tim kang

(S02E04) "Everybody is. I am." - Jane, on people who are geeks

Is Patrick Jane really, really brave or just clueless?

I've been wondering that the entire series. He's not a fighter. He's not even one of these "strong, silent" types who acts wimpy but is secretly a karate master or former Navy Seal or whatever. He honestly doesn't have any physical skills but he insists on interrogating people who could turn his bones into mulch. Like tonight's confrontation with bikers in a dive bar. Or maybe he was comfortable because Lisbon was there with a badge and a gun. I think he's done it in the past with no backup though, so I'm not sure if he's brave or just oblivious or doesn't care.

(S02E03) "I didn't lie ... he made risotto." Lisbon, to Jane, about a certain cooking show with "the angry man" she watched on Tuesday

Hypnotism is a lame shortcut in TV shows and movies. Hypnotists seem to do it so easily, and the subjects seem to be put under so quickly and then remember just enough to solve the puzzle or at least advance the plot to another point.

That's why tonight's hypnotism of Lisbon by Jane was so satisfying. I groaned when it started, but I like the fact that he hypnotized her without her knowing it, how she made a comment about Rigsby and Van Pelt while under, and how the hypnotism didn't really work in the end.

(S02E01) "If you sit by the river bank long enough you'll see the bodies of your enemies float by." - Patrick Jane

Where will the second season of The Mentalist go? Will we focus on Red John the whole time or will we get cases of the week until we have a Red John episode? It looks like it's going to be more of the latter (though there's a big plot development concerning the Red John case in this season opener), and that's just fine.

I do wish the cases were more Columbo or Murder, She Wrote-ish, though.

(S01E18) This was a fun episode of The Mentalist, reminiscent of parts of the psychic episode, "Seeing Red," in that we got to see Jane in a comfort zone of his, something that he knows well. The difference is that Jane believes in hypnosis.

And we got to see Jane do his thing tonight ... his hypnosis thing anyway. He was clever enough to put the tracer in Rigsby's pocket, but my favorite episodes of The Mentalist are when Jane knows whodunnit ahead of time and sets them up. When Jane is a step -- or two -- ahead of everyone else, he shines.

(S01E17) "This is a goat turd about six months old." -- Cho, about Jane's "fossilized worm"

Ah, a few things I love about The Mentalist showed up in tonight's episode: a quote from Cho, a setup from Jane, and Lisbon and Jane banter. Top that off with a couple of my favorite guest stars and you've got yourself a fun episode of The Mentalist.

Oh, and we can't forget Jane doing his Jane things: trying to get Rigsby and Van Pelt together in a car for three hours, monologuing about the beauty of the desert, teasing Lisbon and Faulk (the "Boom!" line) and smiling throughout everything.

(S01E16) "My other senses are heightened. They're super-heightened. I'm like Daredevil." -- Jane on his blindness

Now, this was an interesting episode of The Mentalist. We veered from the formula a bit, and I liked it. We got to find out a lot more about Jane's past, albeit Red John-free. Sadly, this episode was fairly Cho-free, as well, but we did get a lot of Rigsby / Van Pelt payoff.

Mostly what this episode was about, though, was Jane's questionable past: the lies he told to people, the money he unabashedly took, and the lives he ruined with his greed and his false representation of his psychic abilities. Jane is clearly carrying around a lot more guilt than just his family being killed, although that was obviously the defining moment for Jane.

(S01E15) The Mentalist never fails to entertain, even when the case is obvious. There was something about the writing or directing of this show early in the season; I could peg every killer nearly the moment he or she was onscreen, because of the weird shifty thing they did.

Well, that didn't happen in this episode; instead, they dropped the biggest, most obvious clue in the history of procedurals. I kept hoping that it was a red herring, but no. I'm not saying that I didn't enjoy this episode; I loved the twists and turns the case took, but I hated knowing, absolutely knowing, who the killer was, in that different way than just the shifty stuff.

See what we found while investigating the set of 'The Mentalist.'

What do you get when you cross Simon Baker's devastatingly charming smile with a vengeful serial killer on the loose? Ratings gold for CBS, or as you probably know it, 'The Mentalist.'

The biggest (OK, only) breakout hit of the fall TV season, 'The Mentalist' has already garnered the People's Choice Award for "Favorite New TV Drama" and reached heights of close to 20 million viewers -- becoming the only freshman series to top Nielsen's weekly primetime ratings since 'Desperate Housewives' first debuted in 2005.

AOL TV visited the set at Stage 14 of the Warner Bros. lot in L.A. to interview the show's stars Simon Baker, Robin Tunney, Tim Kang, Owain Yeoman and Amanda Righetti and creator Bruno Heller. Keep reading to see what they think makes the show so successful and to find out more about the CBI offices. -- By Maggie Furlong

(S01E14) "There's no business like Cho business." -- Patrick Jane

I'm not quite sure how The Mentalist does it. At the beginning of every episode, I want to think that it's just a typical procedural and that nothing really sets it apart. Usually, it is Simon Baker who wins me over and makes me think differently. However, tonight it was all Cho.

We started off with Cho questioning Walcott about his wife Claire's murder. When the weasel threatens Cho's job if he doesn't give the name of Claire's lover, saying that he can have Cho's job with one phone call, Cho deadpans, "That's impressive. The best I can get with one phone call is a pizza."

As someone who was a regular watcher of The Guardian, it makes me happy to see that the star of that show is coming back to the home screens. Simon Baker will star in the CBS drama The Mentalist. The pilot has been given the go-ahead by the network, which mean Simon could be back on the schedule by next fall (if the show is picked up).

The Mentalist sounds like it should be something like a Kreskin extravaganza, but it's not. Instead it's described as the story of Patrick Jane, a man with heightened skills of observation who uses his talents to solve crimes.