The Mentalist Poker Scene
- Ep.7- Little Yellow House.
- The fifth season of the CBS police procedural series The Mentalist premiered on September 30, 2012. As of this season, The Mentalist was scheduled to air on Sundays at 10:00 pm ET. The fourth, eighth and nineteenth episode of this season aired at 11:00 pm ET. The season finale aired on May 5, 2013.
- Players on the Move Mr. Back-to-Back (Ryan Skluzak), The Mentalist (Ahmed Taleb), & The Hunter (Mike Englert), three recreational poker players making waves.
During the scene in the casino where Matt Etienne says, 'Yes and we're really wondering what your secret is' you can clearly see his hand on Jane's right shoulder but when Jane says 'There's no secret, I'm memorizing the cards' it goes to another angle and his hand isn't on his right shoulder anymore.
With
Throughout the series, fans have created theory’s involving Jane being Red John, or his partner Agent Lisbon. Series creator, Bruno Heller has said that Red John is one of the seven listed, meaning neither Jane nor Lisbon are the culprit. Now it’s time to determine who, out of the seven, could be Red John.
7. Reede Smith
Possibly the most surprising name on the list, Reede Smith was introduced in the season five premiere. Since then, he hasn’t appeared in any other episodes. His poor temper, especially towards Jane, makes him a likely suspect. His first name, Reede, is also very similar to ‘red’.
Smith didn’t make much of an impact in his only episode and didn’t leave many clues to if he was Red John. He also didn’t leave many clues to disprove the fact, either. Though, he doesn’t seem like someone that can control their anger well, which would make him unlikely for Red John. He will most likely be the first name crossed off the list.
Chances of being Red John: 40%
6. Gale Bertram
This name didn’t come to much of a surprise. As head of the California Bureau of Investigation, Gale Bertram seems to love power, and winning. Red John has bragged about constantly being one step ahead of Jane and Bertram has been seen as overly invested in casual games of poker. He has never been fond of Patrick Jane, to the point where he tried to prosecute Jane to the full extent after Jane murdered a man believed to be Red John.
Despite this, Bertram has never indicated that he is highly intelligent and he appears to fear Jane, which would seem unreasonable if Bertram was Jane’s arch-nemesis. The fear lies mostly in the fact that Jane does whatever he wants, without care for the consequences. This is likely a fear the Red John does not share. His late introduction, like many on the list, also brings doubt to the possibility of them being Red John.
Chances of being Red John: 45%
5. Sheriff Thomas McAllister
This is also a surprising name as McAllister only appeared in one episode. Like Reede Smith, there is very little to prove, or disprove, that the sheriff is Red John. It has been confirmed that Sheriff McAllister will return for season six, which might mean that he will be disproved as Red John or the character will be given a larger role.
The biggest problem with him being Red John is his age. Red John is most likely between the age of 35 to 50. Xander Berekley, who plays McAllister, is 57, but he does look older.
Chances of being Red John: 50%
4. Bret Stiles
Being the leader of the cult, Visualize, his relationship with Patrick Jane has been rocky. Bret Stiles has been able to brainwash a large community of people and his intelligence matches Jane. In many ways, he is just like Red John. They both like Jane, but are no where near friends, and Stiles has gathered followers in a way similar to Red John’s disciples.
There are a few issues with Stiles, though, his heightened age being the most prominent. It’s hard to imagine a man closing in on 70 years being able to murder the amount of people that he did. One could argue that he receives help from his followers, but a rebuttal would be that Jane would easily find discrepancies between the crime scenes if that were the case. While suspected by Jane since their first meeting, he has doubted Stiles brutality. In one episode, Jane said that Stiles “wouldn’t hurt a fly”.
Chances of being Red John: 60%
3. Ray Haffner
First introduced in the episode Little Red Book, we, the audience, are immediately led to dislike Ray Haffner. In his next appearance, we not only find out that he is a member of Visualize, but he might have been at the camp where the first Red Smiley was painted. These two facts, along with his age, make it likely that he is in someway connected to Red John.
There isn’t much to say that could disprove the fact that he might be Red John, but this has led to fan speculation that he is just a red herring. The only trait against him is that he appears far too strong, which differs from what characters who have met Red John have claimed about him. It would make sense for him to be a red herring because he fits all the requirements to be Red John a little too perfectly.
Chances of being Red John: 70%
2. Robert Kirkland
Robert Kirkland, since his introduction, has been working in the shadows to destroy Patrick Jane. Kirkland has performed ruthless acts to find out just how far Jane is to solving the mystery of Red John. This means that Kirkland is either close to Red John or he is Red John.
The biggest argument against him being Red John is that Lorelei Martins, the one who told Jane that he had met Red John, was in prison when the two men met. His late addition into the series could also mean that he too is just a red herring, meant to draw the audience’s attention while one of the other candidates float by undetected. Oddly enough, extras resembling Kirkland have been spotted since the first season, but that is most likely just a coincidence.
Chances of being Red John: 75%
1. Brett Partridge
Introduced in the pilot, Brett Partridge has appeared throughout the series as a forensic investigator. It’s hard to imagine Bruno Heller would keep writing the character into episodes if he wasn’t Red John. People have spent a lot of time looking for ways to prove he is the dreaded serial killer.
First, in the episode The Red Sky of Morning, Red John recites a poem to Jane. Comparing the two men’s voices, Partridge and Red John, leads one to notice similarities in tone. Red John’s voice is muffled, but it is still a close match. The character Rosalind Harker described Red John as a normal looking man, neither strong nor weak, with straight hair. That matches Partridge for the most part.
One might argue that due to the amount of interaction with Partridge, Jane would have been able to figure out if he were really the murderer of Jane’s wife and daughter. While this might be true, Red John is a master showman, and this could be merely an act. Ms. Martins also said that she was surprised that Jane and Red John didn’t become fast friends when they first met. In the pilot, the two men bicker because Partridge argues that the crime scene is the result of Red John. The bickering has continued, but the two have always remained relatively civil towards one another.
Chances of being Red John: 85%
Out of the seven, Haffner, Kirkland and Partridge seem to be the likely suspects due to their personal relationships with Jane and how they act around him. Bruno Heller has said that the sixth season will be like a chase, with Jane searching for Red John. This leads one to suspect that the list might be cut down to half by the season’s end. One can only anticipate that Red John will be reveal sometime around season seven, making it one of the longer mysteries in TV history.
What do you think? Leave a comment.
Dr. Linus Wagner: Everything you told me, Mr. Jane, is total fiction, isn't it?
In 'Days of Wine and Roses' Patrick Jane finds it takes a thief to catch a thief and an addict to know an addict. Charlie Coates, a model in rehab, is murdered in a park in the Tenderloin district of San Fran and the CBI claims jurisdiction in the case, apparently no longer needing convoluted reasoning to justify its actions. Jane quickly deduces the model was going to see her lover because 'she shaved her legs.' Jane spots a drunk playing chess who is drinking Ehrich Single Malt Scotch, quickly deducing the drunk couldn't afford such a rich beverage and obviously took the model's wallet to pay for it. The trail leads to the Oasis Ranch and Jane eventually tricks the murderer, a therapist who stole the ruby necklace that Charlie stole from her parents to pay off her own addiction debts, into revealing herself. In the meantime 'Lisbuns' continues her fight to bring down Tommy Volker, a psychopath international businessman who is drunk with power.
What's in a Burning Name?
PHOENIX BELL, not to be confused with FiFi Nix in 'Ruby Slippers,' was attempting to raise himself from the ashes of his addict life; CHARLIE COX 'charcoal ties' - sought forgiveness from her parents but was burned by the therapist she trusted. Got 'MILK' ? 'Lisbuns' tries her luck at the Big Shot Poker Game to get a search warrant for Mr. Milk, Voelker's hired gun, but craps out when someone burned Milk, who was found murdered next to the train track crossing, a dangerous intersection.
What is the point Bruno makes in yet another episode alluding to dreams within dreams, crossing dangerous intersections, boozing and fire-y drive-by endings? As several of The Mentalist episodes are homages to famous films, let's not overlook the obvious: 'Days of Wine and Roses' is a drama illustrating how the unquenchable lure of alcohol can supersede even love, and how marital communication cannot exist in a house divided by one-sided boozing.
RED LIGHT
Perhaps it is the story of Jane's life. Jane appears to be a Sherlock Homes super-sleuth character, but in reality is a mental patient with a cracked eggshell who suffers from paranoid delusions due to feelings of extreme guilt in the deaths of his wife and child who were burned as he was (CBI = intensive burn care?) in a horrific car accident involving a driver named Tanner when he failed to stop at a BLINKING RED LIGHT CROSSING AN INTERSECTION, hence the RJ symbol, while he was driving intoxicated (Patrick Jane anagram is 'Captain Jerk') and spends his days watching TV shows, which generate his ideas for the delusional episodes. Note: Jane's eggshell blue car - a vintage 1972 Citroen DS 20 that Warner Bros., producer of 'The Mentalist' for CBS, had in its inventory. It was used in the 2008 movie 'Speed Racer.' For 'The Mentalist,' the car was shipped from Germany and painted eggshell blue (it was originally red).
Burning Clues:Jane burns his Red John files with a bottle of booze. 'The Mentalist' is obsessed with fire, as in half the episodes it plays a significant plot point. Out of the Frye-ing pan into the... As Kristina Frye discovered, when you get too close to Red John, you get burned. 'Tiger, Tiger burning bright, they were 'Au-burned.' In the 'Red Mile' episode Jane arrives at a crime scene outside Auburn, California. Shouts from Alabama football fans of 'Roll Tide' first appeared during the Alabama-Auburn Tiger IRON BOWL game in 1907. Curiously, a corpse was found in a burned car in 'Ruby Slippers,' in which Jane discovers the identity of Fifi Nix, like Jane's Phoenix, has risen from the ashes of his past life. In 'Red Dawn' Jane is given a desk next to a fire extinguisher that is there, then it's gone, then it's there again. Fake Red John read all about it - catch the fire-y headline on the front page of the newspaper Tim Carter was reading before Jane shot him. Red John appeared to Jane in the burn mask. Jane: It's not my fire.
Total Fictional Recall: Red John is Patrick Jane's imaginary evil twin, his 'perfect symmetry' alter-ego (Jane/John)Professor Moriarty character in a Tommy Westphall' imaginary world like 'St. Elsewhere's' snow globe and 'Life on Mars' that is the dream state of Jane. NB. The fake Jane character in 'Red Moon' where a corpse was found in a burned car was named Ellis Mars (El - He is Mars).
The Mentalist Poker Scene List
Ellis Mars
The Mentalist Episodes
:The mind is a powerful weapon. It can create reality.Who's a Lyin'? Jane or Mar-tinsS
Jane: Perhaps we can see each other again.
Lorelei: That’s not up to me.
Jane: Oh, you have no say in it?
Lorelei: None at all. It’s very 'Westphall.'
Jane: I don’t follow you.
Lorelei: I do what Red John tells me to do.
Red Face to Face
Mentalist in a Box
Drink Scotch Whiskey all night long and die behind the wheel
The Man with Two Names -- Red John's alias is ROY Tagliaferro (read: 'cut iron'). The ROY CUT IRON anagrams are 'court irony' and 'you r citron.' How ironic that Jane, the court jester who arrives at the crime scene in his Citroen, a master reader of how others' emotions control them and our need to let go of the past, was a prisoner of his IRON-ic chains to the past. Until Jane leaves his OLD LIFE BEHIND, The Mentalist is on the mental list, a prisoner of his own device.
Jane: Lisbuns, I like Lemmon with my tea when I READ John's 'SEVEN' Come 11
'Dragon Star' (2014) Logline: Code-cracking prodigy tracks a serial killer who returns after seven years to terrorize his hometown. Tagline: You can go Holmes again. The second greatest story ever told DRAGON_STAR_-_Final[1]
'DIVE'Logline: An American naval officer is forced to pilot a Colombian cartel submarine loaded with cocaine into San Diego harbor. But there's something else on board. Tagline: Sub-text: Hidden between the lines.
'COLUMBIA ROADS'Logline: US embassy investigator discovers prophecy that threatens civil war in the US. Tagline: All Roads lead to Columbia. Download -COLUMBIA ROADS-
“FACESPACE”Logline
: CIA Deep Throat recruits a conspiracy writer to stop a mind control op using social networks. Tagline: Who is like FACESPACE and who can defeat it? Download FACESPACE 7-21'SPYDER AND THE FLY'Logline: A black op team gets caught in its web of deceit. Tagline: 'Come into my parlor said the Spyder to the Fly, but who was the Spyder and Who was the Fly?'
'THE 11 O'CLOCK NEWS'Logline: Two bloggers, Richie Scalia and John Scott, get in way-over-their-head trouble. Tagline: Hindsight is 2021
