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The Mentalist Season 4 Episode 17

Cheap Burgundy

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AIRED: Mar 08, 2012

8.3

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Episode Summary

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Jane goes along with Agent Darcy's request for his help even though he suspects she's intentionally keeping something concealed. After a woman is murdered following a meeting with someone in an online chat room, the CBI steps in to investigate.

Fan Episode Reviews (4)

The truth behind the mission

9.0

By dreamgoat, Apr 12, 2012

I enjoyed this episode not as much funny moments or surprises in this episode but it was entertaining. Now the FBI agent Darcy is pushing to find the connect to red john and him. She also accuses him of being tight with him, which I almost laughed, this is where we get an annoying character just like all the rest through this series. Now we know shes going to be a pain and see what happens in later episodes.moreless
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This is EXACTLY why I dislike many of the non Red John episodes. The absurd "deduction" and Janes sadistic attitude.

3.0

By Lollipopfop, Mar 21, 2012

And now Lisbon is getting even more annoying. Can someone explain how its in anyones best interest to tell Agent Darcy the truth about Red John? She suspects very strongly anyhow, so whats the trouble? She reeeaaallly needs Jane to confess to murder? And Jane, considering he is a murderer himself needs to be less of a hypocrite. There is just not that much fun in watching Jane torture people just because the stupid writing of the show allows him to get away with it. Honestly, his guess work is shit. The only reason it turns out to be correct is because the writers awkwardly make it so. Also, why are the people investigated so willing to let Jane walk all over them? And why is every law enforcement official willing to go along just because he closes cases? The truth is that if Jane, no matter if he is an actual peace officer or a consultant decided to simply open up drawers, and look into garbage bins without a warrant to do so, every piece of evidence, even a sworn confession that came afterwards would be poisoned. The case would be thrown out. This country believes people have rights and protections. When people invite the police into their homes to talk, an officer can only examine things that are in the open. They can't open boxes, or make themselves tea. If they do, they may as well stop investigating. Its grounds for dismissal. That there is a murder investigation is NOT more important then violating the living. Can't this show be even slightly more realistic and decent. The fact that this is written by Bruno Heller, the showrunner, says a lot. So does the fact that this show got moved to Friday. The ONLY thing worth watching on this show is when Jane confronts Red John, Styles of Visualize or other characters of that sort. The episodes that the writers think of as "fun" are nothing of the sort. They are depressingly silly and make me wonder how Heller sees people in general. I wonder how he would like being treated the way Jane treats people. I only watched this half way. That was enough.moreless
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Cheap Burgundy

7.0

By thefanof, Mar 11, 2012

Not a bad episode today. The premise got a little bit ridiculous here, but I think it was well-written from start to finish. Even the scenes with Jane and Darcy were not bad, although I would rather not see that character on the show as much as he is right now.

Not exactly predictable, but still a bit dull at times. Show needs to work on fixing that.
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The Simpsons did it!

10

By herr_sebbe, Mar 09, 2012

Tricking the killer by misquoting Shakespeare, that is.

Now. Season 4, episode 17, "Cheap Burgundy", written and directed by Bruno Heller himself. This is the first solid 10 rating I've given this show since "His Red Right Hand". It's just that good. Few but Heller could weave together an episode with an A, B and a C plot without either lacking even the slightest. The Jane-Darcy fencing is dramatic, the team antics are hilarious and the case-of-the-week is intriguing if not a bit touching.

First of all, let me admit I didn't really care for Darcy much in previous episodes, but after this episode it stands to reason all she needed was a bit more screen time. This time the regular team is cast into the background as Jane and Darcy work together in a refreshing twist to solve the main case. I couldn't help but sympathize with the poor agent when Jane did his "psychic reading" on her, because he did cross a line and in the end it's very understandable that she comes up with the theory she does. Someone will however need to own up to their arrogance and put her back on track if she's going to stay alive past the season finale.

A lot of people have been complaining about the team not being competent enough without Jane, something I've distanced myself from thinking a team of agents will logically be as strong as their best inducer. Bruno Heller, however, plays with the idea without any remorse. A guilty suspect is caught and held in custody for the murder of an employee. Said suspect is however a sociopath and very much aware the team has nothing on him. Hilarity ensues. I couldn't help but laugh out loud when Rigsby tried to hypnotize the guy.

In the end here, I don't think it's the team members that are incompentent as much as they've gotten a bit lazy from Jane doing most of the thinking otherwise. Instead of going about the case in a by-the-book manner, they ask themselves: What would Jane do? And as a result, they try to hypnotize and trick the suspect and fail.

One of the most moving aspects of the episode didn't actually stem from the main characters, but from the story of one ex-army suspect. At first when he was put in interrogation, I thought he was hypnotized the way he acted, but in the end it was just as his family said: He came back from the war a changed man. However, he found happiness in a bit of a forbidden love story. And since we all know how that ends, the vivid flashback to the murder left me feeling very sad for the guy.

And then the ending: Darcy shaking Wainwrights hand in a pact of two evils (-ish). The season is kicking into high gear and I can't wait to see how this is all going to play out in the finale. Great stuff. Great episode. Don't let him up on the writing, but keep Bruno in that directing chair.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Simon Baker	Patrick Jane
Robin Tunney	Teresa Lisbon
Tim Kang	Kimball Cho
Owain Yeoman	Wayne Rigsby
Amanda Righetti	Grace Van Pelt

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Catherine Dent	FBI Agent Susan Darcy	Guest Star
Michael Rady	Luther Wainwright	Guest Star
Craig Sheffer	Gary Philo	Guest Star

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Episode Photos

Catherine Dent and Robin Tunney on The M...

© 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc.
Simon Baker and Robin Tunney on The Ment...

© 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc.
Simon Baker and Catherine Dent on The Me...

© 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc.
Catherine Dent and Simon Baker on The Me...

© 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc.

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (0)
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QUOTES (1)
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- Agent Darcy: Thanks for lending (Jane) to me.
  Lisbon: My pleasure. Glad to see the back of him.
  Jane: Oh, okay. Well, bye.
  Lisbon: Bye. Just go and have fun.
  Jane: I'm gonna have a great time. There's my back. See you.
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NOTES (3)
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- International Episode Titles:
  Germany: Keine lust auf Shakespeare (Do not feel like Shakespeare)
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- This episode had 13.84 million viewers when it originally aired.
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- Original International Air Dates:
  Canada: March 8, 2012 on CTV
  United Kingdom: April 13, 2012 on Channel 5/Channel 5 HD
  Germany: October 21, 2012 on Sat.1
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