The Mentalist: US detective drama with a difference (The Mentalist)

Member Name: lunarc

Product:	The Mentalist
Date:	03/11/09 (19 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Amusing lines and very white teeth!

Disadvantages: None

The Mentalist is another excellent new drama from the US, featuring Australian-born Simon Baker as the lead character, Patrick Jane.

The background to the series is that Patrick Jane *used* to be a fake psychic, using his mentalist skills. Now, after the murder of his wife and child by a serial killer known as Red John, he has decided to use his mentalist abilities for good and is working with the police to help solve crimes.

Whilst the subject matter is often quite serious and dramatic, there are also a lot of "laugh out loud" moments with The Mentalist. Jane has a lot of funny lines and that cheesy bright-white-teeth grin is enough to make you laugh in itself! Jane can make people quite uncomfortable with his mind-reading-like abilities and he uses that to his advantage in order to find the perps - sometimes in quite an amusing manner.

He's always one step ahead of the detectives and it's amazing how he manages to piece a puzzle together so easily. One of my favourite episodes of Season 1 is "Bloodshot" when Jane is temporarily blinded after a bomb blast. Despite his inability to see, he still manages to remain a step ahead of everyone else! And of course he can drag out his vision impairment for just a little bit longer in order to mess with everyone 

** SPOILER ALERT **

The season finale features a showdown with Red John which was quite a dramatic episode. I had assumed that the Red John theme would be dragged out for at least the first few seasons and we wouldn't see any real action in season 1. Do they catch him? You'll have to watch it and see!

Overall, The Mentalist is a nice, easy show to watch. There are a LOT of detective shows out there, but this one is refreshingly different by including the extremely clever & always entertaining mentalist element. If you like crime mysteries with lots of twists and a few laughs, you should definitely give it a go.

Summary: If you like crime mysteries with a difference, watch this!