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The Mentalist delivers once again with a great plot, fabulous acting and a chemistry not seen in any freshman show in a long, long time.

A former state representative-turned-film-producer is shot dead on Hollywood Boulevard. Drugs are found in his trunk - a bad omen for the investigation into the death of a man who fought hard in the war on drugs.

The CBI team discover that all was not rosy in the life of the former politician, who was funding a film for his wife, Felicia, a B-movie “star” who dropped out of films to raise his daughter, Sydney, when they got married.

The script sucked and he wanted to pull the funding. He and director Gabriel Fanning argued the night he died. His wife, of course, had denied that funding would be pulled. This movie is destined to rejuvenate a career that wasn’t that much in the first place - to anyone except the narcissist actress. The wife is “distraught” about the killing - in a totally B-movie way. She is a terrible actress, and you just know she was a gold digger - and likely involved in the killing. After all, she would not have wanted the financial plug pulled on the movie.

Sydney, the daughter, isn’t a bed of roses. She is into drugs and dating a bad boy - who ultimately falls into the hands of Cougar Stepmommy. She seduces him by telling him her husband was a control freak - that he was abusive and terrible to her and Sydney. The boy cannot believe the things she is saying, and is easily persuaded to kill the man to protect them.

Little does he know that “abuse” to this woman is holding her back from her career.

Her first show of real emotion is on the set of this doomed film, where Sydney entraps her stepmother into finally admitting that she was behind the murder of her father.

“A Dozen Red Roses” was sharp, focused and funny in all the right places. The storyline has been done before - was it on a Law & Order - but this one had its own crafty style that kept viewers engaged and the plot moving steadily along.

I knew the wife was behind the killings, but at first I thought she and the director were having an affair. It took a while for me to get that she was a cougar in disguise and that she used her stepdaughter’s boyfriend to kill her husband.

There is a bit of comedy in the beginning when investigators chat with “Marilyn Monroe” and “Charlie Chaplin” - the two impersonators who found the body. Only in Hollywood would this bit work - and it certainly did here.

The red theme continued when the actress confessed on set - while wearing a red dress.

I’ve noticed in recent episodes they don’t use Patrick Jane’s observations quite as much as they did in the beginning. I’m assuming they feel they have successfully established the character for what he is and find more subtle uses for him - which definitely works. Jane is always spot-on in his observations, and I love how he withholds key pieces from the team so he can trap the killer in his own way.

The Mentalist continues a winning streak in its freshman year. I cannot wait for the finale - and for a few more tidbits about Patrick Jane’s nemesis, Red John.

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