The Mentalist 7×06 – Green Light – Recap

It’s Jane’s Birthday! What surprise has Lisbon in store for him?
Moreover, Abbott shares a secret with Jane, and will get all Jane’s help dealing with his former boss.

Read on for our recap of The Mentalist new episode, “Green Light”.

In this week’s new episode of The Mentalist, Abbott must face his former boss, Bill Peterson, DEA. Firstly, Abbott must investigate Peterson’s failed raid in search for narcotics in a restaurant. Then, he has to deal with the murder of one of Peterson’s men, who was killed because he found out there is a mole inside Peterson’s team, an inside man working for the cartels, against the DEA.
But Peterson knows a secret about Abbott, something that could ruin not only Abbott’s career, but also his wife’s. Peterson uses this secret to blackmail Abbott: he wants credit for the arrest, and Abbott to cover him for the fact that he couldn’t see that one of his men was a spy. And if Abbott won’t do that, Peterson is ready to use what he knows about Abbott’s past against him and his wife Lena.
Abbott talks with Jane about his secret. Ten years before, while he was working for Peterson trying to do something about the cartels, Abbott killed a cartel’s commander. That commander was going to kill a lot of innocent people, and he couldn’t arrest him. Peterson guessed what he had done.
Jane wants to help Abbott, and says that he has something in mind to avoid Peterson to continue blackmailing Abbott.
After the murderer inside Peterson’s team is caught, Abbott refuses to give Peterson credit for the arrest. And when Peterson threatens Abbott again, Jane accuses him of threatening Abbott not out of anger, but out of fear, that they will find out about his secret: a stash of dirty money. It’s the beginning of Jane’s plan…

Three important things happened in this episode:

– First, Jane and Abbott. Those two have come a long way since the time they first met. They have learned to know each other, and respect each other. When Jane decides to help someone, it really means a lot.
– Second, a scene between Jane and Vega. She confesses she’s doubtful about Jane’s methods in solving crimes. There’s a conversation that follows, in which Jane tells her that what she’s really wondering is if her father would approve of what she’s doing, and tells her that it’s for her to decide. The gentle way Jane talks with Vega, the way he looks at her, it was surely how he would have talked with her daughter Charlotte if she were still alive. It was a touching moment.
– Third: Jane’s birthday and Lisbon’s gift. Back at Jane’s airstream, Lisbon has prepared a quiet, sweet celebration for him. A cupcake with a candle to blow, a wish to make.
Lisbon’s gift to Jane for his birthday is his favourite teacup, the one that broke into pieces right after the CBI was closed down by Abbott. Lisbon kept the pieces and put them back together. Jane has his favorite cup again, and he didn’t expect that, at all, he is speechless, and moved.
The cup, with its pieces put together by Lisbon represents Jane’s broken ones, and his path toward a new life, thanks to Lisbon, who’s putting his broken pieces back together. She’s giving him love, a reason to live and be happy again. As the cup is back in one piece, so is Jane. This scene is probably one of the most beautiful and meaningful ones of the whole series, played amazingly well, as always, by Simon Baker and Robin Tunney.