In this week’s new episode of The Mentalist, “The Golden Hammer”, the FBI investigates the death of Charles
Whitaker, a computer engineer specializing in mapmaking in Houston (TX). He died at his workplace, for a heart failure caused by an overdose of illegal drugs. Charles however had no drug history, and no sign of drugs in his house.
After some fuss to get Jane a full security clearance, with the help of Abbott (Rockmond Dunbar), Jane (Simon Baker), Lisbon (Robin Tunney), Fisher (Emily Swallow) and Cho (Tim Kang) can finally start to work on the case.
Jane, Lisbon and Fisher meet Charles’ brother Curtis, at Charles’ apartment, where Jane finds a newspaper he seems particulary interested in.
So, while Lisbon and Fisher head off to the company Charles worked for, Jane starts to study the newspaper. He notices that some letters inside are encircled, so he starts to take note of those letters.
As Lisbon and Fisher arrive at Charles’ company, Lisbon receives an unexpected phone call by Osvaldo Ardiles (David Norona), who used to work for the D.A’s office in Sacramento, and was often involved in the
CBI’sinvestigations.
He asks her out for dinner, to discuss business.
Fisher and Lisbon talk to Gabriel Quinn, the company’s owner and Charles’ boss. They also talk to all the people
who saw Charles in the company’s building the day before he died.
They gather the feeling that Charles might have been worried that some classified data had been stolen inside
the company.
Meanwhile, Jane comes to the conclusion that there is a coded message “hidden” in the newspaper, but he can’t
figure out what kind of message it is. Jane thinks Charles had found a spy within his company.
Jane eventually finds out exactly where Charles had found the newspaper, in a nearby park. He decides to go back the following day, leaving the newspaper on a bench to see who will pick it up.
Finally, Lisbon and Ardiles meet at dinner. He explains to Lisbon why he wanted to see her. Since some time he’s been having the feeling his phone has been hacked, and somebody is spying on him, listening to his conversations. He’s also been having the feeling that somebody is following him. He thinks it has nothing to do with his current business, and that it is something personal, even though he doesn’t have any proof. Lisbon suggests to call Rigsby (Owain Yeoman) and Van Pelt (Amanda Righetti), who now work in digital security.
The following day proves that Jane was right. Someone arrives at the park and takes the newspaper. The FBI later
finds out this man is buying secret data from inside the company Charles used to work for. He works for some powerful people from outside the US, but he doesn’t know who’s giving the data from inside.
So, the person who killed Charles is either this man, the people he works for, or the person he’s buying the data from. Jane believes neither the man or his client killed Charles.
So, to catch Charles’ killer, the FBI sets up a trap. First of all, they will arrest Charles’ brother to make the real
killer believe he/she is safe enough to sell more secret data.
Meanwhile in San Francisco, Ardiles talks with Rigsby and Van Pelt. They will look into his phone and try to
understand what’s going on.
In Huston, the trap is set. Jane, Lisbon and Cho are waiting for the data’s seller to show up at the park. And
someone does show up. It’s Avery Schultz, the CEO’s secretary.
After being arrested, she confesses. She killed Charles because he found out what she was doing inside the company.
Rigsby and Van Pelt are working on Ardiles’ phone. Rigsby says that he’s nowhere to be found. His phone has been bugged indeed, and Rigsby needs to talk to him in person. Van Pelt manages to locate him via his cellphone.
When Rigsby gets to Ardiles’ location, he finds him all right… but dead.
Meanwhile, Van Pelt’s research on Ardiles’ phone shows twelve encrypted files. Twelve names of people who used to work for the CBI, and among them Jane, Lisbon, Cho, Rigsby and Van Pelt.
So Ardiles was not the only one being bugged. It’s all the former CBI team.
So what’s really going on? Who was spying on Ardiles and who killed him? Why all the former CBI team is being
bugged, and, does all this have something to do with Red John and the Blake Association?
This episode mixed very well the case of the week with humor, all the interactions between the characters were
spot-on. We got to see Rigsby and Van Pelt again, and it looks like the former CBI team might be reunited to solve
this new mystery.
Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait almost two months to find that out. The Mentalist goes again on hiatus until March 9.
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