The Mentalist - Copper Bullet

Hello again! The theme of this episode is TEAM - Team work, Team bonding, Team love. From the classic old CBI trio teamed up together to the great FBI family fun out there. Holy Cannoli, my Team Feels bursting like a wild grenade. My heart.

The episode was also a perfect set up plot line for the Finale - Jane's ring was brought up, Jane's fear readdressed for Jane and Lisbon's future direction, Cho and the FBI future. Everything's perfect except one thing that kind of disturbed me a little. Just a small bit of line which I thought was silly and unrealistic but of course the overall awesomeness of the episode outweigh this issue. I'll touch on to this in the last paragraph.

Jane was immediately on board to saving his boss' career and life. I feel that beneath the strange chemistry this two have with one another, Jane may consciously / subconsciously felt slightly indebted to the guy. Afterall, it was Abbott who rescued him from some lonely beach heaven, gave him a new home, reunited him with his girl and then lastly, it was his car who helped him chase the girl out of da plane before he almost lost everything. Abbott also gave Jane the nudge into stop lying to himself and not be caught in his own lie. So I'd say Abbott had indirectly contributed into saving Jane's life, hence in return the full strength of initiative there into saving the BFF boss' life - captain Jane. 

"We are forever in your debt" - No Dennis, you guys are equal now (in a way). Jabbott For Live. 

Plus, the amount of trust Abbott put on Jane was a.m.a.z.i.n.g! He does have 100% faith on the guy.

It was so nice to see Jane reunited with his almost immediate "family member". I figured Pete and Sam were his closest one after his family. Hang on, Alex Jane, why did you disappear into thin air for no reason?! Anyway, Jane was so happy to meet them. Its heart warming. He even confided in them about his relationship. He knew they liked Pepper. He needed the reassurance, the support, the approval that he's doing the right thing. And they did. Just like Stan and Jimmy approved of Lisbon's. And hey, the ring issue was brought up for later plot. YESS!!!

I was giggling like an idiot when Lisbon outed Jane about the code. Jane's girl is so smart now, so vigilant. Love me more Mentalisbon! 

And excuse me, the trio CBI team working together gave loads of feels! 

Nina K Corrado room. Roll on the floor laughing. Ha Ha.

And the whole set up to trick the DEA sociopath agent Peterson was entertaining to watch. Especially the flashback scene on Sam and Pete, nice touch there. Team work. Go Team!

So much happiness, lightness, family feels, and perhaps...the sunshine before the rain, the rainbows before the storm. *cough* *next week's promo* *cough*. I feel sorry towards the cast and crew.  They worked so hard into writing good story telling, thriving to entertain viewers with twist and turn, and just like that CBS' failed promo threw all their hardwork down the drain. It's such a disrespectful act. But well this is all business to them, it's a shame that money always comes first.

And look at this 3, oh my god, give me a break. Cho smiled big time! Lisbon stroke his back. My old CBI TRIO. My feelings are all over the place!!! Apart from that, this tells a lot about Cho's character. He had a hard time concealing his smile after his promotion news. To me, he doesn't need a girlfriend / love to be happy. He's a man of dignity, of justice. Being the boss of the FBI unit is a dream come true! Its who he is. He's the man and he has earned it! Oh Cho baby, I bet he said he went to get more taco as an excuse. Truth is, he wanted to smile endlessly without anyone watching. 

I'm sorry but to me, Lisbon not understanding Jane's mentality was unrealistic here as she portrayed in this line: "I love you, and I also love what I do. You can't be jealous of that". After two decade of witnessing the guy's mental illness, obsession and vulnerability when comes to the death of his loved ones, she couldn't understand his fundamental fears of losing her? C'mon Lisbon, you literally put the broken man together, been through thick and thin together. You of all people should understand his phobia more than anyone. To me this is a flaw in writing, that line portrayed that she thought that Jane wants her to leave law enforcement because he thinks she loves the job more than she loves him, thus she had to justify that he's not. Sorry, I don't buy that. They could still deliver the whole point of "I don't wanna lose you" without the "You can't be jealous of that" line. That would be so much better, perfect! Ok, rant enough. I still FREAKING love the episode.

"We need to focus on whats going on right now. Right here is good, it is very very good."

"Yeah, okay." 

"You sure?" 

"Yeah..yeah" 

Give it all to @smellytoes' heart wrenching performance here, bravo Simon! My reading to Jane's face here is he's obviously not okay but yet he's trying hard to conceal his disagreement with a smile to please her. Why? Because Lisbon IS the alpha in the relationship. As much as Jane is the alpha at work, Lisbon is the alpha in their romance. Not to mention Lisbon was also the one who wanted to have their relationship private, with the same line "You sure?" "Yeah yeah". 

Also "okay, one dance?" "two".

Alpha Lisbon. Yay! I finally able to answer Bruno's question.

"Do you want to dance?"

"Here? Infront of everyone?"

"Sure."

Look at my OTP dancing! Who wanna bet alpha Lisbon will be the one who eventually tell her boyfriend "you know, maybe its time we tell everyone about us"

My feelings on next week's episode: My Body Is Not Ready. 

There will be a big plot line to determine Jane and Lisbon's future, but still. My Body Is Not Ready. 

Time's moving too fast. We're left with 4 episodes. It's superman fast. Not ready to say goodbye. I wish I could stall the time.

The Mentalist - The Whites Of His Eyes

Before I started anything else, I needed to let it out. I FREAKING LOVE SEASON 7 TO THE COOOOOOOORE. Phew! 

This was another unusual Mentalist episode, couldn't topped my The Silver Briefcase and Little Yellow House but it was still very mind blowing for me. Very intensely rhythmed, full of adrenalin episode that kept me at the edge of my seat the entire time. The case was like a one big scene to me. I have to admit all these new brains from the new writers were adding so much freshness into the show. It creates a new Mentalist with style! Far far away from the usual procedural shows monotony. Big kudos to Erin Donovan for her amazing masterpiece.

The parallelism between the witness Lilly Stoppard and her family's story continuously giving a nudge to Jane and Lisbon's current situation and hey I thought it worked out well. I greatly adore Jane's line: Is Henry's birth right gonna be one of proud bravery, or sensible caution? 

So much depth into morality, very true and accurate - which goes back again to Jane and Lisbon's. Is their risky job for a good cause outweigh the safety of their well being and future, and love? What is your true purpose of living now? New angle for both of them to ponder. 

All in all, it was a fabutastic team work to catch the bad guy (though Jane was visibly off the entire time - I mean, who can blame the guy? He's worried sick for his girl). The guest star who played the sniper, Mr Brendan Wayne did us proud for shaving his head. 

Meanwhile, I'm having a moment of nostalgia from my inner Tunney fangirl due to:

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My whole body was literally screaming EMPIRE RECORDS while watching that scene. Brendan and Robin could be baldies on screen BFFs. That being said, he played a crazy sniper with excellence. The guest stars that we've gotten this season is just A.M.A.Z.I.N.G, enough said.

The Jane-Robin Foosball scene.

I'm happy that every new episode reveals a new side of Lisbon. This episode showed something that was never shown before: her wild, competitive, boyish side. That tells a lot about her roots from growing up with boys. She seemed at ease and at herself so much while enjoying every seconds of it. I bet she'd never let out herself like this in ages, nor I doubted she'd ever truly let out with other people other than Jane. It was amusing, and refreshing! Yes, I called it the Jane-Robin Foosball scene, that entire scene especially the laugh out LOUD was purely Robin goodness! The entire time I was asking myself, where did Lisbon go? Robin was obviously hiding her while she got carried away giving out her own self. But Robin my Hunney, girl of course iApprove. 

Jane on the other hand remained Jane and I couldn't help but laughed so hard at his face.

Inside the #Lovetruck

This scene hurts okay. Let me bring back his line: The idea of letting someone close to me is terrifying for obvious reason.

And now his fears is starting to prove itself in the realms of reality. The whole scene he just needed to say three-powerful-words: This is different.

Thanks to Teresa who managed to ease his stiffness a little from her typical tease and cute and tenderness. The sleep wear was a big bonus! 

Look at my OTP, looking all cuddly and adorable under a million stars.

Let me quote the lyrics of Livin' On A Prayer:

We've got to hold on to what we've got.

It doesn't make a difference if we make it or not.

We've got each other and thats a lot.

For love we'll give it a shot.

Let that sink in.

Then I wonder where did Jane's lyric "mmmh take off the pain" come from? Its not part of Mr Bon Jovi's lyric. He's obviously rambling his heart out. LOL!

The powerful angst. The idea of letting anyone close to me is terrifying for obvious reason.

It's nice to finally see some angst in their romance after all the honeymoon period. Not that I'm a sadist but every relationship has bumps. But thanks to this show for putting so much realism and making it so legitimately believable into it. It was heart wrenching and beautiful at the same time. 

Jane has great fundamental fears, we all understand that. This guy basically just able to put himself together with the help of a soulmate after 16 years of therapy. I seriously couldn't see him able to give life another chance if he ever lose Lisbon. Thus his action was purely legit. It was the right thing to do. His face when he said "Yep, probably" basically screams "I'm going to save(or protect) you Lisbon, whether you like it or not" and he'd do anything to protect his loved one. 

Lisbon on the other hand, protecting people isn't just about her job of being a cop or how much a good cop she is. It's who she is, the roots of her soul. I totally understand her sticking to her morale. She's a strong woman with principles and she holds on to it firmly. I adore her firmness from a woman's point of view. Many times in love we tend to lose ourself, got drifted away by emotions, became insensible and forgone our principles. All the while not realising that we've changed into a different person and one day we ask ourselves, who am I now?

Not Lisbon. Her first instinct was enraged by Jane's action and she remained angry at the very end of the scene, which is totally true from a professional point of view. How could you work together if you can't trust each other professionally? It's definitely a conflict of interest. Can lovers still be colleagues? Hang on, I feel like I just repeated Bruno's words in a way. Now your life isn't just about who you are Teresa, it's a two person's baggage. I know this is totally a new ground for you to have found a true love, but you have to work something out - find a balance. Oh my god this is so interesting to see, I absolutely have no idea how are they going to solve this or where are they going to go from here. 

The way the writers doing this is so legitimate, so natural, so believable, so authentic, so much realism and SO IN CHARACTERS. A nudge to other crime/romance shows, this is how you do a good story telling without compromising the characters' character and not added forced stories for the sake of creating stories/angst.

Just out of curiosity, how would you want them to end up at the end? I personally would love to see them quit law enforcement at the end of the series, just retire, still doing something for a good cause but from different aspect that doesn't compromise their safety. Relax, unwind, have a peace of life. They've done enough goodness in their lives that now they deserve all the peace and happiness in the world.

The Mentalist - Little Yellow House

Pheeeeew, what an episode! It was every seconds of perfection. Too many wonderful moments, too many feels. What's with this season really? If last episode was all about symbolism on how Lisbon put broken Jane together, this episode was a literal demonstration on how Jane put broken Lisbon back together. Speaking of broken things put together, the blue tea cup is back as a regular, shining to its glory. Yesss!! Congratulations again to a brilliant new writer Marisa Wegrzyn. I'm just going to assume that she has been writing for The Mentalist discreetly and being a fan herself for years. I mean, look at her style, the use of previous episodes references, and everything. She magically fulfilled a dream for die hard Lisbon fans like myself and every Lisbian being on the planet. And Blake Neely...thank you for the new Lisbon family theme, you always have a way to make me flip splendidly.

Jabottisbon

Ok, before anything else. Just when Abbott fascinated me about his deep parallelism with Jane, this episode revealed another parallelism with Lisbon. Gadd, how much I love this boss. Dennis bear is the big brother to 5 siblings whom he always wanted to strangle, just like how momma Lisbon raised her 3 kids. Now I understand his fascination on being a cupid for Jane and Lisbon - he truly connects with them both as a human being, could understand how broken they were and how much they belong together. That love could heal everything and fix you. He is us, the audience. Oh show, look what you've done to me, I just created a backstory on "Abbott - The Cupid Origin". Cheers to the BBFFS (Boss Best Friends Forever)!

I was so moved on this scene. Jane was so fascinated to learn about her childhood. Teresa Lisbon made it into the paper as the Student of The Week and dude he's so proud of her. He decided to take her childhood photo with him as it was too priceless not to (Robin Tunney, I can't thank you enough for donating your fetus photo for the show, it means so much).

And when he said "I love your wall graffiti here" I was so close to actual tears (Partly blaming Blake Neely for his amazing score in this scene). There's obviously something very moving about learning your loved ones' past, who you were and what makes who you are today. Saint Teresa was that innocent, smart, happy little girl until a tragedy transformed her. And Jane's continuous genuine concern over her throughout the episode was so moving. Kudos to Simon for the subtle yet moving performance.

I believe her graffiti was a foreshadowing. A little yellow house, a couple and a child with a dog and a citroen. Feels...........

"I'm not messy. You're messy on the inside" - this is very telling on Lisbon's character. She isn't a tough-cop-tough-human-being in nature, but a person who's trying hard to be tough (remember Bruno's interview? Yes that's what I'm talking about). Her character is not less complex to Jane's - they're both human being who've been trying hard to deal with their own demons and guilt, living each day by putting on a front, and sometimes their fragile self forced them to live in a lie as their defence mechanism. The only difference is: Lisbon is a bad liar when come to others but she's a very good liar to herself, while Jane is a good liar to both. I know she genuinely thinks that her brothers hated her when in actuality I feel that that might be her subconscious refuse to address her guilt. Its easier to think "my brothers hated me so I'm not going to see them" than thinking "I don't feel comfortable around my brothers so I'm not gonna see them - which returns back to her guilt". Or am I reading too much? All I know is she is one big messy girl. You're also a twist-within-twist within yourself, Teresa. Thank you Jane for making her realised, opening it up to her and fixing her soul. I wish you both for all the simplicity in life.

This song and the shot were not chosen randomly!

Wega was so amusing. Honestly I wasn't expecting this, it definitely adds freshness into the show. Just one thing: I just hope there would be a subtitle on every Espanyola Vega. 

THE CASE!!!

The case was fantastic!!! Not only the twist was brilliant but it also address back to previous episode. Lisbon said that she enjoyed being a psychic that she wanted to do it again and she got it. And we get our Mentalisbon Lisyschic 2.0, only this time it was with that 2cm leather skirt and legs legs legs. Holy Lisbian Heaven! I love it so much that the con this season were done by 2 person instead of 1. 

The power of the airstream talk

Now we know her habit of running away: from Greg, from admitting her true love to herself, her fear to commitment, all lead back to her phobia of feeling trapped as a kid. And then again all these actions lead back to hurting people and the guilt rolled on. If she hadn't met Jane her life would be all screwed up. Thank god she did. Only he could disentangle her complex self. Meanwhile she did still try to put on a front at the beginning but Jane the only person who's able to bring down her mask did it. 

LAST SCENE

The last scene was the best scene of the entire season (possibly the entire show) or maybe its just me. Lisbon's dress, hairstyle and performance remind me so much about Indie Tunney especially her role as Izzy in Open Window. And being a religious Tunney fan doesn't help, it actually magnified the feelings tenfold.

I couldn't help but notice the height & size difference here. So I googled the actors' height for science. Turns out Robert Belushi is 5'6 (1.68m), Derek Phillips 5'9 (1.75m), Robin's 5'4 (1.62m) + 0'2 (3-5cm) of her heels = 5'6 (1.67m) give or take. She's still shorter with heels meaning to say the shot was taken intentionally. Were they trying to deliver that the Lisbon family is genetically small in size, or was it to show that Lisbon was the head of the family aka the mother figure? If anyone have any ideas please comment below.

"I'm glad we came back home". We. Home. with a tilted head, iDead. Teresa showed him what coming home to a family felt like. Her family which is his too. The warmth, the lighting, the shots, the balloons, the breeze effects all expressing what heaven felt like - whole setting was another foreshadowing of their future. 

Jane looked genuinely in a bliss here holding the baby with a reference to season 1's The Thin Red Line, and lifting the baby up high could easily be a reference to his happy memory as a child. Only difference is this could be a happy future instead of a happy memory of the past. No doubt Teresa's eyes immediately opened up and hence.....she said it! You did it Teresa, you did it! I wasn't expecting this at all so it caught me by surprise! I know how hard it is for both characters to say I love you out loud so this was a very significant development to me. It's a tell that she's wanting to take the relationship to a whole new level: a future. Its a kick to her testament that she found the courage and hence, felt compelled to say it.

Robin's face was all cuteness to its glory!!! It was nuanced, subtle, a very well controlled performance!

Look at their laughs....They are soulmates, made by tragedy, captured by destiny and locked by eternity.

One Last Mention:
I decided to add this last paragraph for personal reason. You can skip it if you want :).

"S'mores. I love s'mores."
"Graham crackers, chocolate, marshmallows..."
"60 seconds toasted on a campfire."
"S'mores are better in a microwave."

My heart skipped abit when they discussed about s'mores because:

Last month, I designed a wrap cake for the cast and crew, had it sent together with my Tunney clan Jordan, Maria, Tea, Kim and Leah. And that was EXACTLY the cake flavor I chose! Why? I've no idea, 6th sense, maybe. 

Jane and Lisbon sitting on my S'mores cake was purely coincidental, but watching this show for so many years may or may have not transformed myself into a psychic. 

So excuse me while I have a moment here.










Final last words. 

I doubted there could be any show, ever, that could make such a meaningful, in depth love story without adding any dramatic effect like ours! Simon and Robin give out the best literature. They are a legend. I am just so immensely proud. And I'm going to miss this show SO MUCH.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to comment below. I love reading feel-inducing comments to further intensify my insanity. Cheers.

The Mentalist - Green Light

Woohoo bravo to Alex Berger who's written his first yet brilliant episode. To be honest I do have a hint of concern whenever a new writer comes in but he wrote this episode in perfect balance that is: the case of the week, Abbott's arc, and Jane's birthday surprise. And to further mentalized the episode he also added classic mentalist along the con. I'm happy! And I love Dylan Baker! This guy always knows how to play a fascinating, multi layers sociopath. One of my favourites is his role in The Good Wife. If you never watched him there, I advise you to go see it. All in all, he and Rock rocking the Abbots arc with an amazing on screen chemistry. I can't wait to see that Peterson's character further unfold.

The Jabbott brotherhood

They're growing so much on me. It was a lovely surprise to see Abbott naturally confided in Jane. Man that was huge. My guess is, he could totally see Jane as a reflection of himself  - the Zeta commander was probably the Red John to his Jane, and that protecting the woman he loves comes on top of anything else. Rock did a fantabulous job here, probably his best performance so far in the show! Vice versa, Jane seems genuinely concerned about his well being and felt compelled to help him. You could see him totally put down his mask during the entire 'heart talk', and he quoted "You did the right thing" with that expression that screams "Mate, I feel you and I approve". These two has a weird chemistry from the start that is very compelling to watch and now that their brotherhood has reached another level makes my inner brotp fangirl so happy. Abbott trusts Jane completely and in return, for the first time Jane has a friend whom he could relate himself completely. One day I want to see them both brotp-ing together protecting their loved ones in danger. Best BROTP development, ever. 

I love it when Jane do a reading on Vega, he is like the big brother who's there to console and guide this little sister with a broken past. Gadd Jane, how much you've changed. Its becoming your natural instinct to be there for people nowadays. Isn't it good to be human? Vega on the other hand was moved and starting to accept Jane for who he is. And Blake Neely, I love how you heightened the tenderness of the whole scene, an excellent new theme for Jega!

Also I dont know about you but I was having a bit of Fugue in Red feels in this episode due to: "Why 3.5 pounds? Because." and "reactive allergies in de-clawed animals? try 4 preventive measures = Raid at 4pm." I'm reminiscing Big elephants can always understand small elephants. Because Lisbon. Because.

Jane and Lisbon: The gift that keeps on giving.

Oh Gadd, who didn't melt here? To me this scene was all about symbolism, the kiss was just icing on the cake. A broken pieces that glued together - just like Lisbon put Jane's broken soul together and made him human again. The way Simon played Jane's expressions moved me close to tears. His whole expressions shows how touched was he knowing that she kept this broken pieces for the entire time, it was too unbelievable to him. He also added the expression to the Blue Bird's "well thats lucky" plus the Blue Bird score. He was so moved to realise that this broken pieces was all she had left of him together with his gazillion letters. He cry, I cry. Then I couldn't help but picture Lisbon keeping the pieces together with the box of letters, staring at it every night for a good 2 years, pondering over his well being and thinking that they would never see each other anymore. Who knows she might even made some tea to pretend that he's there. Goodness, It hurts. Thank god they found one another now. All in all, I bet it was the most blissful birthday he's ever had in god-knows-how-long.

I'd say its a birthday of his rebirth, the first year of him being a human being again. Happy Birthday Jane. Also having the cup shattered in 6x07 and restoring it in 7x06 was NOT a coincidence, it was dedicated to fans.  

On another note, Lisbon's gesture and endless smiles here were full of Robin and the way she says "are you sure you're not just pretending you didn't know to make me feel better because you dont have to make me feel better" was so Indie Tunney and my Lisbian self was dying so hard. #Bye

Happy Birthday Patrick Jane.