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Cheap Burgundy is the seventeenth episode of Season 4 of The Mentalist.

Summary[]

While CBI tries to get a smug business owner to confess to a murder, FBI agent Darcy asks for Patrick's help with her murder investigation. However, her real motive is to find out more about Patrick's relationship to Red John.

Recap[]

It’s a two-for-one episode as the team works one case while Jane is on loan to Agent Darcy and the FBI for another. The first is the murder of Matilda Cruz, whose last contact was in an internet chat room devoted to Shakespeare.  Jane gets a bad vibe from the start from her boss, Gary Philo, and provokes him to assault him so Lisbon can arrest him. Darcy shows up to ask for his help with the other case, the murder of Kati Bauer, and whisks Jane away before he gets to question Philo.

Supposedly, the Governor’s office has an interest in Bauer’s murder and wants “the best” on the case. Lisbon gives Jane some prophetic last words before heading off to talk to Philo about Cruz. She’s thinking of just letting him go, but he shows himself to be a class A and she decides to hold him for the full 48 hours. She storms out and tells the team he’s guilty and they need to make him crack again like he did when he hit Jane.

Meanwhile, Jane is out in the woods with Darcy to examine the Bauer scene, which has been held intact. It’s under the jurisdiction of park services.  Ranger Sam Franklin, who found the body, is their contact. Kati Bauer had been stabbed to death without any apparent struggle or defensive wounds. The only other evidence at the scene is a piece of a wine bottle. Back at the Bauer house, Darcy and Jane interview the in-laws who had apparently taken Bauer’s young daughter for the day so she could have some solitude. Jane plays with the phone and wanders around the house, clearly making the in-laws uncomfortable. The only calls from the house were to the mother-in-law and a to a local pizza place – but there are no pizza boxes in the kitchen or the garbage. At last the husband, who’s been in New York, shows up.  Jane rubs the husband the wrong way too. Jane leaves Ranger Franklin to smooth things over while he and Darcy check out the pizza place.

On the Cruz case, the ME’s report shows she was smothered, but there’s no way to trace the mystery chat partner, her family is all back east and her co-workers didn’t know much about her. Lisbon’s determined to follow Jane’s hunch, and her own, and prove that Philo was behind it. She sets the team on his trail like bloodhounds, telling them to call in favors and improvise if necessary to pick his life apart. Meanwhile, Jane and Darcy question the owners of the pizza place and find out that its a family business run by Manny Barca, his sister Lila and his brother James. James is a vet that’s been “troubled” since coming back from the army and that they haven’t seen since he left shortly after the phone call from the Bauer house. They insist, though, that while he’s been angry, violent and prone to blackouts, he’s not a killer. During the conversation, Darcy gets a message that Barca’s car got a parking ticket a block from the Bauer house.

They head back to the woods to look for him. Darcy makes her first attempt to ask Jane about Red John and he dodges the question just before Barca walks out of the woods brandishing a bloody knife. He attempts to commit “suicide by cop”, but Jane knows just what to say to talk him down and they’re able to bring him in.

Rigsby ’s the first to attempt questioning Philo, who claims to have no interest in Shakespeare. They need Jane, but he’s busy questioning Barca, who blacked out and doesn’t remember anything. Just waking up covered in her blood and hiding in a hole in the woods for what seemed like days. Jane checks in with Lisbon and tells her to hit Philo with his “need” to be right and that he’s not sure that Barca’s guilty. Darcy thinks he is, but wants Jane to stay on the case, she can’t afford to be wrong. Jane calls her on the “governor” lie and she tells him instead that her job is in jeopardy. She needs the win and therefore his help. He agrees, but only if they run the case his way. She agrees and says she’s there to learn. Back at the CBI, Rigsby’s trying his hand at what he’s learned from Jane, trying to hypnotize Philo. It doesn’t work.

Jane finally agrees to talk about Red John but only if Darcy lets him do a reading on her. He gets too close to the truth with people too easily for it to be a complete charade. Darcy walks out on him and he’s about to settle to breakfast when he notices the ring on the waitresses finger. They rush back to the house, where her husband show them Bauer’s separate bedroom and where Jane finds the wedding ring that she wasn’t wearing when her body was found. They also discover that Franklin is feeding information to the family.

Jane goes back to Barca and he ultimately confesses that he and Bauer had been seeing each other for six months. He only actually delivered pizza the first time. No one else knows about the relationship. He’s broken up that he might have killed her, but Jane tells him he’s 80% sure that he didn’t. Jane goes and waives the ring in front of the family for reactions. The mother-in-law looks nervous. Darcy and Jane get into an argument on the way back to park services. Jane wants to release Barca and get a search warrant for his brother’s car. Darcy says they don’t have enough to do that and they should just arrest Barca.

Eventually, they get down to Red John, the real reason he’s on the case. She tells Jane that she thinks he’s protecting him. Her job isn’t in jeopardy, she didn’t need his help, she’s investigating him. Jane finally admits that Red John is still alive, but insists he’s not a disciple or friend. It was a mistake to let people think he was dead. This is going to be a big problem later. She leaves and Jane sets his plan into motion – Darcy does, after all, actually need his help – by telling Franklin the “plan” to release Barca and search his brother’s car for trace evidence in the morning. Then he calls Lisbon to come and get him. She tells Van Pelt and Cho that they’ll just have to handle Philo and leaves.

Handling Philo is still proving to be difficult. They manage to get him on the water trick, getting a DNA sample, but he just throws it back at them, saying that he’s sure Cruz’s killer would have been too smart to leave DNA. He disgustingly offers more DNA by licking Van Pelt’s file. They need Jane, but he’s at the park, napping on a bench waiting for Lisbon. She arrives and they head off to stake out the pizza place where she apparently spends hours trying to get him to talk about what happened with Darcy. He finally spills and tells her that Darcy now thinks he’s one of Red John’s disciples. He seems unconcerned, but Lisbon is. Jane cuts her off when two hooded figures show up heading for the brother’s car. They catch Bauer’s in-laws red-handed planting hairs in the car. They had drugged the wine that she was packing for her picnic with Barca and once they were both knocked out they stabbed her to death and left the knife in Barca’s hand. All to save the family from financial loss in a divorce. Not just the murder either, but taking advantage of a troubled vet by framing him like that. That case is solved, but Darcy’s gone to Wainwright for his help in proving Jane is working with Red John, or be taken down with him.

Jane arrives back at the CBI just in time for Philo’s release. As an English major as they passed each other at the elevator and Philo said “well met, well met”, an archaic greeting used frequently in Shakespeare. Jane very cleverly misquoted Macbeth and Philo fell guiltily into his trap by correcting him that it was “Neptune’s oceans” not “Neptune’s waters” and it’s back to interrogation with Mr. Arrogance, who clearly knows his Shakespeare.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Recurring Cast[]

Guest Cast[]

Season 4 Episodes
Scarlet Ribbons  · Little Red Book  · Pretty Red Balloon  · Ring Around the Rosie  · Blood and Sand  · Where in the World is Carmine O'Brien? · Blinking Red Light · Pink Tops · The Redshirt · Fugue In Red · Always Bet On Red · My Bloody Valentine · Red Is The New Black · At First Blush · War Of The Roses · His Thoughts Were Red Thoughts · Cheap Burgundy · Ruddy Cheeks · Pink Champagne on Ice · Something's Rotten in Redmund · Ruby Slippers · So Long, and Thanks for All the Red Snapper · Red Rover, Red Rover · The Crimson Hat
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