Mentalist OAD 11/18/08 (spoiler)

[bleen]

Well now, it looks like Patrick might be open to the possibility of psychic stuff being real? Of course it was interesting how the psychic woman knew about the car at the bottom of the reservoir, given that the daughter turned out to be the one who did it, although Patrick did accuse the daughter of working with the psychic woman.

But the last part where she gives a message from his wife and he seems genuinely affected by it...I mean, he should know better than anyone from his parlor trick days that all you're doing is making educated guesses as to what people are thinking and feeding people what they want to hear, and what parent who lost a child wouldn't want to know whether they suffered or not? Nothing remotely psychic about that

[Oldandslow]

I was very disappointed in the writer/writers adding the last bit. Really went again the grain of the general theme of the show. Very bad.

[Rob Helmerichs]

I didn't see that he was genuinely affected by it, at least not in the sense of buying it. I thought it was a mixture of anger and self-loathing that somebody was using the same tricks against him that he used to use against other suffering people. I think he already had an intellectual understanding of how evil his old life was in the aftermath of his family's murder, but having it turned against him so directly probably is bringing it home on a much deeper, more emotional level.

The whole episode was a bit disturbing to me, in that it seemed to make the overall subtext of the show more ambiguous. My hope is that this is a deliberate misdirection, that he will be a little more forceful in his pursuit of fake psychics, and that Mrs. Jack Bauer will now be a recurring villain. We'll probably get at least a clue as to how all this will play out this week...at least, I sure hope they're not going to let it hang for a couple of months.

If they really are taking a less-skeptical tack, I will be sorely disappointed. There's enough of that crap on TV already; I really enjoy a show that treats psychic mumbo-jumbo with the contempt it so richly deserves!

[JMikeD]

Originally Posted by Oldandslow

I was very disappointed in the writer/writers adding the last bit. Really went again the grain of the general theme of the show. Very bad.

Me, too.

Is it too early to use “shark” and “jump” in the same sentence?

[JMikeD]

Originally Posted by Rob Helmerichs

If they really are taking a less-skeptical tack, I will be sorely disappointed. There's enough of that crap on TV already; I really enjoy a show that treats psychic mumbo-jumbo with the contempt it so richly deserves!

Ditto.

[Graymalkin]

I'm with Rob on this one. I'd like to think psychic abilities are not beyond the realm of possibility -- but I don't believe in ghosts or communicating with the dead. I do know, however, there are charlatans out there bilking vulnerable people who do want to believe, and I detest them.

[newsposter]

500/hr..i'm definitely in the wrong line of work

i like how nice she was taking customers on a sliding scale based on what they make!

[Peter000]

I don't see any ambiguity at all. The psychic basically all but admitted to him that her seances were shams, because she helped him fake it to entrap the daughter.

And as to being emotionally impacted by her last "message" to him, that can be explained serveral different ways from Sunday even though he doesn't actually believe in spirits. Maybe he was grieving because he realized that he could never hear that message from his wife for real because she was gone forever. His tears certainly didn't seem to be of relief but of frustration.

And that's what cold reader's do. Find an emotional weakness and exploit it. It doesn't mean at all that he believed her.

[Bulldog7]

Originally Posted by Peter000

I don't see any ambiguity at all. The psychic basically all but admitted to him that her seances were shams, because she helped him fake it to entrap the daughter.

And as to being emotionally impacted by her last "message" to him, that can be explained serveral different ways from Sunday even though he doesn't actually believe in spirits. Maybe he was grieving because he realized that he could never hear that message from his wife for real because she was gone forever. His tears certainly didn't seem to be of relief but of frustration.

And that's what cold reader's do. Find an emotional weakness and exploit it. It doesn't mean at all that he believed her.

Yeah, I have to agree. I felt that he was 'affected' by his guilt, i.e. his use of such fakery to make a living that drew attention to a truly evil man and got his family killed because of it. Which is his burden that is always with him.

[boywaja]

Originally Posted by JMikeD

Me, too.

Is it too early to use “shark” and “jump” in the same sentence?

hilarious. The show is finally growing on me so it figures I'd come into this thread and see a bunch of 'this show sucks'.

You say that last scene was a jump the shark moment. I say it was the best moment in the show.

[Mars Rocket]

I think his crying after the woman mentioned the death of his wife and daughter is perfectly natural, and has nothing to do with whether he believes her or not. It's an awful subject for him to contemplate and he is probably used to keeping it out of his head when he's at work. She brings its up, he starts crying. That would happen no matter what he believed or thought about her or her abilities.

[Alfer]

Originally Posted by Mars Rocket

I think his crying after the woman mentioned the death of his wife and daughter is perfectly natural, and has nothing to do with whether he believes her or not. It's an awful subject for him to contemplate and he is probably used to keeping it out of his head when he's at work. She brings its up, he starts crying. That would happen no matter what he believed or thought about her or her abilities.

Agree...he tries to play it cool about the tragedy and when someone tugs at his heart string hard enough like that, it brings back horrible memories, thus the tears.

Since we just started watching this a few weeks ago, I have to ask, why does Patrick almost ALWAYS have his hands in his coat pockets???
Drives me nuts..

[vertigo235]

He didn't really believe that she talked to his wife, however it's something he wanted to hear, and just hearing it draws out his emotions.

[vertigo235]

Originally Posted by Mars Rocket

I think his crying after the woman mentioned the death of his wife and daughter is perfectly natural, and has nothing to do with whether he believes her or not. It's an awful subject for him to contemplate and he is probably used to keeping it out of his head when he's at work. She brings its up, he starts crying. That would happen no matter what he believed or thought about her or her abilities.

ie, what he said.

[photoshopgrl]

Originally Posted by Rob Helmerichs

I didn't see that he was genuinely affected by it, at least not in the sense of buying it. I thought it was a mixture of anger and self-loathing that somebody was using the same tricks against him that he used to use against other suffering people. I think he already had an intellectual understanding of how evil his old life was in the aftermath of his family's murder, but having it turned against him so directly probably is bringing it home on a much deeper, more emotional level.

This was my exact feeling as well watching it. There's no way he'd believe she was legit just because of that exchange. He knows he used those same tricks to prey on the emotions of others.

[madscientist]

Originally Posted by Alfer2003

Since we just started watching this a few weeks ago, I have to ask, why does Patrick almost ALWAYS have his hands in his coat pockets???
Drives me nuts..

He's always got to be ready to do some sort of trick or sleight-of-hand... you never know when you need to make something appear/disappear/check if someone's lying/switch decks of cards/hypnotize someone.