Some individuals have a natural ability to see beyond ordinary perception. Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) is a psychic who leaves his fake act behind (after the deaths of his wife and child at the hands of a brutal murderer) and takes up a career that will help bring criminals to justice.
Using his extraordinary abilities to observe and analyze things that others may have missed, Jane helps a team of detectives gather information and catch their suspect.
Audiences who enjoy mysteries, or police drama will be fans of this DVD, if they are not already fans of the show. In slick, clever episodes, Patrick Jane time and again is able to see through the clouds of deception that disguise clues and help agent Teresa Lisbon (Robin Tunney) and her team find the perpetrators of the crimes.
The twist for this series is that Jane is going against his former existence as he looks for real information that has been missed, rather than something that has been intuited or achieved by psychic activity. For the most part the series is good at handling this dual achievement situation, but there are a few exceptions.
Most objectionable are the situations that stereotype individuals who do believe in extrasensory perception or things outside the “norm” (as established by the series) as charlatans or crazy. Their treatment in the series is obnoxious. One such episode deals with a murder that apparently has occult overtones and is immediately blamed on an individual referred to as the town witch. How medieval!
What’s more, the individual is played as emotionally scattered, and mentally fragile, as if that goes along with her religion. Her motive is established as revenge for persecution by neighbors (they killed her cat for no other reason than her belief system,) but there is little sympathy for her tribulations even when she is proved innocent.
Tread carefully, this is 21st century America, and part of the heritage of this country is a freedom of belief….and even if one doesn’t agree with the practices or theological doctrines, respect is owed the individuals who do and that should include not falling into stereotyping. This otherwise good series should not be handicapped by an all out effort to prove their point of view as the only right way to see things.
The Mentalist is presented on six discs containing all the season one episodes, in a single box housed in a slip case. A sixteen page booklet is included, with program notes and episode synopses. It is illustrated with stills from the production, and is in color. Special features with this set include interviews with cast and series creators in “Evidence of a Hit Series.”
“Cracking the Crystal Ball: Mentalist vs. Psychic” which explores the questions of mental acuity and keen observation in gathering information. There are unaired scenes from three episodes, and a series gag reel. The audio is available in both English and Portuguese, and subtitles are in English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Korea, Portuguese and Thai.
The Mentalist: The Complete First Season is now available at Amazon . It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for a Jan. 10th release. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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