This week we start with another fake-out, and for the second week in a row, I guessed what it was. Lisbon and Cho kick some ass when they ace a training exercise. You’re going to have to try a whole lot harder to fool this dynamic duo. Here are your MENTALIST Top Five Moments!
Jane meets Colonel Raymond, and immediately his radar pings. Jane at first thinks the man had a fling with Lisbon (and why I saw a hint of jealousy in his eyes when they met), but it’s something else. That something else might have to do with the dead body they showed him with at the start of the show. Lisbon informs Jane his wife was murdered eight months ago.
At first Abbott is not on board with an investigation. The case is closed. Plus, the guy is a decorated war hero. But Lisbon backs up Jane, so he agrees to an investigation, as long as they keep it on the down-low. Knowing Jane, I’m sure that will happen.
Raymond’s alibi is supposedly that his car was in the shop, and wifey dropped him off at work. There’s a red light camera picture of them, but it looks to me like a woman in a blonde wig and sunglasses, so already I’m suspicious, and I’m wondering how the police were fooled.
Zack, the guy accused of the crime, claims he found the car with the keys in it and wonders if that’s still stealing. Uh, yes it is. If I leave my home unlocked with my keys in the door, that doesn’t mean you can come in and make yourself at home. But he was homeless and broke, so I get it.
Right away there are huge problems, namely that there’s a park right across the street, and the window where Zack supposedly climbed in is in full view of it. Second, wifey was sitting right by the window, so she would have heard Zack. Then there’s the nice, cool day with the fan pointed right at her. Raymond turned the thermostat way up then turned it down and turned off the fan after her death, making her cool slower. So, I guess there was no medical examiner? Anyway, the wiped doorknob brings Jane to there being a woman, which, okay? But this leads them to the fake wife in the car, so this is good.
After provoking Raymond at his office and comparing the decorations there as compared to his home, Jane can verify Raymond was fooling around on his wife, probably with a fellow marine. Wylie makes one trip to the offices posing as IT and finds Denise with the African art.
Jane has Lisbon do the reconnaissance at the local Starbucks, and her impression is that Denise wears a mask and could totally have been the accomplice. Jane is so proud!
Meanwhile, Wylie and Vega do the red light test. Wylie’s fantasies come true when Vega has to change clothes as he drives, so they can figure out where Denise dumped her clothes. Wylie finds them at a homeless encampment.
Meanwhile, Raymond has figured it out, and Abbott calls off the investigation. I’m sure Jane will leave it alone, then. Yeah, right. Abbott said, “Anything short of a confession,” so Jane wants to go for the confession.
Jane’s play is this: He had something analyzed at the lab. First one to confess before he opens the briefcase with the evidence, gets the deal. They have five minutes. Surprisingly, the decorated colonel goes first. His “We did it” sparks Denise to go on the offensive, and that’s all she wrote.
The wife said she’d divorce Raymond and take the house. I guess now he won’t have to worry about a house or possessions or where his next meal is coming from. But they each say the other stabbed the wife. I would assume Denise’s clothing will tell the tale, so their stories are moot.
Jane and Lisbon hang back to watch Wylie and Vega look in the case to find nothing but a note giving Vega’s earlier words right back to her. Curiosity killed the cat.
In the end, our two lovebirds walk off into the moonlight together, but I smell trouble a-brewing, with Jane pressuring Lisbon into quitting and sailing around the world, and Lisbon wanting to stay right where she is. We all saw her eyes light up when Jane pretended they were house hunting. Oh, Jane, for someone who prides himself on reading people, you missed the boat there.