Simon Baker plays Patrick Jane, a mentalist who acts as a consultant on crimes to be solved by the California Bureau of Investigation. The team he works with is headed up by Teresa Lisbon (Robin Tunney) and also includes Agents Kimball Cho (Tim Kang), Wayne Rigsby (Owain Yeoman) and Grace Van Pelt (Amanda Righetti). Jane's unorthodox methods often get the team in hot water, but no one can argue with his innate ability to read people and situations and to get the cases solved. Jane definitely carries some hefty baggage to the table since a serial killer going by the name of Red John murdered his wife and child. From what I can gather having missed Season One, Jane's main driving force in working with the CBI is revenge and the hopes of catching Red John so he can kill him.
Jane's revenge motivation and the manner in which he operates causes constant friction between the team and the department head, Sam Bosco (Terry Kinney), who also has a past with Lisbon, since they started out working together. A decision is made to take the Red John investigation from Lisbon's team so that Bosco can handle it himself with his team, because of the conflict with Patrick Jane. Ultimately, this is a move that causes bloodshed in the department as alliances are brutally betrayed and Red John works his puppetry to get the case back in the hands of Jane. The season finale finds Jane face to face with Red John in a startling turn of events that could threaten a budding relationship Jane has with another psychic, Kristina Frye (Leslie Hope).
Aside from the underlying Red John story arch that holds the entire show together, every episode also has one-off cases where Jane works his magic. He not only reads people, but uses grand ruses to trick people into admitting their guilt, even when he has none of the evidence he claims to have. It's simply brilliant, really, and great fun to watch. Having seen Simon Baker in The Guardian as the cocky but soulless Nick Fallin, it was really nice to see him as Patrick Jane. He's still an arrogant ass, but quirky, brilliant and with lots of heart.
The special features are actually some of the best I've seen in any series. There are a handful of deleted scenes, a featurette exploring how mentalism works with executive producer Chris Long and real life mentalist Luke Jermay, plus a series of pieces exploring different mentalism techniques with mentalist Jermay and the cast of the show. These were great fun to watch and you can actually learn some tips and tricks. This series of featurettes totaled almost an hour of footage and made it clear that the show's makers really enjoy what they do and want their fans to, as well.
If you haven't yet had the opportunity to check out The Mentalist: The Complete Second Season, you should definitely do so. It's an excellent bit of television with equal parts drama and comedy, really excellent writing and a stellar acting cast. Now I just need to go back and catch Season One to see how it all began. Highly recommended.
