Arguably the best episode of The Mentalist up to this point, His Red Right Hand has you already when you read/hear the title. Besides being genuinely spine-tingling, it tells you that this one, instead of the not-so-clever-as-they-think-they-are criminals, Jane is up against his true adversary. Anyone who thinks Red John might be caught here is probably too young to remember the quite excellent Profiler from the 1990s. The set-up of that show was similar to The Mentalist in that in addition of the weekly cases, the protagonist, said Profiler, Sam Waters, was trying to catch a man called Jack of All Trades (brilliantly listed among other actors' names in the opening credits just as 'Jack') who - guess what - had killed her husband. And among fictitious TV villains, Jack is a bit of a legend, pulling off one of the all-time great cons on the law enforcers on his tail. But when he was caught, the series lost its appeal. Obviously, the show-runners of The Mentalist don't want to repeat that mistake.
So, as the title suggests, Red John himself doesn't even appear in this episode, but his *presence* is felt throughout. It's like he's The Emperor in A New Hope, represented only by Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin. He is the bad guy so frightening, that when he finally, one day, makes his appearance, the audience should soil themselves. Thanks to great writing, the fact that he is constantly one or more steps ahead of the CBI remains plausible, if, at times, just a tiny bit dependable of variables out of his control. Still, Red John is not as ridiculously prescient as Jigsaw, for example - the Saw films internal logic collapses if one starts thinking about the plots. Here, the pieces fit, the pace is frenetic and the twists keep coming at a well-judged intervals, leaving the viewer breathless. A fantastic episode which also has nice character moments and leaves the audience with some questions, the foremost probably being, "What were Bosco's final words to Jane?"
If everything goes well, this is just a mere prelude compared to the true face-off between Jane and Red John. As such, that epic event *has* to succeed (though many other series have proved that it's possible to fail) in topping this instant-classic, so this is only 9/10, with the hope that the end will be an earth-shattering 10/10.
So, as the title suggests, Red John himself doesn't even appear in this episode, but his *presence* is felt throughout. It's like he's The Emperor in A New Hope, represented only by Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin. He is the bad guy so frightening, that when he finally, one day, makes his appearance, the audience should soil themselves. Thanks to great writing, the fact that he is constantly one or more steps ahead of the CBI remains plausible, if, at times, just a tiny bit dependable of variables out of his control. Still, Red John is not as ridiculously prescient as Jigsaw, for example - the Saw films internal logic collapses if one starts thinking about the plots. Here, the pieces fit, the pace is frenetic and the twists keep coming at a well-judged intervals, leaving the viewer breathless. A fantastic episode which also has nice character moments and leaves the audience with some questions, the foremost probably being, "What were Bosco's final words to Jane?"
If everything goes well, this is just a mere prelude compared to the true face-off between Jane and Red John. As such, that epic event *has* to succeed (though many other series have proved that it's possible to fail) in topping this instant-classic, so this is only 9/10, with the hope that the end will be an earth-shattering 10/10.