DVD Review: "The Mentalist”

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Published: October 2, 2009

This sounds like a backhanded compliment, but "The Mentalist” is a thoroughly entertaining procedural drama. The problem is that the pilot episode promised something completely genre-busting as former huckster psychic Patrick Jane, now working with the California Bureau of Investigations, faced the return of Red John, the serial killer who attacked and killed his family five years earlier. While Red John returns midway through "The Mentalist: The Complete First Season,” it happens after the series settles into a formula not far removed from other CBS procedurals.

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What saves "The Mentalist” from being entirely commonplace is Simon Baker’s performance as Jane. Rather than being truly "psychic,” a term Jane dismisses outright, this contract man for the CBI just pays more attention and concentrates better than most people. His air of arrogance and flamboyant ways frustrate co-workers Teresa Lisbon (Robin Tunney), Wayne Rigsby (Owain Yeoman), Kimball Cho (Tim Kang) and new hire Grace Van Pelt (Amanda Righetti), but Jane is always right and the twisted cases the team investigates require a smooth talker and thinker.

There is an element of "The Fugitive” to "The Mentalist” — for all his panache, Jane is covering for the tragedy in his life and pulling at any thread that could lead to Red John. Baker is great at covering this emotional ground and makes a compelling lead, and the rest of the cast eventually gets beyond exasperated eye-rolling at Baker’s deductions. While some stories are just too goofy for anyone’s good (the resolution to "Red Hair and Silver Tape,” surrounding a murder at a Napa Valley restaurant, stretches credulity), "The Mentalist” is smarter than the average "CSI.”

— George Lang