Line #16 Headscratchers/TheMentalist


1	* What is the CBI's jurisdiction?
2	** It's a California state police agency.
3	*** I know that much, but they don't seem to have the same jurisdiction as the real life CHP. They seem to be closer to the FBI, except only in California.
4	*** HollywoodLaw.
5	*** Think of them as a made-up West Coast version of the Texas Rangers.
6	*** And yet, in Season 6, they can apparently be shut down completely by a federal judge.
7	*** Federal law trumps state.
8	** For the record, the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Bureau_of_Investigation California Bureau of Investigation]] is a REAL law enforcement agency. Like Cho said in one episode, they’re like the FBI but more local. Their jurisdiction is theoretically anywhere in the state but they tend to stick to major crimes or crimes that occur on land owned by the state government.
9	*** Not only that, but the CA DOJ Division of Law Enforcement really did undergo a massive restructuring in 2012 which involved a large number of agents being laid off and a lot of its law enforcement capability being eliminated.
10	* How exactly could Kristina be that catatonic? Yes, I know, Red John is a sick dude who could just fuck with your head, but she's still human, all right. Every so often, she has to ''piss.''
11	** Not to be gross, but that doesn't mean she has to do anything active about it. It'll happen eventually no matter what. Happens to people in RealLife, remember?
12	** How does she ''drink'', then? She thought she was dead.
13	*** She may assume that when she eats, drinks, uses the toilet or sleeps, she's just vividly ''reminiscing'' about when she was alive and had to do such things.
14	** Or, more prosaically, she was hooked up to an IV drip. That would take care of eating and drinking.
15	** A catheter.
16	** She has essentially been driven insane. The whole thing of insanity is that you are unable to recognise reality or understand your circumstances rationally, since if you could, you wouldn't be insane. She is trapped in the delusion that she is already dead, no doubt that if she were to piss herself or something her brain would register that not in a rational way but would merely somehow incorporate it into her delusions.
17	** Furthermore, being the incredibly depraved piece of work he is, it's highly likely that Red John has factored in and indeed takes sick pleasure in the fact that, being convinced she is dead to the point of almost absolute catatonia without a 'seance', Kristina is incapable of drinking, feeding herself, controlling her bowel and bladder movements or cleaning herself without assistance, since this essentially means that, without said assistance, she will eventually ''starve or dehydrate to death'', all the while living her remaining days in her own filth. It is essentially a particularly slow, cruel and sadistic way of convincing her to kill herself or forcing her to live in misery and degradation, all the while convinced she is already dead. These issues are not things that Red John has forgotten or failed to take into account, they are ''the whole point'', because he is a cruel sadist who delights in torturing others both physically and psychologically.
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19	* Is anyone else wondering why Rigsby and Sarah broke up? As an addition to this, Rigsby didn't seem too brokenhearted after getting dumped by THE MOTHER OF HIS CHILD.
20	** They broke up because Rigsby faked his own death (rather gruesomely) without letting her in on the plan. She spent 1-3 days fearing that the father of her infant son had been killed. When he revealed himself as alive, I assume she was so upset with him for doing that to her that she broke up with him. As for Rigsby not being upset, maybe their relationship is getting better offscreen, with a chance to rebuild, or he is just happy that she still allows him custody of their son.
21	** In season 6, Rigsby confides in Cho that the only reason he proposed to Sarah was because they had a child together; while he obviously cared for her, he wasn't in love with her. He's also become self aware enough to realize why she would be hurt by his faking the dead, and understand her reasoning. So with the child being the most important aspect of the relationship to him, there's no reason for him to get upset.
22	* Okay, so in the Season 2 finale, we meet Red John, who murders two killers who have engaged in "cheap imitations" of his own particular style. Just one of many ways, evidently, to get on this serial killer's bad side. So then, why isn't Dr. Linus Wagner dead?
23	** Wagner is in prison.
24	*** Though now that we know that [[spoiler:Red John is basically running a whole organization of dirty cops and CBI agents]], why he isn't dead is even ''more'' suspicious.
25	*** InUniverse: If Wagner gets killed, Jane would investigate the prison officials responsible. OutOfUniverse: EarlyInstallmentWeirdness.
26	** It may be that he thought Wagner wasn't quite as cheap an imitation as the other two were, having a better motive if nothing else (WellIntentionedExtremist versus a couple of psychos doing it ForTheEvulz- he spared their friend since while he was involved, he was also not very bright and clearly forced into it), and greater restraint. Also, while he may hate "cheap imitations", that isn't why he killed them- he did it to save Jane, who made his life interesting. Wagner got caught and would either be executed (he later tries to make a deal to get off death row) or would at least spend a very long time in prison; those two were going to murder Jane and completely get away with everything. He hates cheap imitations, but he usually likes to have a slightly better reason for killing you, especially if there is risk involved.
27	** The other difference is that Wagner's imitating Red John was an afterthought to cover up his own crimes, while the kids were specifically doing it in homage to him. It's not out of the question that he would take the latter more personally because they're essentially doing it ''at'' him, while Wagner's actions ultimately weren't really about him.
28	** There may also be an element of competition and ego involved, for want of a better way of putting it. The ones Red John kills are would-be serial killers; they're basically ripping off Red John's motif and trying to leech some of his "cred", for want of a better way of putting it, in their own killings. Red John is an egocentric narcissist who views himself as an artist; he's insulted by what is, essentially, the serial killer equivalent of a lame tribute band trying to muscle into some of his glory and ripping off his style. He's killing them, at least partly, to send a message; ''stay off my turf and find your own style''. Wagner, on the other hand, has no intentions of being a serial killer, and is just trying to cover up what is basically a murder of opportunity. Since he clearly has no interest in 'competing' in Red John's area, there's less threat and less need to make an example of him.
29	** There is also the simple fact that, while Red John might indeed be insulted by Wagner and may ''want'' to kill him, he just simply might not either have the opportunity or might have bigger fish to fry. Even given the later revelations about the length of his reach, there are still ''some'' limits to what he can or can't do, at least not without risking giving himself away. It's simply possible that he just hasn't the time, chance or sufficient inclination to deal with Wagner. To quote a certain Red John disciple: you win some, you lose some.
30	* How does Red John guess who Jane suspected he was? This has never been explained.
31	** He probably learned what Lorelei told Jane and was capable of deducing those identities through his network of disciples.
32	** It's also possible that he did legitimately have psychic powers.
33	*** If that was true you'd think he would have seen his death coming.
34	** Well, Jane had to have followed some kind of specific method (or series of methods) to get that list in the first place. Maybe Red John knew him well enough to understand how Jane would do it and then used the same techniques to predict what Jane's list would be.
35	** Consider also that by the time Lorelei is killed, Jane has already created a preliminary list and is in the process of whittling it down. If Red John was able to get a look at some version of the list (which, with his network, isn't impossible), then all he has to do is follow the same process of elimination Jane ultimately does, and he'll get the same result.
36	** Also, it's worth remembering that the lack of explanation at least is part of the point; in their final confrontation Red John offers to explain it, but Jane simply doesn't care and is willing to live with not knowing.
37	* In earlier episodes Lisbon tells Jane that if he kills Red John she will arrest him, because she can't let that happen. In [=S06E06=] (“Fire and Brimstone”) she speaks with Jane and tells him, that she changed her mind and she has no problem if Red John gets murdered by Jane. (“What I'm saying is some men – men like Red John – they don't deserve a trial. They don't deserve a jury. They deserve what they have coming to them.”) Jane doesn't really believe her and thinks that Lisbon only pretends to change her mind. I always wondered if Lisbon was serious about her change of mind, or if she was just faking it.
38	** YMMV, but I kind of thought she was sincere. Edging into a little FridgeBrilliance, this is after the Volker case. Before that case, she'd never personally felt the kind of rage or passion that drove Jane in his hunt for Red John. But when she went up against Volker, she ''did'' feel those things -- and she would recognize that Jane would feel it to a much greater intensity, since what Volker did to her is nothing compared to what Red John did to Jane. She finally understands, on a visceral level, where Jane is coming from, and that could be enough for her to decide to let him do it.
39	** If we take a shipping approach, it is also heavily suggested that Lisbon has fallen in love with Jane by this point. She's become more emotionally invested in Jane himself as well as his hunt for Red John, has had longer to sympathise with his pain, and may find the idea of arresting the man she loves less easy than arresting the annoying yet charming co-worker with a dark side she had a growing friendship with in earlier seasons.
40	* In S4E1, Jane is arrested for killing Timothy Carter and his bond is set at a million dollars. He cons his way into a high-stakes poker game in jail, and wins, getting the bail money and going free, with Lisbon being told that something along the lines of never wanting to see Jane again. He saves Debbie Lupin and shows that Timothy Carter wasn't the good man the community thought him to be, and wins over the jury. Bail money would be returned to him as he made the court appearances, yet Jane being a million dollars richer is never mentioned again.
41	** Based on the size of his house we can assume Jane was already a wealthy man from his days as a phony psychic. He may have already been a millionaire, so an extra million in his bank account wouldn’t make much of a difference. He only entered the game to satisfy his ego, to avoid having to spend any of his own money, and to make some hardened criminals a million dollars poorer.
42	*** Adding to this, Jane seems to live quite frugally from what we see -- his home furnishings are bare-boned minimum at best, his suits are expensive but he only seems to alternate between the same handful, he rarely seems to indulge in luxuries or socialising or vacations, and so on. His bank balance has probably remained more or less stable, barring the occasional Red John splurge, so if it's already in the millions an extra million wouldn't stand out much.
43	** In addition, a mere million does not a millionaire make, nor does it go as far as it used to in twenty-first century California.
44	** Perhaps worth noting that in the episode dealing with the murder of the casino manager, we see Jane win big at poker on several occasions -- and then, aside from some splurges of generosity towards his coworkers and pocketing a handful (presumably as money to spend on essentials), he gives most of it away to people he considers deserving. It's likely he did something similar in this case.
45	* In [=S01E05=] Jane calls Lisbon to tell her what the victim remembered about the killer (he never hangs up) yet, after both Lisbon and the perp shoot at each other, Lisbon asks Jane if he called Rigsby over to what he says that yes, he did, but how and when did he do that call? After all, his original call is still going (as can be corroborated because Jane didn't need to call back Lisbon when she was shot) yet Rigsby had to have received the call because he had no other way to know where Lisbon was.
46	** Many cell phones have a function where you can access other functions on the phone while still making a phone call. Assuming this functionality was available on the phones used at the time, it's possible that Jane used this to keep the line open on his cellphone while simultaneously frantically texting Rigsby as fast as possible.

Context Headscratchers / TheMentalist