Russet Potatoes
Season 1 episode 18: When a man walks into CBI headquarters thinking the dead body he’s brought with him is a sack of potatoes the team needs to act.
On the streets of Sacramento everyone is heading to work, ready or not. The usual types are making their way along the downtown streets such as lawyers, support staff and corporate minions as well as a singular, usually timid man named Carl Resnick striding down the street with a singular purpose, heaving a heavy bundle over his shoulder.
At the CBI headquarters Jane, Lisbon and Cho move slowly through the morning’s security checkpoint, playing their usual morning guessing game to pass the time. Suddenly Carl Resnick pushes the entry doors open, dragging his bundle behind him as he muttered what sounds like self help sound bites. As he struggles with whatever he’s dragging, Lisbon, Cho and a few other agents draw their weapons when they see a blood trail behind the hapless man which they can now see is a knotted blanket. With his movements, an arm suddenly pops out of the blanket. Carl Resnick blinks, then laughs.
Jane has been standing by, observing this apparently mentally disturbed man and notes that the situation seems to escalating. Cho commands the smiling Resnick (played by Chris Tillman) to drop the blanket and show his hands. Carl responds with surprise there seems to no gratitude for the gift he’s brought. Jane approaches and looks into Carl’s eyes as he asks “What gift?”
As usual, there will be no spoilers shared in this post so it can enjoyed by fans and new viewers alike. This is on purpose so I hope you approve. At the least it’s hoped to act as a reminder to rewatch the show, or to encourage others to check it out for the first time.
Context
Jane continues to study the man, peering into his eyes before finally announcing that Carl is hypnotized, although during a later conversation Rigsby says he believes Carl is lying. As Cho continues his interrogation, Lisbon asks Jane if he can remove the hypnosis, Jane explains that without knowing the specific trigger it’s near impossible to undo. In the meantime, the victim is identified as Mary Beth Hendrix, a 26 year old teacher. When Cho tells Carl that Mary Beth is dead he learns Carl knew her from the NLP centre. Lisbon and Rigsby reach out to Mary Beth’s sister, Lindsey (played by Wynn Everett) to inform her of Mary Beth’s death and for information to help with the investigation. Lindsey tells them that her sister left teaching and was working as an assistant to Dr. Royston Daniel (played by Alistair Mackenzie) a noted expert of Neuro Linguistic Programming, a name Jane is familiar with.
Recap
Jane wants to take the bewildered Carl to see Dr. Daniel where he hopes to learn something from their reactions. He takes Lisbon and Rigsby with him as Rigsby again starts on about the scam they’ll be seeing shortly. The group interrupts a lecture in progress causing Daniel to turn over the event to one of his senior followers named Rick Tiegler (Bodhi Elfman). When Rick sees Carl he is surprised and decides to run, chased by Lisbon who is happy to cuff him and lead him away. Jane and Rigsby move to interview Dr. Daniel after informing him of Mary Beth’s death.
After Cho interrogates Tiegler it’s time for a closed case celebration, although Jane steps away, unconvinced the cased is really solved.
When Lindsey arrives to pick up her sister’s belongings Jane asks her opinion of the suspect. As he asks, he finds more interesting information that muddies the waters even more… it leads to another interrogation of Dr. Daniel.
That Closed Case pizza proves to be a little premature, but what happens next leads to several twists and turns. There’s more work to be done to close this case. To make sure not to give away the goodies for this episode I’ll stop here!
There are more than a couple of twists and turns here that seem to turn this episode into a real “Who-done-it?” although I will admit it’s not one of my favourite episodes in the first season. Rigsby has a real hard time throughout, giving the actor a chance to flex his acting muscles more than usual. There are more scenes showing the relationships inside the team that are good to see, as well as several chances to smile at the antics on screen. I think my main issue with this episode is the premise behind the whole thing, but that doesn’t mean i didn’t enjoy it. I happened to agree with Simon Baker when he answered that this was the one episode in season one where the plot jumped the shark.
They Said
In this episode there were these choice words:
Dr. Daniel: “You’re ambitious, more than you’ll let anyone see. A girl from Nowheresville, destined to make it big. But you worry that you’ll always be small town, small time, you haven’t got what it takes. And that’s why you’re so shut out to everything but this job.” Grace Van Pelt: “Dr. Daniel, no offense but I’ve been working with Patrick Jane for 9 months now. You want to get under my skin? You’re going to have to up your game.”
Before you go
News from last week:
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