The Mentalist Season 4 Episode 19 “Pink Champagne on Ice” Recap
In this episode, Jane and the CBI team are called to investigate the homicide of Ryan D’Stefano, a security guard for a local casino that was found shot to death by the side of the road. The team goes to the casino to talk to the security manager, Dante Holmes about Ryan, but midway through Jane stealthily moves away from the group to head on over the magic show that is currently going. The magic act is pretty terrible, but nonetheless Jane seems to be amused and starts to shout out “Jack, give me my fifty bucks” throughout the performance. Jack aka the magician walks off the stage right up to Jane, but greets Jane like an old friend before he punches right in the face.
After the performance is over, Jane meets Jack in the dressing room where we come to learn that the two knew each other from they were performing shows (scams) and that Jack was Jane’s opening act for some of them, but depending who you ask, the show’s opening act could go either way. Jack tells Jane that he was on his way to the top, before he got into drugs and did a stint in jail, but he has life back on track now. He questions Jane about his life, which shocks him because he thought everyone knew what happened to his family, but apparently not. Jane easily deflects away from this question and just says that he is working for the police, which surprises Jack no less because Jane was the greatest scammer. Jane questions Jack about Ryan D’Stefano to which Jack simply replies “no.” Jane takes his word on the matter, but whether or not Jane believes him is still to be seen.
Meanwhile, Lisbon and Cho are talking to Dante about Ryan being most recently fired from the casino. Apparently, Ryan was a former felon and according to Dante the casino has strict rules barring of any hiring of convicted felons, which is odd since Jack himself was a felon too…seems to me the need to review their hiring process. The team gets all the info they can from Dante and head on back to their offices were more information surfaces such as Ryan was involved in a bar fight before his death. Van Pelt decides to check this out and goes to the bar to see what she can uncover. There she learns that Ryan was a good guy, but was hot tempered. According to the bartender he kept on saying he was going to get back at the casino and when his former supervisor, Dante Holmes walked through the bar one night, he lost it and that’s when the scuffle happened. Looks like Dante wasn’t as forthcoming as he should have been.
Back at the CBI new evidence suggests that Ryan had a passenger along with him when he was killed, more specifically a woman named Holly Danvers. Needing more information Cho and Rigsby go to Holly’s place of residence, a trailer park where they speak to the owners who confirmed that Holly still lived in the same location, but left some time ago with a young man who is a positive match to D’Stefano. They owners do inform them that Holly had a roommate, named Cheryl, but she seems to be gone too. With permission from the owners, Cho and Rigsby search the trailer where they find the body of the dead roommate. From this the CBI believes they may have a possible motive for murder, Holly catches D’Stefano with her roommate kills them both and now is on the run. Lisbon trying to find Jane, calls him to tell him of their findings unaware that at the same time Jane is talking to Lisbon he is currently back at the casino speaking to Dante and Mr. Shaw, head of the casino about the so called fight. Jane quickly ends his conversation with Lisbon to continue his little pow-wow, but he already cleared Dante and Mr. Shaw of having any involvement in the murder, he just wanted a good view to see Jack’s magic act.
When the performance his over, Jane goes to see Jack in his dressing room, but he walks on Jack with his assistant Trisha and two suspicious men that Jack deems his protégée. Jane not believing one word decides to leave the group to themselves, but still stays in the casino to observe what his old friend Jack is up too. He sees the two men seemingly walk the casino floor almost in synchronicity followed by Jack. Jane then follows them to a secluded portion of the casino’s parking garage where he is the three discuss something that seems highly suspicious. Once the other two men leave, Jane goes to Jack and tells him that he has it all figured out. Jack just thinks he is delusional, but Jane informs he that he knows that the other two guys where casing the joint, he knows that Jack wants to rob the casino, but Jane can’t figure out why. He tells Jack that he isn’t a thief, plus he seems more scared for someone else than himself and that is when Jack finally comes clean. Jack’s girlfriend who so happens to be Holly Danvers, was kidnapped and whoever took her wants him to break into the casino vault in exchange for Holly. Jack says that he can’t go to the police for fear of harm being done to Holly, but there is no way that he can break into the vault without getting caught. Well that leaves Jane to do the only thing that he can do to help which is to rob the casino for Jack.
Jane meets with Jack and his crew, Trisha and the two other men, the next day where he informs them of his plan to break into the vault that very night. With some apprehension the others agree to do exactly what Jane asks and start to prep for tonight while Jane has to go do some errands. Jane heads back to the CBI were Lisbon informs him that they found evidence that Jack lied about knowing D’Stefano since the two performed a magic trick at the casino last year. Jane having known this already apparently disregards this completely and tells the team about his findings, but tells them that he needs their help to arrest the killer. Lisbon and her team much to their dismay agree to go along with Jane’s plan.
Jane heads back to the casino not before stopping by to get Jack. Jack receives a text message about the drop off to which Jane tells him to reply back requesting video that proves Holly is still alive. The kidnapper does and Jane tells Jack to agree to the kidnapper’s terms. The two then proceed to get ready for the heist. Jack is in his full magician’s getup as is one of the guys in the crew who is wearing identical clothes to Jack. Jane informs them that CBI is there, but not to pay attention as they are investigating a murder. Jack starts to perform his magic act, but halfway through he switches with one of his crew members who is dressed exactly like Jack so he can cover for Jack who will be breaking into the vault. No will be the wiser since Jack and the imposter will be wearing a black hood over their heads to conceal their identity.
Meanwhile, Jane steals the vault keys from Dante thanks to Van Pelt who is providing a distraction. Jane, Jack and the other male crew member break into the vault during the magic act. Once the job is complete Jack goes back to finish his act switching back with the imposter, giving himself the perfect alibi. Jane and the others head to their getaway cars, but before the other men leave he gives them each a well-done hug then heading into the van with Jack off the money drop off. The other two men head to their own car only to have their keys missing and arrested by Cho. Jack and Jane meet the kidnapper at the drop off point, who happens to be Trisha, Jack’s assistant. She hands over a shocking Holly and plans on killing them all, but before she can do so Lisbon pops out of the back of the truck catching Trisha off guard and leading her to be arrested.
In the end, Trisha explains it was all about the money. She and D’Stefano were original in it together, but when he slept with Holly’s roommate and Holly walked in on him killing her he snapped. Trisha explains that Ryan had no remorse so she had to kill him, before he did another reckless stunt. It was never about any romantic notions or anything personal, just cold hard cash. Outside the offices, Jack and Holly thank Lisbon and Jane for everything and Jane shrugs it off, but reminds Jack of the fifty bucks he still needs to repay. Jack disagrees with Jane insinuating that Jane is the one who owns the money causing the two to get into a disagreement about who owes who. This amuses Lisbon and Holly seeing the guys acting the way they are, Holly comments that she has never seen Jack acting like that to which Lisbon simply replies “Jane has that affect on people.” Holly and Lisbon look on the pair still disagree with fondness and leave the old friends to their own device, hearing the guys still argue while they head off to their own venture.
Originally posted on Affairs Magazine
