|SPOILER| The Mentalist Goes Mental - Fugue in Red

"When you witness the old Patrick  seducing 

and stealing, you realize how much integrity 

he's acquired through tragedy", says creator 

Bruno Heller.

This might not seem like a laughing matter, but it is! Tonight on The Mentalist, someone comes very close to murdering Patrick Jane, the criminal analyst played by Simon Baker, and it will leave our hero with a bizarre case of selective amnesia – which has him reverting back to the wicked, womanizing ways of his youth.

"Patrick is once again the completely conscience-free hustler he was in the years before the audience met him." Says creator Bruno Heller "He's forgotten he ever had a wife and daughter and they were murdered by Red John. It's a chance to see him as a truly happy man."

One sequence has Jane conducting a scam séance in a bar full of firefighters and their ladies. Simon really threw himself into this. Says Heller, "it's a very funny performance."

Because Jane’s state is so delicate, his cronies at CBI must treat him with kid gloves. His Boss Teresa Lisbon has been warned by doctors "she can't tell Jane about his memory gap," says Heller, "She must allow his mind to heal in it's own gradual way." At the same time, she needs Jane's help solving crimes, including his own near-assassination. So he's told what he does for a living.

"He's like 'Oh ok... that sounds like fun! And gets right on board with it." says Heller who admits he's no stickler for accuracy. 'I wouldn't go calling the AMA to see if this is a true depiction of post-traumatic amnesia... we're just having some laughs here."

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Source: TV Guide.
Special thanks to http://thebakerboy.ucoz.com/.