The Mentalist 5.15 "Red Laquer Nail Polish" Review

Lisbon (Robin Tunney) and Patrick (Simon Baker) are called to a CS at the Vogelsong mansion where a burnt out DB has been discovered in the library.  The security guards says the doctor called them to check on her but don't know his name.  Patrick heads to the library where Cho (Tim Kang) is talking to forensic investigator Brett Partridge (Jack Plotnick) who tells them all about spontaneous combustion, that it mostly happens to drinkers and smokers and then the subcutaneous fat in the body melts.. Effectively a human candle.  Then then mentions the congealed human fat layers on the lightbulbs which has Patty leave there quick smart, after his deduction that Elise Vogelsong (Mariette Hartley) was murdered.  Firstly she has a collection of mystery books, secondly there was too much scotch in the bottle to drink alone and there were four glasses on the table altogether.  Thus one of them was broken in the fire hence the glass in the fireplace.  Why not take the glass with you.

Patrick says spontaneous combustion being mentioned in Charles Dickens' Bleak House and Cho mentions the character by name, Krook. who was found burnt in his shop.  Showig Cho's on the ball with his reading, a nice touch I thought.

Don't know why they had Lisbon creeped out with that mansion she hasn't behaved like that before.  What with the fainting spell last ep and this, you can't change her character so dramatically.  Shown by the conversation both of them had upon arrival: Lisbon: "There's something off here.  That place gives me the creeps."
Patrick: "Normally I tend to mock your superstition but in this case, I'm inclined to agree."  Of course Patrick's earlier comment about living in a place like this and being rich, being a moral question.  Reeks of allusions to his own past where he preyed on people and made money in that way.  Morally and ethically wrong.  As well as Brett returning once more, not only since he's been on the scene in the past when RJ crimes have been investigated, the Pilot and season 3 finale Strawberries and Cream but as you recall his name was also in the black book of names in Black Cherry.  Patrick also met him after he lost his family.

Also as soon as Cho found out the nurse, Lissie (Tacey Adams) was missing, it was a giveaway to Elise having killed her off and that she was still alive.  Along with the medal going missing so she could frame her nephew Curtis (Michael Gladis) and Cayce (Vanessa Ray) kept shutting the hatch on the ship but didn't when Patrick paid her a visit at the end with the ashes.

Good to see Cho still ribbing Rigsby (Owain Yeoman) about needing to meet a woman cos it's been so long since he's been with one, what happened to Ben? SO he signs up to a dating site.  Especially after Van Pelt (Amanda Righetti) sends them a post card but doesn't address it to him like usual but just to "the bullpen."  Then the five women who did turn up at the end, cos he stood them up, all had red hair and could be Van Pelt replacements.

Then there was Alex (Elizabeth Bogush) hugging Patrick and thanking him for getting Curtis out of trouble, he comments she can thank him by forgiving Lisbon, who claims they followed the evidence.  Patrick adding she followed the evidence cos he had his own theories of course and found Elise when Lisbon was too creeped out at giving the ashes to Cayce, so Patrick took them down.  Here he wanted to set sail immediately and took hold of a marine flare and threw it into the cabin below, pushing Cayce over the side and then waiting until Elise made her exit with the stolen money.  Patrick wanted to get onto that boat all along but wasn't able to do so.  The second time Lisbon tells him they don't have a warrant and he says rules are boring.

He's always looking for some way to flout rules, as did Lisbon when she was after Volker, she had to resort to Patrick's methods to get her man.  But since she was getting warrants for Curtis's gallery and for Doctor Reinhardt's (Erick Avari) practice, she may as well have got one for the boat as well.  It was Elise's after all, so who knows what they may have found on there, even Elise herself.  So I don't see why she didn't.  She had probable cause too.  Then Lisbon says Patrick guesses instead of doing actual policework.  Patrick: "you should try it sometime."  Lisbon also refers to Patrick as her "associate" here.  Suggesting more equality in their work relationship, as opposed to introducing him as a consultant as she normally does.

For all the suspects in this episode, the trail led back to Elise.  That was obvious.
Lisbon saying Patrick just guessed was an about turn to what Patrick said to her in Red Sails in the Sunset, when Patrick tells Lisbon she'll never know if he "engineered the escape and abduction."  Lisbon replies she knows and he should trust her.  Patrick: "You don't know, you'll just guess."

All cos she knew Curtis would have been granted the case in his favour but she insists it's her money to spend and she should be able to spend it either way.  She manipulated Cayce into helping her and signing in using the Lissies's name at the hotel in Vegas.  As well as blackmailing the doctor into prescribing her all sorts of pills and telling Cayce her family wanted her committed.  Elise shows no remorse over committing the murder just labelling it as "an unfortunate necessity."  As well as planning to do away with Cayce too, who Cho informs her has become an accessory to murder.

Patrick running off to pursue Red John with a spring in his step and was excited about it too, cos lo and behold Lorelei returns next ep.  Notice Vogelsong means 'birdsong' and the boat had Bodega Bay, Ca written on it.  As we know Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds was set in Bodega Bay mostly where the bird attacks took place.  Patrick does have an affinity to sailing.  There was Red Sails in the Sunset, a Lorelei ep, which Simon directed where Lorelei said Patrick is just like RJ, "you know that, relentless and manipulation."
Here he says to Lisbon: "seems like a civilized way to travel don't you think?"  Lisbon thinks it's like "being in a prison cell with a chance of drowning."  Can't help thinking this is another Lorelei reference, when she came out of the ocean after swimming in there, naked, the beach is where Patrick drove to.  Mind you Patrick also made that comment when visiting the doctor saying, "I was just about to learn how to drive her wild in five easy steps."

Rigsby isn't over Van Pelt nor does it look like he will ever get there and move on.  This time round he even mentions how his mother used to read about the exploits of the Vogelsong heiress to make comparisons of her own life with hers when she was with his father.

In Ruby Red Slippers, similar was done when Archie took a corpse and burned it cos he wanted a new life.  Here Elise was just greedy and vindictive who just wanted the money for herself even after she bled dry the estate.  She has some character traits that reassemble Patrick too.  He has manipulated, lied to people in the past to find Red John and though he hasn't actually killed anyone, aside from shooting the man he believed to be Red John in Strawberries and Cream and manipulated his way out of that one; you know he's pretty much capable of anything.  This is reminiscent of the darkness in Patrick, that manifests itself when he's on a role, a mission to get to the truth, but we have seen over and again how he has it in him to be that way.   In The Crimson Hat, Rigsby and Lisbon also faked their own deaths and there seems to be a theme developing here.

Lots more subtle allusions to Lorelei like Patrick when he told her he'd get her to "sing like a bird."  Then we get Vogelsong here, vogel meaning bird in German (knew my German would come in handy one day, ha) and the boat was called the same, bird song.  See Patrick took CBI Ron with him when he went to find Elise and draw her out.