The Mentalist – Recap & Review – Cackle-Bladder Blood

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The Mentalist
Cackle-Bladder Blood

Original Air Date: Sep 30, 2010.

Liz – Associate Staff Writer
liz@thetwocentscorp.com

Up in his clubhouse at HQ, Jane gets a phone call from someone named Danny who asks for his help. Jane is eager to provide it, with very few questions, and indeed finds himself on the business end of police firearms with his hands raised for the second time in as many episodes — this time over Landon Wale’s dead body. I love this season.

Jane has a cockamamie story about passing by and hearing a shot, but Detective Reece isn’t buying it. Lisbon talks Reece into releasing him from custody. She demands the truth from him, and in Jane fashion, he manages to say what he needs to without giving anything away. Danny Ruskin is his brother-in-law — his wife’s brother — and he asks if anyone knows if the county fair is in town. Crank up the backstory machine!

I manage to miss most of the murder mystery that occurred (what? You mean this is a procedural?) but in the Wale home, Landon’s widow Connie discovers an expensive, prized statue of Aphrodite missing. Additionally, Grace finds no record of the company whose office Wale was found in — just a paper trail that leads to Danny Ruskin, con man. Or as Jane put it, someone who was a little more “showbiz.”

Jane and Lisbon’s visit to the fairground is clearly an exercise in nostalgia for Jane. His wife’s family was “carnie royalty” but they both wanted out, which is something easier said than done; with carnival folk you’re either in or you’re out and if you’re out, then you’re a mark. Jane meets a couple of old friends who greet him with… uh, exuberance. (Sam slaps him hello, but apparently it was well-earned — did I mention I love this season?)

It’s widely acknowledged that Danny is always in trouble, and when Jane says he’s looking for him it’s said that someone named Nicki is the only one who knows where he is. In the interest of pursuing this lead, Jane takes off in the car without Lisbon, who was feeding an elephant. I would not make this up.

Danny had once been an escape artist — “Houdini Jr.” — but had moved on to confidence games and fraud. I only mention that because it’s important later on. Talking to the Wales, Cho is able to make a connection that they knew Danny socially, and had been introduced by a gentleman named Murphy Traver.

Traver sings Danny’s praises, until Lisbon and Cho uncover his busy office is actually a boom box playing office noise in the closet. He tries to make a break for it, but to no avail. He rolls over on Danny, giving away that they were running a two man con, where Danny hooked Landon in on investing in a real estate deal with them and he was spending time with a lady named Trixie. Jane apparently gets the same information from Nicki — another carnie con artist (an old lady, no less!) who was taking Grace for every bracelet on her wrist, until Jane interrupted.

Jane and Lisbon race to make it to Danny first at Trixie Mercado’s, where he is packing up to run. Jane makes it first, and manages to make an escape with Danny. Lisbon and cops burst in after, and Trixie tells her that Patrick says he’s really sorry. Lisbon is Not Amused and replies, “Jane said that.” (Paraphrasing here.) Trixie thinks it over for a second and says, “No, it was a man!” Wow. I’m going to leave that one alone.

Jane and Danny appear again at this old abandoned cabin type place in the woods (do they just have one building they use for all abandoned cabin type places in the series? It seems like it) and honestly, have one of the best written scenes I’ve seen in awhile. Danny keeps his gun on Jane, and it comes out that Danny blames Angela’s death on Jane — but then again, so does Jane.

Detective Reece has been pressuring Lisbon and Hightower to deliver Jane and Danny, so it’s Lisbon to the rescue again. She goes back to the carnie folk, and tracks down Pete when he takes off in a truck, presumably to help Danny and Jane — and she follows him right to the cabin.

Meanwhile, Danny confesses all to Jane and there are some interesting words about forgiveness exchanged — interesting because while Jane hopes Danny forgives him for his own sake, we are all pretty sure that Jane won’t be forgiving himself any time soon. Short version of the story is that Landon was so eager to invest he moved up their meeting time to show Danny the Aphrodite statue and by the time Danny arrived, he was dead.

Lisbon and Jane return to headquarters with Danny, who is immediately taken into rough custody by Detective Reece. When he dumps him in the back of the police car, he comes back to argue with Jane and Danny concentrates on making a getaway — complete with spitting up a pick of some kind for the handcuffs before he makes a run for it.

Following this, Jane goes to the Wales house to speak with Landon’s widow alone. He confronts her about her husband’s affair with his assistant, and the Aphrodite statue being the last straw. She sticks to her story, until Danny shows up and shoots Jane — although of course, he doesn’t actually shoot him. The blood is fake and they are running a two man con. But it’s enough to arrest Connie, and Lisbon looks the other way as Danny scrams.

The final scene is Jane and Danny at the cemetery, visiting the graves of Angela and their daughter (Charlotte, if I’m reading the gravestone right). It’s a great scene — I cried a little, I won’t even lie, I have to give props to both actors for their work. If you’ve been reading my recaps you know that I will sing Simon Baker’s praises every chance I get, but Kevin Rankin (Danny) more than holds his own.

I’ll admit it: I couldn’t have cared less about the actual murder in this episode. This was all about the lovely, meaty backstory for me, and I’m so happy it was there. To say this is an episode I have been waiting for since the pilot is not really that much of an exaggeration. Did you like the backstory or do you prefer the crime solving aspect of the series? Share your two cents with me!