The Mentalist 4X21: Ruby Slipper
Added 2025-11-17 21:37:28 +0000 UTCThe CBI team investigates the murder of Archie Bloom, aged 19, found handcuffed to the steering wheel of his car, which had been doused in gasoline and set alight.
A woman's shoe heel at the scene leads the team to the stage door of a drag queen cabaret troupe. The lead act, Glenda Snow (Carlton Wilborn), says he lost the heel before the fire occurred.
Van Pelt discovers Bloom's secret film footage showing his father, Archie Senior (William R. Moses), abusing him and handcuffing him to his desk chair.
Bloom worked at the store where the gasoline cans were bought and was being bullied by a co-worker, homophobe Rick Hughes. Rigsby finds Bloom took photos of Hughes stealing baby formula from the store to sell on the black market.
Bloom was living at a halfway house, where Cho finds Bloom's journal describing how his ex-landlord Gabriel Lamb (Don McManus) had forced him to take crystal meth. Cho and Van Pelt arrest Lamb, who is found in possession of meth.
Jane visits Glenda at a funeral home, where he works as a funeral cosmetologist. He admits seeing someone pour gasoline on the car.
Lisbon does not know which of Hughes, Lamb, and Bloom Sr. to charge with the murder. Jane convinces Glenda to identify the culprit from a lineup, but he says the person pouring gasoline was slimmer, like Bloom himself.
This confirms Jane's theory that Bloom killed himself, but left evidence for the police to charge his abusers.
To cheer Lisbon up, Jane reveals the final secret - Bloom staged his death with help from Glenda and a dentist in the cabaret troupe and transformed to Fifi Nix inspired by a phoenix rising from the flames. Happy for Bloom, Lisbon agrees to keep his secret.
