… Indeed, both are holding two kinds of evidence above the other’s head: Bill has the ‘Copper Bullet’ he fished in the drug lord’s skull and Abbott has a series of photos of Peterson’s cat on an impressive heap of banknotes and firearms. He’s showing them his cell phone, which is also a nod to the fact that Jane has stolen the man’s phone earlier: he’s been doubly tricked… Abbott seems very self-assured and states “it seems we both have secrets. Cute kitty by the way.” Peterson is rightly stricken and frantically looks for an empty room to talk more privately; that alone is an implicit confession and he’s well aware of the danger of his situation.

Once alone with his unexpected blackmailer, he checks that Abbott has no listening device before remarking –rightly- that they’ve broken into his home to perform an illegal search. He’s not fooled by Dennis’ statement that he has people that will account for every minute of his time: he suspects that it was “Jane or one of those other idiots” but also knows that Abbott has won, because making a fuss over it will only cause an internal investigation from the DA, which could only prove fatal to him given his wrongdoings. He’s trapped in a corner and the only way out that he can see is to assume that Abbott is as greedy as he is, since he didn’t hesitate to maneuver him with a clever blackmail just like he did himself. He offers him half of his stash – roughly the amount that Jane had guessed, amusingly- which makes some very nice and much more solid evidence against him after Vega has recorded it. His spirit is further broken when he realizes the whole charade has been a huge double bluff: first, he’s been tricked into confessing his sins; then, he hasn’t even the bullet anymore. The woman he has given it too wasn’t the real one: it was Jane’s carnie friend Sam, Pete’s wife. Jane had an ace up his sleeve the whole time since he had Peterson’s bullet since the day before and he just kept going because he wanted to get the man too. Like Bill considered destroying Abbott as icing on the cake of his career plans, Jane had caught him too in addition of the incriminating evidence that could send his friend to jail. To get this result, he used a clever substitution, like in the previous episode, with a woman wearing a pink jacket like key witness Lily Stoppard did, although in a lighter shade. This enlightens Jane’s skills and sense of justice as well as the writers ability to still surprise viewers who might think they’re used to their tricks after years of watching them… Peterson makes his exit from Abbott’s life with that line from his former protégé: “Bill, I can’t say how much I’m happy to say this: you’re under arrest” and Jane stresses that it’s “wonderful to see the government at work”.

Yet that rather moral if entertaining conclusion doesn’t mask the similarities between the events and some classic hard-boiled detective story: a man (not so) wrongly accused of murder, a dirty cop, a team of loners getting outside the limits of the law to fight an adversary in position of authority… As much as Bill’s cow-boy hat and the arid deserted little cemetery had a vague Western movie flavor, added to Abbott’s friends helping him out against all odds like the characters in the ‘Alamo’ and ‘Rio Bravo’ movies, the whole setting is more oriented towards film noir.

More precisely, there is some very strong resemblance with ‘The Long Goodbye’, a 1973 neo-noir movie featuring private-eye Philip Marlowe. In this movie, the protagonist tries to help a friend, Terry Lennox, who Marlowe thinks is wrongly accused of murdering his wife, like Abbott. Even though said friend commits suicide in Mexico –the country Bill had gone to in order to find evidence-, Marlowe’s still trying to uncover the truth. Interestingly, the same kind of story-telling is involved: some seemingly haphazardly gathered plot elements without much connection with one another form a rather confusing series of events that only the ending makes sense of. Indeed, Marlowe realizes that Terry has not died and that he has manipulated him in order to cover his crimes. It’s the same kind of plot twist that we have at the end when Jane reveals that he was stringing Peterson all along with a fake contact to the Congressman: that fact alone makes the whole episode become meaningful in a new level because it explains what he asked for Pete’s help and why he was so confident all along, going as far as eating a banana in a crisis situation. He knew that he had Peterson eating out the palm of his hand already since Sam had got the bullet. Plus, the grey morality finds an interesting echo in the movie, as Augustine, a brutal gangster who was scammed by Terry, states that “it’s a minor crime, to kill your wife. The major crime is that he stole my money. Your friend stole my money, and the penalty for that is capital punishment”… isn’t that the same logic the characters are obeying to in the show? Bill’s long-standing thievery is considered more condemnable than Abbott’s murder, given both men’s personality. Bill’s deadly sin was greed, whereas Abbott’s action was a sacrifice for the sake of saving lives…

Some interesting details can be added to the comparison: the movie ends with Marlowe playing the harmonica after shooting Terry who told him “you’ll never learn, you’re a born loser”, just like Bill called the team “idiots” before his downfall and the episode finishes in music and dancing. A more intriguing detail is a running gag in the movie in the person of Marlowe’s tabby cat, who runs away after waking him up at an ungodly hour: the determining –and mocking- element Jane adds to the supposed photos to convince Peterson that it’s really his secret stash that they’ve been raiding is a grey tabby cat that has been running around the house and annoying Cho. The presence of that “cute kitty” in the house only enlightens how lonely Bill is when compared with Abbott and his team members: he’s divorced, there’s no one waiting for him at home except the feline and he has no friends, only marks and adversaries…

VIS#5: the ending

In direct opposition to this ghastly self-imposed isolation, Jane thanks his carnie makeshift family with a group hug in front of the elevator. After they refuse to let him drive them to the airport, they thank him for the “good, clean fun, like old times” and Sam takes that opportunity to get him to talk about his “sweetheart, that little brunette”: she adds her approbation to Pete’s by giving a piece of advice to Jane, “don’t screw it up, Patrick”, “life’s too short”. Interestingly, it could be interpreted too like a more cheerful echo to Jane’s fears about Lisbon’s safety…

The team decides to celebrate their victory by going to a country rock party and gather around a congratulatory drink, a bit like the SCU did once during case closed pizza with the expensive wine Jane smuggled out of the mansion in ‘Red Scare’. Abbott offers a thankful toast “to friends” and when he’s too moved to find his words, Lena supplies “we’re forever in your debt”. Like in ‘Red Scare’ too, the friendly rejoicing gets more romantic when Vega decides to drag her admirer to check out the waffle truck, reminding of how Van Pelt and her lovestruck Rigsby ended up making out the kitchen… Indeed, there’s no kissing here, but after a bit of teasing about their respective mad driving during the dash to outrun Peterson, Vega quickly changes her mind and insists on dancing, taking Wylie by surprise.
Cho’s in for a surprise too when Abbott comments that he’d be moving to DC in a couple of months to join Lena and when he tells the stoic man: “the unit, it’s yours. You’ll be in charge” “and I think you’re gonna do a great job”. Both seal the deal by chucking and shaking hands and Dennis too leaves to dances with his “baby”: he prefers his love over his career. Jane and Lisbon are happy for Cho and, hand on his back, Teresa sincerely congratulates her former employee turned future boss. Jane adds “you deserve it”. Maybe embarrassed by this emotional moment, Cho gets up smiling to get another taco, leaving the main couple alone.

Lisbon takes this opportunity to finish the conversation they were having at the beginning, about his manipulations to protect her. Jane’s half-heartedly tries to change the subject: “it got busy. Life throws you curve balls”, but this new game metaphor doesn’t distract Lisbon. She tells him that it’s “serious”, the same reproach she made when Jane was sprawled on his couch after talking to Abbott: given that he was already thinking of a plan to get the man out of trouble, one can wonder if he’s not trying to avoid getting back in trouble himself by broaching the terrifying topic with her. The man indeed doesn’t need to be reminded that the situation is serious on both accounts: he’s serious enough about it to want to downplay it in front of her, probably because he’s afraid she won’t understand. However, she gets to the heart of the problem: “I love you. And I also love what I do. You can’t be jealous of that.” She’s misunderstood his intentions, and, after some poking from her, he finally explains “I don’t want to lose you. I don’t know how I would react”. Lisbon acknowledges that neither of them knows what the future has in store for them, yet she prefers to “focus on what’s going on right now. Right here. It’s good. It’s very, very good”. In order to make him happier, she even offers him to dance and he replies “okay, one dance” She wants two which makes him tease “everything is a negotiation with you”. Which it is actually, since she gives as much as she demands from him and it’s probably the best thing that happened to him for a long time; nevertheless, that little repartee is also proof that this talk is not finished yet… He’s just letting her comfort him like he did in ‘The White of His Eyes’ when she was repeating him that everything would be fine before luring him to bed. The episode ends on a sweet note though, since they’re dancing like they were at the end of ‘Rose Colored Glasses’…

All in all, that ending feels very much like a conclusion. Again, it makes one think to the movie ‘The Long Goodbye’, which a famous catchphrase visible on its poster “nothing says goodbye like a bullet”. This ‘Copper Bullet’ may mean too that something has ended. Abbott is planning to leave happily to greener fields, Cho is on the verge of becoming the new team leader. His status towards his friends and the team dynamics are changing: for instance in relation to Lisbon, he’s now gotten seniority over her as well as a six-months full training that she didn’t go through when Jane made her part of his deal (as mentioned in ‘My Blue Heaven’). Lisbon is therefore relegated at a less official status, as a simple team member as well as Jane’s partner in work and in their private life. She’s getting a particular standing with the tricks Jane’s been teaching her and that’s becoming more apparent after her repeated psychic acts.

On the other hand, Lisbon’s position regarding her relationship has also slightly shifted: they’re not official yet, but it’s getting here. She’s not afraid to dance in pubic with him, at the risk of someone noticing: she’s even insisting, although she was the one who asked him to keep quiet about their love affair… Slowly, her couple is becoming more important than her career in her eyes. Being a cop is still a defining trait of her character in her mind, but it’s becoming more apparent that it’s a security blanket, a manifestation and justification of that fixer persona she’s build to help her get over her grief. Indeed, she’s now accepting to collaborate in Jane’s illegal actions, his tricks, all things she used to held against him in the first seasons when she was more by-the-book. She’s learnt to understand and to share his motivations and methods. Her career is no longer her priority, since she’s sincerely happy for her former subordinate: she doesn’t feel slighted. Could she slowly become accustomed to the idea of changing her life style, in spite of her protestations?

Jane too is changing, since he’s made an effort to reach out to his past and seeks the approbation for what remains of his family and, through them, of Angela. The comparison with ‘The Long Goodbye’ is particularly interesting here, since the other Phillip Marlowe story alluded to in the show was ‘The Maltese Falcon’ that served as a plot basis for ‘Cackle-Bladder Blood’. It was in that episode that Sammy and Pete made their very first appearance, along with Danny Ruskin, Angela’s brother, who was seething with anger, resentment and guilt. Now, the bitterness is solved: Jane’s gotten his family’s approbation and their help in his plan. From that meeting with Danny, to the talk about Barlow, the letters they smuggled to Lisbon and now their full acceptance, his friends have been less and less antagonistic. They represent what Jane’s feeling about himself in regard to his sorrow: moving on is acceptable now. He’s slowly admitting that he deserves happiness, hence the mention of his no-longer as meaningful wedding ring. His meeting with the imaginary ghost of Charlotte had been a way to talk himself into letting go of his revenge in order to focus on his life and find someone who would love him. Now, he’s still asking permission to his dead loved ones to let what they shared behind in order to build something new.

Vega has also set her boundaries: after keeping asking Cho if he was giving her the cold shoulder because she had done something wrong, which has been the dynamic she had been used to with him, she’s the one who realized that he is not responsible for her. It’s a reply to her seeking a fatherly figure in her job environment: now, she’s proven that she’s ready to make her own decisions. She’s become more independent and she doesn’t seek approbation on her choices. She’s grown emotionally. Her actions also echo her questions about Jane’s methods: she’s not wondering about the trick, she’s accepts that she’s a member of this team. In regard to Wylie too, her behavior has changed. The roles are somewhat reversed between them because he’s no longer making a move on her, but she’s been observing him when she was still in the dark about the situation and when he’d been avoiding her. She’s the one teasing him. She’s inviting him to eat something with her, in a private moment reminiscent of their game session in the previous episode, then to dance, with more romantic undertones. She’s setting him apart. Thus, on her side too, something has ended and a major change is occurring.

Under the appearance of a happy moment almost frozen in time, the team as we know it is telling goodbye and, in a way, Abbott’s cheerful toast to friendship is a faint echo to darker times, when the SCU too was holding a toast to their fallen comrade Sam Bosco in ‘His Red Right Hand’…

Pet Peeves

-Has Jane given back Peterson’s cell phone? How come the man didn’t suspect anything, after seeing first-hand his modus operandi of manipulating objects in ‘Green Light’?

-I understand that a bullet makes a very symbolic and meaningful piece of evidence against Abbott, but why hasn’t he just gotten rid of the gun that would have incriminated him instead? And how did Peterson justify that there hadn’t been any investigation when the murder occurred?

Mentalist The White of His Eyes Review

Synopsis

A hitman commits a quadruple homicide and Jane and Lisbon are called on the case along with the team. Problem is that as danger looms closer, Jane’s fierce protectiveness towards Lisbon, in spite of her independence and her sense of duty, may put a damper on their growing attachment.

Concise Verdict

With this episode, writer Erin Donovan offers an interesting addition to the season, as it nuances the very sweet domestic atmosphere between the two main characters. This is their first meaningful disagreement and it’s certainly more pivotal than a mere bump on the road to happiness… In fact, it was a welcome –if jarring for Lisbon- surprise to get back a shadow of the Jane we used to know from the early season… someone more manipulative and serving his own idea of right or wrong, someone who doesn’t really stop at not playing nice to get the result he desires, instead of the tamed wild beast he has seemed to become under Lisbon’s vigilance. Especially since his scheming nature is precisely focused now in keeping her safe.

Detailed AKA Humungous Review (spoilers galore)

VIS#1 the opening

The difference of mood with the hopeful ‘Little Yellow House’ is perceptible from the get go since Lisbon’s heart-to-heart with Jane is replaced on the screen by another less sweet pair. Indeed, a realtor is presenting an empty place to a potential buyer; said client happens to be actually a hitman who murders the other man in order to use the “killer view” the apartment affords on his planned victims’ location.

The impression of danger is suggested by the grey colors of the setting, without any bright spot unlike in the others episodes. Blake Neely’s unsettling music puts emphasis on the eerie calm of the cold-blooded killer, comparable to the composed attitude displayed by the colonel at the very beginning of ‘The Silver Briefcase’: here, the man is as silent as the collected colonel was when putting the crime scene in order. The careful directing by Rod Holcomb dramatizes the shooting, with the sun reflecting on the edge of the circle-cut glass when hitman “Lydon” aims through the window. The staccato-like drumming of the music gets underlined by the increased focus of the camera on the three fallen victims. It carries on as the killer is no longer at the window in the next frame: his retreating back is calmly going away, disappearing like a ghost and as detached as a businessman. The hit was fast and coldly done.

The shooting obviously refers to the title, ‘The White of His Eyes’, an almost-quote coming from the recounting of the historical battle of Bunker Hill during the siege of Boston in the American Revolutionary War. One of the most famous orders in war history was uttered there: “don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes”, meaning that soldiers should wait until they were close enough to the enemy to shot, the exact contrary of what the hit man did here. His aiming skills and equipment allowed him to attain his target from a far distance, a fact the team comment upon later. Plus, the allusion to the historical battle which ended being a colonial defeat again the British troops reminds of the Alamo battle (‘Green Light’). Those war backgrounds coupled with the diffuse yet insistent Western movies references scattered through the season hint that a major and dangerous confrontation is about to take place.

The focal point of this growing peril is obviously Jane’s team and more explicitly Lisbon –hence the FBI agents killed along with Edward Hu, the primary target. That much is suggested by Lydon pretending to be interested in a real estate purchase because it was actually a strategic place to carry the hit. It reminds of the fake house hunting Lisbon and Jane did in ‘The Silver Briefcase’ to get to the crime scene without drawing attention.

VIS#2: Lisbon and Jane share some free time

Meanwhile, in complete contrast with the chilling opening, Patrick and Teresa are enjoying some down time at a bar. A lot of red elements bring to viewers’ mind that danger is looming closer, though: Lisbon’s red blouse, the walls, the red and white little Foosball players, the waitress’s checkered shirt, the neon red signs reading “Eat” and “Texas”… As Lisbon and Jane keep playing Foosball, some other hints raise red flags, just like Lisbon shooting enthusiastically “you are going down!”, reminding of the three corpses falling in a heap. The whole game and winning discussion is basically a distant echo to one of the main themes of Jane’s interactions with his former nemesis…

Nevertheless, the moment is cheerful and carefree for the two lovers: as the friendly game progresses, Lisbon is showing more and more her feisty side (“I’m not competitive, I just like to win”), accusing him of cheating when things don’t go his way, which he denies, telling her “that was spinning, just spinning”. Her gleeful cheering at beating him (“did that hurt? What? did that hurt?”) emphasizes the amusing youthful competition between them, with cheating, showing off and humiliation, since “everybody here [is] watching the man get beat by the girl”. This new side of Lisbon, which was only hinted at in such occasions as the ending of ‘Red in Tooth and Claw’ when they played poker and she accused him of cheating too, shows how comfortable they are with each other: it’s not quite a role reversal, but almost, since she’s not afraid of displaying her playful and childish side, while he’s not hell bent on showing off his skills. That new level of ease is without any doubt a consequence of her confession at the end of the previous episode and two lines allude to their stay in Chicago (“there’s spinning in Chicago” and “never never play Foosball with a woman who raised three brothers”). The domestic moment is further developed when Jane leaves to pay for their check and orders chicken wings to go. They’re planning to eat them together at his or her place and it’s obviously a very usual occurrence.

Yet, the moment is shattered when they’re called on the hitman case that they’re precisely watching on the news. Furthermore, the details viewers get on the quadruple homicide match a bit their current situation. The main target was a witness in the murder of a man beaten to death by a Kelvin Bittaker “after a dispute in a bar”, just like the couple had been playfully bantering in a bar. Even before they’re truly involved in the investigation, they’re already stepping into the danger zone…

Moreover, the cheerful moment between the partners offers a startling contrast with the new scene. The still very detached professional assassin is destroying a photography of Hu, who he’s killed, whereas a second picture stays in the folder. Viewers are thus privy to the fact that the murder spree is not done, there’s another witness to get rid of. That knowledge is reminiscent of the Columbo-like progression of the plot in ‘The Silver Briefcase’ and it only increases the anxiety regarding the man.

Jane’s worries come into play

1) at the crime scene

But viewers are not the only ones who may suspect that something might go very wrong in this case. Slowly, Jane’s mind starts taking in the odds of things getting out of hand…

It starts at the crime scene, when he meets Ken Spackman, the Dallas FBI agent he teased in ‘Nothing But Blue Skies’, at the very start of his love affair with Lisbon (which makes the man’s presence an indication that this new investigation may become pivotal in the secret relationship). Jane keeps being cheeky, telling that he “missed that face” when he greets Ken. However, the lightness brought by his mischievous personality is tempered by the description of the crime, “four murders in under three minutes”, including two FBI agents, like them, who were “good men, good family men with young kids”… The killer left no clues behind him and vanished “like a ghost” too, which brings to mind RJ’s crimes: in Jane’s case, the serial killer murdered his family –making him the FBI agent who had a young kid- and left no trace to work on for years. Like RJ too, Kelvin Bittaker’s wrongdoings, that Edward Hu had been a witness of, was a disproportioned retribution to an offense from the first victim: Bittaker beat him to death over a simple spilled drink…

The other witness to the first murder, that woman whose photography “Lydon” kept in a folder, is a young mother, which insists on the family element of the case as well as it reminds of Angela. The fact that she’s a threat to Bittaker is interesting, for the sonority of the man’s name can be associated with the “bitter” feelings that plagued Jane for years as well as with the notion of “taking” someone from him… Indeed, the woman’s is Lily Stoppard and she shares her first name with Lily Barlow who was killed in ‘Red John’s Rules’ as a message to the consultant. If the analogy wasn’t clear enough, Jane deduces from “powered sugar” from beignets that hitman “Lydon” and the realtor “shook hands”, a major clue in Jane’s investigation on his nemesis…

Meanwhile, Spackman acknowledges Jane’s abilities and the two men banter back and forth… leading Ken to explain that he wants Jane to convince the woman to testify, in spite of the risks on her life, because “we could use a little charm”. Jane retorts that he doesn’t know if he “should be insulted or flattered”, to which Spackman’s answers “whatever works”… Jane feels “a little bit of both”: despite the darkening clouds gathering above his head, he’s still unaware enough to be his normal mocking self. Interesting still that after their first investigation, Spackman is more sensible to Jane’s endearing qualities than his cunning streak. The agent from Dallas gets more sympathetic with that remark than he was after almost insulting Lisbon the other time they got a case together.

2) the talk with the Stoppards

As Jane accepts to turn on the charm on their doubtful witness, he realizes that things are decidedly getting too close to home for comfort. The Stoppards deserve their name, as Lily is hell bent in stopping Bittaker, whereas her husband Matthew just wants to put a stop to the dangerous case. Spackman reassures them that it’s their choice and that the “door’s open”, an expression that probably takes Jane back to that awful moment when he discovered his family butchered behind his bedroom door. Indeed, Lily is feeling guilty for not saving the victim she saw getting murdered before her own eyes, like Jane had been for years for not saving his family. On the other hand, Matthew is worried sick about his wife because they’ve “got a baby at home and he’s only six months old”: Jane is clearly torn between feeling emotionally closer to the man –given that he’s been in the same place and understands his feelings, a similarity hinted at with the baby Jane was holding at the end of ‘Little Yellow House’- and his sense of justice and professional duty that consists on catching the bad guys with Lily’s help.

This is why he chooses that angle to talk the couple into giving in to Ken’s pleas: he asks what their baby name is and compliments that “Henry” is a “good, strong name”, thus attracting their confidence as a family, just like before his comment about how Matthew’s fears are “pretty darn reasonable” put little by little the man’s hostility and distrust to rest. He then proceeds to explain “I hate to talk to you about doing the right thing. Doing is the easy part, knowing what it is is tough”… he adds that he doesn’t “know what the right thing to do is”, but he ask them “in years from now, when you tell Henry this story, how will it go? Did the three of you take an evil killer off the street or did you play it safe? Is Henry’s birthright gonna be one of proud bravery or sensible caution? Tough call…”This question is very intriguing, because the smoothness of Jane’s reasoning makes one wonders whether Jane might have thought about the same dilemma, directed to his own past. Were he to have children with Lisbon, what will their “birthright” be? That of a thirst for revenge upon the other family that Jane loved? The justified action of taking another “evil killer off the street”? Or the law-abiding heritage that comes from Teresa? Either way, it looks like Jane may have taken Pike’s bitter remark to heart and started envisioning that “what feels like the right thing” might entail building something more fruitful with her. Unfortunately, the same tough choice about caution and doing the right thing no matter the risks also comes into play later, when he’s faced with the possibility of his worst fear happening as Lisbon might be killed on the job: like Matthew, Jane is terrified of his newfound lover being hurt at the hands of a ruthless killer… Even more since both women are selfless people who want to protect others.

When he and Spackman leave the room, the agent congratulates him on his “nice work”. He’s not aware that the case is pulling at Jane’s heartstrings and that he’s feeling a distressing similarity with the fearful husband; he just shrugs it off as one of Jane’s clever manipulations. Jane sets things straight by telling that he doesn’t want his word about protecting Lily, he only wants her safe.

2) the talk with the Bittakers

Mirroring that family love on the witness’s side, the interrogation of the Bittaker gang also focuses on family unity. When Abbott visits the violent Kelvin in jail, the younger man preens “my mama taught me never talk to strangers”, hinting at who the brain of the family really is. His indifference, then exuberant joy at hearing about the murders contrasts with Lily’s regrets and her determination to do what’s best for others. Again, his ironic “Hallelujah” might be reminiscent of RJ’s interest for religion…

Later, when Jane and Cho interrogate Mrs. Bittaker and her other equally unfriendly sons, Jane is delighted to find in her “a fabulous liar” and comments that talking to her is “like a master class in dishonesty”, which introduces in this episode the old theme of lies/truth and trust… Plus, the luxury cars in the garage are “Ferraris and Phantoms”, the latter reminding of the “ghost”-like hitman: through them, it’s the ghost of his broken past that is haunting Jane, made more perceptible by the red furniture in the grey room at the back.

The other preeminent theme of the episode being family, Jane sees with amusement how Belinda Bittaker tells her ill and rude son Ethan that she loves him and he picks on him as the weakest link of the gang. He tells him: “being a Bittaker middle child can’t be easy, and I sympathize. But you really do have to take control of these attention issues”… Is that a coincidence that the Bittaker brothers are three, just like the Lisbons? In a twisted way, that would make Belinda a less honest and kind-hearted Teresa, equally intent on getting her protégés out of trouble, but with completely different means. Hence Jane’s sarcastic comment that, in that morally reversed version of the Lisbons, Belinda has “wonderful family” and she “must be very proud”, something the woman correctly interprets as a sneer.

Nevertheless, Jane has gotten more positive results from his little chat with the less than tasteful family: he’s seen that the younger –and admittedly smarter- of the brothers is playing a “War Lord III” online video game. His shout of “head shot!” and his insulting comments to other players have grabbed his attention: indeed the shooting war game reminds of the violent murders and Jane suspects right away that the online connection might be a discreet way to make contact with the hit man. Plus, the game and its jungle setting are once again a reminder of notions associated with his pursuit of RJ the “tyger”, a deepened continual allusion that shows Jane’s obsession with losing his family. It therefore suggests that there might be a threat for the new couple.

VIS#3: in Louisiana

That menace is getting more precise when that new lead directs them to a woman in Louisiana. As Lisbon and Jane arrive there with Spackman, the latter orders to Patrick to stay by the car, to the consultant’s great displeasure. However, Jane progressively inches closer to his lover as the two armed agents separate: he’s noticed that the house isn’t as empty as it seems. He’s reluctant to leave Lisbon alone since Spackman covers the back of the frail bungalow. His presence thus prevents Lisbon from facing Lydon alone when the man opens the door and pretends to be the wanted woman’s cousin (even though her bloodied corpse is lying on the other room…). This moment is crucial, because that’s when Lisbon is directly in the line of fire and that much is expressed by two very telling elements: the fact that she knocks on the closed door (like Jane opened the bedroom one in the pilot) and Lydon’s lie about being part of his victim’s family.

Fortunately, Jane manages to cold read the man’s murderous intentions and puts Lisbon down with him, effectively saving her life. It’s Ken who is shot in the chest after discovering the body and trying to sneak from behind; he falls near the dead woman with the cut throat. Lisbon orders once again to Jane to stay behind with Spackman, and rushes after the murderer, ending lost in a jungle-like forest resembling the one in the game Caleb Bittaker had been playing. Jane’s presence by Ken’s side saves the man because he managed to calm the man enough to keep his heart rate down, preventing him from bleeding to death. Yet, Jane’s worries and guilt flare up when he notices a bullet hole visible on Lisbon’s sleeve: she’s almost gotten shot too.

The “arrogance” and fast and brutal reactions of the Bittaker make Abbott angry and he makes it his personal mission to “crush these people”. As a result, he decides to visit himself the criminal family with Cho in order to put stress on them by arresting Ethan, the sickly middle son, for supposedly violating his parole by consorting with his felon of a brother. It ends up in a power play with the mother who keeps denying knowing what he’s talking about. She states that whatever he may do, her son is “a citizen” who needs his dialyzes and Abbott’s “a lawman, a supervising agent” who is “too dam ethical” to let him die… As Abbott comments to Cho that they don’t know him (and his sometimes gray morality, for that matter), the woman insists that she will “bet her son on it”. This last uncaring remark added to Abbott’s “bluff” brings again the game metaphor to the forefront.

All in all, the only bright point of the day -and a continuation of the theme- is that Wily got himself a game date with his dream girl after Vega teased him on his tastes on online games. She promises to show him the “big boy game”, even if “some people just can’t handle that kind of pressure”: talking about “hot keys”, triggers and “a little one versus one [that] might clear this whole thing up”, with “pistols only”, brings them closer and all fired up to see to it “any day, any time”… Unconscious innuendo, someone?

Meanwhile, both sides of the crime in preparation are getting ready to take action: like in ‘The Silver Briefcase’ again, Lydon is coldly and methodically training in order to define the final details of his plan. On the other hand, the FBI team has understood that the attack will take place between the room and the car leading Lily to the court to testify. They therefore rehearse the moment when they’ll be taking that route to recognize the spots where Lydon might take a shoot at her. Lisbon takes the target’s place in the rehearsal, symbolizing Jane’s fear for her safety and she’s fake-shot at seven times: in Jane’s mind she’s in danger, as hinted at by the fearful face of Lily’s husband during the dummy run. An interesting detail here is how much Abbott and his men trust Jane: he’s the one elaborating the plan, directing the rehearsal and making tactical decisions. Sprawled on his couch like he used to in the old CBI days, he explains that “the general who chooses the field of battle wisely wins before the fighting starts”. In that “battle”, alluded to in the title, he’s the “general” who is able to define where Lydon is bound to attack, hence Jane’s also able preparing a trick beforehand to fool him. If the constant if implied analogy with ‘The Silver Briefcase’ was to be followed until its logical conclusion, then Lydon would be another colonel, while Jane’s superior skills rank him higher. Yet, Jane’s (only apparent) confidence and enigmatic remark are also a bit disturbing, because they remind of a time where he was far more reckless and inclined to play puppeteer with his coworkers…

VIS#3: in the airstream

A few hours later, in dire contrast with Jane’s worry, the night is starry and peaceful over the Silver Bucket. Jane’s still sleepless though. He’s staring outside the window of the Airstream in pretty much the same fashion he used to spend his night brooding his obsession away in his dusty attic. Only now, he’s not thinking of what he’s lost anymore, but he’s worried sick about what he might lose, which might lead him to the same secrecy and recklessness that used to characterize his behavior…

As Lisbon used to do when she was witnessing his insomnia and unhealthy habits back then, she tries to shake his sadness off. She’s sleeping in his little bed and she calls him back to her, reassuring him that “everything’s gonna be okay tomorrow” and it’s a “really good plan” and that they’re “gonna be safe” and “everybody will be fine, I promise”. She correctly surmises that his insomnia is about his fear of someone getting hurt and her motherly comfort apparently calms him enough to get him back to bed.

The comforting quality of the moment is nonetheless laced with humor when she offers to sing him the lullaby she used to sing to her little brothers when they couldn’t sing. Jane inexplicably freezes and utters with hesitation “I really… don’t want to hear that”… Lisbon still carries through when he’s settled by her side and she sings very badly Bon Jovi’s pop rock song ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’ while Jane moans at her cringe-worthy voice. This mixing between her caring maternal concern and the underlying teasing of lovers is very sweet.

The lyrics of the song are pretty telling: “oh, oh, we’re halfway there. /Oh, oh, livin’ on a prayer,/ Take my hand and we’ll make it, I swear”. Indeed, they’re “halfway” through both the season and the development of their relationship, as they’re already past the honeymoon stage and the lingering doubts about their commitment and compatibility and past jealousy –courtesy to Pike and Erica. They’ve taken their first step into becoming an official couple by introducing Jane to Lisbon’s family as her boyfriend. It’s probably not a coincidence that Jane’s fears –the same he admitted had been keeping him from getting closer to her when he confessed his feelings for her in ‘Blue Bird’- resurface more visibly just after she told him she loved him too… As they did at the bar when they interrupted their Foosball playing, they might be reaching a half-time in their relationship. Another interesting aspect is that Lisbon’s kept faith in that nighttime hopeful “prayer”, even though the unusual choice of the rock song as a lullaby indicates how much she had to improvise as a teenage surrogate parent. As she used to be with her brothers, she’s the responsible adult, the fixer of people, the independent, strong one who knows how to bring comfort even in the dark world she grew up in… On the contrary, Jane has lived in fear for years: he refuses to sing along with her and when he joins her he’s talking about “the pain”… He hasn’t let go of his demons.

Yet, this humorous and intimate moment is endearing and funny, because it speaks of living together: it’s the very first time both are shown sleeping together –even if viewers could see her lay on his bed when he was ill. Their sleepwear also hints at how familiar they’ve become: he’s wearing old-fashioned pajamas, like he did once in the first season-, while she’s ditched the jersey for a more seductive satin babydoll that makes her alluring if not overly sexy. They’re completely acting as a couple at home even though they’re not in a real house.

The notion of house is meaningful here: Lisbon has given Jane a set of keys to her own house, but they’re still spending the night in his trailer. It’s certainly not the first time: after all they’ve spent only one morning after at Lisbon’s, at least onscreen (‘Nothing But Blue Skies’). This echoes with the office/apartment fake purchase in the beginning of the episode, with their undercover house hunting and with Jane being “a little envious” at Lisbon’s childhood house. Houses are a permanence fixture and, for them, are symbolic of a more stable life (just as Lisbon got a house when she decided to invest more time and attention in her private life during the hiatus). It contrasts with the homey but shabby ‘Silver Bucket’ which fragility is emphasized by the starry night sky above. Emotionally and relation-wise, they’re not yet to the point of having a house together: the provisory aspect of the trailer is symptomatic of their disagreement over the future, as they’ve yet to decide what to do of their lives. It’s a memento of Jane’s less than stellar childhood, in stark opposition with the yellow house and linked to running away with Angela: this attachment to something that is associated with fleeing (and which may even allow him to do just that) shows that he has not let go of his insecurities. He’s still clutching at a familiar emotional blanket, hence his deep fear of the darker parts of his past coming to life again when he realizes that he might lose another woman he loves. As long as he’s not faced those ghosts and that part of his that still lives in the past, he probably won’t manage to communicate fully with Teresa and they won’t make any further decisive progress.

While Jane is both metaphorically and literally in a dark place of worry, Lydon’s own “good plan” is unfolding: the man is changing his appearance as Jane knew he would. He’s shaving his head in a twisted and threatening parody of a morning routine, which is a continuation of the couple’s falling asleep in the previous scene. Both his and Jane’s plan are linked and respond to one another, in a very familiar dual pattern reminiscent of RJ’s pas de deux with the consultant.

VIS#4: the operation

As the team gets ready to take Lily safely out of the hotel room, the impression of danger gets more specific: she’s the target and like in her first apparition, she’s wearing a pink-reddish jack that makes her very noticeable among the gray and black outfits in the room.

Lily rather trusts the team’s abilities to protect her, but her husband is as reticent as ever. He demands guarantees that the plan will work and that they’re prepared enough and, when she left the room, he finally blurts: “if anything happens to her today, you know, and I could have stopped it…” Abbott is quick to reply that his wife wants to do this and they’ll do everything to keep her safe: “It was a good decision; you need to trust her on it, okay?” Jane’s worried face is visible in the foreground while Abbott is talking and it show how much of an impact his words have on him: like Matthew, he’s been feeling guilty for years for getting his family killed and now he’s faced with the same kind of situation. He’s afraid that Lisbon will get hurt, more badly than just a bullet grazing her arm, and he knows he’s the brain behind the scheme. He can prevent her from getting in the heat of the action… but that also means that he doesn’t “trust” her decision to do her job of protecting Lily.

This is why, after Lydon’s plan gets going with a smoke bomb used as a decoy, Jane sets his own smoke screen in place. The hitman is disguised as an EMT –with a dark blue uniform and an bright orange bag, which would have screamed danger in the RJ era- and he enters the building almost at the same time as Jane is leaving while glancing around to spot him. The consultant enters a surveillance van where Wylie is working his magic with screens and cameras. Jane has already warned his coworkers that Lydon must be wearing some kind of uniform and, soon he pretends to identify the man as an EMT on the 7th floor (an echo to the 7th season, maybe). The team and Lily are on the 6th and Lisbon volunteers to go get their suspect. It’s a false alert, but in the meantime Lydon has taken action and faked being shot in order to split the team. He takes one agent down and go for it in front of the elevator under a frightening red light. That’s when the subtlety of Jane’s plan is revealed: he too used a feint to get the man to reveal himself. They’ve substituted Lily for Vega, who’s wearing a wig and the eye-catching clothes. After the man is shot and the situation is under control, Lisbon comes back to find out that she missed the action… Her distressed expression when Jane asks where she is over the radio and her simple reply “I’m here, I’m just getting back with the team” indicate that she just realized that her absence was no coincidence…

Like many times before, Jane’s plan is based on a magic trick: a quick substitution, right under his audience/adversary’s eyes. It’s basically the same ruse used on the scene in ‘Pink Champagne on Ice” and the show aspect is stressed out by Abbott when he gloats in front of the arrested Mrs. Bittaker: “sometimes, people just see what they want to see”. Belinda applauses… But a major difference is that Lisbon is no longer his lovely assistant or the partner embodying the psychic of their little act: whereas in ‘Pink Champagne on Ice’ she was the secret weapon hidden in the magic box, now she’s been excluded from the action. She’s no longer the one who saves the day, but she’s been arbitrary lured behind the scene for her own sake. Jane’s played at the same time the director for his team and the conman with his own partner; he’s taken her cop identity from her.

Interestingly, the whole plot of the episode is closely based on the events of ‘Blood Money’ in Season 2. Back then, the episode opened on Van Pelt ordering a hit on her former boyfriend Rigsby as a cover for identifying a hit man/serial killer –whose moustache and tools were alluded to by Lydon’s disguise. Jane’s recklessness in front of the judge after he’d broken in the suspect’s home resulted in Lisbon being suspended (the trial setting is hinted at by Lily and Hu being major witnesses for the prosecution). In order to help her to get back in Hightower’s good graces Jane called her near a warehouse to bust a gang whose boss happened to be a seemingly inoffensive and confused old lady, who used her son as a decoy: here, equally deceptive Belinda directs her sons and her unsavory business from a garage. But the most interesting point is that, after Lisbon took the brunt of his actions and both ended up stranded in the Mexican desert, she suddenly realized that he was trying to help her. Jane’s response to her surprise was “you know I’m always gonna save you, Lisbon. Whether you like it or not”. Lisbon retorted that she didn’t need to be saved and that she’d always known that working with him would end in disaster and that one day she’d be fired because of him; she nonetheless accepted it because they were catching a lot of bad guys… It was one of their very first fight and at the same time real discussion on screen and it was in hindsight a major step in their relation. Now, Lisbon’s job is no longer Jane’s priority: he no longer needs to protect her career to stay close to her, because he knows he has her love and devotion. Yet, Lisbon’s position is still valid: her career is still at stake; Jane wants her to stop being a cop, because his fears make him consider that “saving” her involves keeping her safe from any danger, even those she’s always accepted to face on the job. The similarity between the episodes at two very different moments of his life indicate that he’s still stuck in the terror that plagued him then: to protect her, he’s also still willing to manipulate her, because he considers he knows better and because deep down he doesn’t want to feel guilty and suffer in case things turn ugly again.

VIS#5: the ending

The moral conflict at the heart of the episode is summed up y Belinda’s remark to Abbott that he doesn’t have “the faintest idea about the love a parent has for a child”: love is her sovereign justification for the deaths she caused and her reasoning for not wanting to “throw” Kelvin “under a bus” to save her own skin. It was also Matthew’s reason for worrying about his family and Lily’s one for wanting to put Kelvin in jail. At the same time, love and protective instincts also pushed Jane into the path of lying again to his girlfriend.

Love and its failures at been represented by many pairs in the few last episodes… Yet, this time, Wylie’s discouraged admiration for Vega is not part of those examples. Taking Michelle at her words, he organizes a surprise gaming competition for the two of them. They share a pleasant and cheerful moment which comes as an echo of the main couple playing Foosball at the beginning: like Jane then, Wylie is playfully cheating and a Texas flag is visible behind them, just like the neon sign “Texas” decorated the bar.

In contrast, Jane and Lisbon aren’t doing so well. Abbott has been telling Belinda that she and her precious family are “all gonna go down together” and Wylie and Michelle too have been yelling to one another “you are going down” as Lisbon did when defeating Jane: is that a way to imply that the main characters’ relationship is going downhill too? One way or another, the jolly moment between the youngsters is in direct opposition with Lisbon’s gloomy isolation in the nearly empty bullpen. Her tensed expression when looking outside the window is emphasized by the darkened room and the anxious atmosphere is quite similar to Jane’s worried insomnia in the airstream: in one day, Jane’s actions have reversed the dynamics between them. The night before, Lisbon was eager to reassure him; now, she’s suffering the consequences of what he planned when she was sleeping… The connection between the scheme and this moment is underlined by the similar lines: he asked “where are you?” after Lydon’s downfall, whereas now they’re commenting “there you are. –Here I am”.

Jane detects immediately that something is wrong, just like she did when waking up. Lisbon is straight to the point and tells him that he must already know: the sore point is that he took her off on purpose. He explains that he wanted to protect her, which makes her angry: “Protect me? I’m an FBI agent”, “it’s my job”. He tries to placate her by repeating “I know” to whatever she says and concludes with a half-hearted “I’m sorry”. But Lisbon sees through what he doesn’t say and she asks him directly whether he’d do it again. He answers sincerely that he probably would, which Lisbon sees as a problem. Jane tries again to throw in a conciliatory line but Lisbon won’t have it: if he amends “its not a problem”, she corrects bluntly “a really big one”, because he can’t “do that”, he has to let her do her job. Lisbon is at a loss about how they would work together if he doesn’t understand her point. Jane’s final tentative line is “we’ll work it out”…

The parallel between the “work” issue and the necessity to “work it out” makes this talk a harsher version of the cheeky discussion that had a few time ago about quitting law enforcement to build a dream life elsewhere. Whereas making plans was a way to open up to the other then, it masked Jane’s insecurities and Lisbon’s worries about their first disagreement concerning the way each of them envisions their life together. It’s why work is now more than ever at the core of the problem that leaves them no longer cuddling under a blanket, but coldly separated in front of the elevator. In a way it reminds of their many separations in front of the CBI elevator too: in ‘Red Rover, Red Rover’, for instance, it was also Jane’s obsession to hide his true intentions and feelings behind lies and manipulation that kept them to get closer.

Jane and Lisbon are therefore the example of a falling apart relationship in the episode: the others pairs are doing better than them, Wylie and Vega are bonding; the almost arguing couple with worry/hope issues ends up in each other’s arms during the exchange with Michelle. But Patrick and Teresa deal with miscommunication and mistrust, because Jane lied and tricked her. He’s truly cheated, just like she accused him of doing when they were enjoying a friendly game and now it “hurts” them both to quote her playful provocations at the bar. He’s making decisions for her in the same way as Abbott has been deciding things on his own for his wife’s sake at the risk of living apart from her. Therefore Jane has committed the same kind breach of trust as some of the other characters who hurt their life partner in the previous episodes: the colonel, who was selfish in murdering his wife and didn’t trust his lover enough, and the jealous poker player from ‘Little Yellow House’ have also failed at communicating. At the same time, Lisbon’s at fault too, because she did not manage to hear what Jane was trying to tell her: her reassuring words were not enough to make him at ease and she should have understood that his pain run deeper than the worry he was displaying on the surface. After all, he did imply that he couldn’t deal with losing her: he said as much in the plane when he confessed to her, it scared him “for obvious reasons”. His willingness to make her quit her job reflects that overwhelming terror and, from his point of view, he had no other means to keep her safe since she wouldn’t listen to the hidden meaning he was trying to convey. Helping him get over or at least face that trauma born from the brutal loss of his family is also part of the fixing mission she has taken on her shoulders: it’s quite unfair to try to heal some scars –like the broken teacup- while expecting him to sweep the darkest pain under the carpet of that little silvery home they’ve been creating in the Airstream… It’s normal that she resents him for breaking her trust (and not trusting her either about the depth of his uneasiness with the situation), but working things out should be a two people’s task in their case… Now, Lisbon is blinded by anger and she gives him a piece of her mind like she did in ‘Green Thumb’: however, back then the argument left him as distressed at the perspective that she may be rejecting him. Her dressing down in the plane thus mostly served to prevent him to try and get closer even when she was hoping he would. Hopefully her resentment won’t have the same consequences now in the long run.

Anyway, it’s interesting that the successive endings of the episodes of the season outline the progress of their love affair: Pike’s question, the rooftop reunion after Erica’s meddling, the glued back together teacup, Lisbon’s “I love you” are important steps in the trust department. But this one shows how stuck up they’re still are in their old issues about mistrust and control. Only this time, Jane’s ulterior motive is to keep her safe, which is another indirect proof of love. He’s eager to make up with her, because he probably realizes that he might be losing her too by his own wrongdoings if they don’t reach an understanding soon.

Mentalist Little Yellow House Review

Synopsis

Upon learning that the FBI is looking for her little brother Jimmy (Robert Belushi) as a material witness in a murder case, Lisbon and Jane fly to her hometown Chicago to find him. It quickly becomes an emotional trip down memory lane as Lisbon is forced to face her old childhood house as well as the resentment of troublemaker Jimmy and her other brother, family man Stan (Derek Phillips).

Concise Verdict

Marisa Wegrzyn did a wonderful work in fleshing out Lisbon’s mysterious childhood. The picture she painted not only fitted with Lisbon’s personality and the few details we knew of the character scattered through rare episodes like ‘Red Tide’, ‘Code Red’, ‘Where in the World Is Carmine O’Brien?’ and ‘So Long, and Thanks for All the Red Snapper’, but it also brought to life a brighter side of her memories. The other episodes, even the one featuring Tommy, her other charming mutineer of a brother, showed her worry and uneasiness towards her family, as a kind of worn negative photography that she carries with her but doesn’t like to look at… While inside the old, messy, but well-loved ‘Little Yellow House’, Lisbon is finally able to let go of her sadness to step outside, where her family is waiting for her in a cheerful and affectionate party. All in all, it’s a very cute and heart-warming moment.

Detailed AKA Humungous Review (spoilers galore)

VIS#1 Jane plays with his team

When she enters the bullpen, Lisbon is greeted by a pleasant scene: Jane is teaching balance to Vega by making her keep a toy straight on the palm of her hand. Cho and Wylie are looking and Jane tells her to think about anything to keep her concentration. He proceeds to talk about s’mores made of “Graham crackers, chocolate, marshmallows toasted on a campfire”… until one of Cho’s remarks that “s’mores are better in a microwave” shocks Vega into dropping her toy. This light-hearted moment reminds of the ones he shared with his old team, playing with them and teaching them tricks, particularly as he’s wearing what looks like one of his old three-pieces suits and is later seen drinking from his old teacup. Jane always liked to show off his teaching skills and his method so far for bonding with his new teammates was to offer them toys (in ‘Black Helicopters’), so he’s giving to same attention to the rookie. But the colorful toy and the vivid image of “a campfire” also prepare viewers for the childhood memories about to assault Lisbon.

Indeed, Lisbon is soon approached by a woman with upsetting news: her youngest brother Jimmy is a fugitive. He’s fled after the Feds labeled him a witness in the murder of a judge’s son. After agreeing to convince him to turn him in, she gets Abbott’s authorization to go to Chicago to try to help. Her hesitation when asked if she’s close to him already indicated that she knows he won’t be looking for her help on his own –at least not hers, since he called their brother Stan-, so in true mother hen’s fashion, she’ll be the one looking for him… Interestingly, after showing that he related to Jane’s past, Abbott also shares similarities with Lisbon: “I’m the oldest of five”, “some days you want to strangle them… all of them, at the same time…” Like Lisbon explained in ‘The Greybar Hotel’ after defusing a fight, this experience hints at where the man got his leading skills and his protective streak. It also puts the Fed’s indiscretion at talking openly about a family matter in front of Lisbon’s coworkers into a less unprofessional light: instead of basking in gossip, Lisbon’s team wants to help.

On the other hand, Jane’s willingness to follow her is pretty sweet: he doesn’t assume that she needs his help and doesn’t sneak his way into her private life this time. Instead, both dance for a bit around the notion of “do you want (me) to come?” showing how dependent they’d become of the other, yet also how unsure they’re still about the other’s commitment. After Jane states that “fun’s overrated”, they come to an agreement: “we’ll do it together”. It’s a big change from the scheme Jane used in ‘Blue Bird’ to make her follow him: back then, the agreement was about making their last case together “fun”. Now, they can be more honest and trusting: there’s no need to hide behind false smiles.

VIS#2: Lisbon’s childhood, residual pain

1) The house: family life

That’s what Lisbon understands when arriving to her old childhood house, explaining “my parents bought this house when I was three. I lived here all through high school… I haven’t been here since my dad died.” Jane is understanding and mindful to cheer her up by admiring the house. He points out that he never lived in a house when he was a kid, so he’s a little envious… They quickly discover that Jimmy was her but the surprising part is that inside the house, the past is still alive: the key is hidden at the same place and inside an old book Jane finds some photography of her as a kid and a yellowed newspaper article about her as the “student of the week.” Captivated, he asks her where her room was and runs to it while holding the photo. He’s delighted to find here a “wall graffiti” made by her: a kid drawing of a perfect family with the father near the yellow house, a car, trees, flowers, a bird and a big dark-haired mother near little Teresa… Jane’s fascinated by Lisbon’s past, he’s always tried to unveil the mystery that shrouded her childhood, but this time he more openly displays the tenderness he feels when getting to know her better.

This also probably stems from the slight envy he admitted to feeling: his childhood was spent alone with an abusive and cold-hearted father in a trailer, the only place he ever called home was a trailer park (‘Red John’s Rules’), he doesn’t have any material souvenir from that time, so getting to feel the warmth of a family through the woman he loves grounds him into something he’s been yearning for and that he can now share with her. In that way too, Lisbon’s influence is setting his past at peace: her still tangible happy pre-tragedy childhood that she didn’t get rid of even when things went down reconciles him with the notion of family, which must be linked with bad memories from his less than stellar upbringing and the failure of his own attempt at building one. Indeed, it’s certainly no coincidence if Lisbon’s painting is made on a wall, just like RJ’s smiley: both the yellow house and Jane’s family residence keep the mark of a traumatic event that crushed the family living in it. Yet the smiley is a reminder of the tragedy, while the child’s drawing is one of what’s been lost from happier times, hinting that even though the ordeal has kept them from fully moving on so far, there’s still light at the end of the darkness; they’ll get there. As always, Blake Neely’s music skillfully enhances the nostalgia of the sweet moment, until it’s shattered by a man attacking Jane out of the blue.

Jane’s interest for the house matches Lisbon’s giddiness at pretend house hunting with the man in ‘The Silver Briefcase’. May them be focused on a past home or on a place to settled down as a new couple starting a life together, both cases are linked by the notion of moving on and maybe building a family (Lisbon remembering when their parents bought the house).

2) Brother Stan: how she left behind her family ties

The next logical step is visiting Stan Lisbon whom Jimmy’s gotten in touch with. Stan was the one responsible for the “disaster” inside the yellow house: he’s been willing to make repairs in order to move in with his family but obviously he’s not made much progress yet… His decision to live in the old house full of memories contrasts with Lisbon’s reluctance: while he’s okay with living there and while Jimmy seeks refuge inside too as in a reassuring haven, Teresa has not returned since their father’s suicide. It already indicated that they’ve different manners to deal with their past and the subsequent grief. Of the three, Lisbon has chosen the worst grieving process, apparently: she cut ties with her pain and ignored it instead of learning to live with it. As a consequence, her wounds have not fully healed yet which explains why her past has always been a touchy issue and why, unlike Stan and Tommy, she couldn’t get herself to have a family of her own even though she wanted one –her envy in front of Rigsby’s happiness and her willingness to follow Pike because he could give her a future showed well enough what she longed for.

On the other hand, the mess inside Stan’s current home hints that he’s not completely dealt with their history either: the baby and kid clutter hint that there are still personal matters he’s not put in order. Lisbon’s need to apologize to Jane for it is telling: “I’m sorry, my family is messy.” Jane’s acknowledgement that “messy people are good people” doesn’t reassure her: her defensive “I’m not messy” is met by an affectionate “you’re messy on the inside”. Lisbon’s control freak tendencies have indeed the same meaning than Stan’s untidiness: for years, she’s kept her stuff in unopened cardboards (‘Red Badge’) in an attempt to control her emotions instead of dealing with them, while her brother left everything in the open… Not to mention that the later discovery that Stan is going through a very difficult patch because he wanted to have money and do the right thing for his family explains that his “life is a mess” in more senses than one. Same when Jimmy accuses Lisbon of only calling him when she thinks he “messed up”: both men make efforts to compare with Lisbon’s strict moral standards represented by her orderliness and they end up in trouble for trying too hard.

Plus, amusingly Jane’s accepting remarks about messiness may remind faithful viewers of a different belief he expressed in ‘The Scarlett Letter’ about how messy women make good lovers. Is it reading too much into the line to wonder if he might implicitly be admitting to viewers that, even though she’s not privy to the joke, under her straightforward and sometimes uptight appearance Teresa must match his hopes in a more intimate setting?
Either way, the meeting with Stan and his family stirs up mixed feelings: from the start, there’s an edge lurking underneath the affection. Her sister-in-law Karen teases her about not wearing cowboy boots (she expected them “on the Chicago gal living in Texas”, a continuation nod to Abbott’s Western movies references in ‘Green Light’: in addition of it being part of a running joke about Texas clichés, it also shows that she’s in for a confrontation, which is why a poster featuring a cowboy can be seen later behind Jimmy when the scheme is being put on the road). But at the same time, it’s obvious Lisbon has not kept herself updated on the family status. She didn’t realized that her nephew Joey is already more than three years old: there’s already three more children in the family, Annie who’s too in a preschool age, the toddler Brian that Lisbon was cooing at and newborn Paul. Which leads viewers to wonder how she missed all those events since they know that she moved to Texas… she’s probably only been calling for serious matters (like Jimmy getting in trouble) and to tell them where they could get her in case something bad happened. After all, the very first time she mentioned getting in contact with one of her brothers was in Season 2 ‘Code Red’ when she thought she was dying. Getting them updated on matters like her love life and getting the man of her dreams seem too trivial, hence their surprise at meeting Jane as her boyfriend…

Indeed, Stan comments that “it’s fun to meet one of Teresa’s boyfriends” and launches on a tale about one of her previous boyfriends, Woody Squire a local bad boy wearing eyeliner and a ring, which he pierced himself on his lip: he got infected right before prom… Was Woody that “jerk” who Lisbon loved from –not so- afar but couldn’t dance with, as mentioned in ‘Red-Colored Glasses’? Actually Stan is so adamant to sticking to the well-known clichéd family hobby of embarrassing his sister in front of a new boyfriend that it feels a bit forced: he’s obviously clutching to it in order to avoid answering Lisbon’s question about their brother, “the one who’s in trouble with the federal government”… He’s siding with Jimmy’s plea for secrecy by telling that he “will be okay”: “I mean he’s dumb, but he’s not stupid” and “whatever Jimmy got into, he could handle it”… He remarks “not all of us are cops, T.” and calls her “boss” and, after inviting her to the christening of the baby he scoffs when she tells him she’ll try. There’s defiance towards her job and her commanding status: it doesn’t stem from jealousy, but from the awareness that her job is just a pretext: she’s been using it as an emotional barrier not to get close to people (he retorts to a startled Lisbon that he got a job too, yet he’s not busy all the time). This is why Stan feels more comfortable remembering the sister he knew from old memories and chatting with Jane than actually talking to her.

Meanwhile, Jane is already at work analyzing the man: he’s asking about his job and has probably understood he was hiding something. When they’re out, Lisbon calls Wylie back at headquarters to get information on the murder case Jimmy is involved in and Jane takes that opportunity to give him a “pretty detailed” description of his aggressor.

3) Brother Jimmy: the one who got in trouble

The trip continues at a bar where they hope to find some friends of the wayward Jimmy. As soon as Teresa steps inside, she’s warmly greeted by a former friend, a younger guy that she used to babysit and who starts recalling a trick he played on her once: he locked her out of the house and she threw a brick through a window to get back in. She was such a “straight arrow” that she paid for the window even though it wasn’t her fault. This memory is pretty enlightening: after the rebel streak expressed through her taste in men (her former bad boy boyfriend who foreshadowed Jane’s transgressions), her stubbornness in sticking to her task even at the cost of some misdemeanor from herself gives a new insight into her dealings with Jane, whom she also felt responsible for. Not letting go of her responsibilities and trying to enforce the right thing to do into her charge’s mind was indeed the basis of the trust vs. control saga, to quote Reviewbrain’s wonderfully accurate expression.

This is when Jane shows that he’s more than Teresa’s tame boyfriend: he’s covertly lifted the guy’s phone to check if Jimmy has been calling him. As he tells the younger man matter-of-factly, “you seem like a very nice kid, but you’re a terrible liar.” After Lisbon puts the younger man’s scruples at rest by insisting that it’s a family urgency, he spills the beans. Jane concludes the talk with another family note: “your mom called, you should probably call her back”. The consultant is hell-bent into reuniting family members, it seems.

Finally, the dynamic duo finds their prey and interestingly many details echo Jane’s chase for redemption: the red elements in the background in Stan’s house and at the bar, the birds at the lack and the fact that Jimmy is fishing all remind of themes of the RJ era which is a way to hint that more than her brother, it’s her whole past that Lisbon is trying to reach. The meeting goes even worse than it did with Stan, because in spite of calling her “sis”, James is adamant to stress out the distance between them: his reluctance to accept her help (“did I ask for your help?”) quickly turns in something bitterer: “it’s funny how I’m only your brother when you think I messed up. Look, talking to an FBI agent is not a great idea for me right now. Talking to the feds is gonna get me in hot water with a very dangerous guy. ” Obviously, he perceives Lisbon’s worry as controlling and disdainful and she’s part of the antagonistic group in his little run in with the law. He doesn’t trust her and, like Stan, he resents her job. He may not be so much aware that she’s only using it as a pretext to avoid them, because he seems to focus more on the position of authority. Interestingly, the same dynamic seemed at work with Tommy in ‘Where In The World Is Carmine O’Brien’ when he asked her to stop undermining his effort after he chose to follow her step in law enforcement as a bounty hunter. It looks like all three brothers realize that Teresa’s job is in the way of her love, but every one of them has a different attitude towards it: Stan is more mature and tries to put his affection forward, even though his resentment is visible. In Season 3 Tommy tried to get closer to her ideal brother by taking her as a model, even if that means his effort to be better than her involved cheating and tricking her: becoming a rival was an underhanded way to get her approval even if he never stated as much. Now, Jimmy is harsher -probably because he’s apparently not a father, which doesn’t give him insight into feeling responsible for someone- hence his more brutal confrontation: he misses Lisbon and is angry at her because of that. Her power status only enhances how bereft her absence in his life must make him feel. He’s looking for her attention, but only receives the wrong kind in a way that he feels is more judgmental than protective (“you’re gambling again? Are you playing poker? –Would you back off me for like one minute?”). Not to mention that his suspected gambling addiction might be a way to fulfill an emotional lack of consideration.

Again, Jane steps in and takes the matter in his own hands to put an end o the argument. After Jimmy tells him that being his “sister’s boyfriend isn’t really a position of authority” to him, Jane puts his cards on the table: he’s offering him a “deal”. He comes back to Texas with his sister and him and he’ll never have to testify because they’ll catch the killer. Jimmy is skeptic (“how do you swing that?”) and states “I don’t even know you, man, why should I trust you?” Jane’s answer is interesting: he says he’s trustworthy because he’s figured what the man in the house was after but he hasn’t told Lisbon. He’s willing to earn their trust by lying to Lisbon by omission… He amends “look, I don’t like keeping secrets from Teresa. I care about her. And I care about the people that she cares about”. It’s this “promise” to protect him that convinces the younger man and Jane is able to shake his hand and to yell to a worried Lisbon lurking nearby that they’re good.

Once Lisbon gets back in the bullpen with Jimmy in low, the atmosphere shifts to something more familiar: her little brother is reluctantly in awe of her success (“this is where you work? Fancy. It’s a step up from the fryer at Casper’s”). It’s enlightened by Lisbon’s beige pantsuit and light blue-gray shirt: her clothes match the FBI beige, metallic and glass walls. She literally fits in, emphasizing that she belongs here. It’s also amusing that Jimmy sees fit to hit on Vega, introducing himself in a flirty tone to which Vega simply replies to with a curt “can I help you?” The moment grabs Wylie’s attention as the poor guy is obviously not over his crush for his energetic coworker.
Lisbon gets him back in track and things get serious again when she interrogates him. Jimmy is surprised because she’s recording him and asks her if she’s going to read him his rights too: it’s an interrogation and Teresa hides her motherly protectiveness under a stern cop act. Fortunately, it gets better after the younger Lisbon starts talking and they get back in more familiar grounds. Jimmy admits he drove all the way from Oklahoma City to Dallas for a poker game and insists that “you’d drive three hours for a good game”. Lisbon primly denies it and Jimmy jokes “it must have been my other big sister, who taught me how to play cards”. It’s a nice reminder of Lisbon’s influence over him and his upbringing as well as her interest in poker during Season 5.

This detail shows how his rebellious streak and his knack for getting in trouble come from her: he’s learnt how to play from her and there’s no doubt that his passion for playing is a way to keep feeling close to her, like law enforcement was for Tommy, not to mention that Lisbon has the habit of helping them out, like she does for Jane. It nuances the by-the-book personality that she put forward for years: she’s been quite similar to her consultant from the start which weakens again Erica’s affirmation that she’s only attracted to his transgressions. The more her old self comes to light, the more it becomes apparent that she has that yearning for revolt in her too and that she can relate to him on a deeper level than the seductress ever suspected and made it look like.

VIS#3: undercover stunts

The main points of Jimmy’s revelations are a list of suspects and a connection to George Holiday, a “mobster in cowboy boots and a big-time gambler” –to continue the reference to cowboys and western movies. After Abbott made sure that the case is theirs to handle from now on, they decide in a meeting with Jimmy that Jane and Cho “will make friends with the mobster”. They two men end up at Holiday’s bar as two betting men with lots of cash. They manage to get the criminal’s attention and he goes as far as to give Jane some advice: “be more careful with your money… and your mouth”. Jane only thanks him in an ironical tone. They made contact and the man will remember him.

To further hook the mobster, Jane sends his secret weapon: a leather-clad Lisbon. Jane has noticed how the mobster interacted with the female bartender and Lisbon’s black sleeveless top and short skirt are enough to convince the man to make a move on this sexy stranger… until Jane arrives as her boyfriend. The fact that they go again undercover as a couple (after ‘The Greybar Hotel’, ‘Orange Blossom Ice Cream’ and ‘The Silver Briefcase’) may indicate his desire to make their relationship public, but that doesn’t mean they don’t make it convincing. After a few drinks with the friendly mobster, they start drunkenly bantering about Jane’s supposed lack of poker skills. While she tells that he’s “terrible at poker”, he insists that he’s after the “fun” even if it means he loses a lot of money. He states: “there’s the thing with cards: it’s like a showdown in the Wild West, kill or be killed. I mean, who doesn’t love that?” This half-admission to being hooked on gambling –as well as the new reference to western movies- makes the criminal business man even more interested: sensing an easy prey, he invites Jane to a “big” game.

Meanwhile, Jimmy makes sure the four other suspects are in too. Each of them is introduced by Lisbon and Cho reading of their files while the suspects are shown playing a poker game, in a way quite reminiscent of the double contradictory confession at the end of ‘The Silver Briefcase’… Jimmy uses the word that, to quote Jane, “makes every poker player smell blood”: there’s a “whale” –Jane himself- who loses big money and doesn’t care for winning. The prospect of cleaning him out is sure to lure all of them in. It’s also amusing that the technical gambling term “whale” reminds both of Lisbon’s fear of everything marine (“whales and storms and pirates” alike when Jane tried to talk her into leaving the FBI for brighter and larger horizons in ‘The Silver Briefcase’) and of Jane’s past obsession for revenge symbolized by ‘Moby Dick’: this episode is certainly pivotal in linking past ordeals and future possibilities in Teresa’s life.

The task of scouting the room where the game is to take place is given to Wylie and Vega. The younger agents pose as a feisty couple at the hotel. It may have been a way to tease them again… that is, had the potentially romantic suggestive mood not been shot down right away when Vega begins a domestic scene with her supposed boyfriend, about the room, his mother and whatever else crosses her mind. Those two once again represent one of the failed relationships in the growing list featured in the more recent episodes…

VIS# 4: family explanation

Unfortunately, Teresa is in for a nasty surprise: her brother Stan, who she thought was out of trouble, has been beaten up and his wife calls her out of despair. He refuses to tell them what happened to him and shows his family resemblance with Teresa by being too honest to manage a convincing lie in front of someone he cares about. Lisbon quickly surmises that it’s Jimmy’s fault and she hunts him down. Yet, it quickly appears that Jimmy is covering for his brother like the older Lisbon had been covering for him in front of their stern older sister. She understands that this secret was Jane’s leverage for convincing Jimmy to follow them but is nonetheless surprised at learning how deep in trouble Stan is. His business is not going so well and they needed money when Karen’s last pregnancy got tough, so he contracted a huge debt towards a loan shark. The man who attacked Jane came to collect the money and he finally managed to get his hands on Stan. It therefore appears that both her brothers (and Tommy too in the past) got in serious trouble to get her attention, but didn’t dare call for her help: her absence from their lives created a breach of trust on both sides, theirs for not relying on her, hers for not keeping in touch. Indeed, Jimmy admits that he covered for his brother because “he’s working so hard to be good… I just wanted you to be proud of him”. He doesn’t believe her when she affirms that she is and she insists “I’m proud of all of you”.

The talk shows that Lisbon was Jimmy’s primary motherly figure: he wants her approval. Just like Vega seeks her late father’s approbation in her daily job, Jimmy and his brothers want Lisbon to be proud of them, in order to fit her criteria as good people and maybe in the hopes to get her back. He’s obviously hurt when he points out “did you call me when I got my electrician’s license? You only call to yell at me, just like always.” Lisbon doesn’t understand that the real problem is that they miss her: she tries to focus on the yelling part of the reproach by justifying her actions. She had to be “tough” because “somebody had to be responsible and somebody had to be in charge”. Jimmy is however intent on making his point across: “yeah? You were in charge… then you left”.

All in all, Stan and Jimmy are still acting as kids who cover each other’s faults from “T.” (or “Reese” as Tommy called her before). They see her as another missing mother whom they cannot reach not matter how hard they try to make her proud. It’s probably not a coincidence that the writers David Appelbaum and now Marisa Wegrzyn chose to make them three manual workers (Tommy used to build decks, while Stan and Jimmy are respectively a home-remodeling contractor and an electrician): even though it may contrast with her brilliant career at the CBI and now at the FBI, they’re become builder/fixers just like she is. They fix things like she fixes situations born of murder and violence -and sometimes she fixes people too, like she did with Jane. Deep down, she’s a role model for the whole family, as hinted at by Tommy embracing law enforcement by becoming a bounty hunter and Annabeth’s eagerness to be a cop like her aunt.

Yet, Lisbon is not aware of her influence; she only sees the misbehaviors –that she takes as a personal failure in raising them- and the veiled animosity. This increases her guilt and unease with them because they’re part of a life she’s not over with and wants to forget. She needs to let go of her maternal worry and to trust them as adults but for that she has to accept those emotions she’s so bad at dealing with. Her emotional barrier was perceptible early on: in ‘Code Red’ in Season 2 her last message was to Tommy, to try to mend the bridge between the pair formed by Stan and Jimmy, who seem close, and Tommy himself, who looks more like a loner in their family. This message was again out of guilt from the parent who felt responsible for them and their mistakes, yet her emotional walls kept her from expressing her love with words rather than with actions and orders.

Despite her fight with Jimmy, Teresa’s priority is still to protect him and she wants to be here when the plan unfolds in case he might be in danger. Sensing her distraction, Jane has then a serious talk with her in his airstream when they’re preparing for the game. He’s very direct: “your brothers don’t hate you”; he explains that they’re not “mad” at her, they just miss her. Her wanting a new life is understandable: after her mom died, she left because she felt trapped. Jane is right: that’s exactly what she did with her former fiancé Gregg, she wanted a chance at being independent and free and she left everything behind to build a new life for herself. Hence her lack of a private life when Jane started working with her: she felt guilty for being selfish and for leaving her surrogate children to deal with their problems alone (“now Stan’s life is a mess, Jimmy’s got a gambling problem and God only knows what Tommy’s up to”). Jane is quick to reassure her: “they’ve got their problems but they’re good people and they wouldn’t even be here if you hadn’t loved and protected them when they were kids”. He’s helping her to deal with her guilt for failing at protecting her family, a feeling he knows too well since he reveled in it for more than a decade.
That moment enhances how trusting those two have become with each other: when she states that he figured out the truth about the intruder in the house and kept it from her, he doesn’t deny and just says “well it’s not my business”. He respects her family’s privacy and only interferes when he feels that she needs him to. She on the other hand is grateful and thanks him for his help: she’s even more open about her family problems than she was when Tommy showed up in an investigation. She’s come a long way since the era when she used to forbid him to pry in her private life. Now she trusts him with her troubles, doubts and most intimate thoughts and is happy to have his comfort and support. She doesn’t resent his half-truths and lies by omission because he was trying not to make a decision for them all by displaying his suspicions: he wanted them to come to the heart of the problem on their own.

VIS# 5: poker night

Back to the plan, sexy Teresa and gambling-for-fun-not-money Jane arrive to the hotel for the big game. The atmosphere is balanced between the seriousness underneath and the amusing moments like the talk about the busted toilets (a trick to force their suspect to get out of the room after busting him too) and Wylie’s eagerness to explain to a less than impressed Vega what a tell is (“subtle behaviors a player makes when he has a good or a bad hand. –I know what a tell is.”). Interestingly, Jane’s poker skills were at play in two others episodes with very different aims: in ‘Red-Handed’, he used them to flush out a killer during another big poker night. At the time he was alone, while now he has Lisbon by his side. Later, in ‘Red in Tooth And Claw’, he helped Bertram to better his bluffing technique (a tell inside a tell), in order to get Lisbon in his good graces and to convince him to let Van Pelt go to a computer training program: his goal was to help his team.

However, this scheme greatly differs from his previous performances: now it is Lisbon who is in the spotlight. Like in ‘Black Market’, she’s playing the psychic who can get in contact with murdered people and feel the darker aura of the killer, who she can tell is the one holding an ace. Jane is her assistant who explains that she’s “a little sensitive, a little psychic”: when someone asks “psychic?” he answers “almost”, which is an inside joke given that she’s still learning from him even if she’s getting better at pretending. Of course, her act is only a distraction because Jane is cheating and dealt aces to every player in order to determine which one will betray his guilt with his usual poker tell. It’s a trick that reminds of the one he used in ‘Red Dawn’ in his very first case with Lisbon. The comparison shows the role reversal his influence on her caused: now he’s happy to get the hand work whereas she gets the fun thrilling performance.

Phase two starts then: after their suspects go out to find some working washroom, he’s cornered by Cho who shows him Jane talking with the irate mobster. Yet, the man is not being told the truth about the murder: Jane’s just playing a mind game on him by revealing that he and his “honey” are leaving because there’s a hidden camera. Fear is stronger than logic and the suspect confesses: he suspected that his fiancée Heidi was cheating on him and figured that Nathan, the victim, was the lover since he was wearing one of his monogram embroidered shirts. As Nathan took a lot of money from him too that night, his anger boiled over and he beat him to death. The man is a poignant example of those failed relationships displayed in this season, since his crime was only born out of misguided distrust and lack of communication: actually, Nathan went for coffee with the fiancée and got coffee on his shirt, which prompted her to lend him the incriminating clothe… Had he just talked to her instead of refusing to trust her, Nathan would still be alive and the couple might have gotten over this difficult patch. It greatly contrasts with Lisbon accepting to talk of her most private insecurities with her lover.

Last point, the name “Heidi” might prove interesting, since it may be a reference to two well-known 19th century books for children: it put emphasis on the childhood memories running through the episode and, even though the killer’s jealousy can be linked to Peter’s anger at having to share his childhood friend with a new girl (which prompted him to push Klara’s wheelchair down a mountain slope), the most intriguing part of the book may be Heidi’s homesickness when she’s in the city, far away from her grandfather. To some extent, that yearning for coming back home to a loving family and happier times has probably been hiding in Lisbon’s heart for a long time and she’s starting to acknowledge it. Same with the “Little Yellow House” whose title may remind of the ‘Little House’ series, another 19th century classic of children literature based on childhood memories and nostalgia.

VIS# 6: the party

In an attempt to get closer to her family and to make up for her long absence, Lisbon goes to Stan’s baby christening party, bringing Jane as her date. The atmosphere is very different from the poker night, with people laughing light-heartedly around a barbecue. It contrasts with Jane’s private birthday party but displays the same happiness to be together. Jimmy teases her because “Texas girls drink margaritas” instead of beer and Stan regrets that her pierced ex Woody Squire couldn’t make it. Lisbon is relieved that his face looks better, because she’s “the only one who gets to punch” him and she wants him to let her help in with his debt troubles. Stan admits that they’re very impressed with her, what with Jimmy having seen her performance, which was certainly one of the goals Jane’s trick was aiming for: he wanted to show his family that Lisbon’s job is important and that she is good at it. Her absence makes more sense that way. Stan insists that he’s proud of her and they agree that they should “hang out more” like “normal people”. It’s probably no coincidence that Lisbon’s mother’s cross is openly on display on her décolleté and that the three of them are wearing one dark blue cloth making them match subtly: they’re back to being a family. Patrick also made a strong impression on the Lisbon family and this time, it’s not for teaching to their kids how to pick pockets like he did with Annabeth: Stan and Jimmy “like him. He’s a good guy”. They advice Lisbon not to mess this one up… It might or not be a veiled allusion to her former fiancé whom she run away from. Lisbon smiles at that and at the sight of Jane holding the baby: she’s fully getting her brothers’ approval, both on her career choice and on building a home with Jane.

When she gets a personal moment with her lover, she admits that she’s glad to be back home and works up the nerve for a deeper confession: “I don’t think I’ve said this. I mean, I know I haven’t said it, but I don’t really know if I need to, because you always know what I’m thinking…” finishing with “would you be surprised if I said I love you?”. Jane admits that he’d been lying if he said he wouldn’t be “moved by that” –a tender echo to her “say it again” in ‘Blue Bird’ – so she repeats more confidently “I love you, I said it”. He answers “I’m surprised”… Putting words on their emotions to express out loud what’s been untold for years is an important life-changing process for those two very secretive people and it gets an almost official value. The fact that Lisbon feels ready to acknowledge her feelings for him is also revealing of the absolute trust she places in him: she knows he’s not willing to hurt her. She finally accepted that he wants to protect her and that his love bounds him to her. On the other hand, his surprise at hearing her confession reminds of his shock at realizing that she kept and fixed his old teacup, an action that was already showing how deep her feelings for him had run for years: he didn’t think he deserved a second chance that is getting more real with each passing day. While the teacup was focused on the old CBI days, here her full admission is opening possibilities for the future. Only this time, the questions don’t touch their professional careers, but rather hint at a more personal topic, since her reactions at seeing him play with the baby showed that building a new loving family is not out of the question for her.

Mentalist Green Light Review

Synopsis

When Abbott (Rockmond Dunbar) gets in touch with his former boss Bill Peterson (Dylan Baker) because of a raid gone wrong, he gets unexpectedly roped into the murder of a DEA agent, which pushes him closer to the danger caused by his involvement in the sensitive Rio Bravo case years before. Meanwhile, love is in the air in the FBI as Lisbon wants to celebrate Jane’s birthday and Wylie (Joe Adler) decides to ask his coworker Vega (Josie Loren) on a date.

Concise Verdict

That was a very cute and endearing episode, what with the old blue teacup’s return adding a really sweet reference to the past and the tentative romance between young Wylie and Vega opening a door for future progress. Abbott’s gotten also some interesting character development that both fits his personality and relates to the show history. All in all, this is probably one of the best episodes of this new season, because it shows how much putting the past to rest feels less like a conclusion than a new beginning for Jane and Lisbon, whatever it might entail in the upcoming episodes.

Detailed AKA Humungous Review (spoilers galore)

VIS#1: Abbott gets in trouble

In reaction to the trouble his past might bring to his wife’s blooming career, Abbott visits his former’s boss from the Rio Bravo Station. The official reason is that Dennis’s handling the report on the failed operation authorized by Peterson to find drugs in a restaurant which his team suspects was involved in a drug ring.

Upon visiting the man in his own ground in an attempt to make him more comfortable, Abbott explains that he doesn’t “want this to be awkward”. The other’s answering reaction is deceivingly benevolent: he hints that he knows Dennis well (telling him that he lost weight, asking about “Lena”, which is a nod to Dennis’ current predicament to viewers), then he slowly insists on the power he once held over the younger man (“Why? Because when you worked for me, you were barely shaving?”). That past familiarity has a vaguely paternal vibe and he’s trying to use the former influence he had to make Abbott give him access on the file on his own team. The man makes Dennis squirm a little at the mention of the Rio Bravo station –it is bound to make him sore like when this part of his life was brought up by the man from D.C. -, adding that he’s “come up to the world” since then. When his former employee refuses to accede to his demand, Peterson’s strategy changes to a more emotional angle stating that “a lot of people in this agency got their gun sights set for ol’Bill Peterson… I need to know if you’re handing them any bullets”. He’s putting himself in a victim’s position while Dennis becomes a potential traitor siding with the wolves… and when that doesn’t work either, the tone changes to something more threatening: “when I was your boss at Rio Bravo, I had your back. You’re telling me you don’t have mine now? Is that how you want to play this? ” He pretends to be asking for simple “professional courtesy” but the truth is that this dark secret has now because a threat not only to Lena’s job, but to Abbott as well.

Aware of the danger, but still being a professional, Abbott half agrees to let Bill see his final report. He starts his investigation by visiting the hotheaded agent who led the fiasco operation only to find him dead in his house. He’s been tied to a chair and shot twice. His position reminds a bit of Osvaldo’s body found by Rigsby in a creepy warehouse. Even though the latter had been stabbed, both are the victims of two cases somehow linked to a not quite forgotten nasty history that is coming back to menace the main characters.

Jane and Lisbon/ Wylie and Vega: domestic bliss and young love

But, while Dennis is busy being threatened by shady law enforcement officials and tumbling over dead bodies in true hard-boiled detective fashion, Jane and Lisbon are enjoying domestic bliss. They’re stepping out of the airstream -which may have viewers wonder whether she’s spent the night or if she was just coming to drive him to work- and they start talking about a rather hot topic: Jane’s birthday present from Lisbon. He’s not taking the date as a very interesting matter (“by the way, keep tomorrow night open. –Why would it be closed? –Your birthday… -oh, that…”) and has already warned everybody at work that he wants “no songs, no cake, no gifts”. Which hints at two things: for one, it’s his first birthday at the FBI hence the need to explain that he doesn’t celebrate it and two, those demands are probably why they were never seen celebrating it at the CBI, given that they celebrated Lisbon’s (at least once) and gifts and cake were required… The only other celebration shown on screen was the anniversary of his family’s death, in a more tragic perspective: Jane hasn’t been holding his own life in high regard, so rejoicing about a new notch in it obviously doesn’t held much importance. Yet Lisbon is eager to make him happy as she’s planning a private celebration and a gift. As she tells him that it’s a surprise, he’s amused at the idea that she thinks she can keep a secret from him for that long. Her reply is curt: “I don’t think I can. I know I can” to which he retorts “I admire your confidence”…

This snickering argument about her secret keeping skills has been going on for years, with Jane claiming that she’s “translucent” and that he can read her like an open book and her throwing him off balance from time to time, sometimes as a game (keeping a hammer in her desk drawer, playing poker with him), sometimes as a more serious way to keep him off her life (rubbing in his face that she had a “date”, not telling him that she planned to go to D.C. with Marcus). Now, it’s part of their old banter more than anything else. The romantic celebration she’s planning insists on their new status as a couple, even more since her own way of showing that she was glad to have him back after his two-years hiatus had also been to give him a present (those socks he was no longer wearing after coming back from Venezuela). Back then and now, she’s trying to give him what he’s been lacking off, comfort and normalcy. With her by his side, he’s back to a more normal, fulfilling and self-indulgent life.

Later on, she needles him into guessing what the gift is. He’s distracted because he sensed that Abbott was in trouble, but he stepped in her game nonetheless, asking silly questions to mock her secret keeping abilities. Truthfully, he probably doesn’t really care about what the present is, as long as it comes from her: he was gleeful and almost teary-eyed when she gave him something in ‘Green Thumb’, even though it was only a pair of socks… On the other hand, one might wonder if those childish suggestions may not held a deeper meaning: after all, he asks “is it made of Kryptonite?”, a veiled reference to the super-hero costume she offered to make him in S1 ‘Bloosdhot’, whereas the line “is it something that I would wear on a cold winter’s day?” might apply to the woolen socks. Following that logic of the three guesses game being hidden allusions to past presents/promised gifts, the first of his funny questions might be interpreted in a similar way. This dialog: “does it weigh more or less than 3 ½ pounds? -Why 3 ½ pounds? –Because.” might be a nod to Jane’s rebuff in ‘Fugue in Red’ (“because, Lisbon, because”) and if one were to offer a somewhat far stretched idea, the weight could maybe refer to the cowry shell he sent her from South America since he must have had to weight the package at the post office.

Nevertheless, Teresa and Patrick are not the only one in a romantic mood: in reference to Jane’s revelation to Vega about Wylie’s interest in her, the younger man is rehearsing his speech to ask her out at the office. Holed up in the break room, he’s repeating “Michelle/Vega, I’ve got tickets for that blues festival”… he’s obviously nervous, but he’s quicker to take action than Wayne had been (even though Jane’s teasing and Cho’s annoyance might not have helped that much in hindsight…). Plus, there’s apparently no rule against fraternizing given that he’s planning to make his offer in the bullpen… Yet, Vega’s refusal to acknowledge the situation her admirer’s in is on par with Grace’s and he chickens out when she interrupts him with the new case. The poor boy’s nervousness and isolation in the deserted room contrasts with the merriness in front of the Airstream… From the start, there’s a strong possibility that his planned romantic night out might not meet as a joyous success as their special birthday party… And this is further hinted at later when Jane interrupts his flirting by sending Vega on an errand for the investigation.

VIS#2: Jane makes a test and takes control of the situation…

After notifying the murder, Abbott puts his team on the DEA agent’s murder and promises to the visibly shaken Bill to extent “every courtesy” to him. It’s clearly a reminder of the not so friendly talk he had with the man, but Jane catches on the double meaning and suspects that something is going on. He confronts Abbott and asks what the other man has on him. He also suspects that there’s something fishy in the theory that the hit was ordered by the cartel, since the DEA couldn’t find anything during their raid: “the animal that escapes a snare doesn’t necessarily go after the poacher”… Shortly afterwards, the DEA team makes a not so good impression by mocking Vega’s young age.

1) … on the case

It’s may not have been what determined Jane’s interest in the case, yet it’s quite apparent that the victim shared some similar traits with the consultant. He was a dedicated investigator, prone to acts of insubordination given that he attacked their suspect in front of everyone, even though his boss was nearby. According to his coworkers, he used to listen to “the worst music, smooth jazz” (the music Jane used to listen to in his Citroën), he “didn’t talk computer”, “kept a hard copy on everything” like “witness interviews, surveillance photos” (cf. Jane’s endless lists and notebooks) and was “relentless”, going as far as sleeping “here on the couch half of the week”… It looks like the cartel was his own RJ case. Later, upon suspecting that one of the man’s colleagues is involved in the murder, Jane coincidentally stops one of the agents’ ire with the line “easy, tiger”, which might allude to the password “tyger, tyger” used the infiltrated Blake associates.

Indeed, Jane briskly steps in an interrogation and grabs the DEA agents’ attention by authorizing the prime suspect to leave, much to the dismay of the man who was leading the interrogation with Cho. The unorthodox consultant scurries off, but, as the angry man faces him, he plants the seeds of doubt by telling him that they were planning a raid at the restaurant that same afternoon. Something the man hurries to tell to his team members, thus warning the mole.

Afterwards, he goes alone to the Alamo Brewhouse and discovers the trick that allowed the drug dealers not to be caught in the previous raid: one green light bulb around the neon sign advertising for the restaurant is unscrewed. It’s a signal meaning that there’s no drug inside to sell. On the other hand, the shinning “Green Light” means that their business is open for their shady customers. Jane’s perception reminds of his quit-witted deduction about the trick in ‘Il Tavolo Bianco’, another restaurant used by criminals as a cover. Yet, the green color is simultaneously used in reference to Abbott, who admitted to have been “very green” when he was working for Bill Peterson; that confidence is the green light Jane was waiting for to get deeper into that mysterious part of the case at hand.
Thus, when an irate Bill comes to their table after hearing about the supposed raid, Jane tells him ironically that it was “a lie”, “a fib, an untruth. I made it up”. He then invites them to a “spot the difference” game with the victim’s photo of the restaurant, before explaining the trick and coming to the inevitable conclusion that the owner had been warned by an inside source: he finishes Bill off by adding “someone on your team is the killer”.

2) … with Abbott

Even though Bill might present a danger, Abbott is an honest cop and refuses to picture him as a traitor therefore the investigation focuses on his team. But his former boss is not as scrupulous as he calls him to a bar for a word in private. After trying an emotional angle again (“a hell of a thing to know that one of your people betrayed you… Killed a colleague, a friend”), he states that he wants credit for the arrest: he demands that Abbott lies about his supposed vital participation in the investigation in order to save his career.
Abbott is shocked: “you have been asleep at the wheel” ignoring that one of his people “has been in bed” with the cartel. He’s been expecting him to hand over his resignation instead –pretty much like Minnelli did after a mole killed Bosco’s unit. Peterson shows his hand then and threatens him openly to divulge whatever the younger man did at Rio Bravo.

Abbott knows he’s trapped and his worry is perceived by Jane. The consultant makes him talk. When Abbott was still a rookie he worked at the Rio Station: it was a war against the Zeta cartel, even more since the criminals would dress up as soldiers to stop buses and shoot all passengers to keep them to work for another cartel. This traumatic vision of bodies of men, women and children scattered like trash propelled him to take a bold opportunity. Once when he was watching a Zeta safe house alone, he spotted one of the criminals’ commander walk out in a military uniform… Understanding that it meant another massacre was going to happen and knowing that the frightened local police would be no help, he simply shot the man. The dramatic music by Blake Neely enhances the dark narration and the whole situation was somehow prepared by Vega’s overstepping her role by causing a suspect’s death during her stakeout in ‘Orange Blossom Ice Cream’. It might also explain Dennis’s lenience about her lie and her actions.

The moment is crucial in the relation between the two men because Abbott gives Jane a huge power over him in telling him his secret, especially since he was the one who tracked him in Venezuela and forced him into a deal, and given that Jane is looking for a way out, even if Dennis might not be aware of it yet… Anyway, neither of them seems to be thinking of it: they’ve become real friends and Jane is on his side. The whole secret murder reminds of LaRoche’s dark past when he too trusted Jane and asked for his help. As he did with LaRoche indeed, Jane makes no mystery about where he stands: he tells “you did the right thing” after looking at him intensely. There’s no doubt he sees the parallel with his own vigilantism against RJ and he understands Abbott’s predicament regarding Bill Peterson. He’s already thinking of a plan to keep the older man from talking: even in Abbott’s eyes, they’ve become a “we” fighting a common battle.

Abbott’s isolation both during the cartel commander’s murder and against Bill is a transparent allusion to the ‘Rio Bravo’ western movie (1959), starring John Wayne –whom Rigsby was named after. In the movie, the sheriff only had a handful of people helping him to defeat the boss of a gang whose brother he arrested for murder. Hence Dennis’s order to “saddle up” after the first briefing… Both stories feature indeed the uneven battle between a few people fighting for justice and a powerful and terrifying criminal gang, yet the moral question laying at the heart of the plot receives quite a different answer: in the western movie, the right things consists of abiding strictly to the law, while here Abbott served the greatest cause by committing a cold-blooded murder in order to save lives… It adds an important nuance to the notion of justice: indeed, in the quest against RJ, Lisbon represented the lawful option, while Jane decided to stop the killer no matter how. And Abbott, who was the agent responsible for closing the CBI down and later for arresting Jane, has actually a past pretty similar to the man he was after… That aspect gives a darker yet more human aspect to his character.

At the same time, the Alamo Brewhouse is a reference to Wayne’s western movie ‘Alamo’ (1960) about the battle of the same name. This event was alluded to in ‘Rio Bravo’ by a song played during the battle which meant that there would be no quarter, no pity towards the adversary. It was a fight to death, which is why Abbott acted too: he knew the others were about to slaughter innocents without remorse or hesitation. John Wayne, who played heroic figures in many war contexts serves as a model for Dennis’s decision –like the main song for the movie, ‘The Green Leaves of Summer’ might or not have provided the color for the title of the episode. Yet, even though the setting is also similar (once again a few men battling an almost surely lost battle against a more powerful opponent), the ending is quite different, for where ‘Rio Bravo’ ended successfully, ‘Alamo’ ended in heroic death, defeat and tears. That pressure weighted on both Abbott and Jane as they were fighting their own battles about their enemies –a cartel who terrified the police and an elusive serial at the head of a potent organization and who had infiltrated moles to hurt him. Both chose the lone way of becoming a vigilante which in hindsight gives an even deeper justification to Jane’s action…

3) … and with Vega

Abbott is not the only one who seeks solutions from Jane: after clearing her relation with Cho and now Wylie, Vega decides to talk to Jane, the first team member she opened up to when she started working with them. Once she’s back with the photos that Jane requested (pictures of agents who could be the mole over the past three years), she walks past Wylie into the room where Jane is checking the photos out. When she asks him what he’s looking for, he says “their eyes, window to the soul”, which she doesn’t buy. She’s reluctant to help with the “trick” that she knows he’ll be using and Jane, sensing her discomfort, tells her “speak your mind, soldier.” It’s a direct allusion to the cold reading he did on her when he unearthed her past in the army before her father’s death. Vega answers: “It’s just, I very much appreciate to be part of this team, sir. You get results, I respect that”, but she “the things you ask people to do… it’s not what I thought working for the FBI would be like…” Jane groans when he understands that this is going to be a critic of his unconventional methods and shifts the topic towards what he feels is the real problem: “more importantly, you wonder if your father would approve”. Her father “was strict. Makes you a sticker for rules.” For once, Jane doesn’t manipulate her to his views: he simply states that he was “a good father” and “I can’t tell you what your father would approve of. That’s for you to decide”… That’s one of the most personal pieces of grieving advice he ever gave out, since he too had been looking for his family’s approbation in his heart. That much could be surmised from Charlotte’s jibs in ‘Devil’s Cherry’. Now, the life he leads is closer to what he thinks his family would want for him, he’s found someone who accepts him and who he doesn’t need to lie to. He can be his real self again and that certainly helped him move on.

This insecurity also enlightens Vega’s motivations for reaching out to Cho earlier: she admires him because he’s the more by the book and self-regulating agent in the team –Abbott and Wylie are quite in awe of Jane’s methods and Lisbon is very close to him. As I stated in the review for the season premiere and for ‘Black Market’, she’s looking for a fatherly figure and Cho fits the bill as former military and as a strict character. Through his mentorship and approbation, she seeks both a reassurance and a standard to which evaluate her new job responsibilities. It’s more moral guidance that she’s been asking for than real tips on how to do her job, really.
On the other hand, the fact that Jane helps both Abbott and Vega to come to term with their moral dilemma shows that he cares about their well-being instead of just tricking them into following his schemes. He’s become more openly benevolent and has gained more human depth since Season 1, which is the most telling sign that he’s in peace.

Later, as the plan he’s been orchestrating unfolds, the team gets to work in sync. Vega arrests Bill under a false pretext –it serves a double purpose: to make the real culprit believe he’s safe and to put pressure on the blackmailer- while Jane, Lisbon and Abbott gather the other suspects and slowly determine those who fit the profile, based on their reasons for improving their appearance (based on the assumption that the killer must have had an ego boost and felt important after make much money and lying successfully to his coworkers). Then, after letting their three remaining suspects go with manipulated guns under the excuse that they got Peterson, Abbott, Lisbon and Cho move simultaneously in for the kill. They act completely similar and, in the same way they used in ‘The Silver Briefcase’ to create an analogy between the two possible ways the murder may have gone, the camera shifts from one of the three fake blackmailers to the other… until Cho gets shot at with blank bullets. That’s great team work and it shows the great unity they came to display, which sadly contrast with the last interrogation and the traitor’s malice towards his colleagues.

The Ending

1) Abbott

After his not so glorious participation in the case as a scapegoat to flush the killer out, Bill feels humiliated because he wanted to have credit. As a result, he threatens Abbott. After a while, Jane, who is in the room, loses his patience: “ok, I’ve been patient, I’ve been polite, not anymore. Take it back”. He insists: “take back your little threat and apologize to my friend here”. He’s very protective of Abbott and, in true Jane’s fashion, finds the chink in Peterson’s armor, the better angle to fend off the blackmailer: “this display, this tantrum, it is not about anger, it’s about fear”. Given Bill’s startled surprise, Jane pushes the cold reading further: “we weren’t too far off about you keeping a stash of dirty money”, adding his own threat that “with enough time, we’ll find it”… Bill leaves with a last not so veiled menace: “give my best to Lena”, an ironic way to remind Abbott of the power he still has to destroy her career and to echo the greetings they exchanged at the very beginning of their first meeting. He’s still dangerous, but Jane is confident in defeating him.

2) Vega

At the other end of Jane’s plan, Vega’s hand in the arrest has helped her come to term with Jane’s methods: they’re not as by the book as she would have wanted but they work and, to her surprise, they’re fun.
While she’s making confidences to Wylie about her reactions, the young man is enthusiastic about her performance and is about to take this relaxed moment to finally make his move… until he’s once again interrupted in his amorous overtures by a text on his dream girl’s phone. Coincidentally, Michelle’s charm has worked on a DEA agent who decided to ask her out too, much to her chagrin. Indeed, she’s not interested… which has Wylie feeling relieved until she explains that her lack of interest is based on her determination to focus on work. Wylie saves face by telling that he understands and that he too wants to focus on work…

Apparently the unlucky young agent is the new example of failed relationship on the growing list that has been going since ‘The Graybar Hotel’. His attempt didn’t even go as far as a confession and one can only wonder to what extent Vega has been aware of his intentions: her attitude in the previous episode was an implicit admission that she knew Wylie had been interested. There’s a strong possibility that she took the opportunity to gently brush him off by telling him that she’s not interested in dating, while showing that she does the same to other men, so he should not take it personally. On the other hand, her reason for refusing coworkers’ attentions is the same used by Van Pelt to break off with her illicit lover in season 2 and Grace confessed in ‘Red Velvet Cupcakes’ that she only used it as a pretext because she wasn’t ready for a long-term commitment. Is there a possibility than Vega’s reasons may have less to do with making her career successful and proving her abilities to the FBI than with emotional insecurities? After all, her reaching for Cho as a mentor was a way to express her yearning for fatherly approbation…

Either way, the failed relationship theme is also developed by the expressions used to characterize the two villains of the case: the mole had “been in bed” with the cartel (as told twice) and as Dennis put it “Bill Peterson doesn’t have much of a bedside manner, but he’s not a traitor”. In Wylie’s case as well in teamwork, intimacy has its limits… not to mention Jane’s remark about divorced agents “yes law enforcement… tough on the home life”. Is that worry part of his reasons for wanting to run away in the sunset with his sweetheart?

3) Lisbon’s gift

Those worries are as far from his mind as possible when he gets to his birthday date with sweet Teresa, though. As they are sitting at a little table outside of his trailer, she’s prepared champagne and one cupcake with a lone candle. The cute attention amuses Jane (“the lights are a nice touch”). He’s smiling and follows her instructions to make a wish as he blows the candle out. When he opens the red box adorned with hearts that hides his mystery gift, he discovers what is inside: it’s his old blue teacup. The one that shattered startlingly on the CBI floor when Abbott took his old life from him… He’s very moved and can’t believe that she “kept the pieces”. He’s genuinely surprised, both by the caring thoughtfulness and by the depth of the love she showed by keeping the pieces for more than two years, even though she couldn’t be sure they would ever become more than a nostalgic souvenir of a crushed past. Jane’s “speechless” and “amazed” by the “beautiful gift” and kisses her as a thank you – for the first time onscreen after ‘Blue Bird’. The moving moment of tenderness turns to a cute banter when Lisbon insists “are you sure you’re not pretending you didn’t know what is was to make me feel better? Because you don’t have to make me feel better”, but Jane retorts “Lisbon, just take the compliment”. The scene ends with them kissing again and drinking champagne.

The scenes echoes Jane’s surprise firework on the roof in ‘Orange Blossom Ice Cream’ as a way to make a statement in regard to Erica’s doubts about their romantic compatibility. But Lisbon’s gesture has a deeper meaning, since like the teacup, she took the fragments of his heart left after his family’s murder and kept them over the years to finally put them back together to give him a new chance to be happy. She put his old life at the CBI to rest by mending a past that was ended by Abbott’s actions –symbolically just when Jane defended the man as a friend.

There’s no longer any doubt about their future together, at least at that moment: the back and forth between past and future, represented by the CBI teacup perfectly glued together like a new one, shows how comfortable each of them is with the other. It’s also a way to reassure Jane about her feelings after the reservations pointed out by Pike and Erica: she loves him for who he is and what they share, has been for a long time and plans to still do so no matter what they’ll be doing. The notion of surprising him was never so complete: she had thought in season 2 that he had forgotten her birthday only to have him stun her with a pony -which was probably a dream from her saddening childhood that he wanted her to finally fulfill. Now she managed to shake him by a simple object that meant both the everyday familiarity that he yearns for and the unconditional love he believes he doesn’t deserve. To put it simply, both are much more than the other had ever expected.

Mentalist The Silver Briefcase Review

Synopsis

A murder is committed in cold-blood in an unknown house by an equally unknown man. He turns out to be a professional acquaintance of the FBI agents. Upon meeting the man, Jane’s curiosity is aroused and the team is soon on his tail.

Concise Verdict

‘The Silver Briefcase’ is a bit different from the usual structure of more classic episodes, since we know beforehand who the killer is and therefore we’re able to follow more closely the logic of the investigation. This time, the mystery is elsewhere: indeed, at the end Jane doesn’t know who the actual killer is between the two accomplices, plus the main focus of the plotline lays of the big question raised by him in the previous episode. Will Lisbon agree to quit law enforcement or will she convince her lover to stay to keep catching bad guys? All in all, the change of pace is intriguing, many scenes amusingly endearing and Baker’s director skills only enhance the quality of the episode.

Detailed AKA Humongous Review (spoilers galore)

VIS# 1: double introduction of the killer

The very first character viewers get a glimpse of in the opening may be a murderer: that much is implied he’s seen washing his hands. This detail reminds of Lady Macbeth’s obsession with bloodied hands and consequently the recurring focus on hands going through the series (Jane washing his hands when dating Erica, Lisbon washing her bloodied shirt while lamenting Bosco’s death because of her case, Jane shaking hands with RJ, McAllister giving him a hand when he’s falling from a roof, his bloodied hands when running away in the cemetery and so on). From the start, the unknown man is therefore linked to guilt; nevertheless he seems remorseless as he calmly puts things into place before leaving the room. On the floor, the only sign of violence is a bloodied foot and it greatly contrasts with the man’s composed demeanor. The image is shocking since showing only feet had been used in some classic movies as a euphemism to show that there’s a corpse: here, the dripping blood makes the brutality even more blatant.

On the other end, violence is shown in the FBI immediately afterwards as Cho and Lisbon are teaming up in a rapid response like intervention. Jane is playing the hostage and the whole thing ends up being actually a training session perceived as a game: Jane asks “we son?” and Abbott has been making a friendly bet with a colonel Raymond… who happens to be that same calm killer. From the start, thus, the man is dimmed as something special: not only are viewers privy to his identity from the get go, à la Columbo, meaning that the plotline will focus more on the method and teamwork to catch him than in the mystery, but some details hint at an implied similarity with good ol’RJ. Like him, he’s somewhat part of law enforcement, since he’s training with FBI agents, he’s friendly and he’s probably killed a woman. More than introducing a new serial killer, though, the parallel probably allude of Jane’s past and his consequent fear of losing Lisbon, which is one of his primary reasons for wanting to quit. Even more since the man’s first name is Aaron: in the Bible (the Book of Exodus), Aaron was Moses’ older brother and helped him to lead their people out of Egypt (like Jane wants to get out of law enforcement); but they had a disagreement after Moses received God’s laws at Mount Sinai, because Aaron had meanwhile built an idol, the Golden Calf, which made God and Moses angry even though the latter forgave his brother (Exodus 32, 1-35). It may be a hint about Jane and Lisbon disagreeing about “what feels right” concerning their actual professional status, to quote Jane’s words after Pike asking him about future plans.

Indeed, soon Lisbon and Jane are unwinding and talking about his offer to run away in the sunset. Jane stresses that the world is infinite in its possibilities but he’s careful not to press her: like in the airstream he amended that his words were “just thoughts”, now he’s half joking to take the edge off what he knows is an issue with Lisbon. He even indirectly remind her of their little discussion about her mysterious musical skills in ‘Red-Colored Glasses’ with the possibility that she “might enjoy Paris or learning pedal steel guitar” as much as her work now… given that his suggestions involve leaving on a trip or finding a hobby (like he mentioned in the island in ‘Blood and Sand’), one might wonder how much money he still have staked to finance them or what he’d be planning to do for a living. But down-to-earth Lisbon also has some tricks up her sleeve and whereas he tries to make her dream, she mentions “it’s not gonna be as easy to walk away as you think” because “you enjoy the mental stimulation far more than you let on”. She’s playfully attacking him under the same angle that he tried to use in ‘Blue Bird’ to get her to stay: they make a good team and have fun investigating.

That’s when shady colonel Raymond comes into the scene… he greets Lisbon whom he already met and immediately something about the man sets up red flags in Jane’s mind. While the colonel congratulates Lisbon and tells her that if she gets tired of the FBI, he’d “have space” for her –another allusion to leaving her job-, Jane observes him and is obviously unsettled. His first explanation for his unease involve his primary focus at the moment, Lisbon: he wonders if she was ever involved with the other man but she denies it. She brushes off his “strange” impression by telling him that his wife was murdered eight months ago… meaning that the coldness and maybe guilt he felt emanating from the colonel might be compared to grief. Interesting implied comparison, given Jane’s past.
The openness between the still secret and bantering couple contrasts with the chillingly quiet murder at the beginning, since viewers understand that the victim was the colonel’s wife. Their happiness is put forward, which is reassuring after the uncertainties left by Jane’s question, but the comparison also brings a measure of shadow above their lightness, because the talk might end up leading to a serious disagreement. The darker tone of this beginning is cleverly stressed out by Blake’s Neely’s more dramatic music for the opening.

VIS# 2: talking to Abbott

The next step of Jane’s growing suspicions towards the colonel is to get Abbott’s help and authorization. Under Lisbon’s influence, the unruly consultant’s more by the book than he ever was… When their boss gently chides them, Jane’s a bit hurt (“so you are not interested in my theory?” even though he admits that he doesn’t have one). This emotional reaction is even hinted further when he gets from Vega an ironic “curiosity killed the cat’: Jane is taken aback and it takes a beat before he mutters “also cured polio”. Whatever are his reasons for wanting to solve crimes now, it doesn’t revolves around wanting to show off his great mind and manipulating people like it had once. Once again, Lisbon has taught him to become a part of a team and as such, he expects the others to take him seriously.

This whole scene reminds of their first investigation under Luther Wainwright’s supervision in ‘Ring around the Rosie’ and the differences between those two episodes get an even deeper meaning. Back then, Jane’s intuitive theory was in direct opposition of what was visible, but Luther had no qualms letting Jane have free rein in his apparently non-existent case, while he frowned at Lisbon’s parallel investigation. Now, Abbott trusts both; he asks for Lisbon’s opinion and follows her lead when she replies that she trusts Jane. His instructions for discretion are directed at both: “no interrogation, so searches, if you want to talk with anyone use a cover story”. As a result, Jane is not trying to get Dennis into mind games and troubles, like he did with young inexperienced Luther; on the contrary, he’s pleased, shakes Abbott’s hand exchange smiles with Lisbon, then bumps fists with Abbott. The progression between those two moments in Jane’s career in law enforcement subtly brings on the underlying question about what he really finds in this job he’s willing to quit. ‘Ring around the Rosie’ is later also reminded of with a detail: the man who had arrested for the murder was homeless, just like back then. Later, the main evidence was found in a homeless encampment, which is how Lisbon’s personal investigation had ended in the other episode.

When the investigation takes its first steps, Cho finds himself asking questions about the killed Mrs. Raymond and this old case is not the only one inconspicuously hinted at: the cop who investigated the murder explains that things were wrapped up fast, “slam dunk”… an allusion at a game that would have been fitted for the symbol-filled RJ era. Plus, the particular status given to the murderer this time reminds of Jane’s spontaneous suspicions when meeting Panzer (and the now defeated Erica Flynn too) as well of Volker’s struggle with Lisbon –especially since he too was shown committing a murder in the opening of ‘Little Red Corvette’, a quite unusual fact in the show. The main suspect nailed by the police is in jail and his lawyer states that “it looks bad” but he “didn’t do this. He’s probably gonna get the needle’, just like the framed innocent convict in ‘Silver Wings of Time’, which setting also involved a “Silver” title,  an adulterous husband and a murdered wife, not to mention the countdown at the end of both episodes. African art as a clue in an office is a nod at Dr. Wagner’s in the pilot. In all those past cases, Jane had been mostly working on his own, clueing Lisbon on what he needed from her when he deemed it necessary, while this time they’re investigating together from the very first tinges of doubt in his mind. They’ve made huge progress and they’re leading a far more balanced life/partnership that way…

We also have to thank Simon Baker’s always intriguing directing for the subtle impression of secrecy brought by the shots in many scenes: when Cho talks to the police, everything is in dull colors (such grayish or unobtrusive black and whites) except for a bright pencil holder flashing spots of blue, yellow and red. Same with the cop in front of him: when the camera focuses on him, a partial view of the same object along with a poster in the background bring a startling dichotomy. The trick is used again later: when Wylie is scurrying through corridors to spot African art in an office in order to identify the lover who might have helped the colonel, there are a bright fuchsia blouse, a neon green exit sign, the red from the American flag or just a green potted plant in the background to lighten up the tedious grayish environment. Even when the young agent finds his suspect, a lively colored “Candy Pilot” came played on the woman’s screen adds a cheerful touch in the serious office. Later again, when Jane teases Vega about Wylie’s transparent interest in her; the young woman’s red blouse and the bright green apple on her admirer’s desk make two bright spots in the dry FBI.

Jane and Lisbon Partners

VIS# 3: Lisbon and Jane go house shopping

Lisbon and Jane finally decide to visit the crime scene, which is how the episode should have started had Jane not been sticking his nose in yet another cold case. That’s the opportunity to get the usual undercover show on the road since Jane calls the real estate agent in charge of selling the house and makes her believe his “girlfriend” and he might be interested in buying it. The same ruse was used in ‘Black Cherry’, but now it involves them as a couple instead of him going alone then pulling her in. Lisbon is unaccountably pleased by the mention of house shopping; in spite of the hesitations about where the future will lead them, their relationship is moving forward rather smoothly and speedily…

And their little prospecting couple act looks effortless: they pull the con seamlessly, playing their part and rotating questions about that shocking murder that they are not supposed to know about. When they’ve managed to make their mark leave them alone, they work on deducing the killing method together and come to the mutual conclusion that the murderer messed up temperatures to make it look like the murder took place earlier than it did. When real estate agent Judy is on the phone, they keep talking low about the case. Their domestic life is mostly about investigating, after all… which leads Lisbon to bring up her main argument against leaving the FBI: “you have too much fun”… Again, private and professional lives are amusingly intertwined when Lisbon’s excuse for leaving is that the house has “not enough closet space”.

But Jane shields Lisbon from a direct confrontation with the colonel: it’s him who goes into his office to chitchat with the man in a power play reminiscent of his little incursions in Bertram’s office back in the CBI… Their talk about plans, adversaries, war and Napoleonic strategy comes to an abrupt end when the consultant blurts out “that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard”. His adversary correctly surmises that he’s trying to provoke him to get a reaction out of him. Eyeing the man’s detached demeanor, Jane simply thanks him for his time and leaves. When he gets back at headquarters, he’s debriefed on what he found out by Vega and Cho: there was a Masai object in the office, which doesn’t match the decoration of the house. They quickly deduce that it must be from another woman in his life whom he must have met at work because most affairs start there. That little off-handed remark, added to his cheeky comment later in front of Lisbon that “love springs up in the unlikeliest of places” hints that both secret couples are implicitly compared, giving that he and Lisbon are also having a love affair in a workplace and that their feelings were unlikely to develop considering his grief and obsessive thirst for revenge when they met.

After Wylie has spotted lover Denise Sparks during yet another undercover job, Jane and Lisbon drink a coffee and talk about what Lisbon has observed when buying it at the same time as Denise. Jane encourages Lisbon to draw her conclusions, cold-reading her prey. She concludes that she may be the killer, because “everything about her, it just seemed like she was wearing a mask”, which gets her an approving “very nice, agent Lisbon”. It looks like Jane is still playing her mentor, which is in hindsight a rather futile task if he wants her to leave law enforcement…

VIS# 4: the trap

Meanwhile, the colonel must have understood that Jane’s maneuver to get on his nerves was fishy when the cop called him about the investigation, because he comes to the bullpen to talk with Lisbon. He’s a threat (that much is emphasized by his reflection on the window when he looks at her darkly before entering). Jane is immediately protective of her: as soon as he spots the other man, he leaves his tea on a desk and comes to her rescue. Raymond’s bold move reminds a lot of Volker walking into the office to threaten her in a falsely sweet voice: his intent is the same, stating that if they think he’s murdered his wife, then they just arrest him. When Abbott intervenes, the colonel expresses his disappointment in him in an oddly detached and emotionless tone (“well, that’s a damn shame, I liked you”). His parting shot is directed at Jane: “you seem like a smart person. Know when you’re overplayed your hand”… The man knows who’s really after him and he uses a poker-related metaphor which brings us back to the deadly game Jane used to play with his nemesis.

This convinces Abbott to drop the case, even though he thinks that they did some nice work, but they still don’t have solid evidence to make an arrest. For Jane, that means that they need to wriggle a confession out of the suspects.
This is when the comparison between the two couples becomes even more blatant: as the colonel and his lover are seen walking towards the same place but separately, in different shots, Jane and Lisbon walk together, smiling. Jane even waits for her to catch up to him and they hold hands for a brief moment. They’re all heading towards the place the FBI pair chose to set their trap: they’ve cornered their two opponents by using a fake message and from the first sentences the partners are aiming to drive an edge between the others, planting the seeds of mistrust (« he didn’t tell you we were investigating you?»), manipulating and using mind tricks. As they don’t have solid evidence, they faked some in a silver briefcase identical to the colonel’s and try to pressure them into confessing under the threat of revealing what’s inside, assuming that it contains something incriminating. To stress them more and keep them from thinking clearly, Lisbon sets a countdown on her phone. That’s pretty much the same trick that they used to force a confession out of the murderer in ‘Not One Red Cent’.

The growing edge between the co-conspirators is skillfully widened by the doubts Jane and Lisbon instill in their minds (“you should stay. I don’t think you understand how much he hasn’t told you”), while themselves present an united front, with almost identical positions side by side, in quite similar suits (minus the vest for Lisbon who was earlier wearing a white blazer and a red blouse), him taking the man (daring him to “go”) and Lisbon the woman. While the others try to desperately reassure themselves (“I love you”/ “you know I would never-“), Lisbon and her partner finish each other’s sentences. The power balance in completely reversed compared to the colonel’s outburst in the bullpen and Jane can’t resist turning the man’s parting words against him: “if either of you was smart, this game would be over by now”, alluding once again to the game theme. They conclude: “time waits for no man… or woman”, but what really makes the woman willing to talk is Raymond’s harshness when he snaps “stop talking. Woman, I tell you” then ““don’t be stupid”, which gets Jane humming in disapprobation. They managed to enlighten the power play behind the illicit affair: this brings viewers back to the notion of taking decisions in place of the other, which has been introduced by Abbott’s domestic problems and Jane’s fateful question.

Problem is, once the two criminals decide to talk, confessions are flowing a bit too freely and each starts charging the other in such a way that it makes it very difficult to ascertain which one is telling the truth. They wave roughly the same tale with the other playing the worst part: Denise tells that he promised her a “bad day” for a “lifetime of happiness”, convincing her that they’d be dragged through the mud otherwise, threatening her with the discreditable label of home wrecker. Aaron claims “she said it’d be quick. She was a different person”, while in her tale, he let her in “it was so hot. He took a knife off the rack. He… smiled.” Both versions are shown on screen with the man or the woman alternating in stabbing the victim, either in a sudden attack or a deadly embrace and the common detail of blood dripping on the beige shoe. The horror is emphasized by her adding that he said something under his breath when he killed her, “I don’t know why”, whereas the colonel repeats that she was a “different person”. As if whoever was the real murderer, their lover couldn’t recognize their hunger for violence at the fatal moment. Which maybe be why the outside part of the door is bloody red, a blatant color in the discreetly colored interior when they both exited the crime scene: whoever did it had become a monster, hiding under either the detachment that Aaron presented to the world (even in the opening of the episode after he came back alone to put the finishing touches to the crime scene) or under the “mask” Lisbon was able to perceive on Denise’s true nature.

Again, this contrasts with the way Jane and Lisbon banter once the case it out of their hands. She tells him that he enjoyed himself and that he loves this job as much as she does, which he does denies. He counterattacks by remarking that he loves eggs too, but that doesn’t mean that he “wanna eat nothing but omelets for the rest of [his] life”. They’re able to discuss pleasantly serious topics with respect, understanding and humor. For once, they talk about his worry about her getting killed in the job, like his family was taken away from him (“Well, I am happy for the first time in you know how long, but I’m scared. –Jane, one of us could get run over by a bus tomorrow… -Not if we’re on a beach in Polynesia, buses can’t go on sand. –You could get eaten by a shark… -Not if you don’t go in the water!”). Amusingly, the “sunsets” he mentions among “palm trees and hammocks and cocktails” in his little dream island might refer to the half-confession he offered her as a goodbye before leaving her hanging in ‘Fire and Brimstone’ and her responding litany about “endless boredom, sunburn, bugs the size helicopters” might be a veiled reminder of her uneasiness in nature (in front of a deer in ‘Red Moon’) or of her fainting in front of flesh-eating bugs in ‘Red in Teeth and Claw’…

They also talk about what they could do afterwards if they really decide to quit: after Jane admits once again that he doesn’t have a plan “as yet” but that he’s willing to quit, sit and wait until “a plan takes seed”, they go over some – pretty amusing- options that somehow are also laced with meaningful subtext: they could buy a boat and sail around the world, because he “always wanted to do that”, alas she’s seasick (which reminds of their similar disagreement about boats in ‘Red Lacquer Nail Polish”) and she doesn’t look forward to “whales and storms and pirates” (whale Moby Dick, someone?). She goes as far as to mention “scurvy” which is a cute echo to Jane’s curiosity which killed the cat “but also cured polio”, another nowadays much rarer illness… In spite of their divergences, both are trading ideas through the same wavelengths and share a deep bond forged through a rough common history, hence the plethora of references to past cases.

Still, the funnier reference is Jane’s offer to start “beekeeping”, insisting that she’d look very cute in one of those suits when she mocks him about coming up with the best ideas. Beekeeping is Sherlock Holmes’ primary activity after he retired (‘His Last Bow’), which makes Jane a crime solver even in his plans for quitting… As she asks him in disbelief how beekeeping might be romantic, he puts one arm around her shoulders and his answer becomes indistinct, making their getting home together a sweet and intimate moment, matching the ending of the season premiere when they sped away in a classy old car.

Vega’s love life

A happy Jane amounts to a matchmaker Jane, as it is. Just like romantic Abbott tried to talk him into finding love again during the Pike debacle and like Jane himself used to tease Rigsby for his hopeless admiration for Grace when he started caring for his new team, he now has his eyes set on the budding feelings between his youngest coworkers.
The previous episodes focused on Vega’s hardships in dealing with Cho with Wylie coming forward as an eager support. Now that part of her work life seems to be settling nicely so far. As promised, Cho took her to the firing range; as they put together their guns, side by side, they get along well and he assumes a mentor role in teaching her to go faster.

Jane has not interfered with this problem, but he starts taunting her with Wylie’s interest after they talk about how most affairs bloom in the workplace… He tells the unsuspecting young woman « can you do me a favor ? Next time Wylie steals a glance at you, can you wave him in?” The poor young man is busted in front of his sweetheart, like Wayne was in the pilot, and like him he’s only watching her from afar without yet daring to make a move… which of course makes him even more of a target for the cunning consultant. When they reenact the killers’ performance at a red light to get a photograph of the lover posing as the already dead wife, it’s up to the teased pair to check the timing of the trick. And it gets awkward, particularly when the young male agent steals a glance when his female colleague is undressing and when he’s gulping as he sees her in a bra.

Later, Jane needles the second potential couple in line into looking into the briefcase by telling them he doesn’t know who the killer is and by letting the object right next to them. They’re like children, encouraging each other to take a look (“aren’t you at all curious about all about what’s in that briefcase?”). They’re as eager to know as the old team was when holding LaRoche’s mysterious Tupperware… some things just don’t change. Of course, as soon as they do open the case, Jane blurts out a loud “meow!”. He’s been watching with Lisbon, hidden behind the door with their heads only visible comically. He got at Vega twice for mocking him with her meddling “curiosity killed the cat”, once by starting his mockery about Wylie, the second time by making her and her friend/admirer team up into falling for his trick in order to prove her own curiosity. And coincidentally, that proverb is an adaptation from a quote from Shakespeare (“care killed the cat” in ‘Much Ado About Nothing’), an all time favorite of the cheeky Jane. In that respect too, some things don’t change…

The Plot Mystery: An Adventure of The Amazing Patrick Jane (AKA Plots inspired by Murder Mysteries in TM)

As usual, this is a work in progress, so feel free to complete it in the comments! Many of those mystery books have been mentioned before, but I’ve been trying to compose a more formal (and hopefully accurate) list of the episodes which may have been based on them.
Have a very happy New Year, everyone! 🙂

As it’s been said many times, there are a lot of literary set-ups used in TM.

A particularly subtle example involves fairy tales, since some elements have been used as inspiration.
As it is, the woods appear often in the show and they may be related to meeting a supernatural being, for instance Grace seeing O’Laughlin’s ghost in ‘My Bloody Valentine’.

Some other times, the character who entered in the woods meets someone dangerous in a pattern reminding of certain well-known tales. In ‘White as The Driven Snow’, Grace escapes from a certain death by running into the snowy woods and meets a seemingly helpful woman who drives her into a cabin, before revealing herself as the kidnapper who wanted her dead. Similarly, Snow White (whose skin is “as white as snow”) escapes the queen’s death order to run into the dwarves’ cabin but falls finally into one of her traps…

Same with ‘Redwoods’: the two victims met the ill-intentioned psychopathic cop in the woods, like Little Red Riding Hood met the wolf. Afterwards he tried to get into the investigation but was unmasked in the cabin he had been planning to use to rape/kill his victim. It sounds like the wolf’s plan which included impersonating a benevolent character, the grandmother, to get the little girl into the house. Amusingly, there are two ends to this tale: in Perrault’s version, the foolish girl was eaten (like the first victim who was killed), but in a kinder adaptation, a huntsman saved her and her grandmother and the wolf was tricked (Jane made the surviving girl remember what happened and therefore saved her, while Lisbon tricked the man and killed him).

The episode ‘Redemption’ is also clearly based on ‘Hansel and Gretel’: the victim’s daughter and son (called “Ansel”) suffer from parental abandonment; later Jane uses a mysterious house to lure his mark in (his own gingerbread house) and a wicked witch ends up inside, in the person of the greedy killer.
The idea of a lost shoe is a nod to ‘Cinderella’ in ‘Ruby Slipper’ (an allusion to the glass slipper), because once Jane finds Archie whom it truly belonged to, the younger man got the opportunity to have a better, more fulfilling life, instead of being bullied.

Last, not least, more recently Jane played Hop-o’-My-Thumb with soda bottles to help the team follow him in order to rescue Lisbon; when he tried to save her, he used the reflection from a rearview mirror, making him a knight in shinning armor…

But probably the most fruitful source of inspiration for TM can be found in classic murder mysteries: it’s rather normal since the show is a procedural, in addition of Jane being rather old-fashioned. Not to mention that some of his primary influences are Columbo and Sherlock Holmes…

SEASON 1

The pilot: Conan Doyle’s ‘A Study in Scarlet’ (1887), Sherlock Holmes’s first adventure. The great detective is introduced as a strange man with mysterious motives and methods (like Jane’s reckless behavior is first introduced to viewers during the Tolliver’s case). Later, during the fake RJ case, Jane deduces that the blood smiley on the wall has been left by the real murderer as a red herring, in the same way Holmes infers that the writing in blood on the wall is a distraction.

Red Tide: all the young suspects are guilty and they made a pact to cover the murder, like in Agatha Christie’s ‘Murder on the Orient-Express’ (1934). The reference is twisted, since the victim here is innocent, whereas Ratchett was a nasty former kidnapper in the book… the vicious building contractor who seduced the underage victim into a statutory rape-based relationship would fit the bill better for a villain.

Ladies in Red: Holmes’s ‘The Adventure of the Two Women’ (1954), a pastiche by Adrian Conan Doyle and J.D Carr. Two women represent either the bad or the innocent side of femininity: on one hand, a wicked blackmailer; on the other, her victim, a Duchess. Here, the notion is played with as the seemingly grieving and attractive widow is the killer, whereas the victim’s caustic lover is the one who is actually caring and warm-hearted. Plus, in both cases, the bad woman is caught because of a tiny error: the wrong color of ink in the book or the wrong instrument playing in ‘Peter and the Wolf’ in the show.

Flame Red: ‘The League of Frightened Men’ (1935) by Rex Stout, a story of revenge on a group of men for a crime from their past.

Carnelian Inc.: ‘A Murder is Announced’ by Christie (1950). The murder is forewarned either by letter (in the show) or on the newspaper (in the novel) and the killer who’s plotted the whole charade is actually the host, the owner of the company the group is working for/ the owner of the house the murder has been committed. There’s also an allusion to Christie as Jane talks about throwing “a cat among pigeons”, which is the title of another of her novels (1959).

Russet Potatoes: the idea of using hypnosis to commit or rather to cover for a murder has been used several times, for instance in ‘Seeing is Believing’ by J.DE. Carr (under the pseudonym of Carter Dickson) and in a Columbo episode titled ‘A Deadly State of Mind’. In the latter, the unwilling accomplice is hypnotized in “going swimming” when hearing a codeword, which leads her to jump from a balcony to “go swim” in the pool several floors below… that is pretty much the same trick the killer tried to use to convince Rigsby to push Jane from the rooftop at the end of the episode.

A Dozen Red Roses: to some extent, episode ‘Forgotten Lady’ of Columbo (first aired in 1975). In both, murder committed by a movie star when her rich husband suddenly refuses to finance a movie project supposed to rekindle her career; same kind of character too in Christie’s ‘The Mirror Crack’d’ with a very different victim and motive, since she killed because her successful career broke her family apart, whereas the other acted because of the opposite reason.

Miss Red: Hitchcock’s ‘Marnie’ (see ‘References to Hitchcock in TM’ for more details)

SEASON 2

Red Scare: the notion of a family secret treasure hidden by a riddle can be found in Conan Doyle’s ‘The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual’. The curse cast upon a family or a house to explain similar deaths (an idea played with at the very beginning of the episode) reminds of ‘Hag’s Nook’ by J.D. Carr (1933). The book features a hidden treasure and family cursed to have their neck broken under very precise circumstances and the victim breaks his in falling from a tower, like in the episode the victim is pushed through the window. Also, the treasure hunt is present in ‘The Case of the Missing Will’ by Christie (in ‘Poirot Investigates’, 1924), by instance.

A Price above Rubies: “The Adventure of the Abbas Ruby” (1954), another pastiche by Adrian Conan Doyle (many thanks to Anomaly for spotting it!). In addition to the reference of the gem in the title, an employee who had a questionable past is framed for the robbery, when the culprit is really a family member.

Red Badge: ‘Third Girl’ (1956) by Christie also features a young woman who believe she may have committed a murder but cannot remember; actually she had been drugged by someone she trusted, in order to setting her up by altering her sense of time and keeping her in a nebulous state. She’s helped by Poirot who guesses what happened and a young doctor who keeps her in his home to protect her: both those parts have been played by Jane, when he went to her apartment in order to hypnotize her and determine the cause of her partial amnesia. In another Poirot story, ‘The Cretan Bull’(from ‘The Labours of Hercules’, 1947), we can find the same trick: a young man is led to believe he’s becoming insane and dangerous to his fiancée since it appears he may have been killing animals in crisis he cannot remember. He was set up to commit suicide by a family member who was giving him daily doses of a hallucination-inducing poison. Same idea of black-outs used to set up someone to cover for a murder in Ellery Queen’s ‘Ten Days’ Wonder’.

Red Herring: in Nero Wolfe’s story ‘Too Many Cooks’ (1938), by Rex Stout, a famous chef is killed during a meeting of cooks. The victim had been accused of seducing wives and sabotaging the other cooks’ dishes. The identity of the killer was disclosed during a meal organized by Wolfe. All those elements were used in the episode. Also a similar setting has been used in a ‘Murder, She Wrote’ episode (titled ‘Proof in the Pudding’, first aired in 1994), even though the plot story is somewhat different.

The Red Box: another Rex Stout’s novel, ‘The Red Box’ (1937). In the novel, the victim came from Scotland (the detective in the episode was from United Kingdom and worked for Scotland Yard) and had hidden some proof in the aforementioned box about a shameful secret from his past, about selling his daughter to impersonate a dead heiress; he was killed because he wanted to talk… like the detective wanted to fix an error from his past involving the victim, who was secretly his son and whom he wanted to protect after he committed a robbery. In both cases, the motive for the murder was kept in the red box.

SEASON 3

Cackle-Bladder Blood: ‘The Maltese Falcon’ (novel by Dashiell Hammett from 1929 featuring Sam Spade and movie from 1941, starring Humphrey Bogart. He also played in ‘Casablanca’, which is referred to in S6 ‘Il Tavolo Bianco’). Just like Spade, Jane is called late at night to come to a crime scene (by his brother-in-law Danny, while Spade was by his client Wonderly/O’Shaughnessy) and is suspected by the police. Danny, like femme fatale O’Shaughnessy, wavers through the episode in relation to Jane between getting help from him and incriminating him. In both stories, the treasure which motivated the murder(s) was a golden/jeweled statuette.

The Red Ponies: the twin/identical horses switcheroo can be found in ‘A Girl in Every Port’ (1952), starring Groucho Marx, as well as in the other movie ‘Crazy Over Horses’ (1951).

Pink Channel Suit: the two corpses in one coffin idea has been used in the Sherlock
Holmes’ short story ‘The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax’ (1911) and in Ellery Queen’s novel ‘The Greek Coffin Mystery’ (1932). In the latter, Queen comes to the conclusion that the missing will he’s looking for must be hidden in the recently deceased man’s coffin, but finds a second corpse instead: similarly, Jane’s decision to open the coffin is based on a erroneous deduction.

Red Hot: even though it can be a simple coincidence, there are some similarities with Dick Francis’ novel ‘Hot Money’ (1987). A tycoon who has no less than five ex-wives (reminding of Walter’s complicated love life) asks for help from his estranged son as the police suspects him after an attack resulted in the death of one of them. This comes pretty close to Mashburn asking help to Jane and Lisbon (whom he hopes to get reacquainted with) after receiving death threats.

Jolly Red Elf: no real precise reference here, but the plot plays with the idea of a nurse killing people out of mercy (from her point of view at least). It might be based on real life cases, as they are many, but it also reminds from afar of Agatha Christie’s disturbing serial killer in ‘By the Pricking of My Thumbs’.

Red Gold: just a detail is taken from a Columbo episode (‘Blueprint for Murder’, first aired in 1972), Jane deduces that the killer has taken his victim’s car because he switched the music to something more of his taste.

Every Rose Has Its Thorn: Columbo again; in episode ‘Double Exposure’ (first aired in 1973), the culprit tries to forge an alibi for himself by using a recorded tape with his voice, like Erica did in her matchmaking video with Sarah. The trick might have been inspired by the famous ‘The Murder of Roger Ackroyd’ by Christie, albeit the way it’s used is a bit different. Anyway, the whole episode has a definite Columbo vibe, since viewers know from the start who is Jane’s main suspect and both play mind games with the other.

Bloodhounds: in Sherlock Holmes’s ‘The Adventure of the Reigate Puzzle’, a man and his son murder their blackmailer coachman who discovered them committing a burglary, like the aunt and cousin of one of the episode victims killed her because she discovered they had a mishap with some contaminated drinks they produced. The two women tried to frame a retired serial killer, the Caveman, like the men tried to cover it up with burglaries committed in the area.

Redacted: the setting reminds a tiny little bit of Holmes’s ‘The Adventure of the Three Gables’ (1926). In this short story, Holmes deduces that some shady characters were hired to find a mysterious object in an old woman’s house- legally or otherwise. The surprising part of the case is that they first offered to buy the house from her, with everything inside, all the furniture included. The treasure they were after was a scandalous manuscript written by the deceased son of the woman and narrating the sordid details of his liaison with a femme fatale, who was determine to retrieve it at all costs. We find roughly the same ingredients in the episode: the object from a questionable past that everybody is after, along with the curious interest for furniture. Nevertheless the idea of hiding an object in plain sight, like the victim did with the costly carpet in his workshop, comes from the famous ‘The Purloined Letter’ by Edgar Allan Poe (1844).

SEASON 4

Pretty Red Balloon: in ‘The Adventure of the Priory School’ (1904), a young boy has been abducted and Holmes deduces that the culprit is a family member (the child’s older half brother who was born out of wedlock and was after money and petty revenge against his father). Same with Christie’s short story ‘The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly’ (in ‘Poirot’s Early Cases’, 1974): a wealthy child is kidnapped by a family member with an ulterior motive (the father wanted to get money from his rich but cautious wife).

Red is The New Black: no precise reference, but it may be interesting to note that crimes set in the fashion world has been used many times before, for instance in Margery Allingham ‘The Fashion in Shrouds and in Stout’s ‘The Red Box’ again since the characters work in a high end fashion boutique.

At First Blush: the concept of someone committing a murder because of a vineyard that might be sold by a co-owner is used in Columbo ‘Any Old Port in a Storm’ (first aired in 1973).

My Bloody Valentine: the title may be have been inspired by real life events, since the “Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre” refers to Al Capone’s gang murdering mob associates in order to take control over organized crime in Chicago in 1929. Here, the murder victim is a mob boss’s son and the motive is also to take control of the gang.

Blinking Red Light: arguably ‘The Speckled Band’ published in 1892 (pointed out by commenter Stephanie). In this short story, Holmes has made out the criminal’s horrendous actions but let him carry out his plans, which results in his own death. Holmes admits that he’s morally responsible for this death, but that it won’t weight much on his conscience. It reminds of Jane’s decision to lead Panzer to badmouth RJ in order to get him killed, making him an indirect accomplice of his nemesis, even though as Holmes did not set a trap to get his prey killed.

Ruby Slippers: the notion of setting a fake suicide to get an enemy convicted for murder in used in Holmes’ ‘The Problem of Thor Bridge’ (1922)

So Long and Thanks For All the Red Snappers: the setting involving a sunken ship carrying gold is pretty common, for instance it’s played with in ‘Ingots of Gold’, a short story by Agatha Christie (in ‘The Thirteen Problems’, 1932).

SEASON 5

Devil’s Cherry: Holmes’ short story ‘The Devil’s Foot’ (1910) features a similar situation. The title designates a poison that causes madness and consequently death and was administered by a familiar. The twist here is that the victim in the show killed himself when hallucinating, whereas in the book, the victims either ended up insane or were too weak to survive the poison.

Not One Red Cent: similar setting in ‘The Adventure of the Clapham Cook’ (‘Poirot’s Early Cases’, 1974) featuring a bank robbery committed by a clerk. The plot is nevertheless fairly different.

Red Sails in the Sunset: Hitchcock’s ‘North by Northwest’ (see ‘References to Hitchcock in TM’ for more details)
Red Lacquer Nail Polish: ‘The Adventure of the Norwood Builder.” (by Conan Doyle in 1903) gives part of the plot (see the review for this episode for more details). Also the substation of bodies to fake one’s death is used in Dorothy Sayers’s ‘Whose Body?’ (1923).

Red Letter Day: the western show setting reminds of Ellery Queen’s classic ‘The American Gun’ (1933), albeit the rest of the story is quite different.

Red Velvet: the Holmesian quote ‘The game is afoot’ appears in ‘The Adventure of the Abbey Grange’ (1904), featuring an adulterous couple. The story is treated differently, even though both times the wife has been part of the murder.

Red and Itchy: Hitchcock’s ‘’Psycho’ (see ‘References to Hitchcock in TM’ for more details)

The notion of a secret criminal association is quite common in fiction: from Moriarty’s organization in Sherlock Holmes’s stories to Wallace’s works (‘The Crimson Circle’, 1922) and Agatha Christie’s books such as ‘The Secret Adversary’, (1922), ‘The Man in the Brown Suit’ (1924), ‘The Seven Dials Mystery’–with a twist- in 1929, plus the nod to ‘At Bertram’s Hotel’ (1965) with the CBI boss’s name. Same with the codeword ‘Tyger, Tyger’ and three-dots tattoo as a recognizing signals in season 6.

SEASON 6:

The Red Tattoo: ‘The Three Coffins’ (also called ‘The Hollow Man’, 1935) by John Dickson Carr features an impossible murder, with the detail of exertion causing the killer to bleed to death making his own murder equally impractical to explain. Plus the idea of a subterfuge used to conceal the weapon comes again from Doyle’s ‘The Problem of Thor Bridge’.

Red John: ‘The Final Problem’ (1893) showed the final confrontation between Holmes and Moriarty. Holmes was threatened by the man and had to leave his old life and flat behind to go in hiding with Watson, before ditching his friend to be present at tacit secret meeting. The two adversaries then fight and Holmes killed his nemesis before disappearing… which is pretty much an exact account of what Jane did during the episode.

My Blue Heaven: there are some intriguing reminiscences of ‘The Adventure of the Empty House’ (1903). Holmes/Jane comes back from a years long hiatus. Jane meets Kim because of a book (‘The Daughter of Time’ written in 1951, featuring an injured detective who solves an historical murder from his room out of boredom, a situation Jane may relate too. The book also opens the truth theme threaded through the season). On the other hand, Holmes made contact with Watson under the guise of an elderly book collector.

Green Thumb: Hitchcock’s ‘Rear Window’ (see ‘References to Hitchcock in TM’ for more details)
The Golden Hammer: in ‘The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans’ (1912), a clerk in a government office unravels a spy’s schemes and tries to deal with it which gets him killed. Plus Holmes deduces that the spy made contact with his accomplice by messages in a newspaper. He tricks the second man with a fake massage and using him to pin the murderer. The idea was recycled in the episode.

SEASON 7:

The Greybar Hotel: the criminal couple that Lisbon was trying to get close to is based on real life Bonnie and Clyde in the same era as Al Capone.

Orange Blossom Ice Cream: the deciphering code as hidden in a Paris guidebook, which reminds of Holmes deciphering a letter using a commonly used almanac in ‘The Valley of Fear’(1914). Also used with a New York guidebook in Ellery Queen’s ‘The Scarlet Letters’(1953).

Mentalist Orange Blossom Ice Cream – Black Market Joint Review: A Study in Relationships

This is an experiment of sorts: we’ve decided to write a joint review for ‘Orange Blossom Ice Cream’ (which got delayed) and ‘Black Market’ since both episodes address the same themes: relationships and how they might evolve in the future.

 

Orange Blossom Ice Cream:
Following the events from ‘The Greybar Hotel’, Jane is called by the CIA to investigate the foreign part of the ring they’d uncovered. Problem is, their contact is in Beirut and she happens to be no other than the infamous Erica Flynn who tried to seduce Jane into submission in ‘Every Rose Has Its Thorns’ and in ‘War of the Roses’. Lisbon is pretty unsecure about the situation and as expected trouble arises and questions are asked…
Erica, the ghost from the past brings doubts to the light

The main problem posed by Erica getting near Jane is that it forces him and Lisbon to confront things and relations from his past that he kept secret (Erica, Lorelei). Lisbon has been pondering about them and Jane has flatly refused to discuss any of them at the time, either in Lorelei’s case by denying there was any feeling involved because she was just a tool, or by playing with Lisbon’s unacknowledged jealousy over Erica by letting her doubt his participation in the seductress’ escape plan. Getting to Beirut is thus a matter of dealing with trust and self-confidence issues.

Indeed, Jane didn’t tell Lisbon about the new mission beforehand. While the CIA agent starts explaining the situation, he is silent and looks down. He’s been secretive and he evades every question about his relation with Erica with a rather lame “me? Why?” When the agent reveals that Flynn insisted on working with him, Abbott looks at him and Lisbon starts muttering, but he doesn’t clarify. On the other hand, Lisbon wants an explanation on why she’s part of the operation but gets orders and Jane states that there’s “no problem”… He’s careful about his reactions and tries to play it cool.

Self-confidence is also part of the problem for Lisbon, because there’s a big difference between the two flowers blooming in Jane’s current life. She is honest and straightforward while Erica is devious and cunning. The latter has been depicted as a rose with thorns, all passion, danger and hurt, whereas Lisbon is the ‘Orange Blossom’ which gets this time to be mentioned in the title: like the flower, she represents innocence, purity, eternal love for Jane and may be linked in his mind to the idea of a possible fruitful marriage. No surprise then if this time both women’s aspirations collide more forcefully and directly than they had in the past: like it was hinted in the Limo scene in ‘War of the Roses’, Jane is still literally sitting in the middle of them both, only this time he made it clear beforehand who his heart belonged to. This is probably why the women outfits offer such a great contrast: Lisbon’s simple white blouse clashes with Erica’s sexy, form-fitting sophisticated black and gold dress. Even later, when Lisbon dresses up for dinner, her white stripped dress is more conservative than her rival’s gleaming little number.

There’s no doubt it’s a power play for Erica: when they first arrive, she’s waiting for them in their hotel room – a display for Lisbon that she’s been intimate enough with Jane to do so- and she already took the liberty to order tea. Her apparently “thoughtful” gesture of offering him his favorite drink actually hints that she’s in control of the situation as she proves later by telling her boyfriend that Lisbon is here too, admittedly to gain his trust. The same trick of flaunting power by offering a drink is later used by the criminal boyfriend after he tested Jane’s memory by making him learn a list of random words while half-drowning him in a bathtub… and a third time when Erica gauges Lisbon’s feelings by laying on the charm on her, again in her hotel room, and she orders lemonade. And after Jane and Lisbon talk more openly about the other woman, Jane gives Lisbon a glass of tea, as a sign of recovered trust and familiarity…

Erica has obviously set her eyes on Jane and every talk from her involves trying to get on his good graces or trying to determine how far Teresa has settled herself into his heart. When she explained that her current boyfriend whom she’s planning to sell info about to the CIA in order to get a deal is “very secretive over his work” and she suspected “it was unsavory”, she also reminds Lisbon of Jane’s past schemes to get revenge behind her back… Lisbon is not fooled and asks sarcastically “and that’s why you’re turning him in because he horrifies you?” Erica denies and just tells that she wants to go home. Her looking at Patrick gives a deeper meaning to her words as she tells him that when he was away, he would have given anything to get back, a notion Jane can only agree with… Meaning that they share an experience Lisbon is not privy to: in a certain way, she understands him on a level that Lisbon can’t. And that’s proof enough that she has kept tabs on him: at the end of ‘War of the Roses’, she called him to taunt him and let him know that she was looking forward to seeing him again and obviously she’s well-informed enough to have learnt about his return from Venezuela and that he was working with the FBI. Jane’s reaction to her statement is nonetheless interesting because he’s looking at Lisbon when he agrees that he wanted to come back home, hinting that he wanted to come back to her more than anything… Erica is analyzing the situation and evaluating how well her would-be marks get along.

Well-matched couple vs. happiness

Indeed, after assessing the past (i.e. that Jane was in love enough to come back to Lisbon), Erica asks about the present in order to instill doubt in both of their minds. Lisbon was implicitly his primary goal when he was on the run and he was the one who came back, yet Erica pretends that she knows they’re together because she “can tell by the way [Lisbon] looks at” him, hinting that Lisbon is the emotionally needy one in their couple. When that doesn’t work and he doesn’t take the bait, she pretends to be very happy that he found love and she brushes off his reservations by joking “thank you for suspecting me, it makes me feel very interesting”… She’s trying again to fool him by feigning human feelings, like she did to convince him to get her out of jail by pretending to be sad for her former client-turned-friend’s death, when it was in fact a cold calculation…

On the other hand, Erica tries a similar maneuver on Teresa: again she’s very happy that they found each other and, as a former matchmaker, she assures Lisbon that there’s nothing to worry about. But, unlike Jane who refused to give her more ammunition, Lisbon takes the bait and asks “why would I worry?” Erica jumps on the occasion and hits where it hurts most, in their still not completely overcome trust issues… She’s sensed that part of Lisbon’s nervousness was caused by the fact that Jane kept his kiss with her under wraps… She’s playing on her jealousy: “Patrick didn’t say anything?” “so typical, men like to pretend that the past never happened”… Meaning that something happened, big and meaningful enough for him to keep silent about in order not to upset Lisbon…

And she’s right: cracks are showing in the foundation of their relationship. It’s hinted at by the bathroom pattern they got going since ‘The Greybar Hotel’ where showers were mentioned three time as an indicator of the level of intimacy in the different characters’ couples: here, Jane is tortured in a bathtub and his first personal moment with Lisbon features her coming out of the shower in a bathrobe… and not talking to him, when he’s still fully dressed. There’s a communication crisis, while Jane is in the same wavelengths as Erica, since he was able to explain why she used Lisbon’s presence to gain her boyfriend’s trust, while Lisbon was still in the dark and seething about the betrayal. But Jane cares about Teresa: it’s her hand that he holds to seek comfort after the ordeal because he would not find any in Erica’s scheming presence.

Image by @chizuruchibi. Copyright Reviewbrain, December 2014. Not to be used without permission.

In order to make things easier for Lisbon, Jane starts a conversation over dinner. Given how good he is with people, he must guess what his simple “what’s up” will get her out of her silence. After relenting a bit, she bluntly asks him if something did happen between him and Flynn, because she made a point of letting her know that something happened. And Jane decides to drop his avoidance tactics as he finally admits that they kissed once in her hotel room when they were working together. Like he did with his fling with Lorelei, he tries to brush it off as unimportant, but Lisbon doesn’t buy it. As she pushes on, he finally confesses that it was not nothing, but it was a long time ago and it could have led to anything because “it couldn’t”… At the time, the kiss was meaningful, because Erica was the very first to melt the cold wall of indifference he had built up between him and the fair sex as after Angela’s death, he had only one date with a woman (Kristina) and even then he was obviously not ready and freaked out. Erica represented the first meaningful step he took in his rebound process to start living again… yet he’s right, it was rather safe from an emotional point of view because he didn’t trust Erica who was a black widow. He can’t really explain to Lisbon that he was not ready or willing to open up to her on this vulnerable side of his personality back then. He just tells her that upon learning about the mission, he decided not to tell her because he was worried that “it could come between them”. He was afraid she got jealous, hurt or maybe disgusted with him because he accepted the overtures of a woman he knows she despises. But Lisbon is only after honesty and transparency in her couple: she says she just wishes he’d told her first, to which he apologizes for, in the same way he did in ‘Nothing But Blue Skies’ after she told him he didn’t need to hide things to her, “not anymore”. It looks like sweet sincere Teresa will always be the truth seeker in their relationship.

But her insecurities are showing when she asks if there are “any others” she should know about, “like people we worked with”… It makes one wonder how many times Lisbon was unsure of Jane’s private life during the CBI era, given the women who kept coming on to him: except for Erica and Lorelei, the only rare and slight reaction to his success with the ladies we got from her was in ‘Blood for Blood’ when two nurses started looking at him and giggling. But, even if she wasn’t here when Dr. Montague or that scientist in ‘Red in Tooth and Claw’ tried to ask him out, she must have known he went on a date with Kristina and she heard him tell her that agent Darcy had great legs. So she’s making an effort in letting him get a glimpse into her insecurity too. In a subtle way, she’s also opening up more fully to him, for instance in bringing herself to touch the dangerous subject of Lorelei. Since the woman was both a murderer and a victim and either Jane’s coldness (like when he stated “she had it coming” in front of her corpse) or his admission to feelings could hurt and shock the whole-hearted Lisbon. Yet she admits that she always thought that something happened with them both: she probably isn’t referring to his night with her in Vegas, because she knew for sure that they were lovers. So she must be alluding to the events from “Red Sails in the Sunset’, when they run away together and further intimacies with the other woman would have meant an emotional bond. Back then, it was the lack of knowledge of what Jane was seeking in the brunette that caused Lisbon’s wrath (‘There Will Be Blood’) and Bertram had tried to take advantage of that uncertainty when he later implied that they had been involved when they spent those few days alone. But Jane finds a way to lighten the mood by offering to tell her about Lorelei if she tells him about “one Walter Mashburn” –along with the lilting tune that is associated with their banter- which makes her immediately switch topics to food. It’s okay if they do not open every can of worms right now: Jane managed to make her understand they’re allowed to keep some things private and that he might have been feeling a bit threatened by her love life too.

Nevertheless, Erica was not privy to their attempt at clearing the air and she keeps putting herself forward, both as a possible work partner and as a woman. She tries to stress out how similar they are (“I always think of you as having a plan but never admitting to it. – That’s funny, that’s how I think of you”). In her eyes, character flaws like being cunning, unscrupulous and dishonest are skills and they become assets if they are shared with the right person: that’s why she flirts with him when they run away from her boyfriend’s apartment after almost getting caught. She presses her body against his when they hide behind the door; she holds his hand when she runs after him on her shaky high heels; she embraces him while laughing, ignoring his discomfort: they make a good team and she does her best to make him see that, like she did in ‘War of the Roses’.

Jane’s reactions to her attentions are a bit ambiguous: he lets her do as she pleases and later he touches her shoulder when talking with her alone. It makes Lisbon burst in a fit of jealousy, which is probably part of a plan: Erica is eavesdropping when she states angrily that he’s looking for excuses to spend time with her rival and that whatever happened between them is not over. After Lisbon leaves in a huff, Jane reveals that he knew about Erica’s plan all along. He can guess that the boyfriend had money hiding in the room, that she was planning to get her hands on it once the CIA got the man out of the way and that the supposed cop left behind is a fake who won’t drive her to jail (just like in ‘War of the Roses’). The greedy woman then chooses to make a move on Jane, because she wants him too. It might be a matter of ego since he was one of the few men to not be fooled by her, or because she really is interested, either way she explains that in her professional opinion as a former matchmaker, he and Lisbon will not last as a couple because they’re together for all the wrong reasons: he’s attracted to her for her virtue, her honesty and her goodness, things he thinks he lacks, while “she’s interested in you for your danger, your unpredictability and your transgressions”. An attraction based on opposed personalities doesn’t make a lasting relationship, unlike “finding your soulmate, a person who sees the world the way you do, laughs at the things you laugh at, wants the things you want”… Obviously, she’s referring to herself here because she’s more like him than Lisbon. He was a former conman, he’s ruthless enough to sacrifice more than ten years of his life to get revenge, without caring about collateral damage and his best skills are based lying and reading people to deceive and manipulate them. Her words come too close to the truth for comfort since he always considered Lisbon as more honest and a better person than him. That was a clever move from Erica, who knows exactly what Jane was looking for in a woman when he did the matchmaking video in the first case they were adversaries in… Jane doesn’t have an answer ready, so he just replies that he loves Lisbon and that he’s taking her to the real police. Erica tasers him as a result and Lisbon barges in to save the day, foiling the grand escape plans and bringing literally the cold-blooded criminal to her knees.
Neither now nor in the past Jane had never really thought of falling for Erica’s venous charms and he may have sacrificed her to gain Lisbon’s trust back… that is, if really Lisbon’s move was really part of a scheme and not a last minute decision. But the fact remains that he hesitated to let Lisbon know what she was getting into at first: was he just unsure of her reaction and afraid to endanger their love? Or was he ashamed and maybe frightened to get in the same situation Erica cornered him into when she got him alone the previous time in her hotel room? More probably, the fear he is harboring might involve Lisbon realizing that what Erica said was true and thatshe had no future with him and deciding to dump him for a more stable guy like she almost did with Pike.

One way or the other, Erica raised questions about whether Jane and Lisbon are really matched, about what Jane wants in a relationship and how his personality might affect their relationship. Those are bound to make him think, especially given how taken aback he had been by Marcus’s doubts about the future he would be able to offer her.

Jane wants to make it work in spite of all: sharing a life and some orange blossom ice cream

As a reaction to get back in more comfortable grounds, Jane surprises Lisbon by inviting her to a romantic moment on the roof of the hotel, with fireworks and that orange blossom ice cream he promised her when arriving in town. Part of it is certainly a consequence of the encounter with Erica, since Lisbon is wearing a long dress similar to the one the seductress was wearing, only hers is pure white whereas Erica’s had big black flowers.
The detail of the ice cream shared reminds of the Sunday they ate together at the end of ‘The Red Shirt’ back in season 4. It’s a loving intimate action what shows how their bond has been built through years of learning to know each other, in direct opposition of what Erica claimed about their supposed short-termed attraction. Plus, as they start bantering about Lisbon’s reaction to the fireworks celebrating the end of Ramadan (her cop instincts made her believe it was a bomb) and her lack of appreciation for the taste of ice cream (“as they say, you can take the girl out of Chicago, but you can’t take the Chicago out of the girl”), they once again challenge Erica’s definition of a soulmate. Jane tries very hard to show her that he’s pleased to be with her as well as he’s eager to prove to himself that Erica was wrong: he and Lisbon might not always see the world with the same eyes but they can make laugh of their differences… Love is more than mere attraction; things such as affection and mutual support are as big a part of the deal.

Yet, back in Austen, Cho chides Vega for lying to him when they were investigating the American part of the case: she pretended that Abbott gave her clearance to go in the field because she was willing to prove her competence to Cho, whom she admires. Unfortunately she tried too hard. Cho resents that Vega betrayed his trust by telling a lie, which reinforce the ambivalence of Jane’s attitude in Beirut. Lies and trust are still a central component of his relationship with Teresa.

Conclusion:
The episode addresses some important questions from the past such as trust in the other, as a partner and as a love interest, what each of them has been attracted to in the other and implicitly what they’re expecting now from the relationship… It’s no wonder then that those thoughts influence the plot of the next episode.

 

Black Market:

As the team is investigating a diamond robbery that caused the death of two security guards, consultant Jane is forced by a bad cold to stay on the sidelines to give instructions. The resulting isolation insists again on the same questions brought by the meeting with Erica Flynn because this special situation puts under the spotlight three major interactions which might have severe repercussions in the characters’ private and professional life.

The relationship notion is stressed since the very beginning of the episode with the opening scene: Lisbon is seen gleefully buying an engagement ring with a man… who turns out to be Cho instead of her lover Jane. In addition of the funny side of the moment (Cho is smiling and kisses “Mrs. Cho”, his former boss) “Honey” and “Sweetie” are actually investigating the jeweler because the unusually colored gem he’s been selling them is part of the stolen shipment and obviously Jane couldn’t be part of the operation since he’s waiting in the car suffering from “a little tickle” in his throat. All is well between the two lovers though, as Lisbon openly shows her worry, even inviting him to go back to her place and “jump into bed” promising to come and tuck him in later, teases him a bit when he tells that doctors are “frauds in white coats” (“whatever, just don’t sneeze near me. The last thing I need is a cold”)… Yet they’re not the only “illicit couple” “easy to spot” to quote Lisbon when she gets back to the suspect at hand: indeed she colds read the jeweler, seeing that he is going through a mid-life crisis and impending divorce, plus he’s sleeping with his assistant who’s outraged at his denial… It already hints that success/failure in love are at the heart of the storyline: the characters are oscillating in the span of a few moments between engagement and divorce.

Cho has trouble adjusting to Vega

However, the first problematic interaction is professional: Cho is still sore from the stunt Vega pulled at the end of ‘Orange Blossom Ice Cream’ by pretending that Abbott gave her clearance to go to the field when he didn’t. All through the episode, Vega is trying to redeem her error: she apologizes to Cho, who answers curtly to her questions about the case. Clearly the man is pissed: his budding trust in Vega was shattered. When Abbott later pairs him with her to investigate, Kimball outright tells him that he’s rather take Lisbon, but relents when Abbott insists that he knows what she did was wrong, but Vega is still young. In the field, though, they do a rather good team: when interrogating a witness, Cho uses caustic remarks (when the other asks “you think I’m stupid?”, he answers “maybe. I don’t know you yet”) in contrast with Vega who switches to Spanish to calm the man down.

Back at headquarter, the two of them start talking. Vega is still trying to mend bridges and thanks him for taking her on the case, but Cho cuts her off by bluntly letting her know that it was Abbott’s doing. He explains that “an apology is easy. Trust is earned”: if he works with her, he needs to trust her with his life. Even later, after she’s taken down a suspect and gotten hurt, she and Cho are congratulated by Abbott and her stance copies Cho’s. Yet he doesn’t relent and briskly walks away when Wylie is talking to her fondly. Wylie notices her dejected expression and assures her that he’d come around… which he starts doing when he gets the murderer in the elevator at the same time Vega gets her own suspect out and he looks at her thoughtfully. He accepts her next overture and, while he doesn’t accept the trust fall she insists on, he offers to take her to the firing range the next day.

Their slowly growing partnership can lead to two conclusions:

1) Vega is eager to show her skills, which is why she tends to overdo it after Cho approved of her first transgression of his orders in the season premiere. The mention of the “red badge of courage” (or “tan badge” when referring to Vega’s strained forearm) might allude to the novel of the same name by Stephen Crane about a soldier who wants to get a wound in the battlefield in order to prove to himself that he’s not a coward. Her reactions to Cho’s rebuttals are emotional (she’s happy, depressed), while Cho tries to rein his anger in to follow orders… She looks up to him and wants his approval more than Wylie’s or maybe even Abbott’s. Whether she’s looking for a fatherly figure in him or a budding possible love interest is still unclear, but either way they need to get to know each other more as his initial implicit refusal to tutor her into becoming a FBI agent was probably what drove her to seek more drastic ways to try and convince him. His experience will get her to have better reflexes in the field: trust is to be built, but it works both ways.

2) She wants to prove herself to non-nonsense Cho, in pretty much the same way Jane wanted to impress Lisbon in the first seasons: she’s impulsive, reckless, she apologizes after the fact and proves untrustworthy so far. She’s showing the same behavior that Cho labeled as “crazy” to Jane in ‘The Golden Hammer’. There’s a subtle parallel with Jane and Lisbon who worked through trust issues too: the “red badge of courage” also refers to ‘Red Badge’ in season 2, which was the first time Jane started to prove his trustworthiness when she refused to trust him, while the trust fall trick was used by Jane in the early episodes. On the other hand, Cho has refused to open up to her when she outright asked for his guidance, therefore he’s keeping her at arm’s length like Lisbon used to do by putting barriers and walls between her and her team and consultant. It takes time for him to start trusting someone and caring for them; that much was hinted at when he admitted to Lisbon that he had almost quit when first joining the CBI team because of Rigsby’s antics and stayed for her steady authority.

Abbott and Lena: trouble in paradise

But Cho is not the only male agent who has to straighten up his act: when Abbott’s wife gets a prestigious job opportunity as the undersecretary for the Department of Commerce, viewers get to see the woman and how they interact.

Lenna and Dennis are happily married and after 17 years are still very romantic with the other. They call each other “baby” and Abbott is proud of his “Wonder Woman” of a wife. It explains why Abbott was so supportive of Jane finding true love again –he’s a romantic at heart and knows what it’s like to be in love. On the other hand, his skills as a leader as shown extensively as in the bullpen he gives orders to everyone and ushers Jane home.
Interestingly, his job comes into question when he later has dinner with Lenna and her contact from D.C. who’s scouting her: their private life is squeaky clean, his current record impeccable but there’s a shadow in his past, some mysterious events when he worked at Rio Bravo station in a joined task force to take down the cartels near the border and obviously something bad happened there… Later, Ackerman talks to Abbot and makes him understand that his possibly shady past might put a stop to her career: the only way is to put him out of the picture and starting a rumor about her getting through a trial separation…

This development is pretty interesting because it mirrors what Jane went through to some extent: he too had to fight a “dirty war” where it was “hard to tell the criminal from the cops sometimes”… While this might enlighten why Abbott was so harsh when he dismantled the corrupted CBI and unleashed a manhunt on Jane, it also explains why his attitude towards them changed when they started working for him and he realized they were honest cops and good people, albeit with unconventional methods. The situation also reminds that the idea that Jane’s illegal actions endangered Lisbon’s career. It’s only because he made a deal that she got out of her boring little sheriff office in Washington and had new career perspectives… Plus, the idea of a separation that Ackerman insisted on can find a parallel in the victim’s life: he was divorced, just like the jeweler at the beginning of the episode was planning to get a divorce. Implicitly, there’s a possibility that keeping his distance with his wife might end up endangering Abbott’s couple too…

Nevertheless, Dennis only thinks of Lenna’s happiness and there’s no doubt in his mind that it can only be achieved by getting the job of her dreams, which is why he outright tells her that he doesn’t want to go to D.C. because he has “a good unit here, seniority” and he doesn’t want to sacrifice his career… He’s trying to protect her by hiding his true intentions, in a similar way than Jane had been doing when Lisbon planned her own move to D.C…. Lenna doesn’t want to have a long-distance marriage and she understands immediately what it is really about: the Rio Bravo case that Dennis has kept a secret from her. Again, the situation reminds of Lisbon’s issues with Jane, including the secret, the “you can tell me anything” line (cf. Lisbon stating “You don’t need to wait until I need to know to tell me things, okay? Not anymore. » in ‘Nothing But Blue Skies’) and the talk about trust (“trust me, it needs to be this way”) and giving Lena deniability about his past (“you’re going to be asked questions and if any of those questions involve Rio Bravo, then you need to be able to say that you don’t know anything about it”… It sends up with Dennis insisting that they’ll see each other on weekend and holidays, to Lenna’s despair… In a way, Dennis is acting like Jane used to do until very recently: he’s taking decisions on her behalf, without caring about what she really wants. He doesn’t discuss the matter with her in order to get to an agreement about whether the job is more important than their love. He thinks it is okay to choose for her and step back, which might end up having repercussions.

Jane and Lisbon: is the sneezing bubble bursting?

Now it’s not by chance that the other characters underline certain aspects of the main couple’s relationship. Indeed, Jane’s illness gives a golden opportunity to show new facets of their bond.

Lisbon is caring and worried about her boyfriend; while the other coworkers just try to get him to go home and (amusingly) wipe down everything he touches, she comes to his trailer happily because he wanted to see her and brings him the soup he asked. He on the other hand is eager to reassure her, by pretending that he’s fine. He’s also wearing a vest since she told him she liked them: he’s eager to please her.

Jane is also as proud of Teresa as Abbott is of his wife and it’s together that they fill Abbott in Jane’s new plan –in a pretty unconvincing manner, since he’s wrapped in a blanket and she’s nervous in spite of Jane’s reassuring “she’s gonna be fine’: Psychic Lisbon will make her debut since the former Boy Wonder is too out of shape to get on the scene… As the couch is moved to get Jane to watch the screens and monitor his girlfriend, Lisbon appears anxious but in charge of the operation when she’s walking surrounded by towering male agents, while Jane’s vulnerability is further emphasized by the blanket covering his head when he walked in the bullpen… He guides her into her brand new psychic medium act and grins fondly at her increasingly more self-assured performance, even when he asks her to stall for a minute by asking her audience if they have questions. She gives an eerily similar show than Jane usually does, including the part about a deceased loved one’s soul coming to greet someone from the audience.

Yet, whereas Jane’s conman act involved mentioning people to get more convincing (in the pilot, in ‘Throwing Fire’, in ‘Fugue in Red’), he makes Lisbon more comfortable by choosing a dog instead of a family member, the little Roger who “wants to say hi and that he’s okay” because “all of God’s creatures can talk in the afterlife”… Under Jane’s guidance, she’s giving her own spin of things, a testimony of Jane’s awareness that she’s a better person than him as Erica pointed out in the previous episode. Same when she’s making the victim talk: “even he wants to speak directly to his killer. He says “shame on you”, he thought you were friends”… again, she’s using the moral angle, insisting even further that “he wants the killer’s mother to guess first. He wants the killer to see the shame in her eyes”. Interestingly then, the show Jane’s been preparing Lisbon for proves the huge influence he has on her, by making her able to take up his part flawlessly, thus making her an asset just like him, as way as it hints as their differences in considering people and their job, because Lisbon didn’t manipulate people in the same way Jane did countless times… And he’s proud of her: when agents are gathering behind his couch to watch the show, he tells her that “everybody is at the edge of their seat”.

Is the awareness of how different they still are or how good she’s become that had Jane thinking? Or is it the realization that much of his fun at work is trying to amuse and impress her? Either way, it looks like the question of where they’re headed is brought by many subplots: the past is alluded to by Cho’s and Abbott’s respective struggles as well as lines such as “guilty conscience is a terrible thing to use” , in reference to the last victim, Kirk. The man was left by his woman, who thought he was a “good guy, basically”, but who “could never figure out what he wanted to do”. She got tired of getting “a new scheme every month” and decided she “had to get out of the marriage” because “there’s only so many fresh starts you can take”… This point of view may also hint at what Jane fears Lisbon might come to see in him: a fraud without a goal, whom she’s not getting anywhere with. Again, doubts about not being able to change were present in the opening scene when Lisbon told the young woman the jeweler was having an affair with that “he cheated on her. He’s probably gonna cheat on you. I know that probably seems very difficult to believe right now, but it’s the way of the world”. Those doubts are probably shared both by Patrick and Teresa, as hinted by their encounter with the murderous seductress Erica whom Jane lied about, at least by omission…
Another example of relationship gone very awry is shown by the fling Kirk had with his killer: they both needed money and that was a dangerous combination. As Erica remarked, they had the same goals, wanted the same thing; that didn’t stop their relationship to end up in a blood bath. It was their love affair that primarily caused troubles because it opened a door to temptations they were not able to fight. Similarly, Lena’s relationship with Abbott and their marriage is also what is tying her career down, just like Lisbon’s partnership with Jane has changed her perspective on work for the better and the worst. Yet all three couples made the same mistake: they did not discuss their problems before acting. Like Abbott made a choice in Lena’s behalf, Kirk decided to come clean when he freaked out after the first murder and his lover told him that they needed to discuss it… but “there was no discussing”: she confessed to having sliced him with a blade as “everything I had been holding inside just came out, I couldn’t stop it”…

The same thing happens to Jane when the case is closed: all the talks about future brought upon him by Pike (alluded to by Abbott’s wavering about going to D.C. or not) and by Erica have taken their toll on him and his thoughts must have been building up since then since he asks her a big question. When they’re both in bed together in the airstream bed (fully dressed), as they start congratulating each other on how good they are and how fun it was “talking to all those people with you whispering in my ear”, Jane drops a bomb: “what if we just left? Just took off?” Lisbon doesn’t really understand that he’s not talking about a vacation, but about going away for good, so he develops “just leave. Go someplace different, move on,” “are we really gonna work for the FBI for the rest of our lives? Look at dead people, chase bad guys?” Those are pretty intriguing thoughts since 1) going to someplace different to try and move on was what he did, sans Lisbon, by hiding in his island… and 2) also part of Marcus Pike’s plans for her. Plus 3) as far as viewers know, he’s still tied to the FBI for a few years, so he might be practically offering her to run away from the law with him, which is unsettling, knowing that Jane running away was a possibility that scared her enough in the previous season to get her to keep her distance from him. And 4) it reminds of what Lorelei told him about working cases to stay close to Lisbon and of him telling Kim when meeting her that he wasn’t really interested in murder mysteries (thus in solving cases either). Is Jane selfish in asking that she changes her life for him in order to get both her and the freedom he sought in South America? Or is he being insecure now that he saw that he’s not irreplaceable in the workplace, that his brilliant mind might not be enough to get her to stay with him? Also kudos to commenter Mosquitoinuk for predicting that turn of events! 😉

Lisbon bristles at the mere suggestion of quiting her job and tells him that being a cop is who she is. He answers in a placating voice that he knows and that those were just thoughts… Which once again brings to mind Erica’s question: now that Jane and Lisbon accept that they have to think about their future even one step after the other, are they really planning to head in the same direction? By instinct, he’s a conman, while she’s a cop and both are already bending their personalities to match the other… That huge interrogation mark involves the same notions that have been played with in the course of the episode: influence over the other’s life (and personality), trust, choices for the other… and Lisbon starting to leave and sneezing after getting close to Jane and catching his cold brings them back to the beginning of the episode, when she offered to tuck him in her bed (he’s in his own and she’s leaving instead of coming to him) and asked him not to get her ill as well…

Conclusion

This episode marks a turning point in their relationship, hence the mention of an engagement ring and a divorce in the opening case. This is also probably why every relationship described in the episode is tottering between representing something new (Lena’s job opportunity, the victim’s new conquest and the “new starts” he tried with his ex-wife) or the start of taking distance (Lena goes alone, the conquest killed him and his ex left)… Jane’s wishes for something different with Lisbon might mean either a new start or the beginning of distancing, depending on their capacity to adjust to the other’s dream life.