Thread title says it all - yep ‘Mentalist’ is formulaic junk TV, but so what? it’s well acted, and this past season very well plotted.
So if you followed the show, how would you write the next season? Patrick Jane has (probably) killed his nemesis & reason for living. What does his do now? spiral into a drug/drunk mess until one of his CBI buddies is threatened? go to the dark side? go back to being a carnival charlatan? I hope the writers don’t just have business as usual after such a good last episode.
I hope they go back to business as usual. The Mentalist is pleasant bland formula hackery. The serious stuff with redjohn were generally episodes I was most looking to skip. So hopefully this just resolves it and they can now just be a crime of the week show and lose that crappy backstory (I’m fine with drama and backstory, just not in my pleasant bland formula hackery shows).
I’m hoping that all the episode titles will now contain the word “blue.”
As I’ve said previously, I’m not thrilled by the idea of discovering that this was not the real Red John. That makes me imagine an endless cycle of killing people who turn out to not be the real Red John. If the show insists on having an arc story, then there can be any number of Red John associates who can come after the team. Also, Grace should date another guy who turns out to be evil. Now that I’ve been able to catch up on early episodes thanks to TNT reruns, I’ve learned that she kind of has a suspect taste in men, and there’s no reason to put an end to that now. Pairing her with Rigsby has never thrilled me anyway.
Honestly, I don’t know where they go from here. I think the show is clever and fresh in its writing (when’s the last time you had a season ender like THAT?), and I hope they come up with something truly interesting for next season - it would be a waste of a cast with great chemistry to not do so.
I still don’t think that was the real Red John - Red John is the one guy who consistently out-thinks Patrick Jane, and that was just too easy.
Go on as normal until you see a strange unsolved killing…then another…then another…all the while going through the fact that Red John is gone, and Jane’s newfound lease on crimefighting. Then in the season finale have a final unsolved crime that’s 10 times the other ones with the bloody smiley face, only this time have there be two of them and a note saying “Cut off the head…and two grow in his place…” This would give us the satisfaction of knowing that the real RJ is, in fact, dead; but his followers have taken his place as the rulers of the seedy underworld.
Also as I’m thinking of it: A serial killer akin to the Riddler…someone to really tax Jane’s mind about the world and logic.
The first thing I would do is put Jane up in court for trial: there was no need to kill the man, nor urgent danger, and they shouldn’t condone a cold-blooded revenge by letting the hero get away with everything (which is sadly the track record for the show - Patrick never accepts personal guilt for recent actions or rules, and the excuse “He solves cases” of Lisbon is wearing thin.).
They should also show the fall-out: with this Red John* dead, how can the team proove Hightowers innocence? Why did O’Laughlin betray Grace and help Red John? So many loose ends, without any confession (which a guy with an ego like Red John sure would’ve given just for boasting.
The ultimate lesson would be if this is indeed a patsy and by killing instead of arresting him, Patrick has killed a good lead (OLaughlin is also dead).
As for Grace, I disagree, I think that dating a FBI guy after the lawyer seeking revenge for his Dad, she was not showing bad taste - who would suspect a FBI agent of being a traitor? It would be nice for her to get a normal, good guy for a change.
*if he’s the real one and not a patsy - I didn’t expect horns , but some sign of that incredible charm where numerous people betray their loyalties to help him. And some sign of that craziness that compells him to murder people