The Mentalist: Redwood (Episode 105)

Hi, I'm Annie, and I'll be filling in for Gemma this week while she's busy partying with hookers and blow. No, I'm just kidding. It's crystal meth, not blow.

Hey, it's Ron Butterfield! Well, Michael O'Neill has been in a lot of other things but I've been watching a lot of The West Wing recently so right now he's Ron Butterfield. Anyway, Sheriff Ron Butterfield greets Jane, Lisbon and Cho and tells them he called them for help because his small town department isn't equipped to deal with a potential murder case. Lisbon snaps that her team doesn't help, they take over, and he needs to be okay with that. Taken aback, Sheriff Ron Butterfield agrees and Jane apologetically explains that Lisbon isn't a morning person.

The crime scene is an abandoned car owned by Kara Palmer, who was with her friend Nicole Gilbert. They were last seen leaving the local bar after Nicole's engagement party. All of their belongings are in the car, along with some blood. Jane notices that the police search dog is freaking out and asks the deputy about it, who explains that Dexter is acting like he's already found the girls. Jane wants to know if they checked under the car and Sheriff Ron Butterfield is all, "Of course! ...oh, crap." Cho kneels down to check and, sure enough, Kara Palmer's body is under the car.

The search begins for Nicole Gilbert and Sheriff Ron Butterfield gives some background on the girls. Kara was the good girl, which is TV code for "had some secrets," and Nicole was the town black sheep, which is TV code for "misunderstood." The girls became friends more through small town circumstances of being the same age, not necessarily by choice. Some of the forest rangers join in the search and one smarmy ranger, Kyle, says he heard Nicole got drunk, stabbed her best friend, and took off. Kyle might as well be wearing an "I'm the killer, ask me how!" t-shirt but Jane's powers of observation must be on the fritz right now. That, or we've still got 38 minutes of show left. After five miles of searching, Jane recommends calling off the search, because he believes Nicole is either captive or dead. Since her shoes were still in the car and she was drunk, it was highly unlikely she'd have been able to travel so far on foot at night. Sheriff Ron Butterfield can't argue with this good point, but he's startled when Jane asks if any of his men are likely violent predators. Jane presses, saying he knows a name popped into Sheriff Ron Butterfield's head, and Lisbon reluctantly backs him up by saying that whoever killed Kara would probably want to be involved in the search for Nicole. Sheriff Ron Butterfield insists he can vouch for everyone...most of them.

Meanwhile, Rigsby and Van Pelt talk to Kara's grieving parents, who refuse to think Nicole had anything to do with their daughter's death, despite her troubled nature. They say the girls were the best of friends, although Kara did not approve of Nicole's fiance, Jason O'Toole. Rigsby ditches Van Pelt and partners up with Cho to talk to Jason, who is straight out of white trash central casting. Rigsby and Cho insinuate that Jason and Nicole got into a fight at their engagement party but Jason retorts that the party was taped and they can see for themselves there was no fight. They ask about Kara's disapproval and Jason implies that Kara liked him a lot more than she let on, if you know what I mean and I think you do. As for Jason's alibi? He was passed out on the bar floor. KLASSY!

Jane has gathered all of the searchers and has them raise both their hands in the air, then tries to trick the killer into revealing himself by asking whoever killed Kara and took Nicole to lower his right hand. No dice, because small town dudes may be uneducated but they're not complete morons. Before Lisbon has to apologize to everyone for Jane's antics, Sheriff Ron Butterfield gets a dispatch. Nicole Gilbert has been spotted sitting on the floor of the local convenience store, guzzling a sports drink and clutching a bloody knife.

At the hospital, the doctor says Nicole's physical injuries are largely superficial but her mind is fragile and she doesn't remember anything that happened the previous night. Sheriff Ron Butterfield thinks rhis is convenient and plans to charge her with Kara's murder immediately but Lisbon reminds him that he's not in charge. She goes into the room and starts questioning Nicole gently, but after avoiding Nicole's questions about Kara a few times, Jane jumps in and says Kara is dead. Lisbon scolds him but Jane ignores her and tells the sobbing Nicole to focus on him and says she has to be strong enough to handle the truth. He tries to get her to remember but all Nicole can recall is that Kara pulled the car over because Nicole felt sick, and while she was kneeling on the ground another car pulled up with a man inside. She also remembers the sound of rushing water but nothing else, despite Jane demanding that she keep trying. Nicole gets so agitated that the doctor throws Jane out of the room. In the hallway, Sheriff Ron Butterfield thinks Nicole is trying to throw suspicion on someone else, but Jane thinks she's telling the truth. He also points out that Nicole was found covered in blood but it rained last night, so she must've been under cover. Sheriff Ron Butterfield is still skeptical, thinking she was hiding rather than held captive. Lisbon calls Rigsby and orders him to get the rangers to search the summer cabins near the river and to also get the engagement party tape. Before they leave, Jane tells Sheriff Ron Butterfield to protect Nicole, since whoever killed Kara will want to finish the job before Nicole's memory returns. Sheriff Ron Butterfield basically tells Jane to mind his own beeswax "whatever that is."

The team watches the tape of the engagement party and see no evidence that Kara and Nicole fought or either girl fought with Jason. However, they do spot on skeevy-looking guy staring very intently at Kara and connect the logo on his hat with the brand of makeup Kara had in her car. Y'all, whenever I have to mention Kara's vehicle, I keep typing it as "kar" at first. Anyway, they learn that the guy is a truck driver for the cosmetics company. His name is unimportant, so I'll just call him Red Herring. Rigsby calls in and says he and Kyle the Killer checked all the cabins along the river and found nothing.

Jane returns to the hospital to see if he can make Nicole cry some more. Oh, I'm just kidding. He's kind of a dick but he means well. They discuss whether she might've killed Kara and Nicole thinks she didn't, but she still can't remember. Jane says she had no reason to kill her friend and Nicole quickly agrees, but she's clearly hiding something. There's shouting in the hall and Jane goes to check; it's Jason and he's trying to see Nicole but a deputy and Kyle the Killer hold him off. Jane returns to the room and sees that Nicole is scared, but she says she doesn't know why and apologizes. Later, Jane sits by Nicole's bed while she sleeps. He hears another patient playing the piano and flashes back to watching his wife teach his daughter the piano. Whoa, his kid had some major ugly perm action going on. I don't like to speak ill of the dead, even fictional, but damn.

Rigsby and Cho arrest Red Herring, but only after a much-needed assist from Van Pelt, who delivers a hard kick to Red Herring's nuts after he's knocked down Rigsby and put Cho in a headlock. Red Herring is a disgusting misogynist who thinks the only reason Kara and other pretty girls like her don't give him the time of day is because he's overweight and not because he's a disgusting misogynist. He readily admits he plied Kara with free makeup in the hopes of getting sexual favors in return, but declines to bother proclaiming his innocence because he thinks without that fancy TV show forensic evidence a jury won't convict him anyway. Jane says Red Herring didn't kill Kara and suggests they set him free, all while listening to Kara's iPod that he pilfered from evidence. Scandalized, Lisbon orders him to put it back and he pretends to, but pockets it instead. I know he ends up using it to unlock Nicole's memories but it would be hilarious if Jane turned out to be a crime scene evidence kleptomaniac.

Jane's back at the hospital and proposes a "jail" break to Nicole, who is all for it. He hands her some clothes and distracts the guard while she gets dressed and they make a run for it. Oh, Jane. You're such a scamp. With your flowing blond locks and adorably impish behavior, you're kind of like a cocker spaniel puppy. One of the non-inbred ones, naturally.

While Jane is up to his hijinks, Lisbon and Rigsby stake out the bar, where Red Herring is drinking. Rigsby has eaten everything in the car and resorts to a ketchup packet, which makes me gag about a million times. Lisbon zones out to the sound of the traffic then has a eureka moment. She wonders if the sound Nicole heard wasn't water, but cars on a busy highway. She proposes they split up; Rigsby will keep watching Red Herring while she'll get a ranger and check the cabins near the highway.

Jane is re-creating the night Kara died, trying to jog Nicole's memory. He drives down the same road and sets the iPod to play the song that was playing when Kara stopped the car. Nicole remembers that Kara confessed to fooling around with Jason behind Nicole's back, claiming she was telling Nicole so that Nicole would see Jason was no good for her. Nicole, feeling sick at this betrayal, demanded that Kara pull the car over. The other car pulled up and the man who got out punched Nicole. Kara jumped out and rushed over to help her friend, but the killer stabbed her. In the present, Nicole remembers that Kara died trying to protect her. Well, sure. After banging your fiance, it was the least she could do.

Still remembering, Nicole says she was put in the man's truck and they drove a short distance over a bumpy road. She lost consciousness and woke up in a shed, and when she tried to escape the murderer, now finally revealed as Kyle the Killer, was in her way. He tried to rape her but she fought back and grabbed his knife then ran. Meanwhile, Lisbon hears from a very irate Sheriff Ron Butterfield that Jane has absconded with their number one suspect. She's busy checking the other cabins with Kyle the Killer but she takes a moment to try and call Jane, who ignores the call. After Nicole gives him a description, Jane calls Lisbon and says they're looking for a "tall well-built man with brown hair and glasses. Mid 30s." Lisbon doesn't stop to consider for even a second that the man she's with, a man who was part of the search party, fits that description. Lisbon is kind of an idiot. How exactly did she get to be an investigator? She just snaps that a lot of men fit that description, orders him to take Nicole back, and hangs up. Kyle the Killer asks what's up and if Nicole is remembering anything, and at least Lisbon is smart enough to keep her responses vague.

Jane drives Nicole back to the hospital and asks if there's anything else she can remember. She says she remembers the smell of pineapple and Jane calls Lisbon back, sharing this detail. Lisbon yelps, "Pineapple?!" then cuts herself off abruptly because she remembers a pineapple deodorizer hanging in Kyle the Killer's car (kar?) as they drove to the cabins. It's obviously too late to pretend she didn't give herself away, so Lisbon tells Jane where she is and uses a code to ask for backup. It's a good thing Kyle the Killer is even dumber than she is because a smart killer would've had his gun pulled the second she revealed the pineapple clue, but Lisbon gets to draw her own gun and speechify about how she doesn't want to shoot him before he even reacts. Kyle's motive: he didn't plan to kill anyone; he had a crush on Nicole and just wanted to talk to her before she married that lowlife Jason. LAMEST. MOTIVE. EVER.

Anyway, Kyle gets his gun out and there's a shootout at the Kyle Korral. Lisbon's left her phone connected and Jane anxiously asks if she's okay but she tells him to pipe down because she's trying to hide from the homicidal maniac. Jane has an idea: he tells Lisbon to slide the phone across the floor and he loudly yells, "Be careful!" allowing Lisbon to sneak out the door while Kyle shoots at the phone. Kyle follows and gets a gun to his head the second he steps out, courtesy of Lisbon, followed closely by Rigsby, who aims his gun at the other side of Kyle's head. I have a hard time believing that Rigsby got there that quickly but, whatever, it's by far the least contrived thing in this episode. And lest anyone think I hate this show I really do enjoy it, but the plotting leaves a lot to be desired. I nitpick for its own good.

The team packs up and prepares to leave. Nicole thanks Jane and gives him a hug, an act which I'm sure many of us would stand in line for. Kara's father is also there, picking up his dead daughter's best friend from the hospital, and he also thanks Lisbon for solving the case. Jane and Lisbon walk to their car, bantering about the cell phone maneuver. Lisbon refuses to let Jane have credit for the idea because she's seen it on TV a lot, but Jane scoffs that this is the first time she's seen it done in real life. Oh, how charmingly meta. They're no Grissom and Catherine and Lisbon in particular needs to smarten up before she's a worthy successor to the sharp and snarky Catherine Willows, but they've got potential as partners.