Patrick Jane

Patrick Jane
The Mentalist character
Simon Baker as Patrick Jane
First appearance	Pilot
Created by	Bruno Heller
Portrayed by	Simon Baker
Information
Nickname(s)	Jane
Gender	Male
Occupation	Independent Consultant for the California Bureau of Investigation
Title	Consultant
Family	Alex Jane (father)
Spouse(s)	Angela Ruskin Jane (wife, deceased)
Children	Charlotte Anne Jane (daughter, deceased)
Relatives	Danny Ruskin (brother-in-law)
Religion	Atheist (implied)
Nationality	USA

Patrick Jane is the protagonist on the CBS crime drama The Mentalist, portrayed by Simon Baker. Jane is a consultant for a fictionalized version of the California Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and helps by giving advice and insight from his many years as a fake psychic medium. He uses his keen powers of observation, deduction, and knowledge of social engineering coupled with his genius to help lead the investigation.

Character background

Patrick Jane is a consulting member of the CBI (Californian Bureau of Investigation) crime fighting unit. He is unconventional and commonly defies police procedure, often acting without apparent empathy for suspects or families suffering loss.

His past is revealed slowly through the show's three seasons. The revelations come through flashbacks and Jane's statements. He is the son of a swindler who included his young son in his psychic act, touting Jane as "the boy wonder".

He married Angela Ruskin, who was from a similar background, her family being members of a traveling carnival and "carnival royalty". The couple had a young daughter, Charlotte Anne Jane. Patrick Jane became a celebrity, making a very comfortable living working as a psychic. Circumstances were fine for Jane and his family until he criticized and openly mocked the serial killer Red John. In retribution Red John killed Jane's wife and daughter and left a note explaining his actions.

Jane suffered a nervous breakdown due to the guilt over the death of his family. He kept the incident a secret from his CBI co-workers, and it is not in his records; he only told his supervisor Teresa Lisbon when it came up as part of a case they were working. Jane uses his mentalist abilities to solve crimes, but his main objective is to find Red John. He plans to kill Red John rather than to commit him to legal incarceration.

During the third season, Jane helps stop a serial cop killer, Todd Johnson. At CBI, Johnson tells Lisbon that he needs to talk to Jane because they have something in common. As Jane arrives at Johnson's cell, he is found to be on fire. Johnson dies in hospital later but not before quoting the beginning of the William Blake poem "The Tyger" which Red John recited to Jane. Realizing that Johnson was a part of Red John's network of accomplices, Jane seeks to find the killer. He turns to former CBI director Virgil Minelli so that he could get the list of suspects for Johnson's murder. At the same time, J. J. LaRoche, head of CBI's Internal Affairs, leads the investigation into Johnson's death and he suspects the members of Jane's team, even Jane himself. Jane never tells anyone other than Minelli that Johnson was connected to Red John. However, LaRoche's investigation soon ends up with only five suspects, among them was the head of the CBI Madeleine Hightower. Hightower seemed a logical suspect because Johnson killed a police officer she was involved with. Lisbon and Jane also investigated the murder of an arms dealer who was an old friend of Johnson's and the one who provided him with the weapons to commit his crimes. All proof seems to point at Hightower and Jane confronts her where he reveals that Johnson was Red John's accomplice and he wanted to know if Hightower was too. She says no because she didn't want to jeopardize her children's future. Jane knows that he has to keep up the illusion that Hightower is the murderer and helps her escape from LaRoche and Lisbon. He then tells her to run with her children as they are in danger from not only arrest by the CBI but also Red John. This leads Jane to conclude that Red John has a spy in the CBI and that the only reason that he would want to frame Hightower was because LaRoche was getting close to finding him. Knowing that there were four other names on LaRoche's list, Jane tried to acquire the list from him by hiring a thief to steal it from his home. The thief was caught by LaRoche and then blackmailed Jane into getting him out of prison with all charges expunged or he would reveal that Jane hired him. Jane told Lisbon all he knew about this and she helped him out by shifting the blame onto herself by assaulting the thief, which prevented his case from going to court.

Relationship with Red John

Jane has suggested on a number of occasions that he considers Red John's death or capture to be a higher priority than his own life. In turn, Red John appears to hold a similar obsession with Jane, to the point of risking capture for the purpose of observing him. In the episode "His Right Red Hand", he is described as being like Jane in his ability to "see through people" and he murders a CBI team, along with help from a mole on the inside, just so he can have Jane back on his case. However, in the episode "Red John's Footsteps", Jane shoots and kills Sheriff "Dumar" Hardy, an associate of Red John in order to protect Agent Lisbon.

During the second season finale, Jane and Red John finally meet. However, Jane is unable to see Red John's face because it is hidden by a rubber mask, and Jane is tied to a chair. Ironically Red John saves Patrick from three students who had committed a Red John Copycat Crime and were about to kill Jane.

At the end of the third season finale Jane finally sees who he believes is Red John after catching him watching on Jane's scheme in a shopping mall. During their conversation, "Red John" encouraged Jane to forget about him and that seeking vengeance is a waste of his valuable life. Patrick asks if he is the real Red John, to which he gives comments about Patrick's wife and daughter. However, Jane disregarded his comments and while "Red John" was walking away after their brief talk, Jane kills "Red John" with the gun given to him by Max Winter. He then sits down and waits to be arrested. The man he shot in the shopping mall was Timothy Carter and Jane believes that after all, Carter has never been Red John.