The Mentalist Season 2 Episode 19 - Blood Money

The Mentalist Season 2 Episode 19 - Blood Money

Non-spoiler information

Date watched: 6/17/2015

My rating: 6/10

The count of times I have seen this at time of this review: 1st

Likelihood that I will watch this episode again: Uncertain

I classify this as a cop drama with the super expert twist (similar to Monk, Psych, and Sherlock)

The team hunts down an apparent serial killer and the aftermath of Van Pelt and Rigsby relationship after the breakup at the end of Episode 18. 

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Spoiler information

This episode started out with what appeared to be a big twist in the story line, with Van Pelt ordering a hit on Rigsby. This turns out to be a flash forward in the show, and Van Pelt is actually setting up the killer. This fooled me for a little bit, but I believe it would have been completely out of character for what had been established for Van Pelt, so I am glad that they didn't really go this direction. 

This episode establishes the feedback that Jane has built up in the many other episodes. After capturing the killer, a hearing occurs and in it, it is revealed that Jane had broken into the killers home and left a mug with his finger prints. This leads the hearing to be canceled, and the assistant DA, who was prosecuting the case, is very upset with Jane. Also, Lisbon appears to be upset with Jane. This leads to Hightower suspending Lisbon for a few days. The rest of the team is pretty peeved with Jane, especially Cho. For the most part in past episodes, Jane seems to get away with a lot of antics, without much repercussion. This episode shows some of that repercussion, but as it turns out, the assistant DA was working his own angle, and so his derision isn't quite as pure as it sounded before. 

There is an interesting interaction with a gang that is involved with the killings to some extent (I didn't really pickup on it very well in my watching). Jane reveals that a "senile" mom is actually the brains behind the outfit. Jane does his smarmy "I'm so clever routine", but this time it leads to Lisbon and him being captured and locked in a storage container. Jane had called Lisbon in for assistance, and she reluctantly agreed to help, after Jane trumps her arguments to not assist (as she was still on probation). 

There are some clever bits with Jane deducing that the assistant DA was responsible for the initial murder (who was also in the DA's office and scheduled to become the DA). The assistant DA kills the killer when he is picked up again. Jane traps the assistant DA into bringing Jane in for a hearing, when Jane commits battery on him, by tweaking his nose. This allows Jane do his reveal to the Judge. 

Jane is given lots of latitude for shenanigans, as usual. One thing in particular that doesn't ring true for me is the accused always spilling their guts without their lawyer present. I know that this is needed for good TV, and to tie up loose ends in episodes, but it is still a bit too perfect. 

I enjoyed this episode and found the twists and turns to be fun.