The Mentalist
Dec. 17th, 2008 11:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
unforthSo, various of my friends have recently been posting about TV shows, and I wanted to note my favorite show of the new season: The Mentalist. I started watching it because it's on right after NCIS. It's not all that original, and it definitely needs some work done - the ensemble cast is still very much in the background and requires development - but I find the main character absolutely intriguing, and for the most part the writing has been quite good, and all in all I recommend it.
Brief Synposis:
The title character is Patrick Jane, who isn't a psychic but used to play one on TV. One night, on his TV show, he predicted that he would be able to catch a serial killer whose signature was leaving horrible smiley faces over the victims, drawn in their own blood. When he got home, he discovered a note from this killer, and - unfortunately unsurprisingly - the corpses of his wife and daughter. Now, he works as a consultant for the California Bureau of Investigation, and his real talent is insight - he reads people exceptionally well. The show thus far has centered almost entirely on him - there has been little enough development of the other characters that I haven't actually learned their names yet, but I can name their personality traits somewhat, so that's gotta count for something. I think this is currently the shows biggest weakness; if it could develop these individuals into a true ensemble team I think it would improve my opinion of the show (which already pretty high) greatly. That said, at least thus far the actor playing Jane has done a very good job of playing an utterly convivial, incredibly intelligent, tongue in cheek, debonair man who underneath that surface is rather distinctly unhinged. The other actors and actresses have been doing well also - I just don't think they've been given that much to work with. The end result is a show that has echoes of Psyche (which I also am very fond of) but where Psyche is definitely comedy-mystery, probably in that order, this is more like a tongue-in-cheek mystery-drama - there's humor there, certainly, but (at least to me) it feels like a veneer, an attitude that Jane in particular assumes to divert attention.
All in all, there was one episode that seemed noticeably weaker to me, but other than that I've like them all (though I missed the first 20 minutes of last weeks, and haven't seen last nights at all yet, much to my irritation). It was good enough to completely distract me from Fringe, which I'm now way behind on, and I like it enough that I've been saving some of the episodes on my DVR as long as I have the space and watching them more than once.
Anyone else watching it? I'd be curious to see what people thought - especially if there are folks who didn't like it (I know![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ultima_baka thinks I'm a little nuts for liking it so much) - I'd be interested to know why. (But I haven't seen last nights episode yet, so no spoilers!)
Brief Synposis:
The title character is Patrick Jane, who isn't a psychic but used to play one on TV. One night, on his TV show, he predicted that he would be able to catch a serial killer whose signature was leaving horrible smiley faces over the victims, drawn in their own blood. When he got home, he discovered a note from this killer, and - unfortunately unsurprisingly - the corpses of his wife and daughter. Now, he works as a consultant for the California Bureau of Investigation, and his real talent is insight - he reads people exceptionally well. The show thus far has centered almost entirely on him - there has been little enough development of the other characters that I haven't actually learned their names yet, but I can name their personality traits somewhat, so that's gotta count for something. I think this is currently the shows biggest weakness; if it could develop these individuals into a true ensemble team I think it would improve my opinion of the show (which already pretty high) greatly. That said, at least thus far the actor playing Jane has done a very good job of playing an utterly convivial, incredibly intelligent, tongue in cheek, debonair man who underneath that surface is rather distinctly unhinged. The other actors and actresses have been doing well also - I just don't think they've been given that much to work with. The end result is a show that has echoes of Psyche (which I also am very fond of) but where Psyche is definitely comedy-mystery, probably in that order, this is more like a tongue-in-cheek mystery-drama - there's humor there, certainly, but (at least to me) it feels like a veneer, an attitude that Jane in particular assumes to divert attention.
All in all, there was one episode that seemed noticeably weaker to me, but other than that I've like them all (though I missed the first 20 minutes of last weeks, and haven't seen last nights at all yet, much to my irritation). It was good enough to completely distract me from Fringe, which I'm now way behind on, and I like it enough that I've been saving some of the episodes on my DVR as long as I have the space and watching them more than once.
Anyone else watching it? I'd be curious to see what people thought - especially if there are folks who didn't like it (I know
ultima_baka thinks I'm a little nuts for liking it so much) - I'd be interested to know why. (But I haven't seen last nights episode yet, so no spoilers!)
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Date: 2008-12-17 11:58 pm (UTC)-- Gerardo
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Date: 2008-12-20 01:25 am (UTC)