The Mentalist 4x12: My Bloody Valentine

Original Air Date: 19 January 2012

Storyline: With very little evidence, Jane and the CBI investigate the death of a mob boss' son. Meanwhile, while taking an eyewitness in for questioning, Van Pelt is haunted by the memories of O'Laughlin's shooting.Best Quote:

Janpen: Who were you talking to?
Van Pelt: Nobody.
Janpen: Great. Lost in the woods with a crazy cop.
Van Pelt: Hey, I got it worse. I'm lost in the woods with a grumpy hooker. Let's go.

Review: With a stellar guest cast, including Joaquim de Almeida and Matt Battaglia, this week's episode saw a first for Jane - dealing with his first mob hit. When the son of an Argentinian mob boss is killed right into his house during a party, the first thought for everyone was that this was a hit ordered by a rival drug cartel - the Mexicans Zetas - but Jane doesn't take an internal coup out of the equation, especially with Gabriel Porchetto Sr, the head of the family, being in the late stages of kidney cancer.

This was again one of those situations when figuring out the killer was not all that difficult. It was clear from the very beginning that Battaglia's character - Curtis Nett, the enforcer of the family, didn't have any respect for the person who would one day be his boss - the youngest son of Gabriel Porchetto, Sergio. So figuring out that he was the one staging the coup to take over the business was not the hardest thing in the world, even with the affair between Iris Porchetto and the family lawyer thrown into the mix to give us another trail to follow.
Also, the moment Janpen was proven to speak English was the moment I connected her to the murder of Gabriel Porchetto Jr. Unfortunately for this series, it's getting easier and easier to figure things out pretty quickly, leaving us with the sole Mr. Baker as entertainment. Jane was, as always, at the top of the situation, and I've always loved the way he doesn't seem to have any problems dealing with dangerous people at the risk of annoying them, if that will make him discover the truth about things. Plus, the ball trick was a lot of fun and his carny background was once again brought to our attention with the card trick he taught Luis Ozorio.
As for Lisbon, we saw her again just go along with Jane's plan, no matter how crazy, when he wanted to make everyone think that Porchetto Sr. was dead. While I can appreciate that people build trust in time, having her just blindly following his lead is not only unrealistic, but it also means we are not seeing them bantering anymore and that was the most entertaining thing about their relationship.
The case involved Grace in a particular way, as she got lost in the woods after being attacked by the killer while she was transporting the hooker - Janpen - back to San Francisco for questioning. Her getting lost put Rigsby in the delicate situation of having to blow Sarah off; and with Sarah revealing that she is pregnant, things are not about to get any less complicated for him, especially since it is clear that he still has feelings for his redhead colleague.
But Rigsby was not the only one having to face old feelings. Actually, a big part of the episode saw Van Pelt having to deal with her unresolved issues with O'Laughlin after the investigation into his death was concluded and she got the necklace he gave her back from the FBI. To be honest, I got bored of her unresolved issues with killing her fiancee. We're half way through the season and the focus is still on this when it comes to Grace; I just wish she'd get over him already and I'm not saying this just because I want her and Rigsby to get back together, though I don't see this happening any time soon. But the worst thing of all was bringing O'Laughlin back, in ghost form or figment of Grace's imagination. We've known she was a superstitious being from day one; but actually showing O'Laughlin to us - not to mention having him save her life - was too much for me. Hopefully though this was the last time we are hearing about him and she can finally move on and build a new life for herself.The Mentalist 4x11: Always Bet on Red Back to Season 4