Title: "Team Work"
Fandom: The Mentalist
Author notes: A meta (of sorts) and art to go along with it. Just my opinions and nothing else.
Summary: There is a "team" on The Mentalist, but they don't get as much attention as they should.



The Mentalist has been one of my preferred shows on TV since its premiere. I pride myself on the fact that I was among the first fanfic writers over on ff.net. But, the show has annoyed me on a few points recently. I have found that as a long time viewer and rewatcher I’ve ruminated on certain aspects of the show.
“Team work” is an issue for me with this show. Look at my picture. This is form late season five, but it could easily be from any season really. Let us deconstruct it.

Jane is sleeping on the couch. He is not even paying attention to what is going on in the world. He’s checked out. And around him, life is going on. The “team” is bust doing the legwork required by the courts as proof to convict someone of a crime. But in the end, he will come in and steal the glory.

You can see people rushing around. They aren’t waiting for Jane, but when he checks out they still feel abandoned. The man was gone for six months and they took him back with nary a question. They follow him around and agree on schemes that may look good on TV, but would never fly in real life. It’s ridiculous.

There are four other people on the team, not that you would know it. Rigsby is poorly a poorly done comedic relief. His character, despite having a child, had been stagnant. There are story line about his father, but even that hasn’t’ caused growth. Van Pelt is even worse. Yes, she was engaged, but it was just a long game by Red John. And then it was basically just brushed under the rug and made fun of. She is there to run the computer and have sex with Rigsby. And it infuriates me! She had such potential. She could have grown and learned so much. I guess it’s no surprise that both of these characters (and their actors) are leaving the show.

And then we have Cho. SO many people see him and write his as flat. And he is, basically. But he’s at least been shown outside of work. He’s been shown to be passionate and loving and a soft teddy bear with a protective streak and an anger problem. But that seems to me that reason we see that side of him is because he isn’t tied to someone on the team.

Which brings us to Lisbon. I love her…most of the time. I am a bit Jisbon shipper. I love the thought of Lisbon being Jane’s savior. But she has lost something over the years. She has become weaker and more submissive. She give into Jane. She knows she is being manipulated. She knows it! An as a woman and a viewer I am offended. She is no longer the woman who would tackle a man twice her size.