This week we get right down to it. I guess with limited episodes, the show doesn’t want to waste any precious time they have left. Since good ol’ Erica Flynn is in the previews and was the cliffhanger at the end of last week’s episode, it’s a good bet she’s going to play a big part in this one. Hang on tight. Here are your Mentalist Top Five Moments!
We’re introduced to Jan Nemec, who is responsible for a bunch of bombings and other assorted terrorist attacks. But he’s not a terrorist. He’s a profiteer. Danitra Cas seems to be a semi-regular, as once again the FBI is working with her and the CIA. Nemec is sending a shipment of passport chips that, aptly named, are used to forge passports. This could mean an attack on American soil. The key to all of this is Erica Flynn. She’s willing to roll over on her boyfriend for a reduction of her murder charge, but she’ll only speak to Jane. During a linkup with Erica, she flirts with Jane while Lisbon sits beside him. Awkward. Nemec needs a courier who can memorize huge strings of numbers used for coding messages, and Jane is known for his memory. Afterward, Lisbon is gung-ho to keep an eye on—I mean, partner up with Jane, who looks like he just ate some bad clams.
Erica claims she’s turning in her bf because she’s homesick and knew nothing about Nemec’s business. RIGHT. This approach backfires, when she asks Patrick if there was anything he missed when he’d been on the run, and he pointedly eyes Lisbon. When she asks, Patrick confirms he’s with Lisbon and questions her real motive but goes off alone to his meeting with Nemec. He’s taken into a bathroom, knelt at a bathtub, and given strings of words to remember before his head is dunked under the water repeatedly. He’s told he’s the first one to get them all right. I wonder what happened to the other applicants… Everything seems to go smoothly, until Nemec brings in Lisbon and says she’s FBI. But Wiley gets alerted and puts up a picture of someone else. Erica told Nemec about Lisbon and claims she did it to gain his trust. I don’t believe this woman if her mouth is moving. Case in point: She makes Lisbon believe she slept with Jane.
Jane has to memorize a card full of numbers I couldn’t, with a month to do it. He’s supposed to go to Atlanta Georgia. Since they don’t know when Jane is getting there or what he looks like, Cho gets the idea to pretend Jane’s already there and set up the meet. But it all goes fubar when the guy arrives at the meeting place packed with agents and sees a gun in the waistband of one of the “customers.” Cho tells everyone to stay calm, but that’s the opposite of what happens. The guy flies through the window and gets in his car. Vega crashes into him with her car. He shoots at her, and the agents shoot at the dude. Before you know it the dead dude, who is associated with a jihadist group in the Philippines, can’t tell them anything. Mission BLOWN. But Jane finds a book in Nemec’s apartment with the key, the FBI finds the chips, and Nemec gets arrested. When he threatens to cut off Erica’s head and spit down her neck, I smile. Jane and Lisbon have a “fight” about Erica that she overhears. Lisbon says it’s over and leaves. Erica tries the trick with the fake policeman she used the last time to get away and tells Jane she’s his soulmate. Also, her real motive was to get her hands on Nemec’s suitcase o’money. What a surprise! When Jane proclaims his love for Lisbon, she tasers him and makes a run for it, but Lisbon is waiting in the hallway. Erica’s deal is off, which suits Lisbon fine, since she didn’t like the deal in the first place. Poor Patrick tries to walk it off. He’s had a rough couple of days.
Vega, rule number one is, don’t lie to Cho. Rule number two is, DON’T LIE TO CHO! She told Cho that Abbott approved her going to the meet, but she lied, so now she can’t go out in the field with him for the foreseeable future. She should have known better.
Jane admits to kissing Erica, and when Lisbon pressures him about Lorelei, he counters with Mashburn. Just like that, Lisbon isn’t interested in the conversation any more. There’s a cab ride where Jane puts his hand over Lisbon’s on her knee. I love how the show displays their relationship in these small gestures of intimacy. In the end, they share some orange blossom ice cream and watch fireworks as he puts his arm around her. Sigh.
What did you think? Will Vega gain back Cho’s trust? Were you happy with Erica’s comeuppance? How about the progression of the Jane/Lisbon relationship? Talk to me!