The Mentalist 4x07: Blinking Red Light

Original Air Date: 3 November 2011

Storyline: The search for a serial killer hits close to home for Jane when he encounters a blogger who has devoted his life to finding the killer. Proving that he is guilty becomes so important that he is willing to go revisit his past to get the job done. Trivia: The episode was directed by Simon Baker.Best Quote:

Jane: Well, you're just going through the motions.
Lisbon: Yeah, it's called police work.
Jane: Well, why not try a fresh approach?
Lisbon: Like what, tarot cards?

Jane's Logic: His medicine cabinet is too neat.Review: "Blinking Red Light" has been tagged as one of the most intense episodes of the season, and it was just that. Of course, there wasn't much to compare it to, seeing how we're not even half way though season 4, but I will take it further and say it was one of the most intense of the entire series. How's that?

Featuring two actors of great talent - David Paymer and William Mapother - as well as the return of Missi Pyle as crime reporter Karen Cross, and being directed by none other than the show;s main star, Simon Baker, the episode focuses on the San Joaquin serial killer, described as a purist: one who "commits murder solely for the immediate pleasure that he takes in the act." That alone can give anyone the creeps, not to mention bringing back sordid memories for Patrick Jane. I was starting to wonder when would the Red John story come into play again.We barely saw the rest of the team this week. Lisbon was featured more prominently and I very much enjoyed Jane pushing her to use her instincts rather than rely on tedious police work (even though her instincts were better at eliminating suspects than at actually finding the killer). Rigsby was yet again featured as the clown of the team, Cho was barely visible and Van Pelt had a couple of moments during which I thought her violence trait would come into play again, but other than that, the episode was focused on Jane discovering and trying to get the San Joaquin killer to make a mistake so that he could catch him.
Who else but not the blogger who created an entire mythology around the San Joaquin murderer could actually be the culprit? To be honest, both suspects - Panzer and Haibach - were on my top list, though they'd been so obvious that I started to think maybe I'd gotten this one wrong. But the relationship formed between Panzer and Jane became an almost symbiotic one, a cat and mouse chase, almost like the one he had with Red John (minus the personal implications), so very soon I was as certain as Jane that the blogger was involved as more than just an observer in the whole situation. Plus, his medicine cabinet was too neat.
The intensity publicized through last week's preview of this episode was more present in the TV show both Panzer and Jane appeared on. The setting was so similar to Jane's television appearance where he taunted his nemesis that I knew, right then and there, how the San Joaquin murderer would end. Not caught by the police, that was sure! Panzer made the same mistake Patrick did back in the day: no one trivializes Red John's work and gets away with it. 
So, was Panzer so much smarter than Jane that he had to resort to drawing RJ out in order to rid the world of the San Joaquin killer? Jane's best advantage on his nemesis was that he (and Lisbon, to an extent) was the only one who was certain that he was still alive. I'm not certain that playing on Red John's pride and drawing him out of hiding was the best move, even with the price of not catching another killer. But, of course, that remains to be seen.
The Mentalist 4x06: Where in the World Is Carmine O'Brien? Back to Season 4