---
title: "The Mentalist"
year: 2008
kind: "series"
canonical: "https://film.one/tv/the-mentalist"
fi1m_id: "the-mentalist"
imdb_id: "tt1196946"
tmdb_id: 5920
wikidata_id: "Q204228"
fi1m_score: 71
critics_score: 58
critics_reviews: 6
published: "2026-09-23T12:14:23.983531+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-23T12:14:24.478656+00:00"
region: "ID"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# The Mentalist (2008)

Created by Bruno Heller · Crime, Drama, Mystery

## Identity

The Mentalist

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/tv/the-mentalist
- **Type:** Series
- **Fi1m ID:** the-mentalist
- **IMDb ID:** tt1196946
- **TMDB ID:** 5920
- **Wikidata ID:** Q204228
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1196946/, https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/5920, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q204228

**Fi1m score: 71** · Critics 58 from 6 reviews

*In a sentence:* Simon Baker makes a convincing case for employing someone who would be unbearable at the office

> Simon Baker makes *The Mentalist* an agreeable crime programme, despite cases that seldom escape the familiar formula. We recommend it for his mischievous intelligence, with a caveat about deductions that arrive too easily and disagreements that recur too often.

## Synopsis

Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) works as a consultant on criminal investigations, using observation and psychological tricks to work out what other people miss. Teresa Lisbon (Robin Tunney) and Kimball Cho (Tim Kang) are among the people drawn into his way of solving a case. Patrick Jane wants to identify the culprit, but his methods bring disagreements as well as answers. What looks like mind-reading depends on watching people closely, recognising their evasions and knowing how to provoke a revealing response. The investigations put his deductions to work while those around him contend with his certainty that he knows better.

## Review

Bruno Heller’s *The Mentalist* is a good crime programme built around a familiar pleasure: watching someone notice what everybody else has missed. Its chief advantage is Simon Baker, who makes Patrick Jane’s certainty entertaining for longer than the writing has any right to expect. We recommend it for that performance, with reservations about the ready-made cases and the bickering used to fill the gaps. Its ambitions sit comfortably within the case-solving formula.

The scepticism about psychic powers is a useful starting point. Patrick Jane’s abilities depend on observation and psychological manipulation, so there is something for us to understand behind the apparent mind-reading. We enjoyed the debunking more than we expected. Watching an apparently uncanny insight explained through close observation is satisfying, though the speed of the deductions can leave little for us to work out. The programme sometimes hurries past the very thing that makes its detective interesting.

Simon Baker is doing more than making the solution sound clever. His charm lets Patrick Jane enjoy knowing more than everyone else without making every exchange feel like a reprimand. There is still smugness here, and viewers with a low tolerance for it will reach their limit sooner than we did. Robin Tunney’s Teresa Lisbon and Tim Kang’s Kimball Cho give him other people to play against, but recurring disagreements are a thin substitute for developing those relationships. The ensemble deserves more room than the formula readily grants it.

The polished presentation helps. Cinematographers including Frank Perl and Jeffrey Jur give the investigations a readable clarity, a sensible approach for a series dependent on noticing behaviour. The production design, credited to Michael Novotny and Julie Walker, is similarly unobtrusive: the settings seldom compete with the actors for our attention. That restraint works, although the combined effect can feel too tidy for stories concerned with violent crime.

The rhythm is less assured. Editors including Glenn Farr and Anthony Rivard have to balance the briskness of a puzzle with the interruptions of a quarrelling team, and those exchanges sometimes slow an investigation without adding much. Blake Neely’s music is more persuasive in the lighter passages than when the programme demands sudden gravity. Neither the cutting nor the score entirely smooths out those awkward changes of mood. The slower stretches expose how much depends on Patrick Jane being entertaining.

What keeps the series agreeable is its willingness to let intelligence be mischievous. Its low-tech approach gives Simon Baker’s performance a useful share of the work, and the pleasure comes from seeing what he makes of another person. That is enough to sustain an ordinary case when the writing gives him something worth noticing. It becomes less satisfying when superior observation simply allows the detective to skip the difficult part of an investigation, leaving the audience to accept his explanation afterwards.

A taste for puzzle-led crime is the deciding factor. The series treats murder chiefly as something to be solved, with little appetite for the untidiness that a more realistic treatment would require. That is a reasonable choice for this kind of programme, provided the people doing the solving remain agreeable company. Try an episode for Simon Baker; if Patrick Jane’s self-satisfaction already annoys you, there is no duty to persevere.

*Fi1m score 71, published 23 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

The reviews are mixed on The Mentalist, with Simon Baker’s charm providing the clearest point of agreement. His observant, irreverent crime-solver gives even sceptical critics something to enjoy, while the more favourable notices see promise in a procedural built around deduction rather than elaborate technology. Praise also clusters around the programme’s sceptical treatment of psychic powers, with its debunking approach and lively direction helping familiar detective material feel more appealing.

The divide is over how far those strengths carry it. The Guardian finds the crime-solving slick but smug, with observation producing answers too readily. Variety sees little to distinguish the series beyond Baker and finds the squabbling tiresome. Vulture is the sharpest dissenter, criticising the pilot’s clumsy changes of tone, slow stretches and predictable action. The spread is fairly wide: the warmer reviews see a promising lead character, while the cooler ones see a routine procedural built around him.

## Straight answers

**Is The Mentalist worth watching?**

*The Mentalist* is worth watching for fans of puzzle-led crime and Simon Baker’s mischievous performance; we score it 71 out of 100. The cases follow a familiar formula, deductions sometimes arrive too easily, and recurring team disagreements wear thin, but Baker makes Patrick Jane agreeable company if his self-satisfaction does not grate.

**Where can I watch The Mentalist in Indonesia?**

*The Mentalist* is streaming on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video in Indonesia. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How violent or frightening is The Mentalist, and is it suitable for children?**

*The Mentalist* has a UK 12 certificate and a US TV-14 rating, making it a more appropriate choice for teenagers than younger children. Its investigations concern violent crime and murder, though we find it treats these chiefly as puzzles rather than pursuing a messier realism; that approach does not establish how graphic or frightening individual episodes are.

**How does The Mentalist compare to Jonathan Creek?**

*The Mentalist* offers a charming, self-assured observer, while [*Jonathan Creek*](https://film.one/tv/jonathan-creek) is our stronger recommendation for ingenious puzzles whose explanations reward close attention. We favour Simon Baker’s mischievous performance as the reason to choose *The Mentalist*, rather than the ingenuity of its cases; *Jonathan Creek* also benefits from its prickly original partnership, though its jokes are uneven and later pairings lose appeal.

**What should I watch after The Mentalist?**

After *The Mentalist*, try [*Jonathan Creek*](https://film.one/tv/jonathan-creek) (1997, Fi1m 78): Ingenious puzzles reward close attention, with a reluctant solver worth keeping company. Then [*Psych*](https://film.one/film/psycho) (2006, Fi1m 90): Another observant outsider turns supposed psychic ability into an excuse for mischief; and [*High and Low*](https://film.one/film/high-and-low) (1963, Fi1m 90): Patient detection carries greater moral weight, with little room for reassuring charm.

### Reviews we read (6)

- **The Hollywood Reporter** (81/100, inferred): The review praises the show's skeptical take on psychics and Simon Baker's lead performance as a clever, irreverent detective. It highlights the appealing low-tech crime-solving approach and lively direction. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/mentalist-126493/)
- **The AV Club**, Donna Bowman (B): The critic finds the show promising as a procedural with Simon Baker's charming performance as the observant consultant, but questions if CBS will promote it beyond standard procedurals. Praises the debunking of psychic elements and Baker's potential. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/the-mentalist-pilot-1798204990)
- **The Times**, Stephen Armstrong (60/100, inferred): The piece positions The Mentalist among new US dramas using science and psychology, noting its premise of a mind-games expert solving crimes and its strong US ratings while contrasting it with recession-era trends. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/the-mentalist-and-other-new-us-science-dramas-d7n80q8gk6p)
- **The Guardian**, David Stubbs (50/100, inferred): The critic views the UK premiere of the US series as a slick but smug procedural where the lead solves crimes instantly through observation, likening it to Midsomer Murders in its puzzle-like treatment of crime rather than gritty realism. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2009/mar/21/the-mentalist-david-stubbs)
- **Variety**, Brian Lowry (48/100, inferred): The review finds the series a forgettable procedural that fails to distinguish itself beyond Simon Baker's roguish charm. It criticizes the assembly-line CBS approach and tiresome squabbling dynamic. [Read](https://variety.com/2008/tv/reviews/the-mentalist-1200470451/)
- **Vulture**, Amos Barshad (30/100, inferred): The critic finds the pilot clunky with awkward tone shifts and drags, though Simon Baker is charming; not recommended for a season pass due to predictable elements and silly action. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2008/06/pilot_preview_cbss_the_mentali.html)

## Details

- **Created by:** Bruno Heller
- **Creator:** Bruno Heller
- **Director:** Chris Long, Eric Laneuville, John Showalter, Charles Beeson, Randy Zisk, David Barrett, Simon Baker, Guy Ferland, Geary McLeod, John Polson, Martha Mitchell, Robert Duncan McNeill, Roxann Dawson, Lesli Linka Glatter, Tom Verica, Norberto Barba, Elodie Keene, David Nutter, Adam Kane, James Hayman, Anton Cropper, W. Thomas Snyder, Bobby Roth, Stephen Gyllenhaal, Edward Ornelas, David Paymer, Kevin Dowling, Dean White, Tawnia McKiernan, Nina Lopez-Corrado, Rod Holcomb, Paris Barclay, Michael Nankin, J. Miller Tobin, David Von Ancken, Sylvain White, Rod Hardy, Kevin Hooks, Bill D'Elia, Allison Anders, Paul A. Kaufman, John Behring, Darnell Martin, Paul Holahan, Bruno Heller, Bill Eagles, Dan Lerner, Matt Earl Beesley
- **Writer:** Bruno Heller, Tom Szentgyorgyi, Eoghan Mahony, Ken Woodruff, Jordan Harper, Erika Green Swafford, Daniel Cerone, Ashley Gable, David Appelbaum, Rebecca Perry Cutter, Michael Weiss, Leonard Dick, Andi Bushell, Gary Glasberg, Marisa Wegrzyn, Alex Berger, Tom Donaghy, John Mankiewicz, Erica Green Swafford, Anthony Astrino, Carolyn Ingber, Jeffrey Hatcher, Erin Donovan, Cindi Hemingway
- **Cinematography:** Geary McLeod, Tom Camarda, Frank Perl, Michael Goi, Alex Nepomniaschy, Christopher Faloona, Jeffrey Jur, Bill Roe
- **Editor:** David Ekstrom, Christopher Cibelli, Glenn Farr, Jimmy Gadd, Joseph Butler, Anthony Rivard, Paul Karasick
- **Music:** Blake Neely
- **Production design:** Michael Novotny, Julie Walker
- **Costume design:** Amanda Friedland, Julia Schklair, Scott O'Leary, Michael A. Russell
- **Producer:** Matthew Carlisle, Simon Baker, Charlie Goldstein
- **Cast:** Simon Baker as Patrick Jane; Robin Tunney as Teresa Lisbon; Tim Kang as Kimball Cho; Rockmond Dunbar as Dennis Abbott; Joe Adler as Jason Wylie; Josie Loren as Michelle Vega; David Norona as Osvaldo 'Oscar' Ardiles; Frank Gallegos as Jupiter Gallidos
- **Release (Indonesia):** 23 September 2008
- **Genres:** Crime, Drama, Mystery

## Where to watch in Indonesia

- Netflix: streaming
- Amazon Prime Video: streaming

*Checked 2026-09-23.*

Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, AZ, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, SK, TH, TR, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Columbo* (1971): A disarming investigator makes patience and apparently harmless questions deeply uncomfortable for suspects.
- *Jonathan Creek* (1997), Fi1m 78: Ingenious puzzles reward close attention, with a reluctant solver worth keeping company. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/jonathan-creek.md)
- *Psych* (2006), Fi1m 90: Another observant outsider turns supposed psychic ability into an excuse for mischief. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/psycho.md)
- *High and Low* (1963), Fi1m 90: Patient detection carries greater moral weight, with little room for reassuring charm. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/high-and-low.md)
- *The Brokenwood Mysteries* (2014): Try this for eccentric investigators and cases that leave space for their company.

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/the-mentalist