A preview for the next episode teases that Jane has a new beginning but he won't get away from the legal ramifications of doing 'something highly illegal.'
- Nov 25, 2013
AceShowbiz - Patrick Jane finally got his revenge in the latest episode of "The Mentalist". As promised, this season gives the answer to the big question about who Red John actually is and it has just been revealed in the November 24 outing.
The person responsible for killing Jane's wife and daughter [SPOILER ALERT!] was not CBI director Gale Bertram as Jane announced last week, but it's Sheriff Thomas McAllister who had appeared several times since the first season. Portrayed by Xander Berkeley, the character was strangled to death by Jane after admitting he was sorry for killing Jane's family and he was afraid to die.
In an interview post-the Red John reveal, series creator Bruno Heller explains how killing Red John changes Jane. "Jane is this tragic figure who has gotten his heart's desire. He's found the sort of evil Grail he's been chasing all these years, but what does that do to him as a person? Can he begin a new life? And what kind of life does he want for himself, and how will he define himself, now that that part of his life is over? ... This fresh version of the show is about is what happens afterwards," he tells Entertainment Weekly.
"In a very real sense, he's a happier person, a weight has been taken off his shoulders. In that way, a weight has been taken off the show. So it's going to be the same show, to some degree, but a show with less darkness at the edges, and more freedom to roam. Jane has more freedom and a sense of possibility and liberty."
Lead actor Simon Baker directs next week's episode which will jump ahead two years and says the upcoming outing is "almost like a pilot for a new show." Dishing on Jane's future, he additonally tells TV Guide, "When we come back after Red John's death, Jane is somewhere in paradise. A large portion of the episode is in Spanish."
"Cho is now with the FBI. Rigsby and Van Pelt have their own little detective business. And Lisbon is in Washington state working as a chief of police in a podunk kind of town. The episode opens with her talking to grade-school kids about what the police do. I had so much fun with the episode. It was such a reprieve from all the tension this season."
Jane will "not immediately" work in law enforcement again as Baker says, "He's offered a chance to go back to work for the FBI and declines because he's trying to move on from that life." He, however, adds in another interview with E! News, "I can tell you he's going to be placed in a position where his personal desires on that level are not to the point, because like you said, he's done something highly illegal." Heller chimes in, "What he does in the future is not going to be entirely up to himself."
Asked if there's a possibility of Jane and Lisbon's romance, Baker can say that the two will "absolutely" get closer now. Heller elaborates, "They've been so engrossed in this massive task they haven't really looked around at the people around them and think about who those people are what they really mean to them. Now Jane and Lisbon have a chance to take a breath and think about each other in a way that they haven't before."
Of whether or not Jane will face a legal consequence for killing Red John, Heller says, "You can't go around killing people willy-nilly without some kind of ramifications."
Baker additionally reveals that he voiced Red John in previous seasons before Heller had decided who would be cast as the serial killer. "In the season 2 finale, when Jane was captured and Red John did that 'Tyger, Tyger' thing with the mask on? That was me. I played both characters in that scene," the Emmy-nominated actor shares.
"The Mentalist" will return with "My Blue Heaven" on Sunday, December 1 at 10/9c on CBS. A preview for the episode teases a new beginning and a potential love interest for Jane two years after the Red John case was closed. He, however, receives a surprising job offer that could change his life.
