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***SPOILERS***

In one of the top episodes of the season, Patrick Jane looses his sight after an explosion meant to draw him closer to a killer out for revenge.

It is a not-so-typical day in the neighborhood has Patrick Jane goes to work. Outside the office, he sees a smitten Agent Van Pelt kanoodling with her new love, a skinny guy who looks about 12 close up - totally not built like Risgby.

Morning coffee in hand, Jane is about to start his day needling the other CBI staffers when he gets a text that there is a bomb nearby. The sender toys with the mental man a bit, urging him to use his brain powers to find it before it explodes. After two bomb threats at the CBI building, no one else really takes the text seriously.

Jane is too damn smart, and knows the bomb is for him. Is it Red John? Or someone else? Jane finds a van with the bomb - and a victim locked inside - only seconds before the explosion. On the victim’s head is written: “ur next.”

The explosion causes temporary blindness in Jane, who decides to use the opportunity to hone is other senses - just like a true mentalist would.

The investigation begins with the victim. After some digging, Jane figures out the guy must be related to his past as a psychic. Once the CBI knows that Jane is being targeted, they start delving into Jane’s psychic career past to find someone he may have pissed off.

The episode takes a few twists before viewers finally figure out who wants Jane dead - and why. It is Van Pelt’s new boy toy - the son of a man “ruined” by Jane’s psychic reading (and his own adulterous ways) with the man’s wife long ago. He beats Rigsby senseless before cornering Van Pelt and Jane, who eventually escape. The still-blind Jane tries to drive Van Pelt’s car while she struggles with handcuffs. Agent Lisbon rushes to the scene and saves the day just seconds before Jane would eat his own blood.

“Bloodshot” moved at a fast clip, with some good red herrings - but no Red John. There was a fantastic shot at the beginning where Jane and Lisbon are thrown from the explosion. It is just the perfect angle, with Lisbon turning toward the fallen Jane as flames lick the sky behind them. (Of course, CBS did not post this at The Mentalist site so I could show you. That would have been too easy.)

I hate to say it, but as soon as I saw Van Pelt with a guy other than Rigsby, I figured he was the killer. (What can I say? I watch a lot of these types of shows and I know that everything on TV is shown for a reason. It seems like no one knows how to do a great red herring these days.) I did not, however, catch that the killer was the son of the man who’s life was ruined by Jane’s “psychic” reading.

I thought this episode was one of the top of the season - but not the top. There was great movement, cast chemistry, and I enjoyed watching Jane readjust himself to his situation - seemingly flawlessly. It seemed more serious than other episodes, but still did not take itself so seriously that I felt like I was watching Law & Order.

Every time I saw a scene with Jane doing a psychic reading, I wonder if his wife knew he was a charlatan, or if he kept it from her, too. Did he use his skills of persuasion and deduction to snare her hand in marriage? Is that part of his own self-inflicted guilt for toying with Red John until he killed her and his daughter? These are questions I would love an answer to as the series progresses.

The Van Pelt/Rigsby romance is a fun part of the show. It adds a little sexy humor to Jane’s wit, and isn’t all dramatic like some cop shows that want to manufacture tension because of work policies against in house dating. After this episode, I have a feeling the romance will get a little steamy - and bumpy - but I have a feeling it won’t ruin the show, or take away from individual episode plots.

It still amazes me that half way through the season I haven’t found an episode of The Mentalist that I absolutely hate. Each one is unique and different - but usually predictable - and always so much fun. It makes me want to take a class in mental observation so I can mess with people, too.

My only complaint now is that CBS keeps playing a new episode, then the next week rerunning another one. It was great to see the one Red John-focused episode of the season again (“Red John’s Friends”) - and to see that I could be wrong about who Red John is - but it is annoying. Since I review the show - and am a fan - I plan to watch it. It is idiocy for the network to play weekly roulette with the schedule. Hell some nights CBS will run a new episode of one show and the rest will be reruns. I don’t know what to expect from the network, anymore, except frustration in scheduling.

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