The Mentalist series finale, pregnant wedding: I already miss Red John
The Mentalist series finale wrapped up seven seasons of storyline with a fairly neat bow, giving longtime fans much of what they wanted: a reunion, a wedding, even a pregnancy. It’s rare that a show gets to go out on its own terms. It’s even rarer that a show gets to do so after making some mid-period missteps that could have been fatal. But Patrick Jane and the gang bounced back in an entertaining way in their seventh season, so much so that at times I caught myself wishing for an eighth. Still, I almost didn’t bother to watch the finale.
It’s not because the Red John storyline turned out to be a disappointment revealing that the writers never did know what they were doing when it came to his identity. It’s not because half the cast was tossed aside, or because the show relocated to a different city and had some hits and misses with the new characters. It wasn’t even that bizarre streak leading up to the Red John reveal in which nearly every member of the past and present supporting cast was killed off in rapid fashion, though that does hint at the problem.
The truth is, I stopped watching The Mentalist three weeks ago. Season seven had been one of its best, with the new characters finally clicking, and the storylines bringing back the fun charm of the earliest seasons. And then, for no reason other than to screw with the audience, the show killed off rookie agent Michelle Vega right after she’s finally been asked out by Wylie. So the show spent all season trying to get us to care about these new kids, and then decided to shatter them both. It was the first time I can recall having ever turned off a favorite TV show in the middle of an episode, with no desire to tune back in.
It wasn’t that Vega, who had been on The Mentalist for all of about ten episodes, was a core part of the show. It was that I knew right then what the final three episodes were going to be about: three hours of slow motion moping about by the other characters, interspersed with an occasional burst of revenge, and then because this is supposed to be a fun show, five happy minutes tacked on at the very end of it all.
Finally, if only because I had already stuck with it for seven years, I went back and watched the rest of it. It was pretty much what I expected. Shattered characters, endless moping, long stretches of solemn stares where absolutely nothing happened, and then all the sudden everyone seemed to be just fine again. But the misstep was damaging enough that I spent the rest of the series suddenly nitpicking every last detail.
There was the fact that Patrick Jane never did say whether he was planning to continue working for the FBI now that he would no longer be legally required to do so. Cho’s promotion appeared to clear a path for Lisbon to retire and run off with Jane, but that was never resolved either, meaning that Cho might now be Lisbon’s boss without the show even acknowledging that switcheroo. And suddenly Jane was no longer worried about Lisbon continuing to work for the FBI, even though she was now pregnant and the stakes for her safety were even higher. Come to think of it, Vega was supposedly only killed off so Jane would conclude he could no longer be okay with Lisbon risking her life on the job, something he seemed to change his mind about within the span of about a week. So in that case Vega was killed off for literally nothing? That just goes back to screwing with the audience.
That’s not to mention that the villain who killed Vega was quickly discarded, and that the rest of the time was spent focusing on a new villain who was equal parts moron and unrealistic and uninteresting. If they were going to go this route, shouldn’t the climax have at least centered around Vega’s killer, and not some random guy who had a thing against fake psychics? In fact the entire series finale felt like it was written on the back of a napkin by someone who was in a hurry and couldn’t be bothered to worry about details or coherency. But again, I only started caring about the show’s flaws because it had genuinely pissed me off.
Some television shows more or less exist just to screw with viewers. Others are built on the premise that no one is safe, characters are going to die, or sadness is going to be pervasive. But for all its focus on murder, The Mentalist always aimed to be a crowd pleaser. That’s why I was excited when I first learned that it was being given one final season to go out on its own terms. But after the “screw the audience, we can do whatever we want at this point” gut punch of killing Vega, the show lost the high ground. The Mentalist has always been a sloppy, corner-cutting show which likes to resolve storylines with hand-waves or just pretend certain certain plot lines never existed. But I’ve never minded, because the show was so much fun. And these final three episodes were simply not fun at all, so all I could do was sit back and count the missteps.
Bottom line: I miss Red John. Not the actual Red John, who turned out to be a cartoonishly uninteresting small town sheriff (or was it the other guy? I honestly don’t remember). I miss the days when we all thought The Mentalist knew what it was doing with the Red John storyline, when we all believed that the show’s creator had a brilliant plan in mind, before we learned that he had just been making it all up as he went along. And on a smaller scale, I miss the tenor of season seven, which was a fun ride in an alternate Mentalist universe until it suddenly wasn’t fun anymore. Sometimes it’s best not to think too much about TV shows you watch for pure entertainment. But in hindsight, if the final three episodes were going to be like this, the show might have been better off calling quits after season six. I can’t help but wonder if I’m the only one who sees it that way.
Mike Valdez
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I don’t know what I’m going to do on Wednesday nights anymore. I will really miss THE MENTALIST.
Simon Baker is my favorite actor. Please find someway to include him in some other series.
Yes, finally Red John had been laid to rest, good riddance, but I am sure like many others we will miss Simon Baker and Robin Turney . I am , really glad that Jane and Lisbon finally tied the knot, a fairy tale ending. As in Paul Anka’ s song ” You’re Having My Baby.” how appropriate.
Now to watch Simon Baker in the Guirdian with the lovely Wendy Monez.
Hm. Do you watch Elementary? A character named ‘Kitty’ was introduced to provide ‘something’ to the series. She was irritating, a droopy distraction (no matter how much time was spent attempting to make her presence relevant) and sapped the episodes of energy. Finally she was shipped off to London and oxygen returned to the show.
I saw Vega as bringing the Kitty Effect to The Mentalist. She moped around pining for Cho while Wiley pined for her. There wasn’t a moment of truth in any of this junior high drama. When she was shot I hoped it would bring cleansing to the childish drama and we could all move forward, but just the opposite happened. She left the Vega Effect to smother the energy in the last episodes. A pity.
Yes I Agree couldn’t stand Kitty she was very irritating, was so happy she went off to London hopefully never to be seen again.
Also Vega was ok but nothing special
Very creative and well put together show. I love that it was unique and unlike other cop shows on TV. Sooo sad to see it end, I’m probably going to buy the complete season when it becomes available. They did a beautiful job on the series finale episode, I cried before, during, and afterwards. The only thing I wished they had done that they didn’t, was show Patrick and Theresa a year or so later with their baby. A big thank you to CBS, the cast, and the crew, for giving us a phenomenal show for seven years, the show will be missed.
I really like Cho and would like to see him in a spinoff.
Will miss this show so much. Love Cho there should be a spinoff. Lisbon and Patrick Jane made this show so special. Simon Baker and Robin Tunney are awesome.
Nope, I don’t see it your way at all!
For goodness sake, why so picky? It’s supposed to be entertainment and for that it did not disappoint. I almost did not watch the last season because I was so afraid that it would end the way the Guardian did. That really ticked me off. I want a happy ending. Everyday real life has enough of the garbage and disappointment to put up with. If you want facts to pick apart, then watch a documentary or history program or something like that.
I agree 100%. It WAS the finale, and happy(ish) endings are the best.
The whole “artistic” approach of leaving everybody in a lurch and running away to the countryside to brood is overrated.
Vega should of been Red Johns daughter and been the serial killer that they had to catch at the end. Or maybe that’s too good of a story for this show.
I agree, that would have been a great way to end the show. Although, I think since this was the series finale, the writers just wanted to have fun with the episode and give Patrick and Teresa a well deserved happy ending.
I knew that Vega would have to die and didn’t understand why they made her so cute AT FIRST. But what sense to me is that I read in an interview that the show’s implication was that people don’t die with a foreshadow and do not EXPECT to die. Death comes suddenly, when you are in the middle of something and going about life as usual. Vega had a date with Wylie. There’s a lot of unfinished work in such violent deaths, which makes the shock even worse.
I did like the Red John arc but IMO it got a little boring…even if S05 was really interesting. As the audience, I felt screwed with, and stupid.
Even if the finale was predictable, it was SATISFACTORY! They tied up at least some ends.
These days shows are all about ruining themselves with a finale and making a statement. (HIMYM AND MEN)
I completely agree. This was a vers promising show and Heller and Baker just killed it. No plan from the beginning where it was going with Red John and it should have ended this storyline at the end of season 3. Well, good thing this show is finally done.