Simon Baker stars as Patrick Jane, a former television psychic whose world comes tumbling down when he earns the wrath of a serial killer named Red John. John takes his anger out on Jane's family, killing his wife and daughter. After this tragedy, he uses his extraordinary powers of observation and persuasion to help the CSAC solve crimes. His ultimate goal is to find and catch Red John.
The Mentalist is carried by Baker. The rest of the cast do a decent job with what they are given, but Baker has quite a bit of charm and delivers his lines with a smoothness that makes it easy to envision him as a psychic.
I would like to see the show spend some time fleshing out their other characters. Each is given a moment or two, but they are working with some pretty thin material. Shows like CSI, Numb3rs, Bones and NCIS have developed their characters (Numb3rs especially has done a great job of mixing characters and plot) and it keeps folks coming back even when the shows premise gets a little stale. I honestly could not tell you anything about the backgrounds of any of the supporting cast. Kimbo Cho is the dour one, Wayne likes Grace…that is about it.
In addition to the 23 season one episodes, the set also contains two featurettes as well as a gag reel.
As I said, Baker does a great job and kept me watching despite my frustrations with the show. If you have seen any episodes and enjoyed them, you will likely find this worthwhile. But fans looking for a strong series, might want to look elsewhere.
Order season one of THE MENTALIST.