Pilot (The Mentalist)

"Pilot" is the first season and series premiere of the television series The Mentalist. It premiered in the United States on CBS on September 23, 2008. The episode was written by the executive producer of the show Bruno Heller and was directed by David Nutter. Heller and Nutter also wrote and directed the second episode of the season, Red Hair and Silver Tape.

Pilot

The episode starts out with the body of a girl being found. Patrick Jane, who is revealed to be part of the team working on the murder case, lets himself in to the girl's house and finds the girl's mother. He asks the girl's mother if she thinks her husband did it, and she asks him. Though he denies doing this, she thinks he is lying, pulls out a gun, and shoots him fatally. It turns out later that the girl had kept a diary that revealed that she was being raped by her father, and when she wouldn't be with him anymore, he killed her. This short encounter introduces Jane's technique at solving crimes, and one of many unorthodox ways he does this.

The main crime in the episode is a gruesome double murder of the wife of a pro golfer, Price Randolph, and her doctor in his house. In the bedroom, a face drawn in blood is on the wall. This is the signature mark for the serial killer Red John. As revealed in flashbacks, Red John killed Jane's wife and only daughter after Jane went on a variety show where he claimed he would catch Red John using mental powers. However, Jane claims that the killer is not Red John, but a copy-cat. This is because the face in blood is not theatrical enough as it is not the first thing the witnesses would see and Red John is a very theatrical person. The team goes to visit Dr. Wagner, Price Randolph's doctor and ex-colleague of Gregory Tannen, Randolph's wife's doctor. They ask him questions and Jane keeps asking if Tannen had a diary. Dr. Wagner didn't know of a diary.

At a restaurant, Jane reveals to his team that he is not a real psychic, but a mentalist. This means that he does not have psychic powers, but is just perceptive. He sees everything that is around him and creates conclusions.

Jane decides that Price Randolph couldn't have killed his wife because he has never won a PGA tournament; he's a choker. He couldn't kill his wife because he is not a finisher.

In a hotel, a note is slipped under the door of Jane's hotel room that is signed by Red John. Jane chases after the writer of the note, but he gets away. The team finds DNA in the note, belonging to Tag Randolph, Price's brother. He denies he left the note, and it is found out that he and Allison are lovers. Die

Jane goes to Dr. Wagner's office and tells him that Tannen did have a diary, and it was in Tannen's office. Jane leaves, but then comes back and finds Wagner ransacking Tannen's office trying to find the diary. Wagner admits to killing Tannen and Randolph's wife. Tannen was going to take away money Wagner was acquiring illegally to donate to charity. Wagner holds up a gun to Jane and Jane tells him that there are no bullets in the gun, which is a lie, but gives Jane enough time to run away. He calls Rigsby and he arrests Wagner.