The Mentalist Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Warningicon

SPOILER WARNING: This article contains heavy spoilers about the main plot of the series that you might not want to know. Continue at your own risk.


"Do I know you?" "No. But I know you."
―Dialogue between Patrick Jane and Bob Kirkland[bron]

Robert "Bob" Kirkland was a character portrayed by Kevin Coirrigan who appeared for the first time in "Red Dawn". His final appearance was in "Red Listed". He was one of the seven final people on Jane's List of Suspects to be Red John, being the second to be eliminated.

He was a friend of FBI's Californian chief Alexa Shultz, and in Behind The Red Curtain, kills Jason Lennon. [1] Bob's brother, Michael, was an accomplice of Red John and is believed to be dead. He is killed by Reede Smith at the end of Red Listed, thus confirming that he was not Red John.

In "The Great Red Dragon", Smith confesses that Robert was killed because he knew too much about the Blake Association.

Background[]

Kirkland had a twin brother, Michael. Their father was an abusive drinker who beat them and their mother all the time. The mother, unable to put up with it, eventually killed herself. After growing up, Bob, who was the stronger of the two brothers, moved out and made a life for himself. However, his brother stayed behind with their father until he drank himself to death.

Afterwards, Michael descended into alcoholism himself. Bob tried to help him and took him to support meetings and paid for treatments, but his efforts were futile. Unfortunately, another man was more successful: Red John. He approached him, took him in and got him to sober up and join his cult. Michael eventually disappeared without a trace. Bob remains convinced that Red John killed him and got rid of the body. Since then, Bob has been on a personal vendetta against Red John, much like Patrick has.

Appearances[]

Red John Investigation[]

In "Red Dawn", we take a look at the early beginnings of Patrick Jane and the CBI. Towards the end of the episode, during a telephone conversation between Virgil Minelli and FBI Agent Alexa Shultz, a man is seen to be accompanying Shultz, as he seals the espionage deal. He said "Thank you" to Shultz, for the information on Red John's case (in background there's a musical theme, "Bloody Bed", a Red John's theme).

Robertkirkland

Kirkland speaks with Lisbon

In "If It Bleeds, It Leads", Bob Kirkland identifies himself to Agent Lisbon as an agent for Homeland Security who usually doesn't work on serial killers.

He's interested in Red John and involved in Lorelei Martins's case, but he doesn't say the motive for that to the DHS, that usually works against terrorism and national security,

Tumblr mdxp8dtDJf1ryp440

Kirkland shook hands with Jane

When he met and shook hands with Jane (with another and important Red John's music theme on background, the beginning of "Your Worst Nightmare", the Red John Face's theme), and in Red Sails In The Sunset.

Kirkland

Kirkland in There Will Be Blood

In this episode, with the help of Bret Stiles, Jane breaks Lorelei out of prison. Lisbon and Bob Kirkland think that Jane helped Lorelei, but after they find Jane's car with a broken window and his cellphone with the message: 'someone after me,' they suspect that Lorelei has taken Jane, in order to bring him to Red John or to take revenge.

Lisbon and Kirkland find out that Lorelei had a sister after a testy meeting with Dana Martins, Lorelei's mom, but she was killed and the killer was never found.

She says she did have a sister and faxes Jane the crime scene photo of the corpse of Miranda, Lorelei's sister, killed by Red John and the carved "Roy" (photo given to Lisbon by Bob). In the motel, Lorelei argues with Jane after finding out that he is pretending that she kidnapped him. After Jane confronted her about Red John's connection to her sister's murder, Lorelei says "I only wonder why the two of you didn't become life-long friends the moment you shook hands."

Lorelei leaves, with Jane' s permission, and Jane crashes their car to make it look like Lorelei kidnapped him, and takes off. Lisbon arrives and Jane tells her Lorelei is on foot. In fact, she really took a car that was parked by the house.

At the end of the episode Jane tells Lisbon that Red John is someone he knows.

As a Red John suspect[]

In There Will Be Blood, Kirkland once again shows interest in finding Lorelei Martins. So, Bertram gives Homeland Security full access to the investigation. Kirkland and Homeland appear at the crime scene at Jason Lennon's house, and he declares that it is under the jurisdiction of Homeland Security. He is also present at Lorelei Martins' murder scene.

Jason Lennon's Murder[]

Bob returned in "Behind The Red Curtain". Kirkland kills Jason Lennon by injecting him with an empty syringe, causing an air embolus which stopped his heart. He asked Lennon if he recognized him. Lennon said no. And Kirkland said he was giving him a peaceful death. He tells Jane that Lennon died without saying a word.

Jane's List[]

BIM0lv2CMAAbLSM

Kirkland studies Jane's board

In "Red Letter Day", Kirkland makes two other Homeland Agents break into Jane's roof at CBI so they can gather all of Jane's insights on the Red John case. By the end of the episode, Jane realizes that someone broke in because he noticed the half of a toothpick he had left in between the door and the wall was on the floor. Kirkland replicates Jane's bulletin board, and he is seen examining it. 

In "Red Listed", he kidnaps and threatens to torture Patrick Jane, because he wants the real list, and that could reveal that he isn't Red John, but he wants to catch Red John before the others. He gets arrested for kidnapping Jane, torturing Haibach and murdering another man. While on his way to prison, his van is stopped by Reede Smith, who feigns support for Kirkland. Kirkland saw through Reede's deception and knew he was about to be executed by a member of Red John's group, and even prompted to ask Reede 'why not do it here?' before being forced to run off and getting shot six times in the back by the FBI agent.


Known Victims[]

Survived[]

Info[]

Redjohnlimo

Kirkland in limousine

Due to his interest in Red John, along with the fact that Lorelei said Red John and Patrick had previously shook hands, many viewers believe Kirkland to be Red John or a close accomplice of him. He appears in the final seven remaining names on Jane's List of Suspects.

Trivia []

  • The surname of the character of Robert Kirkland was, maybe, inspired by a product of Costco - Kirkland Signature: Dried Cherries. "Cherry" being a recurring titles throughout the fifth season.
  • He usually wears a red tie. 

Appearances[]

TheMentalist
Season 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 #
Five - - - - G - R R - - - - - - - R - R R - - - N/A 6
Six - - - R - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - N/A 1
Total 7


See also[]

References[]

Advertisement