The Mentalist

Bear with me. I want to bitch about TV. I've been really inspired by Ana Mardoll lately to start writing again, most specifically because of her wonderful deconstruction of the Narnia books. The side effect of reading criticism and critique is you tend to start noticing these things in other media. And because I read a lot of feminist blogs, what I tend to notice is male privilege.

Actually, I think I always did, but now I have the word for it. I could tell things were stupid and awful, and it usually ruined them for me when I noticed. But now, I'm starting to understand why. This is great because I used to just blame myself when I fell to disliking a show. I thought I just needed to lighten up.

Anyway, I'd like to deconstruct The Mentalist at some point, but for now I'm just going to do this.

So the pilot starts at a crime scene, but every episode after that (I'm just now to the end of season 1) begins with a black title card informing us that a MENTALIST (noun) is a "master manipulator of thoughts and behavior." And so it the first seconds of episode 2 when I realized what I was in for. The pilot was a little...ehh? But I can overlook some DRAHMAHZ. But ever since that title card on episode 2, the male privilege is just screaming at me.

So here's the rundown. The Mentalist is what if Dr. House was amiable, but still the same level of asshole, and also a reformed TV psychic who got a consulting job with a California law enforcement agency?

Patrick Jane (main character) knows everything. When he doesn't know something, he's still right about it. Always. He's never played golf in his life, but he can still pick up a club (without knowing which is which or what each club is good for) and play better than a local mob boss who's been playing for years. He can then teach that mob boss how to play better, mouth off to him, and then harass him over the phone for the remainder of the episode without ever suffering consequences. This mob boss doesn't so much as send a guy to key Jane's car.

Patrick Jane has no problem engaging in underhanded and illegal methods to catch criminals, such as hypnotising them into confessions or hypnotising witnesses into statements. This is never a problem for him or his police friends. They all know he does it. He does it right in front of them. He has a little signal that he's done it: he has to tap the person on the shoulder to bring them out of the trance, and he makes no effort to hide it from anyone.

Patrick Jane is always right about people. I can't remember where I read this, probably multiple places, but basically Sherlock Holmes's world only works because all people behave in accordance with their most prolific stereotype. Black people are always stupid evil thugs. Chinese people are always sneaky poisoners. Women are hysterical, unthinking wombs with legs. White men are always cultured and in charge, except when they're also thugs because they're Irish or something.

Well, in the world of The Mentalist, it's the same way. If one partner in a marriage dies, the wife was probably having an affair. Asian people are hyper intelligent, emotionless logic machines, and also their cultures are interchangeable with each other. Women are either girly and devoted to family, or tomboyish and tough but secretly vulnerable and just want to be loved.

Jane is a "master manipulator of thoughts and behavior" only because there's no other way for people to act in this universe. And if someone does act out of character, well, he knew that all along, too, because you were the type of person who would act out of character for your gender/race/culture/etc.

OK, that's out of my system now. I just don't know why I'm still watching this show. Maybe I will do a deconstruction of it some time.