Red Hair and Silver Tape | Episode 2 Season 1 of The Mentalist English TV Serial | Personal Reviews

Now as we are already familiar with the main team of CBI (California Bureau of Investigation) explored in the Pilot episode of English TV Serial – The Mentalist, let us move ahead in reviewing the same. Each of the team members has his/her own strength.

Teresa Lisbon is a good boss and she knows how to get the things done and she earned the most important thing a boss should have earned, the respect and the loyalty from her team members. There is Kimble Cho, who is a no-nonsense guy. He usually speaks less and almost to the point, but you often find good one-liners and sarcasm in it. He is fearless and bankable for any situation. Rigsby and Van Pelt are charming and often given desk work. They are extremely capable of working in the field as well. When called in, they never disappoint their boss.

And there is Patrick Jane, The Mentalist. As explored in one of the dialogs in the second episode (Red Hair and Silver Tape) of the series, his involvement with the team can be explored as:

Sheriff McAllister: [about Jane] Who is this guy?
Teresa Lisbon: He’s a consultant. You want CBI’s assistance, he comes as part of the package.

You can understand the relationship between Lisbon and Patrick through this dialog, pretty effectively 🙂 .

So, as we took reference of the second episode – Red Hair and Silver Tape – of – The Mentalist, let us take a look at the content of the same and my personal views and reviews for the same.

Let us take a bird’s eye view to the plot of the episode.

Book Plot:

A young girl was found dead in a little-compromised condition at northern Napa County CA. While the Sheriff and his deputies were already into investigating the crime, they called in CBI for further help.

While everyone from CBI was taking a look at the crime scene and the possible motive of the crime, Patrick Jane was doing his own assessment for the same. He reached to a conclusion by observing the scene, however, we cannot reveal his conclusion or whether it proves right or wrong at the end of the story, to avoid spoilers.

When introduced to Patrick Jane, McAllister asks Patrick that if he is a psychic or something, and then they play the game of rock, paper, scissors; in which Patrick beats him six times in a row!

The team then meets the family of the victim. The parents of the victim brokes down and then Patrick engages himself into conversation with Frankie, younger brother of the victim. It seems that he is very angry with the unknown accused and is keen to get him caught and punish him.

How the CBI team solves the mystery in a series of events is explored in the rest of the episode.

Let us start with the writing. The script is written nicely. Overall the theme of the story is good. The conclusion is not as effective as it should be though. As we don’t want to reveal the climax, we cannot be blunt here and tell the details, but all we can say is, if the reason for the crime was better built and explored, the effects of the episode could have been much better.

The episode is quite good in terms of dialogs. Here are some of the interesting dialogs from the episode:

Patrick Jane: I have a daughter about your age, if I hadn’t caused her death. Her and her mother.
Frankie O’Keefe: How?
Patrick Jane: Out of arrogance. Stupidity. I made an evil man very angry and he killed them to make me sorry for what I’d done. And I am sorry. Being sorry is a far worse punishment than being dead, everybody dies. Very few people ever feel truly sorry for the bad things they’ve done.
——
Teresa Lisbon: Not every murder is a secret, inside of a secret, inside of a secret. There’s not always a hidden pattern.
Patrick Jane: Not always, but sometimes there is.
Teresa Lisbon: Sometimes the obvious guy did it. Most of the time the obvious guy did it.
——
Grace Van Pelt: I don’t get it. She actually enjoyed helping him kill. One crazy, evil person I understand, but two? Husband and wife? Marriage is supposed to be a sacred, loving thing.
Patrick Jane: Yeah, they were soul-mates in their own strange way.
——-
Patrick Jane: Give me a minute with her. She’s got a super low threshold.
Kimball Cho: No. Nope.
Patrick Jane: Just stand in the doorway. Pretend you’re making a phone call for a moment.
Kimball Cho: No. It’s illegal and it’s unprofessional.
Patrick Jane: That’s why I need you to stand in the doorway.
Kimball Cho: …One minute.
——–
Patrick Jane: You made her feel like a captured princess instead of a small-town choir nerd. And she made you feel like a dashing pirate instead of what you are… sort of a bad-tempered pharmacist.
——–
Teresa Lisbon: Rigsby, I got a hot warrant in Vacaville. You can get there in an hour, can’t you?
Wayne Rigsby: Yes, boss. I’ll get rolling.
Teresa Lisbon: Bring Van Pelt.
Wayne Rigsby: Yes, bo… for a hot warrant?
Teresa Lisbon: Why are you still on the line?

In terms of sets and locales, the makers seem to have paid a lot of efforts and it is clearly visible. The locations they have found, are really convincing and goes in sync with the story. In terms of sets, the major one is the office of the CBI, which is realistic. The wardrobe is in sync too.

While all the main characters try to make an impact using honest efforts, the characters of Jane and Lisbon are backed by the story. The charming personal of Simon Baker makes it easy for him to impress the audience. Despite having thin body frame, Robin’s good acting makes her a fantastic choice for Lisbon. Both Rigsby and Van Pelt’s character require attractive persona and little smooth behavior in addition to display the toughness of the cops, they both do well. Kimble Cho’s character grows up nicely and is played by a good actor. In terms of guest actors, the Sheriff and the mother of the victim are remembered by the audience after completing the episode. The kid and the father are nicely played too.

The background music is in sync and it makes the scene impact multifold.

It is worth to note that it is available on Amazon Prime and its reach is widened in the countries like India too. So, if you are Amazon Prime member, you can watch it for free! And the video quality on Amazon prime is quite good. You will enjoy the experience if you have a good internet connection.

Summary:

Overall a nice episode, which could have been better. Do you love watching crime dramas, especially police procedural? If the answer is yes, then you will enjoy it for sure.

Quick Purchase Links:

The Mentalist : Season 1
The Mentalist : Season 2
The Mentalist : Season 3
The Mentalist : Season 4
The Mentalist : Season 5
The Mentalist : Season 6
The Mentalist : Season 7