The Mentalist

The Mentalist is an American police drama that has been running since September of 2008. It airs on CBS and has won several awards. The television show's ratings remain strong enough that it has been renewed for the 2013 season. The show's protagonist is Patrick Jane, an ex psychic fraud who has skills of observation like Sherlock Holmes. He may not read minds, but he spots things that the official police do not, just like Holmes.

The show starts with Patrick Jane being called in on a murder investigation. He decides to help because the murder has all of the hallmarks of having been committed by a psychopath that goes by the name of "Red John." Patrick offended this serial killer during his days as a fraudulent psychic by saying he had profiled him with the police. In retaliation, "Red John" murdered Patrick's wife and child. Since then, he has been trying to hunt down the killer and killers like him. Each of the first season's episodes contain the word red, though most are about crimes that do not involve "Red John," showing how important the antagonist is to the series. The rest of the seasons follow that example, though sometimes euphemisms for red are used.

The series does not change much over the next three seasons. Patrick Jane is still hunting "Red John" and other miscellaneous criminals along the way. There seems to be a bit of a tradition of making each season's last episode about "Red John" and Jane's struggle to find him and stop him for good. In Season 3, the audience is led to believe that Patrick Jane finally got his man and killed him. However, this was not the case. The beginning of the following season showed that the killer was still at large.

The end of season 4 reveals an elaborate plot against "Red John," perpetrated by Patrick Jane and a team. The idea is to trick "Red John" into thinking that Jane is no longer working for the police. As always, the plot fails, but there are a few interesting twists. The killer seems to have an informant among the authorities and Jane gets his hands on a "Red John" accomplice. The season ends on a cliffhanger with Jane and the police working to get information on the killer from the accomplice.