Plot:
Jane awakes to discover that Haffner, Stiles and McAlister are dead while Reede Smith and Gale Bertram and their tattoos are on the run. Finding his wife and daughter's killer brings about the outing of a secret association of government officials which thus leads the FBI to close the doors of the CBI.
Welcome Back, Kotter...I mean Jane:
Oh the parallels here! In the second episode of the season Lisbon is having a nightmare involving three suspects (three dots- ironic or not) killing everyone including her team/family at the CBI after Red John marks her. Here Jane is having a nightmare involving the real events at his house with the 3 dotted tattoo men and the two that choose the wrong couch to sit on. For both of them it is a worst nightmare situation. Lisbon fears losing her CBI family (which by the end of the ep she has but luckily not through death). Jane fears being bested by RJ and watching everything go up in smoke including losing all that he has left (which he is going to lose by episode's end). When Lisbon awakes the first face she sees is Jane who has stayed at the hospital all night with her. When Jane awakes the first sight he sees is Lisbon smiling at him. Seeing he has been asleep for 12 hours and Lisbon is ready to disobey orders to stay by his side (kudos to Diana from Spoiler TV for bringing that up) it can be assumed that Lisbon stayed there awhile. Maybe just leaving for a change of clothes while the doctors checked on him. Jane was there for Lisbon in ep 2 and now Lisbon is there for Jane in ep 7.
Jane has a history of coming back from the dark to see the light and that light being Lisbon. See Fugue in Red, Bloodshot and Throwing Fire to name a few. Lisbon is the light at the end of the tunnel. The Saint, the cross wearing good person that he always finds himself returning to even at the worst of times. The anchor in the storm that brings him back home.
In Fire and Brimstone Jane finally had let down his mask and told Lisbon the truth, fully displaying how important to him she is. Yes, this is referred to as the sunset scene. The sunrise portion of this is Jane waking up after those 12 hours of sleep. He is happy to see her from the smile forming to the way he addresses her name as if she is some dream and not a reality standing in front of him. Her greeting of the actual "welcome back" with the smile and the tone used at once tells Jane and the audience that she's not mad at him. Why does Lisbon forgive Jane so easily? Simple. She's just grateful he is still alive. The thought of him dead is too much to bear. Lisbon will always forgive Jane because she loves him and sees the real him now. It wasn't always that way, the relationship has developed over time. But now Lisbon is much more the way Jane described Angela in the date video. She is strong, knows herself and has seen the worst side of him and can't stop loving him.
The Tygers Are Out Tonight:
You got to love how everything makes better sense. Yes, of course there are still some plot holes but they may be addressed in the next episode. Even if they aren't the show has done better than a lot of other television fare with addressing and answering its big mysteries. Jane's show and tell was awesome. Scenes like this helps set The Mentalist apart from other crime dramas- it always has some fun even in it's darkest hours.
I like how the whole corrupt organization of cops has been set up really from the beginning. Bruno Heller warned us years ago that Jane and Lisbon were learning that there were more people that you couldn't trust than actually trust around them. In the season 2 finale Red John says "Tyger, Tyger" to Jane and then taps his left shoulder. Was he trying to have him figure out the organization or laughing in his face that the great Jane couldn't deduce what was going on? In the third season Todd Johnson told Jane before he uttered Tyger, Tyger , that he didn't understand how big this was. Now we know why Todd was killing cops and what was so much bigger than Jane.
It was nice hear a reference to Rebecca, Bosco and those murders. That episode was the first game changer in the series. Why though it had to be referenced is intriguing. Because if Red John was a part of the CBI he wouldn't have to have a FBI agent fake creds for he or someone else to kill Rebecca. That detail seems to be very important to be included.
Which leads me to address the whole- is Bertram Red John? My guess? No. I think Bruno has a good trick up his sleeve. When Jane did his usual "I got the case solved but I'm not going to tell you" in Lisbon's office after Cho sent a pic of the Partridge skin I knew he had figured something out. Is Jane letting go for real? No. Jane doesn't want Lisbon following him (thus his apology in the elevator for deceiving her once again and also because she has lost everything). He is heading to the church for a specific reason and I don't think it is prayer. Jane outed Bertram to the press to start one of his great tricks and now he must just wait until it works and he catches his prey.
A Lost World:
Every ep this year has a had a theme but this ep had the hardest theme to deal with- loss. For the fans it is a loss of certain key elements of the show, relationships, characters and beloved set pieces (not to mention sets). For the characters it is the same type of loss. It is ironic that just when Jane realizes what he needs in life he has to watch it go away. All this season Jane has changed. He is not crazed, he is actually nice and he has a certain stability about him even though the world around him has gone insane. I have written before that this is because of Lisbon and the CBI team. This season he finally got honest with them and they actually worked as a cohesive team. Doing so made Jane actually better and now he has gotten close to getting Red John.
Having the team actually help and take a more active part in turn is going to make Jane lose them. Red John always taketh away. Red John brought Jane to the CBI. Red John's end will tear Jane away from his second family. This is a real profound loss for Jane. Even when he was gone those 6 months he always had the CBI to return to. Not just the people but the actual place. His home there was never dismantled no matter what he did or even when Haffner was in charge of the team. He had his perch, his couch, his desk and his tea cup. The tea cup smash heard around the world. Once again Red John will destroy the life Jane has built up and Jane didn't see it coming. Jane has lost his home and those little tactile fixtures that remind him of it.
Lisbon also has a great loss- her job, career, money, her little family, her home and of course Jane. Lisbon finally becomes the agent in charge and then boom she no longer has any job. She who gave up everything to have this job, who has always been about the work and right and wrong. Almost 20 years in and no pension to retire from. Her family (Cho, Rigsby, and Van Pelt) will move on like her brothers to have their own lives after she "raised" them. Her couch from Jane, desk, office that was always there even when Jane was gone, is now packed away. For the longest time she wasn't unpacked in her apartment because that wasn't home- CBI headquarters was. Jane's leaving her either through death, jail or fleeing. Lisbon's world has been turned upside down just like when she was 12. She's going to need that faith she has to get through it.
Other Things:
-Once more I must compliment Michael Gaston, Drew Powell, Simon Baker and Robin Tunney for their magnificent acting skills.
-Jordan Harper wrote and Elodie Keene directed a true masterpiece.
-Lisbon was so bad ass in this ep from holding and firing the gun in her left hand, going into the bombed building, refusing Bertram, telling Abbott off.
-The action sequences were particular intense. Special kudos to Amanda Righetti and Owain Yeoman for making them oh so real.
Next week:
-A can't miss episode where Red John and Patrick Jane come face to face and this chapter officially ends. Prepare the Kleenex now.
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