MENTAL ABILITIES & JOB SATISFACTION

IN

THE MENTALIST, S03E12, BLOODHOUNDS

Show Summary
The Mentalist follows Simon Baker as Patrick Jane, an independent consultant for a fictionalised version of the California Bureau of Investigation (CBI) based in Sacramento, California. Although not an officer of the law of any sort, he uses skills and knowledge from his former career as a successful psychic medium (which was a ruse, as he does not believe anyone actually has psychic abilities) to help a team of CBI agents solve various crimes, with the hope of one day bringing Red John, the murderer of his wife and daughter, to justice. Patrick Jane formerly had a lucrative career as a con man, successfully posing as a psychic medium and enjoying near-celebrity status. He appeared on television to claim that his paranormal abilities helped the police profile a serial killer named Red John. Red John, angered by the perceived slight, murdered Jane's wife and young daughter in revenge. Jane subsequently abandoned his career as a psychic and teamed up with the CBI, using his skills to help them solve various crimes. His main focus is on the cases involving Red John or Red John copycats. He admits to faking the supernatural aspects of his skills, often asserting that "there's no such thing as psychics", yet he has finely honed skills in cold reading, hypnotism, and pickpocketing, as well as powerful observational skill and a deep insight into the human psyche and behavior. These skills come in handy in every episode, and his unorthodox and bizarre techniques to solve crimes sometimes offend the team of agents he works with. Jane often employs elaborate ruses and mind games to trick the culprit into confessing.i

Cast of Characters
Simon Baker as Patrick Jane the series protagonist and the titular Mentalist. He had previously earned a living as a professional psychic until Red John murdered his wife and daughter in retaliation for Jane's televised mocking. Jane now works as a consultant for the California Bureau of Investigation. He is intelligent and astute, but also devious, blunt, tactless, and occasionally childish and arrogant. He often annoys the team, to the point of their taking turns going on field trips with him. Despite this, Jane has close friendships with his colleagues. Although generally playful and bemused, he shows a much darker side concerning Red John, the serial killer who murdered his family. When dealing with him, Jane becomes intense, focused, and willing to sacrifice anything, including his life, to catch and kill him. He owns a classic French Car, a metal grey Citron DS, as an homage to Columbo's Peugeot 403 convertible.
1 Starling D. Hunter III 2012 | starling@qatar.cmu.edu| Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar | http://qatar.cmu.edu

Robin Tunney as Senior Special Agent Teresa Lisbon a Senior Special Agent with the CBI and leader of the team Patrick is part of. Though Patrick often annoys her with his unusual behavior and going behind her back, she views him as a valuable member of the team and will back him up on some of his most unusual theories. Her mother was killed in a drunk driving accident, leaving her to take care of her brothers and her alcoholic father. She is also the only member of the team Patrick trusts with details of his past and they work well together, though his attitude often causes problems for her with local law enforcement. Her team is responsible for the Red John case, although the responsibility for catching Red John was taken over briefly by Sam Bosco, her mentor when she was a junior agent, until he and his team were murdered by one of Red John's operatives. Amanda Righetti as Special Agent Grace Van Pelt a Special Agent with the CBI and a member of Lisbon's team; serving as its newest member, often doing research for other members. She has a deep belief in religion and psychics and will butt heads with Patrick every time he dismisses it or does something she sees as morally or religiously inappropriate. Van Pelt became secretly involved with Rigsby, after months of reluctance due to the regulations prohibiting romantic relationships between agents. Although she was forced to leave him to protect his career, she does still love him. She is subdued and very organized, which leads Jane to deduce during the first season that this is because she is hiding some deep emotional trauma. She is currently engaged to Craig O'Laughlin, a special Agent in Charge at the FBI. Owain Yeoman as Special Agent Wayne Rigsby a Special Agent with the CBI and a member of Lisbon's team, serving as an arson specialist. He developed strong feelings for Van Pelt. He didn't initially act on them, as romance between agents is against regulations, but ultimately the two gave in to their feelings and began seeing each other secretly. Their relationship ultimately became public knowledge, and so an ultimatum was issued to them by Madeleine Hightower to end their relationship, which Van Pelt did to protect Rigsby's career. They remain friends and colleagues, despite the awkwardness of the working environment. Tim Kang as Special Agent Kimball Cho a Special Agent with the CBI and a member of Lisbon's team. Cho has a dry, deadpan sense of humor and is shown to be friends with Rigsby. Probably the most down-to-earth of the group, he is often the one who sees through Patrick's parlor tricks (when Patrick tells Van Pelt that he was moving a straw across the table with telekinesis, Cho simply says, "He blew on it"). He was secretly called "Ernie" by the Bosco team, who also refer to Rigsby as "Bert"; Cho claims not to mind, as "Ernie's the clever, handsome one". He was a member of a street gang, the Avon Park Playboys, garnering a juvenile record which is sealed. He also spent time in juvenile hall, until leaving to serve in the United States Army's Special Forces, before becoming a police officer and then joining the CBI.ii

Episode Recap
SUMMARY: When Patrick Jane and the CBI must work with a criminal profiler, Dr. Montague, to solve a double murder, it becomes a competition for Jane to prove that his methods are superior.

Team Lisbon is called out to a junk yard, where Jane gets far too philosophical about dead bodies and dead cars for the early hour. One must need an IV of caffeine before dealing with Jane in the morning. They find a nicely gross, bloated body of a young woman with a neat knitted scarf around her waist. Jane decides to play Dog Whisperer, turns loose the dog belonging to the guy who found the first body, and stumbles onto a second body. Oh and Jane squeals like a girl when he finds body parts, by the way.
2 Starling D. Hunter III 2012 | starling@qatar.cmu.edu| Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar | http://qatar.cmu.edu

Second body belongs to a girl named Valerie, who worked at a local computer software office. Meanwhile, Jane has, for some reason, bought Lisbon a new couch. Also, Lisbon has called in another consultant, Dr. Montague.She makes predictive computer models based on information from crime sense, and while she bores the hell out of Jane with this information, she tells Lisbon that her two murdered women fit the profile of the Caveman. Lisbon isn't sure, since Caveman sent body parts and riddles to the cops along with the killings. Somewhere along the line, heading out to talk to Valerie's boss at the computer office, Jane and Lisbon start rhyming.Valerie started volunteering at a homeless shelter near by, and was very upset when one of the homeless she was close to, died of suspicious causes. Cho and Rigsby are still fighting about Rigsby including him in his little lie last episode, but mysteriously, Cho just decides to move past it. They find the van that was at the junk yard near the still unknown dead girl's body and the bracelet that came from her body. But the guy in the van isn't the killer. Jane and Dr. Montague are placing a bet if the killer is the Caveman, when Lisbon gets a present on her desk: a bloody kidney and a poem from the Caveman. They also find the ID of the other dead girl, Fernanda, who worked at a local soda pop bottling warehouse. Her two cousins, Esther and Nilda, who run the plant give them a sob story about the dead girl's last day. Jane loses interest and goes to play in the bottling plant. Van Pelt and Cho talk to the creepy homeless shelter director and for a moment it looks like he may be the guy, because he sorta stalked Valerie. He alibis out, and Jane is still determined to figure out how Fernanda and Valerie knew each other. He ditches Lisbon again and takes Dr. Montague on the bus, where they find the lady who knitted the two accessories found on both bodies. The also find the very creepy bus driver, Arthur (Silas Weir Mitchell), who bails from the bus after Jane tells all the passengers to let him know if creepy people rode the bus. Jane and Montague chase down Arthur, but when he turns a gun on them, Jane instantly blames everything on the doctor. Arthur runs, Montague expects Jane to chase after him. Lisbon saves the day and then ditches Jane as payback. Arthur just turns out to be a drug dealing scum bag, but not the killer. Jane then admits that HE was the one who sent the kidney and the letter to Lisbon as a ruse. He plans to flush out the real killers at Fernanda's candlelight service at the bottle warehouse. At the service, he pretends that another box from the Cavemen has been sent, threatening the real killers for copycatting him. The two cousins, Nilda and Esther killed Fernanda and Valerie for finding out that they sold contaminated Soda and it killed the homeless man in Valerie's shelter. Dr. Montague and Jane have a moment back at CBI where she awkwardly commends him for his ingenuity and skill. She also leaves him with a statistical workup on Red John from her computer. Jane initially throws the file away, but then thinks that maybe any help is good help and digs it back out.iii

Starling D. Hunter III 2012 | starling@qatar.cmu.edu| Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar | http://qatar.cmu.edu

Discussion Questions
1. Compare and contrast the mental abilities demonstrated by Patrick Jane with those demonstrated by the FBI profiler, Dr. Montague. 2. Can any of the differences be attributed to demographic differences, e.g. gender or race? 3. Provide an example of one attribution made by Patrick and one made by Dr. Montague. Indicate whether each attribution is situational or dispositional and whether or not the attribution was in error. 4. Using the five dimensions listed on page 106, please indicate whether Patrick and Dr. Montague are satisfied with their respective jobs.

Solutions
Write to starling@qatar.cmu.edu for to obtain a copy of the solution to this case.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mentalist http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mentalist#Cast_and_characters iii http://thementalist.wikia.com/wiki/Bloodhounds
i ii

Starling D. Hunter III 2012 | starling@qatar.cmu.edu| Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar | http://qatar.cmu.edu