The Mentalist 4x05: Blood and Sand

Original Air Date: 20 October 2011

Storyline: Jane and the CBI team investigate the murder of a woman whose body washed up on an island off the coast of California. Meanwhile, Rigsby worries that his relationship with a public defender may create awkwardness between him and Van Pelt.Best Quote:

Jane: (looking to the sea) Beautiful isn't?
Lisbon: For a crime scene, yeah.

Review: Compared to other episodes, this one doesn't rank among the best ones, but that doesn’t mean it wasn't entertaining. I feel it focused a tad too much on Grace’s violence issues (though spilling the coffee mug on the social worker's desk was pretty funny) and I don’t think they can keep this up for long before it gets boring. Lisbon needs to send her to mandatory counseling asap, before she snaps and hurts someone innocent. Also, seeing her walk around half the time with a busted lip was somehow disturbing. Unfortunately for her, Rigsby having a girlfriend probably doesn't help much (but I was pleasantly surprised to see Jillian Bach returning as mean little defense attorney Sarah Harringan).

As usual, the CBI investigates another murder, one that took place on a small island where people go to run away from the city and from their pasts. From the outside, it looks like a tight community, with everyone working towards a common goal, but a closer look reveals dissension between the inhabitants. The setting is new, but unfortunately I don’t think the showrunners managed to make the most of it. There could have been a lot of other interesting angles to be explored, but I enjoyed Jane’s success in introducing paranoia inside this tight group of loners. He’s great at playing with people’s minds and more times than not he does it for his own enjoyment. "I can picture them gathered together in a dimly lit room, plotting their mysterious island purpose."
The environment, though never used in The Mentalist in exactly this configuration, reminded me a lot of Bones episode "The He in the She", focused on a small religious community located on an island as well, and this might have been the reason why I wasn’t very excited about it. Also, I haven’t been able to enjoy the butterflies as much as I could have, because of another Bones episode ("The Truth in the Myth"), where a lepidopterist was found devoured by hundreds of Silvery Checkerspot butterflies. Yep, I’ve watched a lot of Bones recently, waiting forward for the new season to start.
The difference here is that the lepidopterist was the killer – one of them, at least – and this time I didn’t see it coming, I was so focused on the rancher due to the fact that he was played by known TV actor Steve Rankin. It’s always good to be surprised and it so rarely happens anymore with crime procedural shows. And another surprise was that there were actually two killers in that small community - what are the odds of that?
My biggest complaint – and one that comes out too often – was not using Cho at his full potential. The guy is hilarious as well as an amazing interrogator, I wish he’d have more screen time. I liked the ending though – and that’s yet another clue that Jane hasn’t gotten over the death of his wife just yet. The symbolism of the flower thrown into the ocean – though overused – is always emotional.The Mentalist 4x04: Ring Around the Rosie Back to Season 4