Quick Take: The Mentalist, "Blood and Sand"
"Going somewhere, Mr. Gardner?" - Cho
Review: The Mentalist, "Blood and Sand"
(S0405) As I watch the opening scene of this episode of The Mentalist, I am struck by a couple of distinct thoughts: that sure is a lovely beach and how did that seaweed get so strategically placed?
I liked the initial aspects of this week's mystery. A murder on a small island with a limited number of suspects who are all a collection of odd characters. It felt like an Agatha Christie novel.
What I didn't like was the resurgence of the romance between Rigsby (Owain Yeoman) and Van Pelt (Amanda Righetti). I suppose now that they have a new boss they could risk having a relationship but why bother? Workplace romances are always a bad idea and it wasn't very interesting when they tried it it last season.
Seeing Van Pelt slowly losing control is pretty entertaining. It goes without saying that being forced to shoot her fiancee when he turned out to be minion of Red John was a traumatic experience. Watching her come to terms with that little by little seems very real.
The way Jane ferreted out the murderer was a little contrived if you ask me. How did he know that the killer would have a coffee cup? Wouldn't Fish be a little more careful after so many years of hiding out? Are you really supposed to start a speedboat before you unhook it from the dock?
As for the actual killer of their initial victim, it was clear that Jane suspected Whit (Zack Ward) all along. Unfortunately, we never found out exactly why he was a suspect.
This episode had a lot of potential but very little of that potential actually paid off.
I hate to sound snotty but that's the reason I tend not to watch very many procedurals -- the payoff rarely meets the potential. I think it's a style thing for me as well in that the procedural often plays as a one-off in which everything more or less wraps within the hour, and that rarely is interesting to me these days. Even a show like Detroit 1-8-7 that I really *wanted* to like got painfully boring by mid-season.
????? ?????? ??? ???? ?????? ? ????? 5 ??????? 4 ??????. ??? ??? ????? ?? ?????. ??? ????? ??????? ????? ???????? ? ??? ??????