The Mentalist 2X23: Red Sky in the Morning

Okay, so we're finally back with some Red John action. I was totally thrown a loop when he showed up though. I kind of thought we were thrown for another red herring with the movie making kids.

Jane and Kristina are out on a date. He's still annoyed about the fact that she claims to speak to the dead, but is trying to sort of be gracious about it. Sort of. While they are out, Grace calls and tells him he needs to get back to the office. It seems like Red John has struck again.

Once he gets back, they all watch (or re-watch) the video Grace was sent. Kristina chimes in that the victim had died recently and near water. Rigsby (I think) shows up and says they got a call about a dead body matching the description in the Bay Area. Jane immediately rushes to Hightower (learned her name, so she'll be gone soon) and asks her not to let Kristina on the case. She agrees, even if she's a little confused. But, Kristina gets it (well she thinks she gets it) and tells Jane no hard feelings.

Jane heads over to see the corpse. The Forensics guy (I think- he's a bit suspicious, no?) tells Jane to hurry along so the actual experts can come in and catch Red John. Jane gives a long list of what the victim is like, but informs the guy that it's not Red John; it's a copy cat.

The roommate and her boyfriend tell Lisbon that the dead girl was dating a cop. I don't remember his name, but I know the initials are GS. However, they tell her they've never actually seen the boyfriend, as she was sort of embarrassed to be dating a cop because, you know, cops are nerds. (I'd have gone with assholes, but to each their own).

They chat with a criminology professor who studied Red John recently in her class. She tells them she'll come up with class lists. I wouldn't even mention this, but it's sort of important later.

Back at HQ, Jane sees Kristina on TV talking to Red John directly (just like he did). Granted, she offers him a lot more respect than Jane did, but still. Jane immediately freaks out (and so does Hightower) and demands they get her 24 hour police protection. Hightower agrees even if Kristina is not thrilled about it. Jane and Lisbon take the first shift and it's pretty uneventful (minus Jane chastising her).

Rigsby and Cho bop over to an address they find in the dead girl's journal. When they arrive, they find a bunch of Red John smiley faces on the wall, like he might be practicing. Also, a can of pig's blood. While they are looking, someone tosses a brick (?) through the skylight. They chase him, but he's got too much of a head start. They do find a missing camera lens they left behind though.

Grace is watching Kristina when Patrick calls over there. However, she's missing when Grace goes to get her. Her stuff is gone and the sliding door to her bedroom (where she was supposedly taking a nap) is ajar.

Jane manages to figure out the location of the safe house and heads over himself. He does call Lisbon as soon as he gets there to tell him where he is. He doesn't, however, wait around for her. He enters the building and is promptly knocked out from behind (this whole staff needs to go into concussion protocol).

He wakes up Saran Wrapped to a chair and finds a guy monologging in front of him. But then, he cuts and starts again. Jane realizes this is a production. The dead girl's roommate and BF are filming a horror movie. But, their twist is that it's all real and Jane is the victim. The guy with the knife wants no part of this, but they've got his mom and are threatening to kill her if he doesn't play along.

After a bit of an exchange with the filming losers, they are suddenly shot. The BF dies instantly (I think) the roommate is shot in the stomach, but writhing in pain. She gets her throat slit (I think). Monolog boy gets shot in the leg (I think he's okay?) But, it's Red John. He makes sure his presence is known to Jane. He taunts Jane a bit, reads him some poetry, tells him Kristina says hi (she totally dead) and leaves.

Later Jane tries to figure out the poetry, but seems to be stumped for now. Ugh. And we've got a cliffhanger. BUT on the plus side, we are officially doing S3 of The Mentalist so I'll have an answer soon!