One thing I like about Amazon Prime Video is not how it gives me access to new movies and television shows. I like Amazon Prime Video because it allows me to watch a lot of old movies and television shows. Even though I consumed a lot of media growing up, there were always bound to be some stuff that would fall through the cracks. Case in point: the 2008 detective series, The Mentalist.

As someone who grew up and loves watching detective shows like Castle and Monk, it’s a mystery to me why a show like The Mentalist never entered my viewing rotation. Well, that was pretty easy to fix as Amazon Prime Video has the entire series up for streaming, I did manage to watch all seven season of The Mentalist throughout the year. So, what do I think of this fairly old series?

Before I get to the review proper, I do have to mention that I will be delving into some MINOR SPOILERS from here on out. I won’t be revealing any major plot points nor anything about the cases from the show, especially the central one. But I will be talking about some of the minor storylines the characters go throughout The Mentalist’s seven season run. I mean, this is a pretty old show but there might be some people who’ve never seen it who might want to check it out after reading it. Oh, and I also have to mention that, while this review will have MINOR SPOILERS, be wary about clicking on the links here as they will go to sites which actually reveal some major stuff. So, yeah. MINOR SPOILERS incoming.

The Mentalist follows Patrick Jane, a former con man who used his keen observation skills to fake his being a psychic medium. During a television interview while he was playing this fake psychic, he accidentally taunted a prolific serial killer named Red John. Red John took offense to this and, out of revenge, he went out and murdered Patrick Jane’s family. This leads to Patrick Jane deciding to help the California Bureau of Investigation, or the CBI, who were assigned to tracking Red John in their investigation as well as the other homicide cases they get entangled with. He now uses his observation skills, as well as other skills like hypnosis, pickpocketing, powers of suggestion, ability to tell if a person is lying and general intuition as a former con man to help the CBI crack various cases.

First off, I do have to mention that, while this is technically a detective show, most of the episodes don’t really have Patrick Jane solving the cases with actual evidence. While he may deduce who did the crime, there really isn’t an “aha” moment that allows the viewer to crack the case themselves. Most of the time, Patrick Jane will create a scenario wherein the perpetrator would incriminate themselves, much like a con man running a long con. So, if you’re one of those armchair sleuths, maybe The Mentalist would not be your cup of tea.

There also the problem that the central case, the hunt for Red John, is both a hit and a miss for me. For the first few seasons, it’s mostly in the background and The Mentalist is more like a “case of the week” kind of show. There are a few times when he gets added to the mix but, after a while, it gets put back in the backburner. That all changes around the end of the Fifth season where it becomes the primary focus… and it’s solved in the middle of the Sixth season. I actually liked it when the Red John stuff just peeked around the background because I did enjoy the “case of the week” stuff. When they do figure out who Red John is, things get really convoluted with giant conspiracies and secret groups getting involved. It just seems out of place but, in the end, I do understand why they had to go this way. They had been building up Red John for around four years since then. So, yeah. They did have to go big and go home. I also do think the reveal of who Red John was came off as very anticlimactic.

This also leads to a big change in the status quo after the Red John case is over. Since that was the driving force as to why Patrick Jane joined the CBI in the first place, they needed a new reason for him to still want solving crimes. Well, this leads to the entire show getting revamped with some characters leaving and new characters getting added in. Patrick Jane even moves to the FBI and, by this point, the show doesn’t really feel like The Mentalist and, with a new cast of characters, the character chemistries don’t seem to work as well as the close knit group from the earlier seasons.

Speaking of the cast, I will say Simon Baker does a splendid job of portraying the rather smug (but rightly so) Patrick Jane. Patrick Jane would be annoying if he were in real life as he would treat you like an idiot all the time as he would generally be the smartest person in the room. There’s also the chance he might be trying to manipulate you into doing something he wants you to do. But, at the same time, you would still want to hang around him as he is generally smart and cool and he knows what to say most of the time. Simon Baker manages to pull it off with some deftness.

The rest of the cast during the early seasons, when Patrick Jane was working with the CBI, were also pretty good and the characters were more well defined. The other leading character would be Senior Agent Teresa Lisbon. Played by Robin Tunney, Teresa Lisbon begrudgingly allows Patrick Jane a lot of leeway as his insights does allow her team to have the highest closing rate of the CBI.

The rest of the CBI team do have a lot of good chemistry and they are allowed to work in a few quirks which makes them feel like charming characters. There’s Kimball Cho (played by Tim Kang) who comes off as very stoic and you would think he would follow procedure but generally allows Patrick Jane’s shenanigans. You have Wayne Rigsby (played by Owain Yeoman), who is generally in awe of Patrick Jane’s abilities and kind of admires him as well. Finally, there’s Grace Van Pelt (played by Amanda Righetti), who starts out as a rookie but does become an invaluable member of the team thanks to her skilled use of computers. It was also neat to see them get some side stories themselves to develop over time, such as Kimball Cho revealing how he was formerly in a street gang and Wayne Rigsby and Grace Van Pelt form an on-again/off-again romance.

But, like I said, all of this changes later on when Red John’s identity is figured out and Patrick Jane leaves the CBI. While Teresa Lisbon and Kimball Cho also make the transfer, Wayne Rigsby and Grace Van Pelt are written off to introduce new characters. And I’m sorry, but the new characters just feel less intriguing and magnetic. The chemistry between the entire cast just doesn’t gel well during this time period for me. The cases were still generally good but Patrick Jane’s “long cons” would sometimes get too elaborate to be charming, which is another ding on the later seasons.

Because of the characters and the general lighter tone of the earlier seasons, I will say I enjoyed this part of The Mentalist. During the big ramp up to Red John’s identification, things generally became very serious and, while I appreciate the necessary tone shift, it’s not as fun to watch but, by this time, you are fully invested in Patrick Jane actually getting his revenge. So, it’s still highly watchable by this point. It’s only when they make the shift to the FBI when it feels like The Mentalist jumped the shark and ran out of ideas.

Basically, if you do like charming mystery shows, I still do recommend watching The Mentalist but only until the Red John storyline concludes. It actually seems like a natural ending point. The FBI seasons just felt like the show was just chugging along without a real clear idea of why they were still chugging along. So, if you don’t watch them, you won’t be missing much.

Have you seen The Mentalist? What did you think of the show? Let me know in the comments section below!