The Mentalist Round Table: "The Red Tattoo"

at .

The Mentalist presented Patrick Jane with his latest clue to Red John's identity this Sunday. It was "The Red Tattoo."

Below, TV Fanatic Christine Orlando is joined by The Mentalist fans Kate and Katie as they decide if Ray Haffner has serial killer potential and why Cho is so unlucky in love.

Join in the debate and discussion now...

----------------------------------

----------------------------------

----------------------------------
Ray Haffner. Creepy jerk or Red John? And who is your top suspect now?

Kate: Honestly, I have no idea who Red John is at this point and give huge kudos to Bruno Heller and the writers for this. For me it is fruitless to guess as they could make any one of them Red John. I would really rather have an aha moment at the Big Reveal. Having said that, Haffner remains a credible Red John and is in my top 3 with Bertram and Stiles. He is certainly confident and menacing enough. And Reed Diamond? Fantastic in this episode.

Katie: Ray Haffner is definitely a creepy jerk, but I'm not sure he has what it takes to lead the people. I have a strong feeling that he is working for Red John, but I don't think he is Red John. My new suspect is Bret Stiles, just because he has a cult and has what it takes to get people to believe and follow insane things.

Christine: I love the actor, Reed Diamond and Haffner's been at the top of my list for a while, but after this episode he just felt like a creepy jerk.  Suddenly I'm liking Reede Smith as Red John. Something about the way he sneered at Kirkland and told him that Tiger, Tiger even let a low level guy like him in made him sound like a plausible suspect to me.

Would you like to see Cho have a real love interest?

Kate: Our man Cho has been unlucky in love so I would not deny him finding someone. However, my interest in characters' love lives lies elsewhere. You know who I am talking about Bruno & Co. As an aside, I thought Cho was remarkably unfazed by the revelation that Kira was playing him. What a guy.

Katie: Of course! I was really bummed that the girl had come just to plant a bug. Cho needs a lady in his life! I think he is secretly jealous of the happiness Rigsby has with Van Pelt, because he wants to feel that happiness too!

Christine: The guy just can't catch a break when it comes to romance. I hated that Kira was just using him to get information yet I was still hoping she could be a real love interest at some point. Cho really could use a personal life and although I don't want it to take over the show I'd love to see a little time devoted to it.

How should Jane get the men on the list to remove their shirts?

Kate: Well, we've all seen the preview for next week so it looks like that cat is out of the proverbial bag and Jane is willing to go to extremes to get the suspects to bare arms. It would be less sensational, but I wonder why he wouldn't simply bring all suspects in to the CBI and ask them to roll up their sleeves. Anyone who refuses would likely be the guy. Don't know the civil liberties/reasonable and probable grounds rules around that.

Katie: He should get them to take off their shirts in some sort of trick. I mean if he outright asked them to take them off, Red John would suspect something. It ought to be interesting to see how he does it.

Christine: Group sauna? Beach vacation? Free massages?  So many ways to go, most very funny. In reality I can't even imagine how this will all play out.

Visualize has played such a pivotal role in the Red John story. Do you think the CBI should send someone in undercover and if so who?
 
Kate:
I really don't have a sense where Visualize fits into the larger story and I don't know what CBI would hope to accomplish by sending someone in undercover now. Events are moving too quickly, they have bigger (Red John) fish to fry and putting someone on the inside at Visualize at this point would not pay off for a long time, so I would say no. (Maybe someone is there already ... ).

Katie: Visualize is creepy. They've been around for so long, I think that it makes sense that Red John will come from Visualize. It may be bad though, to send someone in. I feel like every time the team tries to one up Red John, it comes back and bites them in the butt.

Christine: I was really hoping they'd send Grace in on an undercover mission to infiltrate the cult. It could make quite a compelling story?

What was your favorite scene from this episode of The Mentalist Season 6?
 
Kate:
There were so many great scenes: Jane and Cho ("the plot thickens”), the Lisbon-Van Pelt-Haffner exchange at the hotel, Cho (priceless) and Rigsby in the park, the dash to Kira Tinsley's house (inTENSE, but I have to go with Jane and Haffner verbally sparring as they left the crime scene. Haffner's comeuppance line followed by “you're a worse psychic than you were a cop" did it for me. But, hey, what was that hand on Jane's shoulder action by Haffner? Creepy.

Katie: My favorite scenes were the creepy encounters Lisbon kept having with Haffner. I really felt like they allowed us a better look into Haffner's character.

Christine: I loved Jane and Haffner's verbal sparring. It's like Haffner just kept looking for a way to rattle Jane but he never let it happen. I do look forward to seeing more of these two together in the future.

C. Orlando was a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.

Show Comments
Tags: ,

The Mentalist Quotes

Lisbon: How are the kids?
Rigsby: Sticky mostly.

Jane: You look marginally rested.
Lisbon: I was hoping to actually get to REM sleep tonight.