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In a good, but predictable episode, CBI consultant Patrick Jane helps his former psychiatrist find a killer at a prestigious university.

Psychiatrist Sophie Miller is suspected of killing her ex-husband, a scientific researcher working with her on a mind-altering project at a prestigious university with a world-renowned professor.

Miller is Patrick Jane’s former psychiatrist. She got him through a breakdown after his wife and daughter were murdered (something no one knows about) and he feels he owes her a helluva lot. He gets colleague Agent Teresa Lisbon to take the case from local authorities, who immediately focus on Miller, who was accused of assaulting her ex on at least two occasions.

A radical anti-animal testing group claims responsibility for the act, but that is soon discredited and the California Bureau of Investigations team focuses on university personnel involved in the mind study. This study would change bad people from good people by electrifying their moral compass with shocks. As the team finds out more about the study, they determine the death just might be related. Lisbon doubts Jane’s assertion that Miller is innocent, and the chemistry between Jane and Miller make you believe she just might be right.

The whodunit in “Red Brick and Ivy” is easy to catch if you watch the clues, though I will admit I wondered if there were two people working in tandem. The blonde Miller - played by Law and Order alum Elisabeth Röhm - was almost too stilted at times, but there was chemistry there between her and Simon Baker. Still, I don’t like the character enough to have her become a permanent love interest for the sexy consultant. She is his past, not his future.

The university study, which tries to find a way to control the moral compass, is interesting, but seemed more like Eleventh Hour fare. I know The Mentalist is about a master manipulator, and this project wants to do just that, it was too cheesy and undeveloped. I think if they developed it more, it might have worked better, but for this episode, it seemed like they steamrolled through some facts. There was nothing intriguing about it - just shock treatments for the brain. Eleventh Hour could have done a LOT more with that idea. I’m quite certain I’ve seen something similar in an old black and white film.

The red theme continued throughout. In the victim’s very white home, there were red paintings with vicious strokes adorning the walls. It was brilliantly violent against the bland surface of the walls.

Even though this episode was predictable, I still liked it. There are few shows I can watch and guess and still find them a great watch. Somehow, The Mentalist never fails with me. I don’t know if it is because it is good, or because it is still a shiny, new Prime Time catch.

Does it matter? Not to me. The Mentalist continues to build on a strong freshman season. Even if an episode is predictable, I will always be ready to tune in to CBS right after NCIS for this great crime drama. The acting is always great, and we learn a bit more about Jane in each episode - important facts, I think, for the coming of Red John.

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