THE MENTALIST: It’s Time To Go Crazy Jane

Season 3, episode 4 (The Red Carpet Treatment)

From week to week, Simon Baker does a good job of playing Patrick Jane as a man who is vulnerable, arrogant and slightly nutty. He really is what makes the show. Compared to the other characters, Jane is so fleshed out that he’s like Jabba the Hut.

We really know very little about Lisbon, Van Pelt and the rest. And while we don’t totally know the specifics of Jane’s background, we see what Jane is. Because it’s hard not to. He is a man destroyed, as he would be in his situation, who is only living for vengeance.

This season, the show has been making Jane just a little more crazy. Last night’s episode continued the trend. He’s sleeping in the attic of the CBI headquarters, which by the way looks like a barn from a Vogue photo shoot. He’s just a little more rumpled and a little less involved in life. This makes sense, given that he feels responsible for what Red John did to Christina.

The case in last night’s episode was about a killer who went free after DNA evidence cleared him but then ended up dead. Jane had some telling moments with the husband of the original murder victim, played by Jack Coleman from “Heroes.” Here were two men who had lost their wives. Who were bent on vengeance. Who were clever and careful. They understood each other. They were the same.

When Jane asked the husband if all the planning and plotting and eventual killing of his wife’s killer was worth it, the husband almost smiled when he said it was.

I think this episode was one more step for Jane in his stroll into crazy town. He is a man completely undone by what’s happened. I think the writers, who probably have been wanting to move this direction for a long time, are finally going to give us Crazy Jane. Now, this is a Top Ten show in America, so they will have to be delicate in making Jane nuts while still keeping him likable. But here’s what I would like: A full-on screaming Jane melt down. I want to see it all. All his pain. All his suffering. And his cold-blooded side. Because we all know Jane has a dark side.

And my guess is that his dark side is pitch black and full of monsters.

Other thoughts:

• For the love of L’oreal, will someone please fix Lisbon’s hair? Cut it short. Or pull it back. Or just brush it. Why is Van Pelt’s hair always perfect and Lisbon’s is a fly-away disaster?
• Speaking of Van Pelt, I have to say I am not a fan. She is kind of stuck up and bitchy, and not in a fun way. She really brings very little to the show.
• And could we please stop with the love-sick Rigsby? Ugh. It’s annoying. Move on, buddy. You can do better.

—Xtine