Throwback Thursday - The Mentalist - Red Badge

Throwback Thursday, a weekly article in which we look back at our favorite TV episodes from over the years.

Before choosing which episode of The Mentalist I was going to review I had to make a poll and ask people. As some of you know I love this show and I've been reviewing it since season 6, when I joined SpoilerTV. It's been a long journey till The Mentalist has ended this year. So, I couldn't decide which episode I wanted to write about and I ask people what were their favorite episodes. It's been a hard battle between The Crimson Hat, Strawberries and Cream and Red Badge. This one won the competition.

Previously on The Mentalist: In the first season finale, Red John's minion, Sheriff Hardy pointed a gun to Teresa Lisbon, ready to shot her, but Patrick Jane saved her life, killing him. That episode, with Jane and Lisbon close to death, has changed the two of them. Both attended therapy sessions, While Jane is sooner signed off, Lisbon is still on.

Red Badge starts with Lisbon sitting with the psychiatrist, doctor Carmen. He knows she has something to tell as he recaps her life: a drunk and violent father, dead mother and 3 younger brothers. Lisbon's character is still at her beginning: introvert, angry, grumpy and against the mind games. She doesn't want to talk about her broken family - not yet - she's not ready. She only wants to quit the therapy and come back to what she likes: be a cop. As she tries to hide her uncomfortable status, a call gets her back to work. There's a case.

The gang

I like the scene with all the gang walking together through the crime scene. This episode shows how Jane, Lisbon, Cho, Rigsby and Van Pelt will always have their back, no matter what. Having fun, making team. They're more than a team actually, they're a family. At first they can't find the body, but when Jane looks at some ants crawling along the wall, he follows the lead and find the dead body. Immediately, Jane notices Lisbon's expression: there's something wrong with her. In fact, he knows the victim - he's William McTier, a child molester she arrested years ago during her partnership with Sam Bosco. I like how Jane has always worried about Lisbon. Surely the events at the end of season one got them closer. Experience death makes you value life.

Saint Teresa

Back to the office, Jane tries to relax her while the gang discover Lisbon's past with McTier. He abducted young girls and she was the San Francisco inspector who solved the case. She was like a superhero, Saint Teresa, who saved the day with the supervision of Bosco, and arrested the bad guy. It sounds like a comic book but here's the catch: Lisbon is the prime suspect in McTier's death because her fingerprints are found on the murder weapon. Also, Lisbon is unable to recall the night when McTier was killed. CBI boss Virgil Minelli can't believe his eyes as he declares she's off the case.
While Bosco agrees and wants her to take a lie detector, Jane doesn't. There we have a cop against a mentalist's method again. Anyway, Lisbon doesn't want anyone in her head, so she refuses to take the test and to be hypnotized by Jane. Another reason why she hates shrinks. But like every superhero, Teresa couldn't save anyone from McTier and the father of one of the victims accuses her of not being protective enough. Feeling guilty and in pain, Lisbon decided to take the polygraph, which she fails. Saint Teresa is suspended. She has no choice but turn in her badge and gun.

I'm always gonna save you

Depressed, guilty and down: Teresa Lisbon couldn't get any worse. After talking with doctor Carmen, she even comes to the conclusion he may have killed McTier and didn't remember, like her dad used to have blackouts when he drank. Later, she knows she has one last chance: she needs Jane to hypnotize her.
This is the first time Jane steps into Lisbon's apartment, I guess: he takes all the time he needs to check around her forniture, while she can't wait to be hypnotized. This is very important for Jane and Lisbon's future relationship: she is willing to put her walls down and let Jane come into her world. She wants to trust him. And trust is the first fundamental step for a solid relationship. Soon, he realizes the hypno therapy didn't work. She's desperate and cries but Jane is here to reassure her. It looks like Saint Teresa needs a new partner for her missions, you know, like Batman and Robin, and Patrick is here to save her. Anyway, he also realizes the reason she cannot recall any details of that night is because she has been drugged. Meanwhile, Cho, Rigsby and Van Pelt are almost breaking the law when Bosco finds them looking for some old files in order to save Lisbon.

The fall and rise of Teresa Lisbon

Next day, we have one of the most powerful scene in The Mentalist, with an amazing performance by Robin Tunney. As Bosco tries to call Lisbon down, she yells to everyone screaming she's sick of this and starts freaking out in her office, breaking a window. Both Bosco and Jane are worried about her and Sam is even a bit jealous because of Patrick's closeness with Teresa.

Lisbon looks crazy and needs to go home, where she dances to the Spice Girls, surrounded by a lot of pills and her gun. She's so broken. Doctor Carmen knocks at Lisbon's door saying Minelli sent him to check if she's ok, which she seems not. Teresa plays by pointing a gun to her head and this was another strong scene. She speaks with opened heart, feeling upset and tired and tells Carmen he was right; she killed McTier. As the doctor tries to chill her out by recapping what happened the night of the murder, a curious details is revealed. He mentions a cross. How did he know about that? Suddenly, Lisbon is completely sober: she has made that up, together with the breakdown at the CBI. Congratz to Lisbon's performance as Jane comes down from the darkness upstairs. Carmen got Lisbon's fingerprints from the coffee mug and druged her to make her lose her memory. Teresa's psychiatrist was paid to do this by a defendant against whom Lisbon was scheduled to testify.

There's no accounting for taste?

Everything's ended well and Lisbon can come back to work. As she's fixing her office, Bosco walks in telling how much he's impressed by her breakdown skills, but he's a little bit hurt they didn't warn him it was just an act. It's clear that Bosco is still into Lisbon and he leaves when Jane walks in. Jealous again?
Jane brings her some donuts and tells Lisbon what she can't admit: Bosco is in love with her, adding "I know, hard to fathom but there's no accounting for taste, is there?" A little offended but smiling, Lisbon teases him to go away, but he goes back staring at her and lightly smiles with 'a certain something'.

This is a scene that made most of the fans arguing about: was that a sign Jane had a thing for Lisbon? Or was this the moment in which he realized he may fall in love with this woman?
You can share your comments below and say if you liked the episode back then.

About the Author - diana mack

Diana (diana mack) is a tv shows addicted. She's from Italy, she dreams to be a real journalist someday - meanwhile she speaks english even in her dreams. But tv series are not the only passions she has: she's a football supporter, cinema lover and a traveller. She studied languages (english, french, spanish, arabic and a bit of portuguese) and journalism in Rome.