The Mentalist 2X3: Red Badge

Oh this was a fun episode. I liked this so much. And even though I was confused at the motive at the time, I think I understand it now.

So, we find the dead body of a serial child molester that Lisbon put in jail. This leads to the team going down a rabbit hole of all her past accomplishments and realizing she was a bit of a celebrity in the department for a bit. She corrals them all into getting back to work.

Meanwhile, she's still suffering through therapy appointments. The doctor refuses to sign off on her ability to stop coming. And she's extra upset because Jane only had to go to one session and he's the one who killed the guy. He tells her there is something she wants to say and once she does, he'll sign off.

Shortly after this, we find out that the fingerprint on the murder weapon is Lisbon's. At first she assumes it was just a lab mistake, but she cannot remember what she was doing the night of the murder. And then she also fails the polygraph test. She ends up getting suspended pending the investigation.

The team continues to search for evidence of her innocence even though Bosco is pissed about it and keeps kicking them off. I don't know why this guy is such a douchebag. Are we supposed to assume it's because he loves Lisbon and thinks that Jane might to so he's just making everyone miserable? That cannot be it, can it?

Either way, she ends up asking Jane to hypnotize her so she can try to remember what happened that night. When he gets there she a hot, jittery mess. It takes some time, but he manages to calm her down. However, she still has no idea what happened. It's at this point, that Jane realizes she's been drugged.

The two stage a scene in the office that makes it seem like Lisbon is losing her mind. (And it's really well done). She's screaming at everyone, tossing chairs through windows, getting escorted out.

She goes home where the therapist comes to check on her. He walks her through the night of the murder and it seems like he's trying to make her remember doing it. But, he lets a detail slip that he couldn't have known unless he was the actual killer. We get a confession and Patrick jogs down the stairs.

Turns out, therapist has been drugging her during the meetings. He lifted her fingerprint off her coffee cup and framed her. All this so she would be discredited and unable to testify against some other guy. And seriously, had it not been for Jane, they might have actually gotten away with it. It's a little scary.