Bloodsport is the eleventh episode of Season 3 of The Mentalist.
Summary[]
Patrick and the team investigate the murder of a woman with ties to one of the fighters. Meanwhile, LaRoche focuses his investigation on Rigsby, who in turn is forced to ask Cho for a huge favor in order to keep his job.
Recap[]
Rigsby is attending a mixed martial arts while a murder is occurring backstage. The victim is Charlotte Mitchell, a plucky little author who was writing a book about the fight and its contenders, Rowdy Merriman and Manny Flaco, who came out of the fight victorious. Flaco’s manager, Len Artash, is quick to deny involvement, and Merriman is focused on other things. He doesn’t seem too bothered that Charlotte is dead, and inquires if she was raped as well, because “she was kind of hot.” The gun used to kill Charlotte was also used in a murder in 2001, committed by Joe Reyes, and never recovered.
Naturally, they follow up that lead, going to find Joe Reyes who is leading a church service. Like so many, he has found religion behind bars. He says he had given the gun to a lady friend of his that he hasn’t seen since his arrest, Dawn May.
Lisbon and Jane go to Tom Mitchell’s, Charlotte’s dad. They take a look around her home office, and they take the notebooks she had been filling with notes for the book into custody. Jane has a look around the office, and while Lisbon is getting Tom a glass of water, he collapses with a major cardiac arrest. With that interview cut short, they head to the gym where the fighters are training. They ask about fight fixing, which Artash vehemently claims does not happen. Jane wanders away to talk to Floyd Benton, a trailer who used to work with Merriman. They exchange information; Jane points out the opposing fighter’s ‘tell’ and Benton hints there may be more to Manny Flaco than is meeting the eye.
Dawn May claims to have given the gun to her cousin Bobby who was killed in Iraq, so that is a dead end. With new information that Charlotte had been in the venue an hour before the fight began, they decide to bring in both of the fighters. Tensions begin to build up, although Lisbon is able to get between them — but then Jane strolls through, and makes it explode with just the right words in Merriman’s ear.
Merriman once again shows his disgusting colors with his cavalier regard for his history of violence against women. Next door, Flaco and his wife Beatriz are speaking with Lisbon. Beatriz blames the other women for her husband’s chronic infidelity. Beatriz then hints that Charlotte was talking to Floyd Benton — and when they bring him in, he laughs off the accusation of pushing steroids on his fighters.
Jane takes the opportunity to look over the notes, while Rigsby talks to Joe Reyes who came to see them. He says he was lying before, that he had seen Dawn since he got out, and that Dawn had lied because she didn’t want to be in trouble. Dawn had given the gun to a Frank Lopez. A visit to Lopez says that he had lost the gun in a scuffle at a night club, Narcissus.
Jane has of course been hard at work with Charlotte’s notebook. He and Lisbon go back to the gym, to speak with Artash and Benton. Jane makes a to-do about planted (by him) code in the notes, speaking loudly about how Tom will likely be able to decipher it for them, and he will be regaining consciousness soon. Obvious plan is obvious to those of us who are wise to Jane’s tricks, although you can see how others may be worried.
The team stakes out the hospital, where they catch Suge Lima with a pillow in hand, ready to smother Tom, however Tom had already been moved out of ICU. Also arrested is Len Artash, who, as owner of the club Lopez lost the gun in, was able to get the weapon to Lima. Lima and Artash were in on a plan to keep Flaco in the fight; Lima has submitted his own blood under Flaco’s name to get him a clean bill of health in order to fight. Charlotte found out, threatened to tell, and got shot for her trouble.
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[]
Guest Cast[]
- Jake McLaughlin as Rowdy Merriman
- Sherman Augustus as Suge Lima
- Robert Pine as Tom Mitchell
- Vasili Bogazianos as Len Artash
- Richard Roundtree as Floyd Benton
- T.C. Carson as Joe Reyes
- Paola Turbay as Beatriz Flaco
- Rey Valentin as Manny Flaco
- Valente Rodriguez as Frank Lopez
- Sam Doumit as Dawn May
- Jaimi Paige as Charlotte Mitchell
- Eileen Grubba as Vendor Woman
- Amy Flanagan as Rigsby's Date
- Sho Brown as Big Man
- Mariano Mendoza as Trainer
- Steven D. Snyder as Manny Flaco's Friend
Trivia[]
- It is possible that the plot and title of this episode is a reference to the legendary martial arts movie "Bloodsport" starring Jean Claude Van Damme.