TV Ratings: Mentalist 6x09 (1.XII.2013)

THE MENTALIST (10:00-11:00 PM) delivered 9.59m viewers, 2.5/07 in adults 25-54 and 1.7/04 in adults 18-49. THE MENTALIST posted its best adults 25-54 rating since March 17, 2013 and its best adults 18-49 rating since May 13, 2013.

Final broadcast primetime ratings for Sunday, December 1, 2013:

Time	Net	Show	18-49 rating	18-49 Share	Viewers Live+SD (million)
7:00PM	CBS	Football Overrun	8.6	28	28.11
	ABC	America's Funniest Home Videos	1.2	3	6.71
	FOX	Bob's Burgers -R	0.5	1	1.42
7:30PM	NBC	Football Night in America	1.2	3	3.47
	FOX	American Dad -R	1.0	2	2.37
8:00 PM	CBS	60 Minutes	3.9	10	18.09
	NBC	Football Night in America/ Pre-Kick	3.2	9	9.03
	ABC	Once Upon A Time	1.9	5	6.64
	FOX	The Simpsons -R	1.5	4	3.54
8:30PM	NBC	Sunday Night Football (8:30-11PM)	6.2	16	17.75
	FOX	Bob's Burgers	1.6	4	3.39
9:00PM	CBS	The Amazing Race	2.1	4	10.29
	FOX	Family Guy -R	1.7	4	3.48
	ABC	Christmas in Conway (9-11PM)	1.1	3	6.49
9:30PM	FOX	American Dad	1.7	4	3.50
10:00PM	CBS	The Good Wife	1.6	4	10.42
11:00PM	CBS	The Mentalist	1.7	4	9.58

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Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2013 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.

SRC:  http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/

Insider's Blog: My Blue Heaven

What does one do when a goal that has consumed them for so long is finally accomplished? We have followed a character on a journey for five and a half years. What are we left with when the destination is finally reached?

The Mentalist is a story about a man who loses everything, and as a result, needs to find a new purpose in life. That purpose becomes revenge. When revenge is obtained, does this man again find himself without purpose? My favorite moment in the previous episode is a subtle one: Immediately after Red John’s death, Jane stares down at the pistol in his hand. He raises it. There is a short moment of contemplation. What now? What’s left?

What’s fascinating about “My Blue Heaven” is its exploration of that very question. What is left for Jane? It’s rare that a show has the opportunity to drastically redefine itself in a single episode. Simon Baker directed this episode, and he served as a perfect fit due to his proven ability to push our show past its boundaries in exciting and creative ways. As his assistant, I was delighted to be able to carefully observe every step of this episode’s creation. There was no question that the audience would be at a loss for what to expect after the previous episode. Simon and Tom Szentgyorgyi (writer/executive producer) spent a lot of time making sure this episode would properly address this.

In the end, a man without purpose must fall back on what is truly important to him. It becomes clear in this episode that Jane and Lisbon share a deep connection. Whether that connection is strictly friendship or something more, it’s enough to motivate Jane to abandon his paradise. In this episode, Lisbon finds comfort in a small town where the most stress she encounters is dealing with her bumbling assistant (portrayed by some amateur) and the occasional stolen bike. Things, as she says, “are good”.

Jane has his routines.

Yet, there is clearly an emptiness in both characters and an obvious desire to reconnect; a desire for more.

This becomes cemented in a scene beautifully directed and performed by Baker when Jane locks eyes with Roger. A once comical character now serves as a chilling representation of Jane’s future on the island. In this moment, Jane realizes how one's heaven can easily become one's hell. With that, he decides it's time to go home. …

But on his terms. Although we see a napkin covered with Jane’s many terms, we only hear the most important one: Lisbon must be there for him.

"My Blue Heaven" is, in many ways, a necessary departure from the standard structure of our show. It's a recalibration of its central characters. Jane and Lisbon's absence from one another has undoubtedly change them both. Although the more surface level elements of their relationship may still look familiar, it's clear that their relationship has deepened substantially. Ultimately it's an episode about longing and recognizing the need to be around those you love.

Written by

Matt Gossen, Assistant to Simon Baker

SRC: cbs.com/

A game changing episode for The Mentalist (review)

It's not too often that a veteran TV series tries to completely reinvent itself, but that seems to be the case with "The Mentalist," which airs at 9 p.m. Sundays on CBS.

Last week the series ended its long-running Red John serial killer storyline by having main character Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) finally identify (and strangle to death with his bare hands) the man who killed his wife and daughter. I wasn't entirely satisfied with the resolution of that storyline, mainly because the producers didn't bother to answer the many questions about how and why Red John did what he did. Any mystery show worth its salt ought to tell howdunnit as well as whodunnit and The Mentalist didn't do that to my satisfaction.

They did get the character moments right, though. Red John turned out to be Sheriff Thomas McAllister (Xander Berkeley), a character who made his first appearance during the second episode of show's first season. His actions in that episode, which included appearing out of nowhere to offer a young woman a ride, look appropriately creepy in retrospect. McAllister looked creepy in his other appearances on the show as well. When Patrick Jane finally takes his revenge in the episode called "Red John" it happens near the graves of his wife and daughter. Jane straddles Red John and slowly chokes the life out of him, looking both physically and emotionally fulfilled. Then Jane runs off into the sunset, seemingly free at last.

Last night's episode, set two years later, finds Jane living in exile as a beach bum in some unnamed South American country, where the ocean and the sky both look so blue it hurts. Jane does magic tricks for the local kids and has made friends with some of the colorful locals, though they think his Spanish is bad. His former California Bureau of Investigation colleagues have made new lives for themselves too. Kimball Cho (Tim Kang) is now an FBI agent based in Texas; married Agents Wayne Rigsby (Owain Yeoman) and Grace Van Pelt (Amanda Righetti) have left law enforcement and started their own surveillance firm and are the parents of a baby daughter. Agent Teresa Lisbon (Robin Tunney) is a police chief in a small town in Washington state, where it's a big crime when a bike gets stolen. She gives presentations to third graders on what it's like to be a police officer and tries to convince herself she likes the quiet life. Jane has been sneaking letters out to Lisbon using his old carnival pals as a delivery service and she re-reads them during lonely evenings at home.

But things are ripe for a change. FBI Supervisory Agent Dennis Abbott (Rockmond Dunbar) tracks Jane down to his island paradise through those letters he wrote Lisbon and offers him a deal – the murder charges will go away if Jane will come back and work for the FBI. Jane turns him down at first, but reconsiders after he meets a pretty American woman, Kim Fischer (Emily Swallow), and invites her to go dancing on the beach. Jane presents his own list of terms to Abbott, including that he remains a free agent and will get to work with his old colleagues Lisbon and Cho. Too bad for Jane that Kim Fischer also turns out to be an FBI agent, who is assigned to haul him off to detention after he balks at being under supervisory probation for five years.

The show's producer calls this episode a game changer and I definitely see what he means, since it looks like Jane will be solving crimes for the FBI and working with Abbott and Fischer instead of his old CBI friends. It sounds like Rigsby and Van Pelt are being written out of the series altogether and Lisbon and Cho will be around in different roles.

On the plus side, it's nice to see a lighter, happier Jane. The whole Red John storyline was probably past its expiration date. On the minus side, I have my doubts that I will find the new characters Abbott and Fischer nearly as likable as I have the old cast. For one thing, after six seasons it's long past time for the show to deliver something substantive when it comes to the relationship between Jane and Lisbon. I'm not at all interested in watching a love triangle between Jane, Lisbon and the newbie Fischer, though it looks like that's what the producers may have in mind. I also don't think the audience is interested in seeing Jane at the mercy of the no-nonsense Abbott.

SRC: minotdailynews.com/

Patrick Jane’s Terms (capture, 6x09)

MY TERMS:

1. Must work directly with Teresa Lisbon.

2. All criminal charges must be dropped.

3. Transportation must be provided in the form of airstream trailer model number LVB TOH.

4. Adequate supply of tea must be available at all times. Twinings English or Scottish Breakfast. No other brands acceptable.

5. A workplace to my specification must be provided. Couch included.

6. In addition to salary all expenses of employment including but not limited to travel, meals, books and all incidental to be paid for by FBI.

SRC: cbs.com/

Jane's letter to Lisbon (capture, 6x09)

Dear Lisbon,

I hope this finds you well. All’s well here. I have my routines, the weather’s finally turned. It’s a little cooler, far from cold. The ocean’s still warm, and with the warm ocean currents, comes an abundance of sea life. Just yesterday I watched a pod of dolphins play so close to shore I could almost touch them. They’re the things I think you’d enjoy.

??? ... the society. Whoever you ... would be foolish not to ??? you.

I've found a tailor. Chip. A real despot kind of thing ??? explain what i want he doesn't agree and then he does it anyway. Despite his sometimes poor taste, his work is excellent. I think you might be surprised at the look. Maybe one day you'll get to see it. Let's just say I've gone native.

I've been meaning to apologize for leaving you on the beach that night. You being absent is the one thing that made this new chapter strange and sad.

Miss you

- U no hoo

6x09 ‘My Blue Heaven’ delayed due to football; when will it air?

Stop us when this one sounds familiar: The new episode of “The Mentalist” airing on CBS Sunday night has once again been delayed. But how big is the delay that we’re talking about here? Well, let’s just say that it is so late that a good percentage of you are going to have to go to sleep before the end of “My Blue Heaven” airs, at least if you are on the east coast.

It was confirmed after the end of the NFL game this afternoon between the Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos that the game was going to start at around 10:50 p.m. Eastern time, which is a full 50 minutes behind when the show was originally supposed to air. Just in case you were ever wondering why in the world the ratings for the show are down these days, this is why. Not everyone out there among the casual viewer community cares enough to set their DVRs or keep up with new episodes online. This show just has the unfortunate honor of airing later in primetime on average than any other network show this year.

This news of course means that the rest of the CBS Sunday-night lineup, which includes new episodes of “The Good Wife” and “The Amazing Race,” are also delayed a full 50 minutes. This is pretty confusing news for anyone hoping to balance these shows out with those from other networks, and the sad part is that there is still more of the NFL season to go … even if we are starting to hit the home stretch.

Tonight’s episode of “The Mentalist” is still a must-watch, mostly because the show will be launching a brand-new chapter for the Patrick Jane character after the Red John case’s conclusion.

SRC: cartermatt.com/

What is Lisbon up to (at first) in ‘My Blue Heaven’ (6x09, spoiler)

In just one more day, you will have an opportunity to check out “My Blue Heaven,” which you may as well refer to as the second pilot for “The Mentalist” season 6. There are not that many opportunities out there to try to make a good impression, but this is definitely one of them. By the time that this story comes to a close, you should have a better idea of just what Patrick Jane is going to be doing with the FBI and his life; not only that, but we may get a chance to learn more about what he and Lisbon’s relationship will be like moving forward.

But where is Lisbon when the show directly picks back up? Working, but in a very different sort of job than with the CBI. As TVLine notes, she will be serving as the police chief for a small Washington town, which is hardly the sort of high-profile job that she was used to at one point in her police career. When she is not sitting down at her desk, she is probably otherwise falling asleep. It’s far to say that you are not going to be getting too much insanity for her here in comparison to with Jane and the CBI.

But will this change? In time yes, based on the photos that are out there already for the December 8 episode “Green Thumb.” Something is going to cause her to pair up with Lisbon again, and the question to ask yourself right now is just what that something is going to be. Is there a new case for them? What we can say for now is that FBI man Dennis Abbott (Rockmond Dunbar) is going to find himself in a unique position where Jane could be valuable to him and his team, and in turn, Jane may ask to have his old partner back rather than work with someone knew. But even if all of this is true, where does new character Kim Fischer fit into all this? Emily Swallow is a series regular now, and that is something that is definitely worth pondering.

SRC: cartermatt.com/

Lisbon gives a police talk to kids, Jane longs for companionship (6x09 spoilers)

TV Guide Magazine: You directed the next episode, where the show leaps ahead two years. What can you tell us about it?

Baker: It's almost like a pilot for a new show. When we come back after Red John's death, Jane is somewhere in paradise. A large portion of the episode is in Spanish. Cho is now with the FBI. Rigsby and Van Pelt have their own little detective business. And Lisbon is in Washington state working as a chief of police in a podunk kind of town. The episode opens with her talking to grade-school kids about what the police do. I had so much fun with the episode. It was such a reprieve from all the tension this season.

TV Guide Magazine: Any chance of a Jane-Lisbon romance? A lot of fans are dying to see that happen!

Baker: You will see that he really misses Lisbon and is a sad, floundering shadow of a man. He's afraid and just going around and around in circles. He's completely lost his mojo and he's asking himself, "Is this what you want to be? Is this the way you see the rest of your life?" He's offered a chance to go back to work for the F.B.I. and declines because he's trying to move on from that life. The episode has an interesting kind of noir-ish feel to it. Jane had been filled with this deep desire for revenge, which is generated out of self-loathing, right? Take that revenge out of the equation and he's just this guy who is empty. But the episode is also really romantic in a way, because you see how much Jane longs for companionship. You want to know something I've never talked about?

Read more:

Interview with Simon Baker
10 more spoilers (6x09, 6x10)

When are Jane and Lisbon working together again?

Are you looking forward to the big reunion-of-sorts on “The Mentalist” season 6? Well, we can at least tell you now when you will see Jane and Lisbon working together again: The new episode airing a week from Sunday. While it could be during Sunday’s “My Blue Heaven” that they start to spend some time together, they will be back together during the December 8 episode, which has a different sort of color-oriented title in “Green Thumb.”

First of all, we do at least appreciate that the show is trying to do something to show that shows some time has passed. For example, Patrick looks more like a guy who has spent the past year or so on the beach than he ever did while trying to find Red John. He also looks far less comfortable in a suit. The interesting part of this story is going to come from seeing just what his relationship with Lisbon is like now. The last time he communicated with her, it was with a voice message that he left, in which he proclaimed that Red John was dead.

Also, we wonder just what Lisbon has been up to in the last little while, given that whenever she was around Jane over the years, she was basically throwing herself into all sorts of situations involving trouble. There really was not any escape at all from the madness. So what is she going to do now? While there has been plenty of speculation that Jane could be dating the new character of Kim Fischer (Emily Swallow), what may be just as interesting a question now is whether or not she is still on the market. Two years is a pretty long time, and quite a bit can happen in between then and the present.

SRC: cartermatt.com/

The Mentalist 2.0: 10 Things to Know About Señor Jane, Chief Lisbon and Life 'In the Future' (6x09 & 6x10 spoilers)

CBS’ The Mentalist begins a new life this Sunday at 10:30 pm/9:30c — life without you-know-who — and TVLine got a sneak peek at the first two episodes, titled “My Blue Heaven” and “Green Thumb.”

As previously reported, the action picks up two years after the events of last week’s episode, with Jane now in a very different place, spiritually and geographically — and with a new woman about to enter his life. Lisbon, Van Pelt, Rigsby and Cho also followed new paths in the wake of the CBI’s disbandment, while the FBI isn’t done just yet trying to get their hands on ol’ whatshisname’s killer.

All told, here are 10 teases from The Mentalist‘s upcoming episodes.

1. Laying low on an island where, he says, only one other person speaks English, Jane’s Spanish is atrocious — as is his choice in breakfast beverage — the locals privately snark. That said, he does look out for his neighbors’ best interests, especially in the wake of a horrible killing.
2. New series regular Emily Swallow (of TNT’s Monday Mornings) makes her debut this Sunday as Kim, a vacationer who catches Jane’s eye — even if she is reading a murder mystery (gah!) when they first meet. Kim also makes a very nice cup of tea; it’s up to you to decide if I mean that as a euphemism.
3. Lisbon for the past 18 months has been keeping “busy” as the police chief of a small Washington burg, where she hunts down… bicycle thieves and such. At night, she is known to catch up with private security firm owners Rigsby and Van Pelt, or curl up on the sofa with some wine and [spoiler].
4. Cho? As full of bubbly personality as ever.
5. FBI Special Agent Abbott (new series regular Rockmond Dunbar), even two years later, is anxious to once and for all track down Jane — and for a very specific reason.
6. In the Dec. 8 episode, Azita Ghanizada — formerly of Syfy’s Alphas — plays a woman named Defiance, which amused me. Alphas. Defiance. All that’s missing is a warehouse numbered 13.
7. Things are quite hairy My Blue Heavenin the future. Jane’s beard. Lisbon’s longer locks (when not stowed away in police chief mode). Van Pelt’s bangs.
8. Jane’s wedding ring and whether or not he still wears it is at one point a conversation topic.
9. A loose thread from the Red John storyline at one point resurfaces. That said (as Simon Baker previously indicated), the words “Red John” are not once uttered — though the serial killer is referred to.
10. At the close of the second episode, Lisbon surprises Jane with something.

SRC: tvline.com/

5 things to look for in 'My Blue Heaven'

Even before "The Mentalist" comes on screen Sunday (Dec. 1), you may notice something different about the show.

All but a handful of the CBS show's 124 previous episode titles have made some reference to the color red -- either variations on the color itself or things (roses, blood) that are red. Now that Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) has finished his quest to find and kill Red John, however, creator Bruno Heller says he's "very happy" about leaving "Red" out of episode titles.

He's sticking with the color theme, though -- Sunday's episode is called "My Blue Heaven," and the one that follows it is called "Green Thumb."

Here's more of what you can expect to see in "My Blue Heaven," which Baker also directed.

There's a time jump. The story picks up two years after the events of "Red John." The Red John-Blake Association scandal that took down the CBI has scattered the show's regulars. But don't worry ...

Where are they now? The episode -- perhaps the least crime-solvingest one in "Mentalist" history -- spends most of its time with Jane, who has built a quiet, if somewhat lonely, life on an island south of the border. But we also catch up with Lisbon (Robin Tunney), who's now a small-town police chief, and Cho (Tim Kang), also still in law enforcement. Van Pelt (Amanda Righetti) and Rigsby (Owain Yeoman), however, have moved into the private sector with their own security company.

New girl. Jane's solitude is broken up some with the arrival of Kim Fischer (new cast member Emily Swallow), who gives him some much-needed conversation (in English; however long he's spent in exile, his Spanish still is pretty weak) and companionship.

Gone but not forgotten. Two years down the road, though, Jane is still a fugitive, and FBI Agent Dennis Abbott (Rockmond Dunbar) is still looking for him. He goes to see Lisbon to see if they've been in touch, and maybe finds a clue there.

Jane can't help it. Though he's out of the crime-fighting business, Jane can't help but try to right injustice when he sees it. So when he has a run-in with a local drug dealer, it ends up being bad news for the dealer.

"The Mentalist" airs at 10:30 p.m. ET Sunday on CBS. The network has an NFL double-header Sunday that may cut into primetime, so the start time is approximate. 

SRC: blog.zap2it.com/

'The Mentalist' ready to leave Red John behind (Preview)

This past Sunday's episode of CBS's "The Mentalist" rocked the show's premise with the revelation of the identity of Red John and more (warning: spoilers from the Nov. 24 episode ahead).

It turned out that Red John was not Patrick Jane's boss, CBI director Gale Bertram (Michael Gaston), but instead it was Thomas McAllister (Xander Berkeley). And by the end of Sunday's episode, Jane (Simon Baker, "The Guardian") had killed Red John with his bare hands.

"It was a real pleasing emotional closer to that story," said "Mentalist" executive producer Bruno Heller in a teleconference with reporters last week. "For me it was giving Patrick Jane exactly what he had hunted for all these years. I didn't think it was a moment for cleverness or moral ambivalence. He wanted revenge, and he got it."

Mr. Heller said there was no definitive identity to Red John at the beginning of the series, but McAllister emerged as the leading contender over time. As to the timing of this revelation, Mr. Heller said "it just seemed like, from a story-telling point of view and an audience point of view, it was time to move the story forward, and the best way to move it forward in a way that's exciting to the audience is to move forward much faster than they think."

Don't expect the show to go back and explain how Red John did everything he did over the years; Mr. Heller said it's time to move on. But how?

"Jane is a tragic figure who's gotten his heart's desire, the evil grail he's been chasing all these years," Mr. Heller said. "What does that do to him as a person? Can he begin a new life, and what kind of life does he want for himself and how will he define himself now that that part of his life is over?"

This week's episode (10:30 p.m. Sunday, KDKA-TV) picks up the story two years later.

At some point the show will return to a case-of-the-week format, although the CBI set has been torn down ("Yes, we'll be returning eventually to crime solving but not necessarily the same kind of crime solving"). With the Red John story done, could this be the last season of "The Mentalist"? It certainly seems like the end could be near.

"Tomorrow is never a given in this business," Mr. Heller said, noting that he'll be writing toward a season finale and not necessarily a series finale to air in May. "In a very real sense Jane is a happier person and a weight has been taken off his shoulders, and a weight has been taken off the show. It's gonna be the same show to some degree, but it's gonna be a show with less darkness at the edges and more freedom to roam."

First, of course, there will be ramifications for Jane killing Red John.

"When Red John dies, a large part of Jane dies in that moment as well," said Mr. Baker. "I think it takes a little time for him to get back on his feet again. He doesn't have a wife and kids. He doesn't have relationships with anyone other than the people he worked with at CBI and this perverse relationship with Red John. Now that that's over, he doesn't have a lot other than the CBI people."

SRC: post-gazette.com/

6x09 "My Blue Heaven" (CTV Promo)

6x09: Patrick Jane Meets NEW Series Regular In Post-Red John World (spoiler, snak peek)

Two years after killing Red John, The Mentalist's Patrick Jane is secretly living south of the boarder, seemingly content until Kim Fischer comes into his life.

A new sneak peek clip from this week's upcoming episode, "My Blue Heaven," shows Jane (Simon Baker) meeting Fischer (Emily Swallow) for the first time at a local restaurant (see video below). While recent previews suggest that the pair will enjoy each others company, Jane should treed lightly since Fischer is actually and FBI agent.

With the FBI still pursuing the faux psychic for his murder of his serial killer nemesis, Fischer could be poised to bring him in and somehow set him back on the path of crime solving.

"When you're as good a detective as Jane is, it's very hard to walk away even when you want to walk away," said series creator Bruno Heller, according to TV Line. "Some people won't let Jane walk away from what he's so good at. And our new female lead has something to do with that."

However, it does sound like FBI Agent Dennis Abbott (Rockmond Dunbar) will get his chance to arrest Jane.

"You can't go around killing people willy-nilly without some sort of ramification," Heller told TV Line. "Jane is going to be in a position where his personal desires are not the point.... What he does in the future is not going to be entirely up to himself."



SRC: enstarz.com/

6x09 "My Blue Heaven" (Sneak Peek, video, spoiler)

'Mentalist' actress talks big Red John reveal (Amanda Righetti, video interview)

SRC: www.usatoday.com/

Will ‘Fugitive’ Patrick Jane Find Out if Red John Was Really Psychic?

After the ‘Red John’ episode of The Mentalist, Patrick Jane is now a wanted man. But that doesn’t stop him from rebuilding his life. As the CBS drama jumps two years into the future, the FBI's Dennis Abbott (Rockmond Dunbar) is still looking for the man who killed Red John, reports Enstars.

Although Jane (Simon Baker) is now secreted away in a South American country, series creator Bruno Heller tells TV Line that, not only will the faux psychic have to face the consequences of his crime, but the fate of his future is largely out of his hands.

However, Jane will still get to experience life free of the burden of finding his family's killer.

"In a very real sense, he's a happier person; a weight has been taken off his shoulders. In that way, a weight has been taken off the show," Heller told Entertainment Weekly. "So it's going to be the same show, to some degree, but a show with less darkness at the edges, and more freedom to roam. Jane has more freedom and a sense of possibility and liberty."

While the show won't be mentioning Red John anytime soon, there is one bit of the story that Heller may choose to revisit. Was Thomas McAllister (Xander Berkeley) really a psychic or was he given the names of Jane's Red John suspects via a mole from Jane's trusted companions?

Heller will leave "that thread dangling," according to TV Line.

When The Mentalist returns next Sunday with "My Blue Heaven," expect to see the former CBI team scattered while Jane buddies up with a new woman (a romantic angle in the works?)

SRC: ibtimes.co.uk/

6x09 - My Blue Heaven (Promotional Photos)

SRC: spoilertv.com/

Is Jane’s post-Red John future without punishment? (6.09, spoilers)

Of course, we start this story all about “The Mentalist” out with a pretty substantial warning: If you want to avoid spoilers about the end of the Red John case, stop reading now.

The dust has settled now on the case, and the stunning information has been revealed that the guilty party was none other than Sheriff Thomas McAllister. We don’t quite know all of the details surrounding the why or the motivations behind all of his moves, but we suspect that it was never really the point to know every little detail about the move. The point here feels a little more like it was meant to be this powerful moment where Patrick Jane kills the man responsible for murdering his family with his own hands. It was a simple, but realistic chase, and there was almost a sense even in Red John’s face that he knew that this showdown was meant to be the end and that he had done all he could do.

While there are all sorts of questions that we could ask about Jane’s future, and the promo for Sunday’s “My Blue Heaven” gives some of that away, what we are most curious about now is how in the world is Jane going to be able to now go and continue living his life? This is a man who just killed somebody, and while he was killing a killer, revenge is still frowned upon. Jane’s also not Dexter Morgan, a man without emotion. As creator Bruno Heller notes in an interview with TVLine, this is a deed that will be have repercussions in some form moving forward:

“You can’t go around killing people willy-nilly without some sort of ramification. Jane is going to be in a position where his personal desires are not the point…. What he does in the future is not going to be entirely up to himself.”

What we could see from him presumably is a situation, similar in a way to “White Collar,” where he helps to work in order to secure his freedom; or, he may choose to stay away from places where he could be arrested. With the two-year time jump coming, the character and the show have a little bit of a clean slate to try out some new stuff.

Simon Baker Breaks Down the End of Red John and The Mentalist's Future

[Warning: The following story contains major spoilers from Sunday's episode of The Mentalist. Read at your own risk.]

Be careful what you wish for. The Mentalist's Patrick Jane finally got his revenge on the man who slaughtered his wife and daughter - the sardonic, William Blake spouting serial killer Red John. But now what? TV Guide Magazine had a chat with Simon Baker, who plays the crime-busting Jane, about where the show and his character will go from here. Will Red John's death really help Jane deal with his grief? Can he move on with his life and maybe even find love again?

TV Guide Magazine: This feels like the end of an era! Was the audience ready for closure on the Red John saga? Baker: The end of Red John is a moment the fans wanted to see, but for many different reasons. Some just want it to be over. They're, like, "Enough, already!" Some really want to see Patrick heal and get on with things. And some just like it a lot more when The Mentalist does crime-of-the-week. What's great is that we're able to make this choice for the right reasons - not out of desperation or some last-ditch effort to avoid cancellation. A lot of times you get that call from the network saying, "We're pulling the pin," and then it's a scramble to wrap things up. Here we can give the audience that has been with us for so long some real gratification and then move the show in a cool new direction. We're not letting go of that part of the franchise where Jane solves crimes. We'll just be doing it differently.

TV Guide Magazine: So no qualms about this? After all, the hunt for Red John has been the main focus of the series. It's what put the fire in Patrick's belly. Baker: You feel an incredible intensity when, in one fell swoop, you're killing the arch nemesis of your series and, in a way, the series itself. In order to reboot this show, we have to kill off its most important element - Patrick Jane's very reason for being - and that's risky. The adrenalin was strange. After we shot Red John's death, we all took a collective moment, had a glass of champagne and marked it, because the event was so huge.

TV Guide Magazine: His death came in such a low-key way - no spectacle, no sirens, no hovering helicopters, no CBI team. Just Jane and Red John. Talk about that choice.Baker: It just had to be the two of them. It was almost like a love scene, as perverse as that sounds. The end of Red John was originally planned to take place at night on the street with people watching, but I pushed to do it in a quiet, beautiful place where they could be alone. There is no human act more intimate - not even sex - than killing another human being with your bare hands and watching him die. It is really subversive for a network series. The risk is huge.

TV Guide Magazine: Before the script came in, did you think Jane had the stomach for this? Baker: I don't think even he thought he had the stomach for it but there was just so much momentum built up that he had to go through with it and choke the guy to death. It was a hard thing for Jane to do but there was also some weird sort of release in it. I didn't know how that scene was going to go until I actually shot it. It was really full on.

TV Guide Magazine: Did Red John have a death wish? Did he realize he just couldn't beat Jane? |Baker: No, I don't think so. It was more like delusions of grandeur. It was not enough for Red John to kill Jane's family. He desperately wanted a relationship with Jane - to the point where he exposed himself and put himself in jeopardy. 

TV Guide Magazine: What does this gruesome triumph do for Jane? Often when we get what we want, we find out it's not what we wanted at all.Baker: "Protect me from what I want!" My wife has that saying on a little plaque in our kitchen. That's the catchphrase I took to [series creator] Bruno Heller and said, "This is what we have to do as the show moves forward. We have to deal with the comedown, the disappointment, the loss of focus." It's that meandering feeling you get after you've achieved the very thing that's driven you for years. Okay, you got what you wanted. What now?

TV Guide Magazine: You directed the next episode, where the show leaps ahead two years. What can you tell us about it?Baker: It's almost like a pilot for a new show. When we come back after Red John's death, Jane is somewhere in paradise. A large portion of the episode is in Spanish. Cho is now with the FBI. Rigsby and Van Pelt have their own little detective business. And Lisbon is in Washington state working as a chief of police in a podunk kind of town. The episode opens with her talking to grade-school kids about what the police do. I had so much fun with the episode. It was such a reprieve from all the tension this season.

TV Guide Magazine: Any chance of a Jane-Lisbon romance? A lot of fans are dying to see that happen!Baker: You will see that he really misses Lisbon and is a sad, floundering shadow of a man. He's afraid and just going around and around in circles. He's completely lost his mojo and he's asking himself, "Is this what you want to be? Is this the way you see the rest of your life?" He's offered a chance to go back to work for the F.B.I. and declines because he's trying to move on from that life. The episode has an interesting kind of noir-ish feel to it. Jane had been filled with this deep desire for revenge, which is generated out of self-loathing, right? Take that revenge out of the equation and he's just this guy who is empty. But the episode is also really romantic in a way, because you see how much Jane longs for companionship. You want to know something I've never talked about?

TV Guide Magazine: Hell, yeah!Baker: All those times we heard the voice of Red John? That was me.

TV Guide Magazine: Seriously?Baker: Yes! In the Season 2 finale, when Jane was captured and Red John did that "Tyger, Tyger" thing with the mask on? That was me. I played both characters in that scene.

TV Guide Magazine: Wow. That's especially trippy considering there was a major theory going around that Jane was Red John. So in a way that turned out to be true!Baker: That was the reason I did that. There was a point where Bruno was saying, "We don't know who we're going to cast to play [the masked Red John]." I said, "Don't cast anyone! I'll do it." Bruno was, like, "I love it! I love it!" So I put on a mask and did that funny, wispy little voice. And for seasons after, whenever Red John spoke, I had to go record the voice.

TV Guide Magazine: Love it! So you're feeling good about the future?Baker: I am! We're going to have some fun putting Jane into an entirely different work environment. He'll not only find his spark again - he'll have a whole lot of new people to rub the wrong way! I think we have a lot more miles to go. But you know what? We've had great times. I've invested so much of myself in this show and developed relationships with people I've genuinely come to love. It's been really, really fantastic - so much so that, if the thing finished tomorrow, I would walk away happy. I would walk away proud.

SRC: the-leader.com/