• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Red John: The Final Chapter

I'm not at home to watch the show tonight, but I decided to read the spoilers on who Red John was anyway because, like all of season 8 of Dexter, the spoilers don't matter because nothing was earned.

Dexter's final season just sort of happened, chugging along with characters doing stupid things at the speed of plot in order to make Dexter look better. Likewise with Red John, it doesn't matter who he is because nothing led up to it.

So when I read the spoiler, all I could think of was... the Bradley Whitford season 3 finale was better.
 
Spoilers for tonight's episode (obviously):





So...I've seen a lot of The Mentalist but I've missed a number of episodes as well, so others might have a different impression of this stuff than I do. I feel like in my head I've always believed that people who had met Red John said he was extremely charismatic. If that actually is the case, and not just something I made up, are we now to believe that those people had really talked to other members of the Blake Association, or that they'd actually dealt with the guy we knew as Sheriff McAllister?

Mostly, I'm just happy that this chapter of the show is over. I was tired of it, and not much pleased with how it all turned out. I mean, you finally give us Red John's identity and all he really does is plead for his life and try to run away? Even his explanation for why he went after Jane's family, because of his arrogance, didn't provide anything that we didn't already know.

Anyways, looking forward to how the show moves forward with this monkey off its back.
 
I was underwhelmed with this episode. Partly because someone had linked a youtube video in another forum of this guy, Americ. He’s a member of the press and got to see the episode before it officially aired. So he recorded himself watching the episode and based on his reactions, it seemed to be a great episode. Oh well, press isn’t what it used to be. In the end, the great revelation of Red John was rushed. I wish Jane had either found out about him sooner or that it was at least done properly.

I am not thrilled about the Episode for several reasons:

- For starters, there wasn't really any character development. If you compare a character like Jane with someone like Javert from Victor Hugo's novel "Les Miserable", we have two men who are both hunting another person and are convinced to be right, except that Javert's believe system got shattered in the end. Well, I know, the comparison isn't really the best, but stiil. I somehow wish Jane
hadn't killed
Red John.

Which brings me to the next Point:

- The CBI team (Lisbon, Rigsby, Van Pelt and Cho) basically participated in an act of ... lynch law by helping Jane escape from the FBI. At least Rigsby, Van Pelt and Cho could have struggled some more with the decision. That it was hard for Lisbon was already established. Besides, the whole gun pointing looked ridiculous.


- I don't mind that Red John is
McAllister
since I was disappointed with Jane's list of suspects in the first place. But showing up in the chapel wasn't really an evil mastermind at work. After all, everybody believed Betram was Red John. If
McAllister
had kept a low profile, he would have gotten away.

- Most disapointing thing however is probably that we will never know how Red John found out about the seven names on Jane's list.

- I addition, I didn't like the unreliable storytelling. When Jane had gathered all of the suspects in his house, there wasn't much time between the gunshots, Lisbon's arrival and the explosion. But now Red John states that there was plenty of time to drag bodies all over the place. Not to mention the fact that the explosion tore two people apart and knocked Jane and Bertram only unconscious. Even Lisbon, who was standing outside, got swept off her feet. And Jane and Bertram didn't have a scratch on them because they were in the next room? Meh. Red John's explanation was rather lame. Furthermore, if the bomb knocked everybody unconscious, how come that Red John wasn't affected? After all, he was in the room as well.


On the pro side:
+ FBI agent Abbott was a glimmer of hope. It seems as if he won't get fooled easily. Looking forward to see how he will interact in the future with Lisbon and Jane.

+ I did like the scene where Jane borrows Lisbon's gun. It was acted in a good way.


Open-end question:
Why didn't Red John kill Lisbon when he had a chance? There was enough time to kill her quickly.
 
Last edited:
IndyJones said:
Spoilers for tonight's episode (obviously):





So...I've seen a lot of The Mentalist but I've missed a number of episodes as well, so others might have a different impression of this stuff than I do. I feel like in my head I've always believed that people who had met Red John said he was extremely charismatic. If that actually is the case, and not just something I made up, are we now to believe that those people had really talked to other members of the Blake Association, or that they'd actually dealt with the guy we knew as Sheriff McAllister?
Click to expand...

Based on what Bertram said, the Blake association is rather "hush, hush". Agent Reed confirmed that, too. Members never really know with whom they are dealing with. My guess is that no one had direct contact with the Sheriff.


IndyJones said:
Mostly, I'm just happy that this chapter of the show is over. I was tired of it, and not much pleased with how it all turned out. I mean, you finally give us Red John's identity and all he really does is plead for his life and try to run away? Even his explanation for why he went after Jane's family, because of his arrogance, didn't provide anything that we didn't already know.

Anyways, looking forward to how the show moves forward with this monkey off its back.
Click to expand...

Yeah, though my guess is that this will probably be the last season of The Mentalist, so to move forward when it's almost over is a real shame. Anyway, I'm looking forward to it, too.
 
My primary objection to McAllister is that bald isn't short haired. But he was otherwise the best candidate for the blind woman's lover.

Don't agree with any criticism that Red John wasn't sexy enough. As Jane said, he was just a psychopath, the rest is details.

But I did not care for the cheat in hiding the way McAllister got the list. I have no doubt that is because they couldn't figure out a way. And at this point, Jane's irresponsibility in getting Haffner and Styles killed is actually looming larger for me. They were shits but they didn't deserve to die.

Janes is not precisely a good man, and for much of his life was a bad one. Simon Baker may have pushed for the rest of this season to be a character transformation turning him magically into a good one, at least sufficiently good for Lisbon to act on her attraction to him. Not sure I'm up for that.

PS It occurs to me that Jane was checking McAllister first in the group confrontation. Nicely planted. My other second thought is we had seen Jane in the chapel beforehand and knew he'd planted his own gun (Lisbon's being as he said a prop.) But, Red John was old enough to have seen The Godfather too!
 
Last edited:
I'm sorry, but this was a dumb episode. I've only watched sporadically since the third season, but I tuned in to see the Red John thing to its conclusion. That was it? REALLY?
 
Season 3 finale. 1000 times better than what we got this week.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj-hhwnwVfk[/yt]

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqCmkbtWRVY[/yt]
 
Just watched the latest Mentalist episode.

It didn't surprise me one bit that Kim turned out to be a FBI agent, and I bet that Jane had figured it out as well. Also, Jane will find a way for his terms to apply. I think the future episodes will be entertaining, and I look forward to seeing the new group dynamic. I'm not too sad if Van Pelt and Rigsby leaves the show, as they have always been a little dull.
 
Good use of a time jump here. Puts good distance between the giant mess of a train wreck that was the Red John and completely random cult plot.

They somehow managed to make me not care about about Red John and I've been a fan of the show for years. The idea is fine, and having it pop up every now and then is good. But letting it grow bigger is just asking to fail when you don't plan for it.

Monk did a far better job with a plot like this.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top