Product Details

• Actors: Simon Baker, Robin Tunney, Tim Kang, Owain Yeoman, Amanda Righetti
• Format: AC-3, Box set, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: Portuguese (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Thai
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 6
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• DVD Release Date: September 22, 2009
• Run Time: 998 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (82 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001CTDH76
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,168 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Mentalist: The Complete First Season" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The Mentalist is nominally a police procedural (and an excellent one), but its characters are especially richly written, and there's romance and torment hinted at in equal measure throughout the series. All of this--and the star turn by dreamy Australian actor Simon Baker, whose smoldering good looks take a back seat to his nuanced acting--make The Mentalist one of TV's top drama series. Season 1 sets the action in motion immediately, as the viewer quickly learns the backstory: Baker's character, Patrick Jane, was once a questionable TV psychic (à la John Edwards) who professed to help people contact their deceased loved ones. But a crazed killer--"Red John"--was watching one day when Jane mentioned assisting California police on his case, and in retribution he committed a horrific crime with staggering personal repercussions on Jane. Jane leaves his sham life behind, but it turns out he's actually quite gifted as an observer of subtle human behavior--a "mentalist," who, he tells the California Bureau of Investigation, "is a master manipulator of thought and behavior." So Jane joins the CBI in tracking tricky cases, including that of Red John.

The rest of the cast is terrific, especially Robin Tunney, who may have found the role, and series, of a lifetime, as Teresa Lisbon, the head of the squad, who must keep Jane on track but give him enough lead to assist the often skeptical power structure. There's undeniable chemistry between Jane and Lisbon, yet any potential romance is superseded by a very real-feeling mutual respect and admiration, which shows its own kind of tenderness. Other stellar cast members include Tim Kang (the all-business Kimball Cho), Owain Yeoman (the ambitious rookie Wayne Rigsby), and Amanda Righetti (the doe-eyed newbie Grace Van Pelt, who may have a lot to learn in traditional police work, but who has a deep understanding of and respect for Jane's psychic abilities). Another star worth mentioning: The location shots all around California, which give the show a life and depth seldom seen on network series. The lush real settings--a mansion in San Francisco, a weedy rural road outside Bakersfield--add to the immediacy and intensity of the story lines.

The first season boxed set is a bounty and includes all 23 episodes, a fantastic featurette with the cast and creators on making the series, as well as a mini-doc on the difference (and there is one) between a mentalist and a psychic. Fans of the series won't want to miss the gag reel, either--the cast clearly has as much fun making the show as its fans do watching it. --A.T. Hurley

Product Description

"A mentalist is a master manipulator of thought and behavior." The mentalist is Patrick Jane (Simon Baker in an acclaimed performance), a celebrity psychic whose wife and child are viciously murdered by an elusive serial killer called Red John. Devastated, Patrick admits his paranormal act is fake, renounces his earlier life and uses his astonishing skills of observation and analysis – talents that made him appear psychically gifted – to bring killers to justice. At crime scenes across California, Patrick now helps an elite team of detectives break their toughest cases. But no matter how many criminals he catches, Patrick never forgets his central goal: Find Red John. And bring him down.

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

89 of 93 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If you like "Life" you'll like "The Mentalist"--no spoilers review, December 30, 2008

By 

Ehkzu (Palo Alto, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mentalist: The Complete First Season (DVD)

This TV show, in its first season, is, like "Life," a police procedural with lots of flavor--in this case, a former phony psychic who, years ago, talking insultingly about a serial killer on his psychic TV show.

The killer was watching the show, apparently, took offense, and proceeded to murder the guy's entire family.

After much soul searching, our hero quit his pseudoprofession and now works with a police agency doing for crimes what Gregory House does for his hospital--solving the cases no one else can solve. He uses his ability to read people and situations that stood him in good stead during his stint as a phony psychic.

Of course, like the cop in "Life" his merry, mischievous exterior conceals an iron core of permanent, near-psychotic rage. The Mentalist works with the police agency he works for in order to find the serial killer to killed his family, and he has told his boss there, in merry seriousness, that if/when he finds the guy, he will take him apart in a way Dexter (as in the HBO series) would admire.

All this is backstory. No spoilers, as I promised. There's considerable interaction with his boss, her boss, and the three person team that also works with the boss, and they're all competently played, seemingly pretty much credible as detectives.

So both this and "Life" have:

1. fine actor in the lead role--with "The Mentalist," Aussie heartthrob Simon Baker, who every woman appears to find irresistable (according to my wife).

2. multilayered plot, with an ongoing story arc on top of the case du jour, and evolving relationships among the team members.

3. light and shadow--lots of comic moments alongside very dark stuff indeed. In painting this would be called chiaroscuro (think Rembrandt paintings of interiors illuminated by candles).

If you like "Life" I'm certain you'll like "The Mentalist" even if the more run of the mill procedurals (all the CSIs for example) don't appeal to you. I'd also put "Bones" in this category FWIW.

And this is about as good as we can expect until Joss Whedon's next show shows up (presumably "Dollhouse" with Eliza Dushku, herself a master of chiaroscuro).

47 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simon steals the show... and my heart, June 20, 2009

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Mentalist: The Complete First Season (DVD)

I am just a teenager, and generally not interested in the stuff my parents love to watch (currently they're obsessed with "24"), but one evening I decided to settle down with them and check out what they were watching, and it happened to be, "The Mentalist." It was love at first sight.

The Australian-born star, my heartthrob Simon Baker, stars as the coy and undeniably hot guy with brilliant mentalist abilities who "just pays attention," Patrick Jane. After criticizing a serial killer on a TV show (sorry Simon, but how dumb can you be???), Jane returns home to find his family slaughtered by the very killer, Red John, to get revenge on him for his earlier actions on TV. Shocked and heart-broken to the core, Patrick decides to change his ways and use his abilities for better purposes, seeking out the California Bureau of Investigation (CBI)and offering his help on serious crime cases. The season continues as it sheds some light on Jane's past and as he grows closer to his new colleagues at the bureau, yet his obsession with finding Red John does not die.

I found myself intrigued immediately by "The Mentalist." I can't quite explain it. Something about the show just clicks, and that's why it's become so overwhelmingly popular with us viewers. Simon definitely steals the show, but not only do we love him, we feel something for Simon's character. He hides his pain of his family's murder with a coy, playful, and cunning face, and though he is all of this, it's only skin-deep, and in the finale episode, "Red John's Footsteps", the veil is pulled for a brief moment and we see how angry and obsessed Jane is with finding Red John, ready to die himself to solve the terrible crimes.

This keeps the audience hungry for the next episode every time one finishes, and not only that. This show is incredibly rare and beautiful, because how often do you find a show that you love all the cast members, you enjoy the plot, it's got lots of humor, it's not dumb, and it has an awesome writer? Answer? Hardly ever. Even "Ghost Whisperer" and "CSI" get tiring, and "The Mentalist" is a cute, quirky, and intriguing new show that makes me fall in love with Simon all over again whenever his face goes on screen.

I can't wait for these DVD's to come out, because they are definitely worth the buy. I absolutely loved the first season, with hardly ever a dry spot, and I just hope that they keep the second season and any seasons after that as good, because I'm telling you, if someone screws this show up, I will be ready to kill. ;P

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fun show w a twist, March 27, 2009

By 

Cineander (Mar Vista) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mentalist: The Complete First Season (DVD)

Another light-hearted investigative drama along the lines of Bones or The Closer. Good ensemble cast. Main character w a special talent. And an emotional back story that gives the series lots of heart.