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Show:		3.0
Picture:		7.0
Sound:		7.0
Extras:		5.0
Score:		3.0

Director(s):	Chris Long • David Barett • Lesli Linka Glatter
Writer(s):	Bruno Heller, Ashley Gable
Starring:	Amanda Righetti • Owain Yeoman • Robin Tunney • Simon Baker • Tim Kang
Genre:	Crime • Television
Release Date:	September 22, 2009

List Price:	DVD - $36.99
Amazon:

At first glance CBS psychic crime drama The Mentalist appears to be a humorless, CSI-ified [read: formulaic, predictable] version of the USA comedies Monk and Psych. The idea is the same: extraordinarily astute, "psychic" detective helps a skeptic and sometimes-bitter police force solve crimes by making ridiculous assertions and backing them up using an absurd chain of reasoning based on evidence that only they could detect. Monk and Psych are both quality shows, so why is The Mentalst so bad? The problem is that The Mentalist isn't simply a hackneyed iteration of another show. Rather, it's a Frankenstein monster; a horrible combination of crime show elements, all of them diluted to create some kind of super-likable "light drama". When thinking about it, I imagine the creative meetings for Mentalist to be a lot like the meeting when tobacco companies came up with the idea of "light" cigarettes. Mentalist is bad for you. It's bad for your head. Watching multiple episodes in a row, as TV-on-DVD owners tend to do, could give you a headache... or an aneurysm.

The premise of the show (the show doesn't have a plot to speak of really, that would require forward momentum and character development) is that Patrick Jane, an ex-TV psychic helps the "Serious Crimes" unit of the "California Bureau of Investigation" solve murders. I still don't understand why they chose to make up a fake agency that sounds like the FBI junior detective squad. Jane left the Psychic business after his wife and child were slain by a serial killer, Red John, who was offended by Jane's "psychic profile" of him. Now, Jane hunts John, solving crime after crime until he gets his shot. If Red John played a more active role in Mentalist the show would instantly become more watchable: there would be more chances to focus on the nature of Jane's fragile psychological state, which is often referred too but rarely seen.

This is a recurring problem with the show: Pieces of plot are often revealed and then later on referred to in passing as established facts. For example, the forbidden office romance between agents Rigsby (Owain Yeoman) and Van Pelt (Amanda Righetti), it is established in the first episode that Rigsby is interested in Van Pelt, but that she wants to be professional. Later on in the season... Rigsby is into Van Pelt, but she wants to keep it professional. It is often referred to as a fact; "Rigsby never has a hot date because he's in love with you." Lisben says to Van Pelt, dispelling a lie about Rigsby's whereabouts. That's a fine starting point, but the situation needs to evolve to make the characters feel alive and for the story to feel even remotely progressive. The result of this lack of depth is that the show feels completely lateral. There is no way you would know that time has passed except when it's somebody's birthday or it's the fourth of July.

The entire cast suffers from a kind of living rigor mortis. Simon Baker cannot move the muscles in his face. Sadness. Anger. Happiness. Any emotion he has is conveyed by what he's saying, not by how his face looks. The flashback to the time of his family's murder is the exception that proves the rule; only in times of extreme duress does Baker not have a ridiculous smile on his face. For someone whose family was murdered, Jane doesn't seem very changed from the way he's described before his family's murder. His arrogance doesn't look to be a front, crutch or personality defect. He simply seems arrogant, making him less likable and making the other characters seem less real for liking him. It also doesn't help that he's not actually funny.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Robin Tunney who plays agent Teresa Lisben, consistently looks like she's about to start crying. While her range extends past the little smile/big smile of Baker, her driven nature rarely, if ever seems to have anything behind it. Despite being very intense, she is going through the motions. The only notable member of the cast is Tim Kang, who plays the especially stiff interrogation expert Kimball Cho. In an attempt to create a character that is supposed to be, I think, uptight, Kang not only has trouble in later episodes, Kang's inability to do anything except say his lines is effectively used to create one of the show's incredibly rare funny moments.

Mentalist manages to get everything wrong. The drama isn't dramatic. The comedy isn't funny. The characters are hollow and the plots are non-existent. There are so many shows with a similar feel, but that have so much more substance. More than anything, though, Mentalist reminds me of Scooby-Doo. At the beginning of every episode, the gang is just hanging out until they find a new mystery to solve. The team goes through all of the usual suspects, maybe it gets narrowed down a little bit, and then Jane sets up a trap that catches the culprit red-handed. At the end, everybody hangs out again and has a laugh at one of Jane's psychic tricks. In short, this show is bad because nothing ever actually happens. If bland is your favorite flavor, then The Mentalist is the perfect show for you.

DVD Bonus Features

The Mentalist: The Complete First Season doesn't have a ton of special features. A few sets of deleted scenes for certain episodes are very similar to the versions that made it to air; mostly they are just a little longer and often it totally makes sense that the extra parts got cut. There are also a couple (two) featurettes: one about the making of the show and one about psychics. Both are standard fare with nothing particularly bad about them, other than the fact that the show is thoroughly uninteresting. Lastly, there's a gag reel. Again, it's standard missed lines and palling around; nothing to write home about. There is no commentary of any kind, which is normally standard on DVD collections. Then again, given the lack of depth in the subject matter, I can't imagine what they would talk about for forty minutes, anyways.