Line #24 Trivia/TheMentalist


1	* ActorAllusion:
2	** Red John's last appearance, where he talks down to Jane and tries to kill him, only for Jane to gain the upper hand and kill him as he resorts to pleading to live. Sounds a lot like [[spoiler:[[Series/{{Nikita}} Percy's death]], especially since Xander Berkeley played both characters.]]
3	** When Creator/SeanMaher shows up as an antagonist to [[Series/{{Firefly}} Jayne]] - ahem, Jane - he says the speech that the VictimOfTheWeek was going to give was about River rafting...
4	** Also, since Lisbon (Robin Tunney) is best known for being Sarah in ''Film/TheCraft'', the whole episode "Red Rum" had a bit of this. And Lisbon's crazy looked remarkably Tourette's-ish, Tunney's other major role being the lead in ''Niagara, Niagara.''
5	** Jane commenting "You should have seen me ten years ago" might be a ShoutOut to Simon Baker's 2001 drama series, ''The Guardian''.
6	* CaliforniaDoubling:
7	** Although the show takes place (almost) entirely in California (occasionally having ventured into neighboring areas like Tijuana or Vegas), it is mostly filmed in Los Angeles (despite being based in Sacramento and most episodes taking place in [=NorCal=] as opposed to [=SoCal=]).
8	** The opening scene of "Days of Wine and Roses" really takes the cake--it's said to take place in [[WretchedHive the Tenderloin]] in UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco, but the Tenderloin is considerably more built-up and dirty than the area depicted. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenderloin,_San_Francisco There are only a small handful of parks in the area]], and none seem like a suitable place to sit and play chess.
9	** The Visualize cult compound in "Red All Over" and "His Thoughts Were Red Thoughts" is The House of the Book performance hall and library building at the American Jewish University, Brandeis-Bardin Campus in Simi Valley, California.
10	** When the show moved to Austin, there was quite a bit of this.
11	* DirectedByCastMember: When Creator/SimonBaker directs episodes, prepare for your [[DarkerAndEdgier darkest]] episodes ever, both in lighting and storyline.
12	** "Red Moon" in Season 3, an extremely well-done [[spoiler:Red John MythArc]] episode.
13	** "Blinking Red Light" in Season 4, where Jane plays off his coldest BatmanGambit in the series to prevail over the killer. [[spoiler:It also reopens the Red John MythArc]].
14	** "Red Sails in the Sunset" in Season 5 is another [[spoiler:Red John Mytharc episode]] that has the feel of something from ''Film/TheFugitive''.
15	** "My Blue Heaven." This is the first episode Simon Baker directs that's [[spoiler:not centered around Red John]] and is a lot more lighter and quirky in tone.
16	* FakeAmerican: Jane is played by Simon Baker, an Australian, while Rigsby is played by Owain Yeoman from Wales. They both pull off impressively solid American accents, though Baker's native New South Wales accent can be heard near the end of most episodes as he says "Stay tyooned fer scenes from ow' next eppasode."
17	* FakeNationality: Lisbon is of Portuguese descent according to [[WordOfGod Bruno Heller]]. Her actress Robin Tunney is Irish-American.
18	* FriendshipOnTheSet: Simon Baker and Robin Tunney became fast friends behind the scenes and are apparently still friends today.
19	* TheOtherDarrin: One of the biggest challenges for fans trying to figure out who he is, is the fact that Red John made appearances before the actor who plays him was cast. Like Sylar on ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', they were played by various stunt doubles and extras. As a result some of his earliest appearances, like in "His Red Right Hand", he doesn't resemble any of the final suspects. In "Red John's Friends", Red John IM's Lisbon's team. The person typing in real life was Simon Baker, leading many to believe that [[TheKillerInMe Patrick Jane was Red John]].
20	* RealLifeRelative: Simon Baker's, Tim Kang's and Owain Yeoman's wives have all appeared on the show. In addition, Simon's daughter Creator/StellaBaker, also booked a guest spot on the show.
21	* RecycledScript: A plot from 2014 where Theresa goes undercover in prison in order to become friends with a female carjacker so they can catch her boyfriend was used in an episode of ''Dark Justice'' in 1993.
22	* ScrewedByTheNetwork: Fans have been accusing Creator/{{CBS}} of this since Season 5. First they put the series in a graveyard shift (10 PM Sunday), then every so often they force it to compete with football and other highly-rated shows. At the same time, the series itself has seen its share of critics increasing since Season 4, who accuse the writers of pulling TheChrisCarterEffect with its Red John MythArc. In the middle of the final season, they moved it to a new timeslot on Wednesday nights with little advance notice. They also started it in the middle of the television season with a limited episode order and the announcement that this was the final season.

Context Trivia / TheMentalist