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Red Sky in the Morning is the twenty-third episode and season finale of Season 2 of The Mentalist.

Summary[]

Patrick Jane's and Kristina Frye's first date is interrupted by a report of Red John striking again, which is discovered to be the work of a copycat. But when Kristina reaches out to the real Red John during a television interview, both she and Jane find themselves in great danger.

Recap[]

Jane and Kristina are out on a date. Kristina suddenly grabs their waiters arm and explains that his dead mother is happy now and that his Uncle Ed gives him the message "Roll tide." Kristina asks the waiter if that means anything and the waiter gets emotional, stating that his Uncle Ed was a football player in the 60's. After the waiter leaves, Jane comments on Kristina's actions. Kristina questions him, asking if it's possible that there are things that happen that are in the realm of possibility. Jane concedes the point, then they begin to talk.

A little while later, Jane is telling her about his stay and escape from prison (Black Gold and Red Blood). Jane excuses himself to the restroom where he goes in and locks the door behind someone who walks out. He plays with his wedding ring, showing strong emotion, then hurriedly washes his hands.

He returns to the table, and starts to say something to Kristina but his phone rings. Van Pelt is on the other end, and she has something he needs to see: Red John has struck again.

Restaurant da Giorgio

Patrick and Kristina. Could Red John be watching them?

Kristina comes with Jane to the station. While they're watching the video that was uploaded onto the internet by someone who is supposed to be Red John, Kristina walks in. She makes prediction that the girl's body will be discovered soon and it'll be by a body of water. (Jane had previously debunked her statements about them being in San Francisco, which is always near water in The Scarlet Letter)

Moments later, they get a call about the murder. Lisbon, Cho, Rigsby, & Van Pelt leave the room to go get ready to visit the scene. Kristina states she feels she has a strong connection to Red John. Before she can say anything else, Jane pulls Hightower out of the room and tells her that if she allows Kristina to come on this, he'll quit. When Hightower asks him why, he says that Red John is his. Kristina shows up and tells Hightower that she knows Jane does not want her working the case with them, but asks if it's okay if she calls Hightower with anything she might come across. Hightower says yes. Jane walks Kristina to the elevator, where they say goodbye and Kristina makes the comment that it was an unusual date, before kissing him on the cheek and leaving.

Marley Sparrow is the girl who has been murdered. Jane asks the coroners to give him the room for a few minutes. After looking around for a minute, Brett Partridge shows up. He tries to say that the scene is Red John and that his guys need to get back to work. However, Jane tells him all of what he'd learned by looking around. Jane determines that this wasn’t Red John, but a copycat. Brett scoffs at it but Jane makes specific points. Jane walks out the door and Brett calls him a jerk under his breath. A second later, Jane startles him by coming back in and telling Brett to have her journals and diaries on the desk wrapped up and sent to the CBI.

Marley's roommate Ruth and her boyfriend Dylan say that she was dating a cop named Grady Shipp, but they never saw him personally. They check with one of her professors and she mentions a criminology course she taught last year. Red John was mentioned a few times, as the title of the course was basically “Serial Killers as Marketing.” When CBI regroups at a bar, Jane is watching Kristina Frye being interviewed and reading the subtitles. He jumps up in horror, rushing out when Kristina makes a heartfelt plea to Red John to get help. The rest of the team are puzzled and they turn towards the television, only in time to see the last few seconds of the interview.

Jane is yelling at Kristina in Hightower's office. He points out that Kristina is doing exactly what he did himself, calling Red John out on television. Kristina says the difference is that when Jane did it, he was lying. However, Red John will know that what she says comes from the heart. Hightower breaks in saying that there is a problem because CBI doesn’t have an obligation to protect her. Kristina says she doesn't need protection because Red John won't come after her. She walks out and Jane tells Hightower that she needs round the clock protection with the best people they have.

Grace finds an address in Marley’s address book not written in her handwriting while searching for the boyfriend, so Rigsby and Cho go to check it out. It leads them to an abandoned building where they find a room full of Red John smiley faces painted all over the walls with pig’s blood. Someone shoots at them through the glass ceiling and runs away. He gets on a motorbike and speeds away, but drops a lens cap on his way out.

Taking Jane’s suggestion to check the university film club, they come across the same Professor they talked with earlier. She gives them the class roster from her criminology class. She also shows them the members of the film club. When they compare the lists, Wesley Blankfein's name is on the both of them. Lisbon gets a call from the FBI — the real Red John has killed the woman who interviewed Kristina on TV.

After Jane checks out the crime scene with Lisbon, he gets upset because he wants to be with Kristina. That way he can confront Red John when he shows up. Jane goes to Kristina's place and tells her that Red John will come after her. Kristina tells him plainly that she knows Red John can change and he won't come after her because she reached him personally. Jane tells her that he is coming, no matter how she believes Red John thinks. Kristina tells him she wants him gone and he leaves.

After a cursorily glance at Wesley's shrine to Marley, Jane finds a photo of him outside of a building and tells them the direction to look for it. Lisbon tells him to make the call he's debating on. After a moment, Jane calls Kristina to apologize. Grace says she's taking a nap, but when she goes to look for Kristina, she's gone.

At the CBI, they discuss the fact that she packed a bag and took her passport and credit cards, so it looks like she ran. However, Jane stops them and says that with Red John, they can't rule out the fact that he might have gotten to her. Hightower comes in and says that Missing Persons is taking over her disappearance. Lisbon tells Jane he needs to take a rest. When Hightower tells him the same thing, he argues it saying he doesn't need a break. When they tell him he'll have to see the CBI therapist, he backs off.

However, after trying to stay still, he gets up and grabs the photo he saw on Wesley's shrine. He calls Lisbon and leaves her a message to say that he found the place and he'll wait for her to get there so they can go in. After a few minutes, he gets impatient and goes into the abandoned building. He walks through the door and stands there for a moment, then promptly gets knocked out.

He wakes up cling-wrapped to a chair. Wesley is in front of him, declaring he’s about to be sacrificed to the glory of Red John. About 3 sentences into his soliloquy, Wesley stops and asks if he can redo the lines. Jane, realizing that the whole thing is being put on and has picked up on the theatricality of it, advises him to try again. He has Wesley try several times, but then calls out Dylan and Ruth. He talks to Wesley under his breath, asking if they're holding his mother hostage. Wesley tells him yes. Dylan and Ruth, come out where Jane states that he knew it was them because they were the ones who brought up Grady Shipp. They try to get Wesley to hurry up and kill Jane but Jane tries to talk to him, saying they're just going to kill him and his mother anyway. They insist that Wesley kill Jane immediately for the slasher film they are making using real murder.

Suddenly, Dylan is shot. When Ruth looks, there's a man in an overcoat and a mask. He shoots Ruth, then turns and shoots Wesley in the leg. Red John states he hates cheap imitations of his work.

Jane, still trapped in the chair, desperately tries to see what is going on. Red John walks over to where Ruth is alive and begging not to be hurt, but he slices her throat. In his desperation, Jane knocks his chair over to the side, bringing him face-to-face with Wesley, who is lying on the floor moaning in pain from having been shot in the leg. While helpless on the floor, Jane hears Red John walking around.

Finished with them, Red John approaches, then rights Jane's chair and brings his masked face right up to Jane. Jane reacts with disgust and fear. Red John tauntingly holds his now-bloodied knife near Jane's face and speaks a few words — the opening lines to a poem by William Blake (“Tyger, tyger, burning bright”). He moves away and, just when Jane starts to think he's gone, Red John appears on the other side and tells him that Kristina wanted him to say hi and that she really cares about Jane. A few seconds later he says "Roll tide" (the same phrase that Kristina Frye had conveyed to the waiter during their date).

Two days later at CBI, Lisbon asks Jane if he is okay. Jane brushes it off, goes home, and lays on his single mattress under the fading smiley face still murmuring the poem, “Tyger, tyger, burning bright, in the forests of the night; What immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry?”

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Recurring Cast[]

Guest Cast[]

Trivia[]

  • This is the first time the audience (and Jane) are given a clue to the existence of the Blake Association.
  • The episode's title is derived from an old rhyme often repeated by seafarers, "red sky in the morning, sailors take warning."
Season 2 Episodes
Redemption  · The Scarlet Letter  · Red Badge  · Red Menace  · Red Scare  · Black Gold and Red Blood  · Red Bulls  · His Red Right Hand  · A Price Above Rubies  · Throwing Fire  · Rose-Colored Glasses  · Bleeding Heart  · Redline  · Blood In, Blood Out  · Red Herring  · Code Red  · The Red Box  · Aingavite Baa  · Blood Money  · Red All Over  · 18-5-4  · Red Letter  · Red Sky in the Morning
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