The Mentalist s01e01 Episode Script

Excuse me.
Can I get a comment, please? Yes, ma'am.
We're just gonna keep you right back here.
- Captain.
- Agent Lisbon.
Don't think we'll be needing you guys.
We like the neighbor kid who found the body.
- Did he confess? - Eh, he's a real squirrel.
Hard to say - Did you kill her? - Did you kill her? Mercy's father would like to give a brief statement.
I just wanna take a moment and thank everyone in law enforcement and all the volunteers who helped us in the search for our beloved daughter.
The way that this entire community has come together to support me and Juniper in this terrible time has been of great comfort to us.
And now I would just like to ask that you give us some time, space and privacy to grieve for our daughter.
Thank you.
Hello, Mrs.
Tolliver.
- Who are you? - My name's Patrick Jane.
I'm here to help you.
Would you like a cup of tea? Yes, I would.
Thank you.
You must be tired.
Why don't you sit down? It's nice and quiet in here, isn't it? Quiet, soothing, calm.
Calm.
I've been watching you and your husband and I want you to know that I understand what you're feeling right now.
You have no idea.
Believe me.
I do.
I know.
- I know, and I wanna help you.
- You can't help me.
- What do you know? - All sorts of things.
- You really only pretend to like skiing, right? - Yes, but You're pleased that your best friend recently gained some weight.
About 10 pounds.
You wish you'd been more adventurous when you were younger.
You love India, but you've never been there.
You have trouble sleeping.
Your favorite color is blue.
I don't understand.
You're? - You're psychic? - Ha, no.
Just paying attention.
I used to make a good living pretending to be a psychic.
I tell you this because I want you to understand there's no point hiding things from me.
Hiding what? You know what I see when I look at your husband? I see a warm, loving, generous man.
A little vain, maybe.
Selfish.
Controlling.
But a decent man.
Yes.
So why do you suspect him of murdering your daughter? I don't.
- The McCluskey boy did it.
- Yes, that's what the police say.
But you think they're wrong.
Why? I don't know.
I don't know.
I Tell me.
The last year, they have been so strange with each other.
And neither one would admit that anything was wrong.
And I think that I think that she tried to tell me once, and I didn't I God.
Oh, God.
Did you ask him if he killed her? What would he say? Most wives can tell when their husbands are lying.
Yes.
Yes.
L I don't want Uh The McCluskey boy did it.
Maybe.
You think he did it too? I trust a mother's instinct.
June? There you are.
Hi.
Who are you? I'm the police.
Did you kill your daughter? How dare you? I asked you a simple question, sir.
Did you kill your daughter? - No.
I did not kill my daughter.
- Oh.
Now, you get the hell out of my house.
June? June, what's the matter with you? I'm gonna have your badge.
An innocent man would've punched me by now.
I am gonna make life miserable for you.
You come in here, you accost my wife.
You cause trouble, uh June.
June, honey, please Shots fired.
Inside.
Move, move! Hey.
Honestly, it's not as bad as it looks.
Mrs.
Tolliver? Mrs.
Tolliver? Please wait.
Front room's clear.
Then the son of a bitch eagles 17.
Are you kidding me? On that course? A damn eagle? That course never suited you, Price.
We'll do better in Orlando.
- We have a nice spot on the draw.
- Well, I'll tell you what.
Davis Love III can kiss my butt.
Alison? Alison? Flight 233 from Sacramento you may claim your baggage from Carousel 2.
Flight 233 from Sacramento Uh, sorry.
You checked luggage? What are you, on vacation? - No, ma'am.
Won't do it again.
- When your trousseau arrives pick up the second rental and go to the sheriff's department.
Hustle us up a couple of rooms, furniture and phone lines.
Yes, ma'am.
Come on, let's go.
Morning, everybody.
- How was your flight? - Go away.
You're on suspension.
Thank you.
- Mandated leave.
Ends next week.
- So come back next week.
- Hot enough for you? - Which one of you jackasses told him? - It was you, wasn't it, Cho? - Yes.
Of course he called me.
It's Red John.
Can't keep me out of this.
Why would you want to? You got a man killed.
There's consequences.
A man that murdered his daughter because she wouldn't have sex with him? You did not know that.
If she hadn't left the diary But she did, though.
Be reasonable.
This is my case.
- Your case? - Red John's mine.
Red John doesn't belong to anyone.
He belongs to me.
It's not my call.
Rules are rules.
Come back next week.
Don't let this man past.
Boss.
We have Gregory Tannen, Caucasian, male, 43, single.
We haven't opened him up yet, but Sorry I went over your head.
I'll redeem myself, I promise.
You want redemption, be silent.
- Okay, I can learn to do that.
- Shh.
Sorry.
Burn marks here indicate that the victim was subdued with a stun gun standard civilian model, by the look of it.
Death appears to be caused by several blows to the back of the skull consistent with the bloody golf club found at the scene.
Female is Alison Randolph, They were found at her listed residence.
TOD looks to be early Saturday evening.
On Alison, we have stun-gun marks followed by binding with tight, black, plastic ligatures frenzied cutting and stabbing assault of the torso, and abuse of the viscera.
- Textbook Red John.
- Who found the bodies? This one's husband, coming home from the airport with his brother.
- He's a pro golfer.
- Oh, yeah? Price Randolph? - What's her deal with him? Do we know? - He's on file as one of her physicians.
- Making a house call? - Lovers? No.
This one's gay.
Dr.
Wagner might know what their relationship was.
He's here to make the formal ID.
Okay.
Dr.
Wagner.
Hi.
I'm Agent Teresa Lisbon, California Bureau of Investigation.
- What's your connection to the victims? - Well, I work with Gregory.
Dr.
Tannen and the Randolph family are long-time clients of our practice.
- Are house calls the norm at your practice? - No.
Gregory and Alison were close friends.
- Lovers? - No.
He was gay.
No, they were just friends.
- What in God's name happened to them? - Looks like Red John.
- Who's Red John? - We don't know who did this.
We'll be in touch probably.
Thank you.
- Tracy wanna set up? Here? Yeah, that's good.
Red John enters here.
Excuse me.
Sorry.
He comes around here.
He waits for her, expecting her to come in alone.
Only thing, her friend Tannen chose the wrong night to come over for a Richard Gere and ice-cream orgy.
So Red John zaps them both with his trusty stun gun and Excuse me.
- Grabs a five iron from the bag here and Ugh! Crushes Tannen's skull.
Then he takes his sweet time dealing with Alison how he likes.
She's a nice big girl so unless he's pretty strong, I'm guessing that he grabbed her by the arms and dragged her down the hall.
He says he's sorry for all the pain he's caused you and your mother.
Deeply sorry.
He asks you to forgive him.
Can you do that Jenny? - He needs to hear it.
- I forgive you, Daddy.
- Oh, yes.
- I forgive you.
He's smiling now.
There are tears of joy.
He says, "God bless you and keep you.
" He's gone.
- Amazing, amazing.
Amazing.
- She's amazed.
- Patrick - One second.
- Give him some time.
- Abso Come on back to us.
- I'm back.
Thank you.
- He's back.
Ha-ha-ha.
So, Patrick, I understand that you're also sort of a paranormal detective.
- Is that right? - I try to help the police when I can.
And you're helping them hunt this scary serial killer.
- What's his name? Red John.
- Red John.
There she blows.
Classic Red John smiley face.
Drawn in the victims' blood, clockwise, with three fingers of his right hand wearing a rubber kitchen glove.
- I'm stoked to finally see one in the flesh.
- This isn't Red John.
Right.
Red John thinks of himself as a showman, an artist.
He has a strong sense of theater.
In the previous killings he made sure that the first thing that anyone sees is the face on the wall.
You see the face first, and you know.
You know what's happened, and you feel dread.
Then, and only then, do you see the body of the victim.
Always in that order.
Here, it's the opposite.
The first thing you see is the body and you have to look around to see the face on the wall.
- Doesn't play nearly as well, does it? - Depends on your taste, I suppose.
No.
Come on.
The killer could've painted on the correct wall here, but he didn't because he didn't know better, because he isn't Red John.
Wow.
That's interesting.
You know what your problem is, my friend? You enjoy your work a little too much.
You're a ghoul.
If you don't get horny reading Fangoria, I'm Britney Spears.
L I resent that.
- This is you trying to redeem yourself, is it? - I'm sorry.
He irks me.
He's irksome.
You don't need me here.
- So, yeah, this one doesn't fit the pattern.
- So Jane was right.
We have a copycat.
Or we have Red John trying new things.
Or we have Red John making a mistake.
We don't know.
We'll work the evidence until we do know.
- Go talk to the husband.
- Will do, boss.
What are you waiting for? Hey.
So you might be right about this case.
Might be.
Thanks for the insight.
No.
Did I say that? I'm acknowledging the fact that you might be right, that's all.
I mean, if you wanted to come back, I couldn't stop you.
Yeah, fine.
I'm asking you to come back.
Because.
Because you're useful to the team.
No.
No, I won't say "please.
" Go screw yourself.
Jackass.
Good morning.
Can I help you? You must be Van Pelt.
Pleasure.
Patrick Jane.
Oh, hi.
Good to meet you.
Agent Cho said you'd left town.
No.
Nowhere to go.
Okay.
Um.
Do you want that desk over there, or this one? - I mean, that one gets more light.
- That one.
More light, by all means.
Very pleasant addition to the Serious Crimes family.
Oh.
Hi.
When did you get here? Stop.
I give up.
Aah! Stop.
Stop.
Turn off the camera.
Tag.
Come on, come on, come on.
- Okay, we're done.
We're done.
- Stop.
Good, good.
You are awful.
- Go, go, go.
- Stop, please.
Stop.
I lost a beautiful, precious angel.
Yes, sir.
Good-Iooking woman.
I'm jumping right in, if you don't mind, Price.
You missed the tournament cut on Friday, yes? But you didn't come home until Sunday.
What'd you do with the rest of your time? I get this.
You guys can't catch the real killer so you wanna lay this one on me? - No, sir.
If we have confirmation of where you were, lets us exclude you from the investigation.
I was with a massage therapist.
Name? - Uh, it had "lady" in there somewhere.
- It'll be on his credit-card bill.
There you go.
Pleasure meeting you, boys.
We're a full-service private practice.
We deliver primary care, uh, cosmetic surgery psychotherapy, sports medicine, you name it.
What's the African connection? It's what this place is all about.
Half our profits go to build and staff basic health clinics in poor African communities.
All right, here we are.
It's a thin file.
Alison was a healthy young woman.
- Psychiatric history? - She didn't have one.
STDs? Abortions? - Unexplained injuries? - No.
Aside from some routine checkups with me, it's all Dr.
Tannen, all aesthetic work.
Did Tannen keep a diary? Our last case was solved because the victim kept a diary.
Diary? I don't think so.
Getting back to Alison Randolph.
How was her marriage, do you think? Happy? Unhappy? About six months ago, Dr.
Tannen asked my advice.
Alison asked him to get her a year's supply of birth-control pills, off the books which is strictly against AMA code.
I said, "Sure, do it.
" - Better us than some Tijuana drugstore.
- Why the secrecy? Price Randolph had a vasectomy, April of '02.
- Lf there's anything else I can do - I appreciate that.
Actually, there is.
Uh, I'm out of sleeping pills.
Can you fix me up? Anything strong will do.
Sure.
Come in for a consultation.
We'll squeeze you in this afternoon.
Oh, no, I was hoping to get something now.
Trying to avoid the chitchat.
I'm sorry.
I wouldn't feel comfortable prescribing without some sort of chitchat.
I understand.
Uh, no problem.
I'll call you.
Maybe.
I like the husband for it.
He hires some hooker to create an alibi, flies home, fillets the spouse, flies back.
It's a classic, elaborate and clever, but ultimately stupid plan.
Have you looked at his PGA tournament record? It's not bad.
Six mil career earnings.
For coming in second and third.
Put him on the 18th tee with a big one on the line like night follows day, he'll shank it.
He's a choker.
He doesn't have the nerve to kill his wife.
Didn't do it.
Are you suggesting we drop a prime suspect because he's never won a major? Oh, no, no, no.
I'm just making idle conversation.
How'd you do that? Telekinesis.
He blew on it.
That is another way to do it.
Mr.
Jane, I have a question regarding your previous career path.
Fire away.
When you met with other psychics, real psychics could they tell you were just pretending? There's no such thing as real psychics.
I beg to differ.
My cousin Yolanda's a psychic.
Your cousin is deluded or dishonest, or both.
- Hey, steady.
- No.
He's entitled to his opinion.
He's wrong, though.
- She has power.
- Thank you.
She can communicate with the other side.
I've seen her do it myself.
She let you speak with someone that's gone? - Yes.
- Someone you love and still miss very much? - Yes.
You wanted her power to be real, so it was.
No.
You're sure you're right.
Science don't know everything.
Five hundred years ago, radio would've seemed like magic.
- Exactly.
- In the future, it could be totally normal to communicate with the other side.
- The other side? Mm-hm.
Your father's a football coach, yeah? - How'd you know that? - It's obvious from your whole demeanor.
My point is, didn't Dad always say life is like football? When that final whistle blows, the game is over.
Done.
There is no more.
There is no other side.
This is it.
Lobster and bread rolls and nautical kitsch, and then pfft, nothingness.
You poor, sad man.
The Kingdom of God is a real place.
Okay, later tonight, when Rigsby asks you to come back to his hotel room say yes.
Excuse me? I know, you were planning on refusing him very curtly.
First week on the job, you wanna set a tone, no monkey business.
But why not? Rigsby's an excellent lover, I'm sure.
Tough, but fair.
Right? Right.
The Kingdom of God is a real place, Mr.
Jane.
And you have an immortal soul.
Oh, I do so hope you're wrong.
- Good night.
- Night.
Later, dude.
This is me.
- Welcome to the unit, Agent Van Pelt.
- Thank you, Agent Rigsby.
She explodes into action.
Reaching up to 60 miles per hour she easily outruns her terrified prey.
"Greetings, old friend.
It's been a while.
I hope you are keeping well.
I am thriving and happy.
I have 12 wives now and will soon begin courting Number 13.
Why can't you catch me? You must feel so powerless and stupid and sad.
Oh, well.
All the best.
Red John.
" That sounds like the real deal to me.
Sounds like Red John.
It's not.
Red John wouldn't risk capture just to taunt me.
So the real killer's trying to throw us off track? Cho, find out where Price Randolph was a half an hour ago.
Rigsby, check the hotel security cameras.
Get those over to Forensics.
- You okay? - Absolutely.
Get some sleep.
Hello.
- Good morning.
- You didn't sleep, did you? Hi.
I'd like to make an appointment with Dr.
Wagner, please.
It's urgent.
Jane.
Patrick Jane.
Yeah, I'll hold.
Forensics maybe got a break.
Blood on the cloth in the envelope is Alison Randolph's.
But they found a hair in there, doesn't belong to her or Tannen.
Guess who it does belong to.
It's yours, Tag.
Amazing, huh? Science.
This is insane.
I didn't I didn't kill Alison.
How do you explain your hair? Either it was a mistake, or I'm being framed.
Who would wanna frame you? We don't want to, if that's what you're thinking.
He and Alison were lovers.
Who would wanna frame you, Tag? - My brother.
- Why would he wanna do that? Alison and I were lovers.
I think you are psychic.
You're just afraid to admit it.
Mm-hm.
So So, heh.
Why is it you can't sleep? Because I can't get the good pills without talking to a doctor.
- And you don't like talking to doctors.
- Eh.
They always wanna be the smartest person in the room, don't they? When, in fact, that's me, obviously.
You protect your core self very fiercely.
What do you think is the reason for that? You know, this is exactly how I imagined it would be.
You gonna ask me about my mother? - Do you want me to ask about your mother? - I just wanna sleep.
So, what is it that keeps you awake? Oh, what's his name? Red John? That's right, Red John.
Uh, he's killed at least eight women that we know of.
Uh, the police asked me to get a psychic fix on him to get a sense of who this man is.
How do you do that exactly? Get a psychic fix on someone.
Well, Davis, true demonic evil burns like fire.
It burns with a terrible, cold, dark flame.
I force myself to look into that flame and I see an image of the evildoer.
In this case, Red John.
He's an ugly, tormented little man.
A Ionely soul.
Sad.
Very sad.
"Dear Mr.
Jane.
I do not like to be slandered in the media especially by a dirty, moneygrubbing fraud.
If you were a real psychic instead of a dishonest little worm, you wouldn't need to open the door to see what I've done to your lovely wife and child.
" Mr.
Jane.
Mr.
Jane? What is it that keeps you awake? Um You know, when I was a boy, we had a farm.
There was a lot of work.
- I was kind of a lazy kid.
- Yes? I'd always be trying to get my little brother, Jimmy, to do my chores for me.
One day, I promised him a dollar if he'd cut the firewood.
- Heh.
- Well he opened up an artery in his leg on the saw, and he bled to death.
Died doing my chores for me.
You know that's almost exactly the same thing that happened to Johnny Cash.
Is it really? Wow.
That's spooky.
- Mr.
Randolph - Cut the crap.
My brother's done nothing.
You haven't got the stones to come after me so you come after my family.
- That is flat-out persecution.
- What did we agree? Mr.
Randolph, there's no intent to persecute you.
We are holding your brother because we have evidence linking him to the crime, and potential motive.
Whenever you weren't around, he was banging your wife like a big bass drum.
Tag and Alison? That's what he states.
He states that you killed Alison.
- You're trying to frame him in revenge.
- What did you say? What? There Bastard.
- Hey.
- You Ow! Agh! - Son of a bitch.
- You treated her like crap.
What'd you expect? I didn't expect my little brother to be banging my wife, you bastard! Everything you told me is total fiction, isn't it? Yes.
Why? I can tell you're in real pain.
Why not tell the truth? The truth is mine.
- I hear you.
- Thank you.
Oh, yes.
Remember, uh, we were talking about Tannen the other day? I asked you if he kept a diary, and you said he did.
- Well, there's no diary among his effects.
- No.
I'm sorry, no? No.
You have it wrong.
I didn't think he kept a diary.
Strange.
Then it must've been someone else who told me.
Either that, or I'm going mad.
But I definitely, 100 percent, remember hearing that Tannen kept a diary.
Well, that is strange.
But why does it matter if he kept a diary? You're right, doesn't matter.
Only, I was thinking, why do magicians have beautiful girl assistants? - Why? - They're reliable distractors of attention.
People will look at a beautiful girl for a long time before they look where they should be looking if they wanna see how the trick really works.
I'll send over a couple of Forensics guys tomorrow to search his office and locate that diary.
Didn't they already search his office? Oh, they never do it thoroughly the first time.
Once more for luck, yeah? Gotta be there somewhere.
Thanks for everything, doc.
Good night.
Good night.
Lost something? - How did you get in? - Door was open.
- I think I left my phone in your office.
- The door wasn't open.
Must've been.
Here I am.
What are you doing? I confess, the temptation to play detective was a little too strong.
I was looking for that diary.
- I got a little carried away.
- No kidding.
But no diary? No diary.
Maybe I should have a gander.
I'm good at finding things.
Be my guest.
Eureka.
Dr.
Wagner, thanks for your help.
Mr.
Jane uh, your phone.
Right.
Ha.
Thanks.
Yeah, got it.
- Silly of me.
Well, goodbye again.
- Wait.
Give me the diary.
- That's very amusing.
- I try.
I knew I knew it might be a trick, but I - I had to be sure.
- Yes.
That's how the trick works.
What led you to me? Not that I'm saying I did it.
I'm just asking.
When we first met, you said you didn't know who Red John was.
But you have books on criminal psychiatry there that have chapters on him.
You're the Randolph family doctor so you could easily get a strand of Tag's hair.
And, being a doctor you can hack up another human without difficulty.
It's obvious it was you.
That's it? You have nothing.
- That's just guesswork.
- Oh, I know.
I just wanted to be sure I had the right answer.
I was surprised, I gotta be honest.
You don't seem to be a wicked man.
But you are.
You're angry about the letter.
Yeah, it was a bit mean-spirited.
For the record, I'm sorry about your family.
I can only imagine your pain.
But I'm not a wicked man.
- My conscience is clear.
- Really? Right now in Africa, there's 3000 beautiful children alive today who should be dead, but they aren't, because of me.
Tannen was gonna ruin me and destroy all that work over nothing.
Money.
Theft, he called it.
Embezzlement.
Self-righteous idiot.
It's simple math.
If I go to jail, thousands of kids will die.
So I made a rational, moral decision to kill Tannen for the greater good.
And Alison? What'd she do wrong? Mm.
As we said, she was the magician's assistant, just a distraction.
- Ah.
- Lf only Tannen died the police would've been all over this place, wouldn't they? Truly, is killing two any worse than killing one when so many lives are at stake? I don't think so.
You poor, sad man.
- You're under arrest.
Let's go.
- I'm pointing a gun at you.
You really think I would set you up so nicely and let you pull a loaded gun on me? I took the bullets out earlier.
- You're late.
Draw your weapon.
- What? Huh? Drop the gun.
Hands on your head.
Get down on your knees.
Down.
Closed-case doughnuts are here.
I just went to get sleeping pills, I swear.
I didn't even wanna go.
- You know I didn't wanna go.
- Right.
Yeah, you didn't set Wagner up.
Didn't figure it was him days ago.
You didn't let us tear apart the victim's family to satisfy your childish need for drama.
Hey, that family was screwed anyway.
Don't blame yourselves, guys.
Don't even start.
I'm still angry.
- I'm sorry.
- No, you're not.
A frog? Well, this makes everything better, doesn't it?