The Mentalist Draft Pilot - Part 3 - Scripts - File Catalog

INT/EXT. WELLNESS CENTER - DAY

Jane and Lisbon leaving the elegant spa-like clinic. Lisbon is smiling to herself.

JANE In reply to what you're about to say. Yes, No. I can manage. But thanks for your concern.

LISBON I'm saying nothing. You don't want help with your mental issues, bon voyage.

INT. CHAIN SEAFOOD RESTAURANT - NIGHT

The CBI homicide unit eating dinner.

JANE'S POV - Live lobsters churning slowly in a tank of dark green water. The sly smile and crazy eyes of a bosomy ship's figurehead on the wall. The tiny man in the crow's nest of a model whaling ship, his arm pointing, his mouth a black dot of alarm.

LOBSTERS arrive. Jane works on his with the swift violence of a civil war field surgeon. Lisbon is methodical and neat; Cho is brutal and neat; Gilzean, brutal and messy. Van Pelt has a chicken cutlet.

CHO I like him. I like him for it.

GILZEAN Only thing, he was getting a handjob in Fresno at the time of the murders. Sounded like a real handjob to me.

CHO Nah. He hires some hooker he knows to create an alibi while he flies home, fillets the spouse, and flies back again. A classic elaborate and clever but ultimately stupid plan.

JANE Have you looked at Eli Randolph's PGA tournament record?

CHO It's not bad. Six mil career earnings.

JANE Won at odd intervals over a decade for coming in second and third. Put him on the eighteenth tee with a big win on the line, like night follows day, he'll shank it. He's a choker. Hasn't got the nerve to kill his wife. Didn't do it.

(hails a waitress) Miss.... He gives the waitress his glass.

JANE A drop more of your vile scotch please.

LISBON (irritated) You're suggesting we drop a prime suspect because he hasn't won a major. JANE No no. Just making idle conversation. (to Van Pelt) Hey, watch this.

He makes a straw follow his finger, rolling across the table as though pulled by magnetism.

VAN PELT (delighted) How did you do that?

He resumes eating his lobster.

VAN PELT Mister Jane, I have a question, regarding your previous career path?

JANE Fire away Agent van Pelt.

VAN PELT When you met with other psychics? Real psychics? Could they tell that you were only pretending?

JANE There's no such thing as real psychics.

VAN PELT Really. I beg to differ. My cousin Yolanda is a psychic.

JANE Your cousin is deluded or dishonest. Or both.

VAN PELT No no, he's entitled to his opinion. He's wrong though. She has power. She can communicate with the other side. I've seen her do it myself.

JANE She let you speak with someone who's gone.

JANE Someone that you love and still miss very much.

JANE You- wanted her power to be real. So it was.

GILZEAN You're so sure you're right. But science don't know everything. There's mysterious stuff out there.

VAN PELT Five hundred years ago, radio would have seemed like magic.

VAN PELT Five hundred years into the future, it might be totally normal to communicate with the other side.

JANE The other side. Your father is a football coach, yes?

VAN PELT (wide eyed) How did you know that?

JANE It's obvious from your whole demeanor.

LISBON He read your file.

JANE And I read your file. .My point is, didn't dad always tell you that life is like football? When that final whistle blows, the game is over. Done. There is no more. There is no other side. This is it. Lobsters and bread rolls and nautical kitsch, then psssh. Nothingness. Lisbon signals a far away waitress for the check.

VAN PELT You poor sad man. You are so wrong.

JANE Play the game Melody. Make the most of it. Because this, this is all there is.

VAN PELT You are so wrong. The kingdom of God is a real place.

JANE Later tonight, when Gilzean asks you to come back to his hotel room? Say yes. Do it.

Gilzean blushes crimson and covers his face.

JANE I know, I know, you were planning on refusing ve-e-ry curtly. First week on the job, you want to set a tone, right? No monkey business. But why? Why? Live your life Melody. Gilzean's an excellent lover, I'm sure. Tough but fair. Am I right?

Gilzean is hiding his face in embarrassment. Van Pelt rises serenely above the low talk.

VAN PELT The kingdom of God is a real place Mister Jane. And you have an immortal soul.

JANE Oh I do so hope you're wrong.

Lisbon beckons the waitress a second time, brusquely.

LISBON Hey lady, check.

EXT. HOTEL. INDIAN WELLS - NIGHT

A ten storey 80s slab amid a complex of malls and parking lots. The mountains looming darkly in a dramatic night sky make it look like the main set of a Japanese monster movie.

INT. HOTEL ELEVATOR -NIGHT

Lisbon,' Jane, Van Pelt, Cho, and. Gilzean, going up. Elevator stops. Lisbon, Cho, and Jane get out. Leaving Van Pelt and Gilzean alone for two floors, painfully embarrassed. Doors open.

GILZEAN This is me. Welcome to the unit, Agent Van' Pelt.

VAN PELT Thank you Agent Gilzean. Gilzean gets out. The doors close.

INT. HOTEL CORRIDOR - LATER THAT NIGHT

An eerily lit empty hallway. Strange noises off.

INT. JANE'S HOTEL ROOM - CONTINUOUS On TV - A PACK OF LIONS tear into a WILDEBEEST. Jane lies on his bed stark NAKED, gazing idly at the carnage on TV. A bedside clock radio says it's just past eleven.

A WHITE ENVELOPE slides under his door. Jane gets off the bed, picks it up, opens it. Inside is a FOLDED SHEET OF PAPER. Unfolded, A BLOOD SPATTERED SCRAP OF CLOTH falls, out. The brief letter is typewritten, and in place of a signature - a {smiley face}

Jane drops the letter, wrenches open the door, and darts out into.. . .

INT. HOTEL CORRIDOR - CONTINUOUS

A very long narrow corridor. Jane catches a glimpse of a man's leg disappearing round the distant corner. Jane runs after him, banging on Lisbon's doors as he goes

Lisbon opens her door and looks out in time to see Jane disappear round the corner.

JANE'S POV - He sees the same man disappear around the far corner of an identical corridor. Jane races to the next corner only to see another corridor dead-ended by a FIRE DOOR, slamming shut. Jane runs to the fire door, wrenches it open...

INT. HOTEL STAIRWELL - CONTINUOUS

Jane dashes precipitously down the stairwell. We catch glimpses of his quarry, one flight down. Jane is gaining on him fast. But then JANE STUMBLES AND FALLS DOWN a whole flight, crashing painfully on the landing. Losing precious time, he struggles up and limps down several more flights to another FIRE DOOR. He slams through it to...

EXT. HOTEL AND ENVIRONS - CONTINUOUS

Jane emerges on the edge of a PARKING LOT, shared by the hotel, a vast OUTLET MALL, and a MOVIEPLEX. Jane's quarry could have disappeared via any number of routes. He's gone. Almost weeping in pain and frustration, Jane pounds on the roof of a parked car. People going to their cars hurry to get away from the naked crazy man. By the time Lisbon-comes banging through the fire door, gun at the ready, Jane sits exhausted on the bumper of a truck. Lisbon holsters her gun.

LISBON Jane, what are you doing?

The firedoors clang shut behind her. She tries the doors - Locked.

Jane starts laughing at her dismay, and once started, can't stop. Lisbon's lack of amusement only adding to his hilarity. After a while though, the laughter dies. As Jane frowns, we CUT TO BLACK. END OF ACT TWO

ACT THREE INT. HOTEL LOBBY - NIGHT

Jane and Lisbon enter from the street. Jane's still naked but now too angry to be self-conscious and Lisbon acts like she always has a frowning naked guy with her; and that prevents anyone intervening immediately. They get in the elevator. As a HOTEL SECURITY GUY hurries toward them, opening his mouth to protest, the DOORS CLOSE.

INT. JANE'S HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT

Jane sits on the bed, now in his underwear. Cho, Jane, and Gilzean stand listening to Van Pelt read the RED JOHN LETTER (in an evidence baggie along with the cloth scrap and the envelope). VAN PELT "Greetings old friend, its been a while. I hope you are keeping well. I am thriving and happy. I have fourteen beautiful wives now and will soon begin courting number fifteen. Why can't you catch me? You must feel so powerless and stupid and angry and sad. Oh well. All the best, Red John.”

Jane looks like he's feeling all the things described.

CHO Ouch. I don't know. That sounds like the real deal, to me. Has that tone where he knows how to twist the knife?

Gilzean looks at Cho as to say - Dude, have some tact.

JANE (drained) It sounds like him, but it isn't. Red John wouldn't risk capture just to taunt me. The real killer is just trying to throw us back off track.

LISBON We'll see. (to Van Pelt, of the evidence bags) Get those over to CSI now. They're expecting it. (to Cho and Gilzean) First job tomorrow, find out where Eli Randolph was half an hour ago.

Van Pelt leaves, then Cho and Gilzean murmur goodnights, slope off to their rooms. Jane shivers. LISBON Get some sleep.

With a worried look, Lisbon exits his room, closing the door after her. Jane is very still for a long moment, then jumps up off the bed.

EXT. STREETS OF INDIAN WELLS - NIGHT Ignoring his limp, Jane walks briskly along the side of empty residential roads that stretch away behind and before him into distant darkness.

INT.. GIANT RITE AID PHARMACY - NIGHT

Jane wanders brightly lit aisles, carrying a shopping basket. Into the basket he puts Maalox, aspirin, Red Bull, three different ballpoint pens, pencils, and a medium size red diary, marked with a half price sticker because it's a little out of date.

INT. DONUT SHOP - NIGHT

Jane sits at a corner table, eating a bear claw; drinking coffee, Red Bull, and Maalox; and writing in the red diary. C.U on the diary. In a small neat hand, Jane is methodically writing endless variations on the same theme - "Tell the truth. It was you. Rot in hell, murderer. You did it. You killed them you evil bastard. Confess". The prose is interspersed with complex, sums and weird hieroglyphs. C.U. on Jane's unreadable expression...

INT. TEMP OFFICES. SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT - DAY

Sunlight pouring in. Jane is at his desk sipping on a big gulp, and still writing in the diary. He looks like a Robert Crumb cartoon of himself - red eyes, wild hair, dirty clothes. Cho and Lisbon enter.

JANE (cheerfully) Good morning. He casually puts away the diary.

CHO Dude, you look bad. You smell bad. JANE No, I'm good. Excellent. Good. LISBON. You didn't sleep did you?

LISBON Get out of here. Talk to the doctor. Get some sleeping pills. Do something.

JANE Meh. Maybe tomorrow. Lisbon takes out her phone, checks her pocket notebook, and dials a number. Meanwhile, in BG a desk phone rings, and Cho answers.

LISBON Doctor Wagner, this is CBI Agent Lisbon... Yes. Yes. Would you do me a favor and make some time today for my colleague there, Jane? (listens) Thank you very much. Five o'clock then. (shuts phone) Five o'clock.

LISBON No maybe. You're going. Cho offers a phone to her, looks wry.

CHO Partridge. He'll only speak to you. She takes the phone.

LISBON What's doing Partridge?

INT. CSI LAB - DAY CSI boss Partridge on the phone, next to a CSI TECH, peering into an ELECTRON MICROSCOPE...

PARTRIDGE Hey Lisbon. Partridge here. I have some intriguing news for you.

He waits for her reaction. CUT BETWEEN CSI LAB AND CSI TEMP OFFICES.

LISBON What's that? PARTRIDGE We found a strand of hair. In the Red John envelope?

PARTRIDGE It doesn't belong to either victim. Guess who it does belong to?

Lisbon suppresses the urge to growl at him by taking the phone from her ear and gazing zenlike at the wall for a moment.

FX SHOT - THROUGH AN ELECTRON MICROSCOPE A strand of hair magnified until it appears we are gliding slowly above the surface of a strange Seussian planet. PULL BACK to reveal we are watching a LAPTOP COMPUTER on a table in...

INT. INTERROGATION ROOM - DAY

Tag Randolph in the chair, bemused, befuddled. Cho shuts the laptop.

CHO Amazing huh? Science.

TAG It's not my hair. It's not possible.

CHO DNA doesn't lie. It's yours.

TAG This is insane. I didn't send that letter. I didn't kill Alison.

INT. OBSERVATION ROOM. SHERRIFF'S DEPT - CONTINUOUS- Jane semi-dozes, head on a table. Lisbon, Van Pelt, and Gilzean watch the interview via one way glass.

CHO How do you explain your hair in the envelope?

TAG Either it's a mistake, or Tag frowns.

TAG Or, I'm being framed.

CHO Who would want to frame you? We don't want to. If that's what you're thinking.

JANE (muttering, head on the table) Alison and he were lovers.

CHO Who would want to frame you Tag? Why?

Tag has no reply. But he clearly has someone in mind.

CHO Tag, now's the time to tell the truth. Who would want to frame you?

CHO Why would he want to do that?

TAG Alison and I were lovers.

VAN PELT I think you are psychic. You're just afraid to admit it.

Jane grunts, amused, but falling asleep.

INT. INTERROGATION ROOM - CONTINUOUS

TAG I know, what did she see in me, right? John Q. Average. Real love and care, and respect, and honesty, that's what. That's what. Eli thinks he loved her, but he didn't. He doesn't know what love is. She was just an object to him. I loved her.

CHO When did the relationship start?

TAG We'd been close for some time, just as friends, but it became physical, if you will, in February of last year.

CHO Did she ever try to end the relationship with you?

TAG (tensing up) No.

CHO Because that's tough, when that happens, when someone tries to end things.

TAG She didn't. Try to end it.

OBSERVATION ROOM. SHERRIFF'S DEPT - CONTINUOUS

Lisbon nudges Jane. Startled, he jumps to his feet.

LISBON Your appointment with the doctor.

Jane doesn't move, just stands there vibrating.

EXT. SHERRIFF'S DEPARTMENT - DAY

Gilzean helps Jane slide into the back of a cab, shuts the door firmly, then gives the driver cash and a slip of paper.

INT. TAXI CAB - DAY JANE'S POV - The sky and palm, trees and truck and signage flashing by.

INT. WAGNER'S OFFICE. OAKS WELLNESS CENTER - DAY

Jane and Wagner seated, staring at each other. It's late in the day and golden light shafts in.

WAGNER Why is it you can't sleep?

JANE Because I can't get the good pills without talking to a doctor.

WAGNER And you don't like to talk to doctors.

JANE Meh. They always want to be the smartest person in the room, don't they? When in fact that's me, obviously.

WAGNER You protect your core self very fiercely. What do you think is the reason for that?

JANE This is exactly how I imagined it would be. Are you going to ask me about my mother?.

WAGNER Do you want me to ask about your mother?

JANE I just want to sleep..

WAGNER What is it' that keeps you awake?

Move in tight on Jane...

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