The Mentalist - Scarlet Ribbons, S04E01

While I'm certainly not going to stop watching the Mentalist, I was terribly disappointed with its premiere this fall. It just didn't make sense. I'm going to pretend it never happened and move on, but I wish they had delivered something far more believable.

Last season ended with Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) shooting Red John in a mall in front of hundreds of people. By the end of the premiere, Jane is not only found not guilty of a murder he obviously committed, but then it turns out the dead man wasn't even Red John. And Jane feels no compunction over having committed a murder, regardless of how bad the guy was or that he was working with Red John?

Is it really possible for a jury to find a man who admitted to killing a man Not Guilty? Downgrading it to manslaughter, sure, or perhaps saying that he went temporarily insane and needs therapy but not jail-time, that I can believe. But completely innocent of murder when he shot a man who thusly died? I can't believe the judge didn't overturn it. Vigilante justice apparently is allowed and the justice system agrees?

And if that wasn't bad enough, Red John is still alive. Really? At this point, I was ready for that particular plot to be over, to see where Jane would go after he accomplished his long sought goal. As it turns out, the only thing that has changed is that Jane is suddenly a murderer. Apparently he is capable of not only killing Red John - which I could understand - but also any other "bad men" who cross his path and taunt him.

I'll live with it, and I'm sure I'll enjoy the episodes which follow, but I can't help but regret where this episode and this season could have gone had the writers not made such bad choices. What are your thoughts?