Little Yellow House is the seventh episode of the seventh season of The Mentalist.
Summary[]
A murder investigation becomes personal for Lisbon when she learns that her underachieving younger brother, Jimmy, is being sought as a key witness.
Recap[]
Jane coaches Vega on a balance exercise while Cho and Wiley watch. Teresa comes in asks what’s up. He tells Vega to think about something else to keep her balance going. They start talking about S'mores instead. Jane talks about roasting marsmellos over a fire and Cho states they're better in a microwave. Vega drops the marker pillar as they all stare at him. Jane states he doesn't know what to say to that.
Julie Sandoval, a US attorney, comes looking for Teresa and asks about her brother James. She says they’re issuing a warrant for his arrest. He’s a material witness in the beating death of Nathan Barnes, the son of a judge, over a week ago. She says he fled from his house rather than talking to them. Teresa says she can reach him, and Julie tells her to tell him to turn himself in.
She calls Stan and he tells her Jimmy is in Chicago. Abbott comes in and asks if she’s okay. He asks how many brothers she has and replies that she's got three brother and is the oldest. He tells her to take as much time off as she needs to in order to deal with it. She needs to go to Chicago and Jane offers to come along. She says it won’t be fun, but he can come if he wants. He asks if she wants him to go, and she replies that she'd really like it.
They head out. Teresa takes Jane to her parents’ house and says she hasn’t been there since they died. He asks if it stirs up feelings. He says he never lived in a house when he was a kid, and he says he’s envious. She finds the spare key above the door and sees beer and pizza and sees it as a sign that Jimmy has been around. She goes to call Stan. Jane finds a pic of Teresa as a kid and a clipping about her being an honor student. He asks where her bedroom is and heads up to it.
He goes inside and looks at artwork on her walls. A guy grabs him, and they tussle. She hears the noise and goes up and the guy goes out the window. She says that wasn’t her brother. They next go to Stan’s place, and she introduces Jane to Stan, his wife Karen and the kids. She asks about Jimmy and Stan mentions her ex-BF Woody Squire. She tells him a warrant is serious. The baby starts crying and Karen goes upstairs. Stan says Jimmy called a few days okay and told him to say he hasn’t seen him.
Stan says he thought Jimmy could handle whatever he was into. She tells him someone was in the house and tackled Jane. Stan tells her Jimmy is playing cards again and he may be in debt. Jane asks Stan about his business, and he says things have been great. He says their parents place needs some TLC and she asks about Jimmy. She asks Stan to call Jimmy’s friends and chase him down. He asks her to come to the baby’s christening and she gives a non-committal answer. Stan is annoyed.
Teresa tells Jane that her family is messy. Wiley calls and says he got info on the murder. He says the guy was found beaten to death behind a hotel in Dallas. He did pro bono work for battered women, and he had Jimmy’s business card in his pocket. Jane asks to talk to Wiley and asks him to run the description of the guy he got into it with in the house. The guy had a tattoo that’s distinctive and smelled like Aqua Velva.
They go to a pool hall and don’t see Jimmy, but they run into TJ, an old buddy of hers. He says Teresa used to babysit him. He talks about what a straight arrow she was. She asks about Jimmy, but he says he hasn’t seen or talked to him. Jane tells him he’s lying and lifts his phone then finds a call from Jimmy that morning. He says he wouldn’t tell but she says it’s a family emergency. He asks her if it’s about going fishing and says that’s all he got. Jane tells him to call his mom and they go.
They next go to a park on the lake. She finds Jimmy there and tells him about the warrant. She asks if he knows how much trouble he’s in. He asks if that’s her boyfriend and she says she wants to help. He says he’s only her brother when she thinks he messed up. She tells him someone broke into the house looking for him. She asks if it was about a gambling debt or the murder. Jimmy says he doesn’t know and tells her to back off.
Jane asks to talk to Jimmy alone. She walks away. Jimmy says sister’s BF isn’t a position of authority. Jane tells him that if he comes back with them, no one will know he testified. He asks how and Jane says they’ll catch the killer and then he won’t be needed. Jimmy asks how he can trust him and Jane says he didn’t tell Teresa who the guy was in the house or what he was really after. He tells Jimmy he cares about Teresa and that means he cares about the people she cares about.
He agrees and Jane calls over to Teresa that they’re good to go. Back in Houston, Teresa brings Jimmy into the office and he’s impressed. He says hi to Vega flirtatiously and Teresa pulls him away. It bothers Wiley. She sets down a recorder and he doesn’t like it. She asks why he was in Dallas the night Nathan was killed. He says she’s going to be mad and then says he was at a poker game at the hotel. He reminds her she was the one that taught him to play cards.
He says Nathan was at the game and he needed some electrical work done so he gave him his card. He says he didn’t see him get killed. He says he saw him with Charlie McGillis, a law clerk, and a woman named Vicki and a dude named Ben. Teresa asks who else and he says the game is run by George Holiday. Cho says George is big in organized crime and was once a hit man. Nathan owed George at least $150k according to Jimmy.
Jane says he’s not sure George is the guy since dead men can’t pay. Jane says they need to get in on the game and Jimmy says you have to know someone. Teresa says they can’t. Abbott comes in and says Sandoval wants them to hand over Jimmy. He says he talked her into 72 hours leeway and Jane says he and Cho need to make friends with a mobster and needs some money. Wiley tells Jane the guy from Chicago is Delfino and isn’t connected to Jimmy in any way he can find.
Jane asks him not to tell anyone about it. Jane and Cho head to a diner and they gamble over a football play in front of him. Cho takes his money. Jane orders drinks all around but George doesn’t. Jane and Cho up the bet on the next play. Cho says it’s too rich for him and then he asks if George wants in on it. George threatens him and Jane thanks him for the advice. Jane says they’re fishing with the wrong bait. Vega comes to see Charlie to ask about Nathan’s murder.
He introduces her to his fiance who’s there and she says Nathan was an amazing guy. She’s upset and says it was senseless. She says she worked some domestic abuse cases with him. Vega asks him about George Holiday and who else he knew at the game. He says Ben and Vicki. His fiance is surprised about Ben. She says Judge Barnes ruled against Ben Bennett a few months ago in a patent case. He says Bennett was bugging Nathan to get his mom to revisit the ruling and wouldn’t let it go.
Teresa, Cho and Jane look at pics of the players. They say Charlie lost big that night and that Vicki was checking out Nathan. She asks if they got in with George and he says he needs different motivation. They send Teresa in wearing a LBD and sits nearby and orders a Scotch. George nods and the barkeep says it’s on the house. She calls him kind stranger and thanks him. He asks about her story. Jane comes into the bar and she waves at him.
He comes over and George tells Jane he has better sense about women than money. Jane says betting on sports is fun. George asks if he plays cards and she says he’s terrible at poker and lost $27k the last time he played. He says it’s fun. Jane says it’s like the Old West kill or be killed and then George says it’s nothing like that but offers to let him into the game with a $5k buy in. Jane says it sounds fun. They’re in!
Cho tells Wiley and Vega that Jane is in the game and they need to set up surveillance. Wiley and Vega head to the hotel to pre-shop for their honeymoon plans – they play an engaged couple. They ask to see the suite and they start an argument about his mother and he tells her to calm down and that she’s embarrassing him. She starts cursing at him in Spanish and the hotel dude leaves them to argue it out. They rapidly set up the cameras and he says she said something about ripping his head off.
She’s impressed that he’s been working on his espanol. They get the cameras set up rapidly and it all looks good. She breaks the toilet and they’re ready to go. Teresa gets a call from Karen and she tells her that Stan got beat up but told her it was an accident at work. She talks to Stan and asks who did it. He blames it on a couple of drunks and she asks why he’s lying. She tells him she’s going to kill Jimmy for getting him into it and he asks her to stay out of it.
Teresa asks Jimmy what’s up with Stan and what he’s hiding. She tells him to tell her. He turns off the game he was watching and says Stan had some business problems and they’re behind on medical bills. He says Stan owes more than $30k to a loan shark. She asks if the guy who attacked Jane was looking for Stan. She asks why he covered for him and he says he wants her to be proud of him. He says she only calls to yell at him and never to tell him when he did good.
She says it was tough after they lost mom and dad. She says someone had to be in charge. He says she was and then she left them. Jane tells Teresa that Jimmy has to be in the game. He says Jimmy is going to make sure all the suspects show up to the game. He first calls Charlie and then goes to see Ben. He tells him about Jane and how he’s clueless and has money. He then goes to Vicki and tells her the same story – that they can clean Jane out.
Cho is with Wiley and Vega and they check out the cameras. They pull up the footage and see all the suspects are there. They let Jane and Teresa know they’re ready. She tells him that the boys are messed up and it’s her fault for leaving. He won’t let her take it that way and reminds her that she took good care of them. She asks why he didn’t tell her the guy at the house was after Stan. He says it wasn’t his business and she thanks him. They head to the game.
George greets them at the suite and tells them to come on in. Jane tells Jimmy to just play poker and let him do his thing. Ben says the toilet is busted and tells them not to go in there. George asks if they want to move to another room. Jane says he didn’t come for the bathroom, he came to play cards. George tells them where there’s another toiler. He introduces Jane to the others and they start a game of Texas hold-em. They all look at Jane and he looks back.
Cho, Vega and Wiley watch the game and Vega asks if Jane is cheating and he says he is but he’s not playing to win, he’s looking for tells and reading the other players. Vega says Vicki rubs her nose when she has a good hand. Vicki takes that hand. Jane watches Ben who rocks side to side when he’s in good shape. Charlie does an eyebrow scratch and George scratches his head. They move on to phase two. Jane shuffles the cards and Teresa says there’s something disturbing in the room.
Jane says she’s a little psychic. She asks if someone was killed and then says the name Nathan. Vicki says it’s weird and Jane says she’s uncanny. Jane deals and then Teresa says she’s getting more. She says she feels a dark presence and says the killer is in the room. She says one of them killed Nathan. She says the killer is the one who has the ace. Jane says that makes things interesting. He asks if anyone has an ace and George looks at his hand. Jane dealt an ace to everyone at the table…
George chuckles and throws his in and says it looks like Daddy is going to the big house. Everyone laughs and toss theirs in. Teresa says whoops and that she’s going to get a drink. Vega asks if they’re ready to go but Cho says they’re going to wait until Jane makes sure that Charlie wins. Jane folds and lets Charlie scrape in a huge stack of chips. Charlie goes to the bathroom and Jane goes to adjust the thermostat then tells Teresa they’re leaving.
George asks why and Jane says there’s a hidden camera. He points it out to the others and George asks what the hell. Cho snags Charlie outside the bathroom and says he knows he killed Nathan and that his agent is telling George it was him. He shows him an iPad of Jane and George talking. Jane tells George that Charlie has someone in the other room watching the camera. George points menacingly into the camera. Charlie denies it and Cho tells him that he cheated George out of the money Nathan owed him.
George sees Nathan in the hall and tells him to come on back in. Cho is there and Charlie tells him to get him out of there. George makes a call as Nathan walks off. Wiley and Vega pack their stuff and head out. Charlie tells him that his fiancee started spending a lot of time with Nathan and he suspected her of cheating with him. He says he was losing at the game and then noticed that Nathan was wearing one of his shirts. It had a monogram on it and says Nathan took him for a lot of money.
Charlie says he smirked and says he followed Nathan out and he denied all of it. Cho says they talked to his fiancee and she loaned Nathan a shirt when he spilled coffee on his. Cho says all Nathan ever did to him was beat him at cards. Back in Chicago, Jane and Teresa are at a big party for Stan’s kid. She says his face looks better and she tells him she knows about the trouble and offers help. She says can loan him just enough not to get punched in the face again.
He says it means a lot that she’s there. Stan says he’s proud of her and Jimmy says they should hang out more like normal people then they bring up Woody Squire again. They tell her they like Jane and not to mess this one up. He’s over playing with Stan’s baby. Teresa tells Jane she’s glad they came back and then says she’s not sure if she needs to say this since he knows what she’s thinking. She asks what he’d think if she said I love you and then she says it. He’s very happy and says he’s surprised.
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Simon Baker as Patrick Jane
- Robin Tunney as Teresa Lisbon
- Tim Kang as Kimball Cho
- Rockmond Dunbar as Dennis Abbott
- Josie Loren as Michelle Vega
- Joe Adler as Jason Wylie
Recurring Cast[]
- Derek Phillips as Stan Lisbon
- Rob Belushi as James Lisbon
- Milissa Sears as Karen Lisbon
- Lisbeth Kingsley as FBI Special Agent Childs
Guest Cast[]
- Jeremy Ratchford as George Holiday
- Ryan Churchill as TJ Mullins
- Anna Rose Hopkins as Heidi Pendleton
- Romi Dias as US Attorney Julie Sandoval
- Tom Gallop as Charlie McInnis
- Michael Cory Davis as Benjamin Bennett
- Janelle Marra as Vicki Shell
- David C. Scott as Nathan Barnes
- David Winston Barge as Bartender
- Anthony Ma as Hotel Clerk.
Trivia[]
In this episode, Teresa says "I love you" to Patrick Jane for the first time.
| Season 7 Episodes |
| Nothing But Blue Skies · The Greybar Hotel · Orange Blossom Ice Cream · Black Market · The Silver Briefcase · Green Light · Little Yellow House · The Whites of His Eyes · Copper Bullet · Nothing Gold Can Stay · Byzantium · Brown Shag Carpet · White Orchids |