At First Blush is the fourteenth episode of Season 4 of The Mentalist.
Summary[]
Patrick believes that a woman on trial for murder is innocent and convinces Lisbon to open an investigation just as the jury begins its deliberations.
Recap[]
Jane sees Eve Mulberry, a well-known vineyard and winery owner on trial for murder, outside of the courthouse answering questions from the press. All Jane wants to know is whether she loved her parents.
He approves of her answer, both the verbal yes and the non-verbal cues that went with it, so he follows her in to watch the closing arguments of her trial - and her reaction to them. Jane comes out convinced that she's innocent, but the jury is out and the clock is ticking. He tries and fails to get the DA to back down, and resorts to betting the DA a nickel that he can prove she is innocent before the jury comes back. He pulls Lisbon into the plan and they are off and running - literally. Their first stop is Luna Valley Vineyards, to talk to Eve and her husband Peter.
Eve starts out with her standard story that she took dance lessons from the victim Carlos Ruiz but that they were only friends, not lovers as the prosecution has implied. Jane can tell that while she was not lying about being innocent of murder, she is lying now and pressures her to confess to the affair, which she eventually does, just as her business partner, Amy and her younger sister Gretchen walk in. The ensuing scene provides Jane with his list of suspects. He can tell that there is tension between Eve and Amy and that Peter had at least suspected that the affair was true.
They all head back to the CBI and Lisbon gives Cho, Rigsby and Van Pelt orders to work on the evidence and see if they can break it down and to challenge the alibis everyone gave and see if they can find anything to help with the murder weapon - which came from the vineyard and had Eve's fingerprints on it.
Meanwhile, Lisbon wants to check out the crime scene.
When they get there Lisbon starts knocking on the door, while Jane heads across the street to see the old lady that’s been peeking at him from behind her curtains. She’s dubious at first, but finally agrees to put on a kettle of tea while he gets Lisbon.
Gloria claims she minds her own business and didn’t see anything. A little goading from Jane ultimately gets her to change her story and admit she saw a woman at Ruiz’s house the night of the murder. It’s problematic though, because the woman she saw had long blond hair. She even identifies a picture of Eve as the woman she saw. Jane dismisses her ID – it’s been a long time since the murder and Gloria doesn’t have any clocks or calendars in her house, so they can’t really trust her sense of time.
While Jane and Lisbon are talking to Gloria, Rigsby and Van Pelt are at the gun range talking to Detective Silva, the lead on the case. Silva got so excited about proving his case against Eve, that he completely ignored the fact that a guy name Riley, who supposedly visited Ruiz the day of the murder, never returned his call. Silva’s offended that the case is being re-investigated. They do find Riley though – real name of Terry Murphy – and he’s got a record for identity theft and fraud. Cho brings Summer in to help set up a meet with Murphy on the pretext of having “numbers” to sell him. She’s to make the deal.
Jane and Lisbon head back to the vineyard to see if Eve knows anything about Murphy, but Eve is out for a walk with Amy, after a fight with Peter. They spend the time talking to Gretchen, who’s really just helping out during the trial and knows very little about the wine business. In fact, she doesn’t even know the difference between a red wine glass and a white wine glass. She tells them that Eve and Amy own the business, but that Peter owns the land. When Amy and Eve come back in, there’s a brief discussion about the quality of the wine and how the investors are beating down the door, but Eve wants to stay small – she likes the way things are and doesn’t want to go commercial.
Once alone with Eve, they discuss Ruiz and Murphy. Eve’s never heard of Murphy and has no idea why Ruiz would have been meeting with him. Lisbon and Jane head back to the office again, where the DA rips Lisbon a new one for trying to turn his case upside down. He says he used to think it was just that Jane was crazy – but now he realizes that she’s the real problem because she indulges him.
During the meet with Murphy, Summer is slick and believable with her list of social security numbers and driver’s license numbers from her “high end” clients, but Murphy isn’t willing to deal in the bar and takes her out back. Cho wants to follow immediately, but Rigsby reins him in to let it play out. Summer gets Murphy to take the bait and they’re about to go arrest him when she starts asking questions about Ruiz. Murphy’s not happy with her questions and although she does get a good whack to the head, Rigsby and Cho are there to break it up and arrest Murphy before she gets hurt too badly.
Once in custody and under questioning, Murphy admits that Ruiz wanted him to invest in a “business” opportunity involving ripping off ATM numbers. Murphy gave Ruiz $20,000.00 for the investment, but Ruiz blew it on other things. He also says that wasn’t reason for him to kill Ruiz – how would he get his money back that way.
Once alone – Jane makes a “deal” with Murphy to get someone a new identity. They set up a meet for that evening, where Murphy will give a disk with preliminary information to Jane’s “friend” in exchange for $10,000.00 – the down payment for the new identity. Jane comes out of the meeting with Murphy and gets the warning that the jury didn’t order dinner. Murphy’s not the killer, but could still be useful. Murphy will provide the new identity at “friend” rates in exchange for not being extradited to Ireland where he’s wanted for murder.
Having just fired Summer for being too reckless, Cho wasn’t in a good mood when Jane was testing “Irish accents” – so Rigsby got the “job”, but at least Cho got the cameras that Jane needed. He takes them into the room where Lisbon’s talking to Eve and Peter and waves them around – claiming they were found in Ruiz’s house and might have caught the murder on tape. They hustle an excited Eve out of the office to spread the news while Rigsby, faking Murphy’s accent, makes a call and tells someone (of course, we don’t know who yet) to bring $100,000.00 to the meet Jane already set up with Murphy in exchange for a CD copy of the murder.
Then it’s just a matter of waiting in the parking garage. Murphy shows up, followed soon after by the business partner, Amy. She pulls a gun on Murphy, demanding to know where else there are copies of the CD. Murphy’s confused, but Jane, Lisbon and Rigsby are there to arrest them both right away. They arrive in the courtroom just in the nick of time and Amy confesses it all after the DA takes the death penalty off the table. Eve had everything, Amy had nothing – she wanted Eve out of the way so she could bring in the investors. She set Eve up – deliberately using a tool from the vineyard that she knew had Eve’s fingerprints on it and wearing a blond wig to look like Eve if anyone saw her.
Summer’s waiting for Cho when he gets back to the office. They have a spat on the elevator. She wants her job back because she gave up everything for it. Cho tells her that she takes too many risks and gets off on the danger. She challenges that, telling him that she thinks he fired her because he’s worried and afraid to admit that he likes her. Cho actually does admit to liking her and she slaps him before she realizes that he really admitted. They end up kissing passionately in the elevator.
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Simon Baker as Patrick Jane
- Robin Tunney as Teresa Lisbon
- Tim Kang as Kimball Cho
- Owain Yeoman as Wayne Rigsby
- Amanda Righetti as Grace Van Pelt
Recurring Cast[]
- David Norona as Osvaldo Ardiles
- Samaire Armstrong as Summer Edgecombe
- Robert Clotworthy as Rudolph Pulaski
Guest Cast[]
- Diane Farr as Amy Barron
- Bonnie Somerville as Eve Mulberry
- James Frain as Terry Murphy
- Carlos Sanz as Detective Dan Silva
- Ian Kahn as Peter Mulberry
- Carrie Wiita as Gretchen Zahn
- Kathryn Joosten as Gloria Williams
- Sara Botsford as Judge Isley Markman
- Michael Kagan as Patrick Offit
- Victor Alfieri as Carlos Ruiz
- Nicole J. Butler as Bailiff
- Rick Chambers as Reporter
- Diane Mizota as Reporter