The Mentalist 2.05 Red Scare reaction
The reason that this ep felt somewhat disposable for me was that Lisbon was sidelined. Having said that, it riffed off golden age detective novels, we had the 'haunted' house, the locked room murder and SECRET PASSAGEWAYS (it says something about my reading that I felt it should be kids spending their summer holidays there reluctantly that should have found them, not the CBI's finest). So, that was fun. But Rigsby/Van Pelt do nothing for me, I mean, I'm not against the pairing, and the rats/ghost thing was cute, and AR's fluttery uncertain response was marvellous (and really, she's playing such a different character to her off The OC) but even though I quite like couples sneaking around...whatever. It is more amusing to count down to how long the three others are on to them (Jane has a head start at least).
More interesting to me was that Lisbon noticed something was wrong with Jane after he'd had the talk in the kitchen with the widow. But she apparently brought the lie. I could have done with a reaction shot to 'What do you know about it'/'Enough', but that is me, I keep forgetting that it's called The Mentalist, not The Mentalist and The Boss, although that is the show I am obsessed with. And anyway, I had eye-rolls AND we had the little interplay after the second clue set-up, where she pulled that adorable face and they discussed whether 'Bite Me' was a smidge too much. (She just went there because subconsciously or at some level, she actually wants him to. ) More of that! I love that 'backstage' stuff I mean, I know that with the Wayne/Grace kissage, we're not going to get any explicit shippy stuff, which is fine so long as I get substantial interaction.
But Jane was having fun 'Do you like riddles?' [Jane BEAMS], playing the lie detector game and getting under the skin of the mustachioed cop - this is endearing up to a point. Also Cho quips! You just knew once we got Cho's aura we were going to get Jane's...I didn't like the nephew/cousin, but by the end of the ep, EVERYONE had lied, and I'm barely in it for the whodunnit (when Jane was sniffing the paper with the clue on it, I thought it was a reference to his beloved tea and that it was a fake.) Food and drink watch: Jane gets tea from someone who helps him (well, confirms his suspicions) and who he later calls on for lying; the team have a case closed pizza (oh, Rigsby, Cho will suspect all when he has his fill of the pizza with the sausage) as arranged for by Lisbon and Cho, who may be shorter, but I always think of them as the grown up cops and Rigsby, Van Pelt as the kids. Jane brings the drinks - had he specifically snatched the bottle for this opportunity? Was this a team ritual set up in season 1? And of course, the wine is more than it appears. Although Jane really should have given the widow the key - eh, if he hadn't, Lisbon would probably have made him do it after the ep.