The Mentalist: Season 7 (DVD) – Series Review
Follow Genre: Drama, Crime, Mystery
Distributor: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Episodes: 12
Duration: 40 min. (per episode)

The Mentalist: Season 7 (DVD) – Series Review

Site Score
8.2
Good: A lot of variety in the cases
Bad: The format of Jane always miraculously finding the culprit with a trick feels a bit overused by now
User Score
7.0
(5 votes)
Click to vote
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Rating: 7.0/10 (5 votes cast)

Almost a year has passed since we posted a review on season six of The Mentalist, but now it is time to share our thoughts on the latest and last one, season seven. With only twelve episodes, it is the shortest season of all, but still you’ll be treated to a variation of different cases, and different tricks, one last time.

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At the end of season six, Jane (Simon Baker) and Lisbon (Robin Tunney) finally got together. Now they are enjoying their holiday and each other, but soon life kicks back in. Murders need to be solved and gangsters need to be caught. Back to business for Lisbon and Jane, but Lisbon doesn’t mind at all, as catching criminals is who she is, and Jane, well, he doesn’t really have a choice, seeing he made a deal with Abbott (Rockmond Dunbar), and he can be with Lisbon more often. The cases they try to solve are rather various. There are still quite some murders to be solved, but also robbers, thieves and drug dealers are added to the mix. Apart from the cases, attention goes to Lisbon and Jane’s relationship, both at home and at work. They keep being professional at work, but still it’s clear that their relationship has changed. We also see them in their spare time, which is a nice change and allows you to get to know both characters in a different way. Aside from this storyline, there is also a minor one concerning Abbott and his wife Lena (Christine Adams). Lena is up for a promotion in Washington, but Abbott’s past as an officer in Rio Bravo might make the jury decide against her. When his boss in Rio Bravo at the time, Peterson (Dylan Baker), turns up, threatening to make his secret public, things start to get exciting.

Given that the Red John storyline, which was the common thread running through all of the previous seasons, had finally found its conclusion in season six, the makers had to come up with something new. Instead of choosing for another exciting storyline, they chose to highlight the relationship between Jane and Lisbon, and also the secret Abbott has about his past. As this is the last season of the series, these storylines are not very elaborate, but prove to be a nice change from the FBI cases nonetheless.

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This season only lasts twelve episodes, whereas the other seasons all contain over twenty episodes. This, together with the fact that the side story is not that elaborate, makes it quite clear that this is the last season. Certain things still needed to be said and done, but it isn’t stretched out over more than twenty episodes. This makes sure that there is some kind of closure, without it getting annoyingly long.

The storylines of each case move at a steady pace. As always, the plots are not too complicated, but still keep you wondering as to who did it and what the motive was. Also to be expected is that Jane always comes up with a plan that sounds completely ridiculous at first, but proves to be doing the trick, uncovering the truth. Although this format seems to be getting a bit overused, they did try to put some variation into it, such as Lisbon doing a psychic trick while Jane giving her instructions through a wire. Also them going to Beirut to go after a criminal makes for a nice change.

All actors did a very good job portraying their character. Simon Baker continues to impress, playing the cunning, somewhat self-centered but at the same time fragile Patrick Jane. Tim Kang manages to make you smile, mostly because his character Kimbal Cho is so down to earth and hardly ever smiles. Robin Tunney still plays Lisbon in a convincing way, although sometimes it seems as if she had a bad day on set. Nonetheless, she makes a very good duo with Baker. Josie Loren makes for some more character development, as her character Vega is the newest member on the team.

There are hardly any extras on this DVD release, which is somewhat unfortunate, certainly when keeping in mind that this is the final season of the series. It would have been nice to see some thoughts on the series by the cast and crew, or links to the past seasons. Instead, we get the usual deleted scenes and a very short portrait of Simon Baker’s character.

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Conclusion

In The Mentalist Season 7 everything falls slowly into place, with Red John out of the picture and Jane and Lisbon finally being a couple. The overall story might move in quite a predictable way, but if we are honest, we don’t really mind. This season is certainly a nice keystone to a deservedly popular series.

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The Mentalist: Season 7 (DVD) - Series Review, 7.0 out of 10 based on 5 ratings

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