The Mentalist 1X8: The Thin Red Line

Okay, so I feel like this was the least Patrick has done on a case up until now. It felt weird, and I'm not really sure why.

This young cop shows up at a motel after getting a call about gunshots (I think) and when he walks into the room, there are two dead bodies. However, this kid looks nervous and anxious and afraid. He comes off like a terrible police officer.

The Mentalist crew shows up and runs into the local cops who are not happy to have them around. Usually, CBI just kind of takes over and the cops just go with it. Not these guys. I don't want CBI to do anything but go away. Plus, the dead guy was a witness to an upcoming case that they've been working on forever and they just figure the killer was the drug guy.

Of course, it's not. Then we start to look at the local cops, but it's not them either. Patrick suggests that maybe the mark wasn't the witness, but the girl at the motel. So we start to look into her. And we find out that she was dating the witness, but he was kind of a loser, but she just wanted to do stuff for him. She was just dropping off some food to him when they both ended up dead. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Actually, it turns out both of them were. Turns out, they were killed by the young cop who found them. And he totally did not mean to kill them. He suspected his dad was having an affair and he went to catch him in the act. And when he opened the door, the witness fearing someone was coming to kill him (he's supposed to have police protection but it ditched it), he went to grab his gun. So young cop grabbed his gun, panicked, and shot them both. Then he fled.

The team sets up an elaborate sting to catch him, and of course, they do. Once he realizes he's caught, he freely admits to what happened.

Oh, and there's a baby that Patrick gives to young cop's parents (one was one of the local cops who hated CBI). The dead girl was actually the dad cop's daughter. But he just found out (well a few years ago, I think). She had a baby which she left in the car when she went to the motel. And Patrick just gave them the baby. What if they don't want a baby? They are basically at retirement age. I'd kill someone who tried to make me raise a baby. Especially at that age. I was way more upset about that then I probably should have been. Lol. Way more upset than the cop murdering two people. 🤣