Red Tide | Episode 3 Season 1 of The Mentalist English TV Serial | Personal Reviews

Hi friends,

It has been a while since we’ve last talked about English TV Serial The Mentalist. In addition to being available as a set of DVD, it is also available on Amazon Prime Video. And thus, even people living outside the USA can get a chance to view it easily.

Today we are going to talk about the 3^rd episode of the first season of The Mentalist.

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

Book Plot:

It starts at the CBI headquarters where Patrick Jane is entertaining everyone by showcasing his mentalist skills. He was trying to make an educated guess for the current location of Van Pelt‘s van keys. You can guess the outcome of this funny exercise :). Lisbon and the team is called at a beach in Santa Marta to investigate a possible murder (or suicide).

A young girl Christine Tanner is found dead in the middle of washed away garbage on the bank of the beach. Her friends arranged a tribute to her there. And, the CBI team started digging into the matter.

During the investigation, they meet Christine’s friends, family and other fellows connected with her. It came to know that her mother is no more and she was taking care of household stuff along with her father. The family misses her a lot. She was also doing her bits to earn money while studying.

Many fellows fall into the circle of suspicion based on various reasons, including her friends, father of one of her friends, a fellow living near the beach, are a few of them.

Who is the killer(!) of Christine (and was it a murder?)? And if it is a murder, what was the motive behind the same? And, will CBI team be able to resolve it through regular investigation tactics or Jane’s mentalist skills are needed to solve it? All these questions are better get answered by watching this episode.

Views And Reviews:

For any murder mystery, to hook the viewer with it, there is a need for having a strong script. No matter how beautifully it is executed or tightly it is edited, if the script doesn’t have a substance, it falls flat.

The plot of this episode is moderately good. More importantly, it elaborates on how a person’s tragedy affects his/her loved ones. For others, it might just be an incident or a case, but for the victim’s family, it creates a void that cannot be filled. Sometimes, the value of a person is truly felt when he/she is absent.

Also, the uncontrolled lifestyle leads to some unexpected events. During these days, busy parents often try to fill the void of their physical presence by providing money and other resources to their children. Without morals and ethics, the wealth often takes over the reasoning and in the moment of hatred and anger, a person commits the crime which she/he shouldn’t think of otherwise.

And, when you are trying to hide one thing, you need to go through a series of lies and made up stories.

Among these heavy moments of uncovering the uglier sides of the society, the investigation team needs to find the positive moments for relaxation and more importantly to remain sane.

There is a beautiful scene where you can see while discussing the crime and possible scenarios with his colleagues(!) when taking a walk at the beach, Jane decided to spend some time with a girl trying to make sand-castle there. He makes a fantastic castle there. The joy seen on his face makes you feel that it is coming directly from the bottom of his heart. The way he becomes a kid with kids, and enjoy every moment, gives a wisdom message to everyone.

At the same time, you can learn to remain focused from Cho, brilliance and teamwork from Rigsby and Van Pelt and leadership skills and no-nonsense (yet not being too serious) attitude from Lisbon.

Of course, various investigation skills are explored in the episode, but, it doesn’t show unnecessary brutality. And yes, you got to hear the famous lines of “The Miranda Law” when a suspect is taken into custody. It shows that, no matter what your personal feelings are, you need to remain true to your duty and the law of the land.

Simple dialogs and the exploration of the mindset of misguided youth (and their friendship) is explored quite effectively in this episode. Here is one simple conversation from the episode:

Dane Kurtik: I never touched Christine Tanner.
Patrick Jane: Liar.
Dane Kurtik: Believe me, when I tell you that you just now made the worst mistake of your miserable little life.
Patrick Jane: Believe me, no matter how this turns out, I’ve made worse mistakes.

Background music is completely in sync and it multifold the impact of the respective scene(s). The beachside village, the construction site, and other locales are quite realistic and the cameraman does his job brilliantly to capture the details.

Well-explored characters and fantastic performances is another positive point of this episode. Simon Baker has the personality required for his character. What others must have to put-in the tremendous efforts to elaborate on-screen, he does effortlessly. And, make his (rather unbelievable) character, believable. Robin Tunney is natural. Tim Kang is good in a serious role. His sarcastic comments make you feel relaxed when watching tight situations. Owain Yeoman and Amanda both are believable. Same we can say for the guest actors.

Rather than learning tactics of crime, if one should learn the things and actions one needs to avoid in his/her life, spending time watching such TV series really, paid off.

Summary:

Overall a nice episode, which could have been much 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