new show review: The Mentalist
September 24th, 2008 by screenwriterguy
A cynical, smirky rogue solves crime using his nearly inhuman observational skill, which is mistaken for psychic ability. Why yes, that is the premise behind USA’s Psych. But it’s also the pitch for The Mentalist, Tuesdays this fall on CBS. I haven’t been this unimpressed since Medium showed up as Ghost Whisperer.
The pilot episode features moments of highly intelligent writing, as one might expect from Bruno Heller, the man behind HBO’s Rome. You leave your comparisons to Psych behind pretty quickly when the opening draws you in. The depictions of our protagonist going around noticing and noticing are more elegant. The tone is readily dissimilar.
Then the episode settles into a familiar, uninteresting rhythm of crime investigation, forensic evidence, witness querying, and eventually clever hero outsmarting bad guy. There are some flashbacks that create a compelling backstory for our protagonist, but for the lead of a weekly whodunnit, pretty boy Simon Baker is a little too… Smarmy? Eurpean? Unblemished?
Overall, it’s a mediocre melange of ingredients likely to appeal to those who already follow similar shows, but not likely to draw out others of us.
Best aspect: A former charlatan “psychic” firmly opposed to the idea that a real psychic could possibly exist. They also did a great job with personality glimpses our hero notices and deduces about each person.
Worst aspect: Our detective’s flimsy relationship with his co-workers, and his supervisors forced disdain for him.
Verdict: I’m done with it.
Odds of success: Well, if you’d asked ME, I’d have concluded that CBS was overloaded with procedural crime dramas several CSIs ago. But no one asks me. The Mentalist pulled in 15+ million viewers on its debut. Personally, I think we must chalk some of that up to the lack of new programming in this post-strike fall season. People are hungry for something, anything new. That will fade, and when it does, The Mentalist will need to hold a viewer’s attention better if it is to succeed, because it’s outmatched in its time slot.
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