The Mentalist (Season six)

M-Net, Channel 101, Wednesday, 20:30

I haven’t seen much of this series so it’s another entry on my teetering pile of things I have to find time to watch.

I do like the concept though, and for those of you who don’t know, it goes something like this: Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) is a former psychic and medium who uses his unique skills to help the California Bureau of Investigations. He doesn’t actually have psychic powers — it was all a con he learnt from his abusive, swindling father during his childhood as travelling carny.

But as a result of all the cold-reading and other tricks fake psychics do, he became extremely good at judging people. He’s also skilled in hypnosis, pick-pocketing and reading a crime scene like Sherlock Holmes.

Five years before the show starts, Patrick accidentally crossed a serial killer known as Red John, who took revenge by killing Patrick’s wife and children. Now Patrick is consumed by the thought of revenge, and offers his prodigious skills to the cops, ostensibly to help them solve crimes — but more to keep himself in the loop about any developments in the Red John case.

As he’s not an officer of the law and comes from a shady background, his CBI colleagues have to hold his leash pretty tightly. He usually presents a jovial, devil-may-care attitude, but we occasionally get glimpses of the pain and rage underneath, making him a very interesting character.

Season six should keep fans happy as the Red John story arc goes through some interesting developments.