S2E2: The Scarlet Letter. The Mentalist Rewatch

Owain: Let's just get stuck into TV police! Season

Amanda: Mm.

Owain: two, episode two, with our very own Scarlet Mistress for the Scarlet Letter, Amanda Righetti Looking glamorous as always, and making Tim and I look positively non-HD.

Amanda: I try. Thanks.

Tim: Mm-hmm.

Owain: How have you been?

Amanda: let's see, when did we see each other last? Was it February?

Tim: I think yeah, that's that's exactly what it was. Yeah. Right, right. Yeah.

Owain: Yeah, it's b it's been a minute. You've probably shot like fifteen movies and been to nine continents. Tim and I have just been here. Just been here

Amanda: Okay, so I had my god!

Owain: the whole time.

Amanda: Yeah, it's right where I left you. finished season one of Scarpetta, which released in March since I saw you. Thank

Owain: Congratulations on that. Yeah.

Amanda: you. And we finished filming the second season and just anxiously awaiting the release.

Owain: Brother.

Amanda: and then I just got back from Nashville for a premiere for a film I did. and the spring

Owain: I saw that for Shed right?

Amanda: for Shed.

Owain: Tell us all about that. What's what's going on in the shed? What have you been doing? What have they been doing to you in that shed? Yeah.

Amanda: No, what's going on in the shed? Nobody wants to know. I know.

Tim: Yeah. What kinda what kind of tools what kind of tools are in the shed? Yeah.

Amanda: it's ki it's like a psychological thriller, but they it was all Nashville crew, female based, female writer, female director, so it was very female driven and I really wanted to support that. And they premiered at the Nashville Film Festival, so I flew out to support that

Owain: maybe you can tell us if you felt this too. It's been the summer of Mentalist, hasn't it? It is dur right?

Amanda: Hey, you know what? It kinda has. It kinda has. Isn't it trending in like the top twenty on Prime? Or is it Netflix? Yeah.

Owain: It's trending all over the place. It it is, you know, so Netflix, I think you so the show premiered in March, and we made it to the top five global shows in the world, And you know, top 20 on Amazon Prime, the I think in the number three spot or higher in Brazil for the last 62 weeks. So I don't, yeah, yeah, it's crazy. So

Amanda: No kidding. That's amazing.

Owain: I've noticed this huge sort of fandom emerge from Brazil. So, you know, we love Brazil. Thank you, Brazil, for being there

Amanda: Yeah.

Owain: You still get to hang out, obviously, with one fifth of our mentalist crew. Do you have much to do with Simon on Scarpetta?

Amanda: I s sort of. You know, it's really weird because not at all. Like we're kind of like ships passing in the night. He's

Owain: You're in different time zones, right? Yeah.

Tim: Yeah.

Amanda: on he's in the present day timeline and I'm in the nineteen nineties timeline. So our characters never cross paths.

Owain: And you play the young Jamie Lee Curtis, is that right?

Amanda: Yes.

Owain: Yeah, which is when I think about it, a masterful piece of casting, actually, because you guys do have a passing resemblance. how does that experience compare to your time on the mentalist?

Amanda: Well, it is it's interesting because it is very much crime scene scene in the crime, like the mentalist was, and there's the

Owain: Right.

Amanda: serial killer element. but it couldn't be they couldn't be two more different characters. Van Pelt was very hands-on, obviously, with the you know, CBI and the team and all that stuff and solving the crime scene scene in the crime. But in Scarpetta, Dorothy is Scarpetta's sister. And Scarpeta's the lead, she's actually a forensic pathologist. And so she's doing all the autopsies and things like that. And she has a a direct line with law enforcement. And I play her sister, and so I don't really have anything to do with what's happening for the

Tim: Crime fighting.

Amanda: the f the crime fighting. I just bring the drama. So it's a lot

Owain: That's fun though. It's nice to have

Tim: Yeah.

Amanda: of fun.

Tim: And well, yes.

Owain: because I feel I I feel like in The Mentalist we sort of like had to piggyback both of those. it's probably two parallel casts. And you're set mainly in what, the seventies or eighties?

Amanda: it's no, it's ninety ninety-eight, ninety nine.

Owain: okay.

Amanda: yeah, late nineties. Which is yeah. it's it's weird because

Owain: That's a fun time. I was graduating high school right around then.

Amanda: it's considered like what do you call it?

Owain: Flashback. A pyri piece, sure. Yeah.

Amanda: A period piece, like a period like right? But it doesn't it's strange to me 'cause I'm like I I live that time period, so it doesn't like the period piece. I know, stop it, shut up, stop saying that

Owain: Well, you know what that means, Amanda. We old. We we old as hell. That's

Tim: No, the other thing too is when is the other thing too is when they say well

Owain: when you look back and you go,

Tim: I

Owain: that can't be a period piece. I was alive then. It just means one thing. We're antique.

Amanda: I know, exactly. I was alive during that. It's like it's not period.

Tim: Well then and they and they refer to and they refer to that era too, the kids now as the late nineteen hundreds. And that's a little like come on, man. Yeah. Late nine Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Amanda: Dude, can we just

Owain: What is happening?

Amanda: My kid goes there. My kid is like, you were born in the nineteen hundreds and I'm like Yeah, you're not wrong, but like why do you have to make it sound so bad?

Owain: The 1900s. This makes me sound like Queen Victoria. Wow. Wow. Yeah, that's real that's really, really upsetting. does it feel like a very different show making process in terms of the actual filming a bit?

Amanda: it's similar to the mentalist in the sense that like it's split. You know, there's like half of it is on location, the other half is on stage. because my character is only really in very specific scenarios, a lot of my work is on stage. because that's where they've built out the interior of the home. but You know, I I can't really speak to the crime solving aspects of it, just because I don't I'm not there for that stuff on Scarpeta, but it's not that dissimilar from any any show or any film that you're on in terms of scheduling and you know, it's you got the trailers and the sets and all the the same kind of things. we've got a pretty big company. so the company moves are are a a pretty big undertaking. But otherwise everything is i it's fairly similar. I you know, the the biggest changes are obviously digital, which I still I I think the the more space I get from the more I am blown away about how we were part of that last and I think I've mentioned it before, but w we still shot on film. You know,

Owain: On film, yeah.

Amanda: like we shot on film until the fifth season. And

Owain: Yeah, it's crazy.

Amanda: like it really is kind of crazy when you think of how fast. Things changed within the industry

Owain: Mm-hmm.

Amanda: with the digital age and replacing a lot of film stuff. so

Tim: Have you found that they they do more takes with it? Not necessarily, right? Because they're still on a schedule, right?

Amanda: Not necessarily. what I do find with digital that we didn't have with film is they don't cut. Right? You have the you just have the leisure to be able to keep rolling because you're

Owain: Keep going, yeah.

Amanda: not burning film. And it's a little bit more, I think, for the DIT to sift through, but when you're in a rhythm, there's something really nice about like, let's just keep going. And actually,

Tim: Cutting.

Owain: Mm-hmm.

Amanda: funny enough, John Polson directed. the line share of my episodes for the second season. And so that was like a nice little

Tim: Of course. Right. Well that's the Aussie connection right there.

Owain: No way, how funny.

Amanda: reunion, you know, mentalist reunion, even though I didn't really see Simon, like John was there and in in true pulse and fashion. We, you know, jumped into all the stuff and it was it was fun to be reconnected with him. It was it was just fun to have another familiar face on set. my stuff isn't so procedural. We had some room to play and and it was nice to to connect in in that part of his directing style. And yeah, so we we had a great time.

Owain: I can say this for all three of us, you were criminally underserved, as we all were, because you know, the the part of the ensemble is that you have to wait for your moment to rotate, Do you feel like, this is a better showcase for me?

Amanda: they're two different animals

Owain: Mm-hmm.

Amanda: these shows for me, like character wise, you know. Yes, there's there's things to sink my teeth into with Scarpeta. Sometimes it feels like I'm in a different movie or a different show.

Owain: Sure.

Amanda: because it's not part of the through line of the show, so to speak. the challenges with Scarpetta are very different from the challenges of the mentalist. You know, I think playing Van Pelt, there were a lot of which all of us kind of dealt with this, but the exposition stuff and going through the ballistics

Tim: Mm, right.

Amanda: and, you know, the interrogations and keeping track of the victim names every episode and, you know, like

Owain: Facting.

Amanda: the facting.

Owain: Facting. Yeah. Yeah. That is hard.

Amanda: The facting was very it was very heady. And it and I think there was something really challenging about remembering some of that dialogue and connecting the tissue with it. and because there's not like an emotional drive behind it, there were pieces of it that were really challenging for me as an actor that helped me really grow. and with Scarpeta, it's just it's a much different take. I'm playing the same character as A legend. And so, like, it feels like really big shoes to fill. And I sometimes find myself in this very insecure space of did I did I get the mannerisms right? Like, am I emulating what she's doing? And I'm kind of constantly questioning different aspects of my performance than I did when I was playing Van Pelt. there's a lot.

Tim: Did you have a chance to take a look at some of her performances maybe in some you know, dailies

Amanda: Yes. And

Tim: or anything like that?

Amanda: thankfully the producers were really great about sharing some of the scenes that she did with Nicole. And so it was it was great to be able to see the dynamic that they created and and to create some of that between Rosie and I. and it was really it just it was really helpful. But it was it was strange because even going into season two, I thought Watching her performance in season one is gonna be really helpful. And it was in certain capacities, but there was something about just studying Jamie and her candid interviews that was so much more helpful to me about some of the mannerisms that she would bring to Dorothy. it's just it's a totally different take and different approach than. Any other character I've ever played before. It's such a unique experience. I don't really have anything to compare it to.

Owain: We need to talk hair with you because you got some you got some pretty impressive hair going on in this show.

Amanda: Yeah. I mean, it was funny because when I originally showed up in the first season, I wanted to do the Jennifer Aniston late 90s, like very sleek, clean, right? And we're filming in right. But we're filming in Nashville

Owain: Sure. Why wouldn't you? Yeah. You wanted to look hot as hell, basically. Yeah, yeah.

Tim: The Rachel. Yeah.

Amanda: and it was pissing rain and it was humid.

Owain: Yep. Q mid.

Amanda: And I have naturally curly hair. And the hair department was like. Don't even want to deal with fighting with it. And so I was like, okay. I wasn't really prepared for it. But then they proceeded to just lean into my curls and they gave me a perm with a curling iron and it became Mariah Carey. And so, you know

Owain: I mean, I will venture to say Mariah Carey wishes she had that hair. It is that it all I want for Christmas

Tim: Yeah. Right. Right.

Owain: is that hair. I'll tell you that. Like it it is so was it so how do you how did you feel about?

Amanda: Yeah. Yeah. It's like it it guys, it is no joke. It's almost like two hours in the chair to get that hair. Yeah.

Owain: I believe it. I believe

Tim: Wow. Yeah.

Owain: Does it become a good character gateway for you? Do you when you get on the hair, do you just go, Yeah, I'm I'm I'm I'm there now. I've

Amanda: my god, yes. Yes. Hands

Tim: It all helps.

Amanda: down, no doubt. Like I it's the the the nails, the hair, the makeup, the clothes, all of it. Like I can't find Dorothy without it. Like she

Owain: I love that.

Tim: That's great.

Amanda: is she's just bigger than life. And all of those pieces are her armor. And and it's one of those things, it's like the more I lean into it. The more I find her and the more she just comes alive. And without

Tim: That's awesome.

Amanda: it, it's hard for me. Like, even when I'm doing rehearsals, like if I don't have all the getup on, I'm like, I just need I need at least like some shoes. Like at least give me some shoes to just to find it a little bit. And so all those pieces really play into creating the character, creating the scene, like finding her in the scenes that That are scripted and having it just like jump off the page. So it's like I need it. I need it to create Dorothy.

Owain: I think that I think that Season two, episode two, The Scarlet Letter. I'll give a I'll give a few facts to to bring us up to speed on this one. So Ed on 1st of October 2009. This was actually when we moved to Thursdays. I don't know if you remember this, Amanda, but we'd moved from our initial Tuesday night to

Amanda: Tuesday to Thursday nights.

Owain: Thursday night at 10 p.m. were we originally a 9 pm show on Tuesday, Tim? Do you remember? Either of you guys?

Amanda: we were.

Owain: Yeah, 'cause I feel like that was more the

Tim: yeah.

Amanda: Did they put us in ten

Tim: Yeah, that's that's right.

Amanda: first and then nine?

Owain: No, they put us at nine and I think they moved us to ten because I remember thinking,

Amanda: And then they moved us to ten.

Owain: God, that feels late. Like we were never a gory show, were we? It was never a show with like, I don't even think we showed blood half the time. We'd have all these corpses and they were all pretty bloodless, you know?

Amanda: I mean, aside from like

Owain: I think there was one or two.

Amanda: the smiley face and th I mean, that was all drawn drawn in blood and you know, but

Owain: It was all very it was all very sanitary though. Like we hi we had a woman

Amanda: Yeah, yeah.

Owain: who fell, what, four hundred feet off that off that bridge.

Amanda: And there's no blood.

Owain: No blood and she landed perfectly. She was you know Mangled, but like let's be honest.

Amanda: Right. I mean her legs are a little like bent, but somehow her foot ended up in a tire.

Owain: Sure, but artfully arranged across the tyre, you know. And it

Amanda: Yeah. Yeah.

Owain: Charles Beeson was a wonderful British director who sadly has now passed away. But he directed many of ours and became one of our sort of in-house. Tom St. George was the writer, another one of our sort of top EPs, probably right there underneath. Chris and Bruno. So, you know, some safe hands there. And actually, I think it was a season high for us: 15.75 million viewers, Can you imagine being on a show now? And they were like, How are the

Tim: Right.

Owain: numbers? 15.75

Amanda: Yeah.

Owain: million. We're gonna be on

Tim: Yeah.

Owain: forever, literally forever.

Amanda: Yeah.

Owain: How many seasons do you want? You know, it's like that,

Tim: Yeah.

Owain: it just doesn't happen. the title, a nod to Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, A Hidden Affair with public shame and the letter A.

Tim: forgot you forgot one other factoid.

Owain: Please.

Tim: for for seventies and eighties kids, Paul Michael Glazer was one of the guest stars, Starsky in

Owain: of course. Of course.

Tim: the in the hit show Starsky and Hutch.

Owain: Season two, episode two, when a senator's aide is found dead beneath a bridge, the CBI is pulled into a scandal of rumoured affairs, family secrets, and political damage control. As the suspects stack up and someone keeps a step ahead of the investigation, Jane promises Lisbon the killer by morning. Meanwhile, Lisbon faces the psych session she keeps dodging. Rigsby fails to make his move on Van Pelt, and Jane finds his own way back into Bosco's Red John case. So diving straight in here, this was an interesting one to bring you in on, Amanda, too, because I felt like there was some lovely well, first of all, we got the slow burn of mine and your romance, which is very sweet and and Rigsby constantly, as the Jen Alphas have reminded me on Instagram, fumbling the bag. So I recently posted yeah.

Amanda: Right, and the bet the bet's going on between Rigsby and Cho.

Owain: Yeah, it's you know, it's so it's but what I what I loved was again, even though we didn't get an awful lot of time, maybe screen time to show it, there is the beginning in these first two episodes of this season. Tim and I talked about it last week, we're really beginning to see the family dynamic work a little bit more. There's some lovely moments being thrown to us, and I think that now in success. There is a sort of both a studio willingness and an executive willingness and a creative willingness to open the show up beyond just the mentalist. So there were a few things that I loved. Like we start off with, you know, when we're on the bridge. I remember that bridge very vividly. Do you guys remember that day when we were up on the bridge? It was in it's on the way to Pasadena. I can't remember the name of the bridge. You don't.

Tim: I rem I just remember how high it was. I was I was shocked.

Amanda: I know the bridge. Guys, I don't even remember shooting that scene. I it's

Tim: Yeah.

Owain: Every time I drive

Amanda: so weird.

Owain: past that bridge, I I'm like, that was the bridge where we pulled the woman out. Like

Amanda: I remember being down below. Like I remember being

Owain: Uh-huh.

Amanda: under the bridge when we find the body, like and shooting all that stuff. But for some reason I was like, why don't I remember filming that opening scene of us all kind of just standing there when Jane approaches? Like I just

Owain: That's so fun. I I tell you.

Tim: My my my memory my memory of it was just the altitude. I mean it it was so high. I couldn't even because you didn't think

Owain: The height of it. Yeah. It was high. It was very high.

Amanda: The answers. Yeah.

Tim: going across it that you would be that far up from from

Owain: Mm-hmm.

Tim: the from the bottom. That that shocked me when I looked over the edge there.

Owain: every single time I drive past that bridge, I still think about it.

Amanda: I always think the mentalist when I drive past it, 'cause I remember I remember shooting down but I just don't know why, for whatever reason, maybe it was was it an early morning?

Owain: It it probably was quite an early morning. And and it also it blends I tell you what, it blended with me rather seamlessly with another bridge sequence that we shot that also had Steiner in in Sacramento. Do you remember the one I mean?

Amanda: Yes. And and we were in Sacramento for this episode, right? But they like we shot everything it was like for multiple episodes, but we went to Sacramento for a couple days if I recall, or a day or two.

Owain: I don't remember if I was in Sacramento for this or not. Do you remember that, Tim?

Tim: No.

Owain: No, I I

Amanda: I don't like I don't know. I just am wondering like, didn't they piggyback all the Sacramento stuff together? Like

Tim: They did.

Amanda: weren't we all up there and they shot stuff for this episode and then future

Tim: Just a handful of yeah.

Amanda: episodes, but it was all kind

Owain: Very possibly.

Amanda: of crammed into one day. Cause I remember meeting an FBI agent in Sacramento and talking.

Owain: A real one.

Amanda: Yeah. And just talking about she was she was there. I think maybe Carl brought her in. to consult for for certain things. And I remember just like just kind of picking her brain about being an FBI agent and still, you know, trying to figure out who Van Pelt was and you know, in in the context of all this stuff, as she was like coming out of being a rookie and becoming more of a a detective, so to speak. and but I I feel like I can't remember entirely, but I feel like the Sacramento filming was for multiple episodes.

Owain: I agree with that. There was a blur. I know that we, you know, for the three or four episodes that we were actually in Sacramento, we probably over the whole season only spent about three or four days there. And then

Amanda: Yeah.

Owain: there was a lot of sort of green screen. And I know all the the the episode last week, episode 201 with Bosco and and Jane talking for the first time about the case. That was all on Warner Brothers with a CGI backdrop of the Sacramento River.

Amanda: Right. Right.

Owain: but to your point. I I thought this was a really nice straight diving into allowing Van Pelt to have a little bit more agency and a little bit more in the field. It was of course done

Amanda: Yeah. And she's not wearing brown.

Owain: No, which was huge. Did you know, did

Amanda: It's huge.

Owain: you did did you have something to say about that?

Amanda: Well, I think this was

Tim: Ha ha.

Amanda: the season that we got a new wardrobe designer.

Owain: I think you're right. I think we might have been moving away from autumnal hues into you know, into

Amanda: Yes. And yeah, and and and and

Tim: Yes.

Amanda: Van Pelt, you know, ditched her nineteen seventies collars on top of the blazer look. Like she, you know, graduated into more softer hues and softer necklines.

Owain: Yes, I I noticed that and

Tim: Yeah.

Owain: and I noticed that, Jane was giving her the opportunity to to sort of venture venture out. I wanna talk about a a lovely moment that was one of my favorite moments, But I wanna talk about the the seduction interrogation with the chips. Because I would be remiss if I didn't mention that. I think it was one of

Tim: That was that was great. Yeah.

Owain: my favorite moments. We all know what a master interrogator Cho is, we've seen it many times, but I've never seen you eat chips like that, Tim Kang. if I I if no.

Tim: I wouldn't even try to eat chips like that.

Owain: I I mean, it's not a it's not a secret that Amanda Righetti obviously has a modelling past. I don't think I've ever been able to so delicately place a chip in my mouth and make it look so seductive. Like it it was and you did it twice.

Amanda: I had to be very selective about which chips I chose. So, you know, there's that.

Owain: Yeah, how many chips did you eat that day? Was it a lot?

Amanda: I think it was a bag and change.

Owain: Quite quite a few. loved that you got you were given the real opportunity here to, you know, dig in, be actually a field agent, be given some agency to sort of, you know, just to grow a bit. And I felt like

Amanda: Yeah.

Owain: as you were growing as a cop, the story was also trying to grow our relationships. you know, we had a lovely scene, Tim and I, during during this episode with the one thing I wanted to ask you, Tim, was did you actually pick that thing on demand or did it take you a bunch of time to open up that that car lock? I remember I remember the gag. Was it did you actually successfully hook the car lock inside with the wire hanger?

Tim: Yeah, yeah, that went around. Yeah. I mean, we

Owain: You actually did that. That was impressive.

Tim: we had to have a we had to have a few goes at it.

Amanda: Did you have to like did you have to futz it for a little bit because you were so good at it? 'Cause it that's what it seemed like to me when I was watching, I was like, he had to like pretend like he couldn't get to it. Yeah. Yeah. You it needed shoe leather.

Tim: Yeah. I you you hit the nail on the head. Yeah. Yeah. Because because they made that

Owain: Yeah. It was

Tim: they made that lock pick so good. I mean, it was perfect. And so I literally would stick the the coat hanger in there and then yank it up and then he'd be like, Well, you and Owen have a bunch of dialogue you have to get out first. So can

Amanda: Right. Yeah.

Tim: you can you slow that down? You know? All right, let's try one more time, you know. So

Owain: That's a problem I feel like I never have. Like I never I never feel like I get it too quickly. I always feel like it's the other way around. But I felt like we had a real opportunity as the three of us to sort of spread our wings a bit. it also gave rise to one of my favorite bits probably in the whole series, where towards the end, after bristling about you being sent in to interrogate the guy. You think that finally Rigsby's gonna build up the courage to be able to, you know, ask her out and be like, what you're doing? Like, yeah.

Amanda: she's so hopeful too. It's like it's such a hopeful moment.

Owain: It's like, yeah, what you did just watching TV. okay, well, okay, have fun. And it's like,

Tim: love that. I love that moment. Yeah. Yeah.

Owain: that's it. And like, and then you're gonna die. I I don't know whoever staged that with you walking away, Tim. That was just, I'm not sure if that was a choice of yours, just to sort of pass by the camera, or if Beeson had a very set idea that it was going to be staged like that. God, that was great.

Tim: No, that that was that was definitely a B-son special. Where I'm in the foreground walking out of frame, but I get that last little dig in, right?

Owain: Yeah.

Tim: I'm blurred out. We you're, you know, we're focused on you in the back. But that's a great little, you know, but I've seen it before, obviously. We've seen it over and over and over. But I didn't realize it as an actor until that moment. And I was like, yeah, Beeson, nice. Okay. Yeah. And and I laughed. And

Owain: Yeah, it was

Tim: actually the crew, if you remember Owen, laughed out loud after we cut on on that stuff. Yeah.

Owain: Yes, they did. That's that to me was probably

Tim: On that moment.

Owain: what up there with one of my favorite series gags. I thought it was wonderful. I thought and just one final honorable mention before we move on to Yeah.

Tim: just real quick, I I just wanted to go back big to talk very quickly, you guys. you remembered the bridge moment vividly. I remembered, and going back to talking about Greg Itsen, that moment when he was scolding Jane and and Lisbon, and then he brought the rest of us and he did this this hand sweep and went, also the rest of you guys, I I remember looking over at him. We had our nice little tr three shot of us in our little prom photo. We're all posed perfectly like behind our desks and stuff.

Owain: Uh-huh.

Tim: And I just remember that moment so well with because of Greg. I remember that arm sweep that he did. And he included the three of us in the in the in the in the B rating. And so that to me was as an actor, was we're this is the team. Like we're a team now. He's included

Owain: Yeah. Yeah.

Tim: us in this, you know. So it was it was really nice.

Owain: Well, I think also, you know, Greg was the institution at that moment. And I think it's a it it really shows that at that point, even Lisbon is against the institution. She doesn't want to

Amanda: So

Owain: be therapized, she doesn't want to be told by Minelli, you've got to do this. So it we've very firmly all defected over to the side of Jane. And I will just say as a final honorable mention, because I just can't believe how implausible it is, the fact that we propped up a dead guy in the guys, come on, can we talk about that just for a second?

Amanda: I thought

Tim: Yeah, that that was I was like, my

Owain: Like

Amanda: I forgot about it and it was so I I li I laughed out loud. I was like, That's right. He's like We used

Owain: I was like, what is going on? I was like, we're doing we're doing that.

Amanda: a corpse and didn't abuse it. We used it. it's good.

Tim: Yeah. Yeah.

Owain: Like because I I watched the and and and I think I'd forgotten because all I could fixate on was the fact that the video that would they were of us in doing the interrogation was on a loop. So I

Amanda: Yeah.

Owain: don't know if you guys noticed, but like it was a loop that kept playing. I'm not sure that was intentional. I don't think it was, but like I saw me come in and then like they cut back and you could see the thing going over on a loop in the background. That was very strange, but I remember thinking, Ryan, I don't know much about Police procedure, but I'm pretty sure that's where we would have gone too far. You know, we definitely we definitely crossed the line there.

Tim: Yeah. That doesn't fly. Yeah.

Amanda: Probably. Pretty much. Weekend

Crystal Watanabe: intro scene. Because you know, with season two they have the the yellow and the bluish intro, the new one. Yeah.

T: Yes. Mm-hmm.

Crystal Watanabe: So there's like three scenes of Patrick Jane in that. And I was able to find one of them. The second one in this episode. It's when he's talking to Walter Crew in his office and he sits on this couch and he smiles. and then the third one. I think is in red badge in the next episode. it's pretty cool that like that they took from the actual episode. So and I I I suspect

T: Yeah and

Crystal Watanabe: it is from the first, second and third just because they took from the second third. one of the standout lines that I see quoted on the sub all the time is Jane's interaction with Manali at the end when he says, You abuse a corpse to get a confession and he says, Used. There is no F

T: Yeah.

Crystal Watanabe: in general I just I think people just like it because when Jane is so like cheeky and he gives attitude like that 'cause

T: Yeah.

Crystal Watanabe: Manelli is really upset with him, right? But

T: Right.

Crystal Watanabe: And then there's of course Cho's line, the you're gonna die alone.

Tim: We're just gonna take a look at an album that we all received at wrap This is the album. If you guys do you guys remember

Amanda: That's the cover.

Tim: that?

Owain: Yeah, I do remember. This was the rap gift that we got, right? The the book, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Tim: The rap gift. Yeah. Yeah.

Amanda: Yes Yes

Tim: Obviously, some of these photos in this album, you know, we call it never before seen. They may have been seen, but we're gonna go through them anyway, This is the our first call sheet of all

Amanda: wow.

Owain: man.

Tim: time. day one of fourteen and we commented on this I think before.

Owain: I think we were the first cast up in that, Tim, right? up there. I've got a feeling that I got a feeling that

Tim: Yeah. Yeah. It's it's really tiny, but you can get an idea.

Amanda: I know can you zoom in?

Tim: if you

Amanda: Yeah, you guys are start work.

Owain: Yeah, I feel like

Tim: Yeah.

Amanda: ten forty five AM.

Tim: Yep.

Owain: You can see that? Gosh, your eyes

Amanda: On

Owain: are good.

Tim: Awesome, awesome eyesight. Eagle eyes.

Amanda: let's see the pilot and

Owain: I cannot see I can I can barely even see the word the mentalist on there, let alone anything smaller than that.

Amanda: The date

Tim: But you know, when we

Amanda: it was supposed to be sixty one degrees. Wow.

Owain: That's crazy.

Tim: When we

Amanda: Wow.

Tim: And then let's see next. Do guys know where this is from?

Amanda: That was the that was where his

Tim: Is this a promo shot?

Amanda: wife was murdered, right? That was the set

Owain: One of the Yeah, I think

Amanda: from the pilot because

Tim: Yeah.

Amanda: he was still like sleeping on the floor in the house where she was murdered, right?

Owain: I I don't feel like I

Tim: is that okay, right, right.

Owain: don't feel like that was a prod production still. I feel like that was a posed photograph, right? Because or or

Amanda: Maybe it

Owain: the very, very the coda at the end of the pilot maybe where he was sitting and you for the first time you see it's just a mattress and Red John up on the wall.

Amanda: Yes, and he's he stands up and walks out of the room and there's a reveal of the smiley face behind him. You can very vaguely

Tim: is that is that what that is?

Owain: Of the smiley face? Yes.

Amanda: see the the red paint over his right shoulder. The drip. Yeah, the the if

Tim: yeah, the drip. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Owain: yes you can. Gosh, your eyesight is incredible.

Amanda: if you could see the rest of the picture, the red John marker of the smiley face would be behind him.

Tim: Smiley face.

Owain: Was above that. yeah, yeah, yeah. That's

Tim: Yeah. Yeah.

Owain: amazing. Wow.

Tim: Yeah. only got a few more here. do you guys remember this moment at all? I d I don't. Yeah. Yeah.

Amanda: That's David Butter. That's the pilot.

Owain: yes, David Natta from The Pilot, I think. Or or was it the second episode? I feel like that was the second episode, I'd tell you what it was. That that house. The house and you're up you're up by the door like this. Yeah. With with one of these. Yeah, yeah.

Amanda: That no, he did s he did the second episode. It was the second episode when we're raiding the house. Yes. And I've got the green shirt with the yeah. Yes. And yes,

Tim: Right.

Amanda: that I think that was the day we all sort of realized that the shoes were not working, that we needed shoes with shred. Yeah, because we were like chasing people. Yeah.

Tim: Right. Slipping and sliding. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Owain: he was great. I love Dav David was the only director who the studio would let a call sheet say things like day sixteen of fourteen because they knew that

Tim: You right.

Amanda: Yeah.

Owain: they knew that if he went over it was worth it. And boy was it.

Tim: Yeah.

Amanda: Yeah.

Tim: we've only got a few more.

Owain: What else you got in your bag of tricks there, Tim?

Tim: this one I kind of do remember taking this shot with Simon and

Owain: I'll tell you where that is. I know exactly where that is. No.

Amanda: Pilot?

Owain: I think I know when that is. That was the the episode where the guy falls out of the sky.

Tim: You no, that you're right. You're you're one hundred percent right. Yes, yes. Yeah.

Owain: Do remember? Yeah. I do remember that because I

Amanda: Well.

Owain: I remember that sort of big wasteland. And what

Tim: Mm-hmm.

Owain: we don't see there is Tim and I had just bought new sunglasses that day. And and Simon then went on to ruin us. I had some big Ray-Bans and Tim had some wrapped oak leys. And

Tim: Oakley's.

Owain: he took he tore into both of them. I do remember that. And I was like, I don't think I wore the Ray-Bans after that.

Tim: Yeah. Yeah. He was he he was pretty good about taking the piss, so you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. There our last

Owain: Yeah, yeah. We got it. We got it for sure. These are amazing. I love those.

Tim: one for this sequence is and if you guys can comment on this 'cause I wasn't there obviously, but I'd love to understand what this was about.

Owain: yes. Yes. There's a lot going on here.

Amanda: This was her T V guide, wasn't it?

Owain: This was T V Guide, yeah, or Entertainment Weekly. I can't remember one or the other. I I'm glad

Amanda: Something like that. Yeah.

Owain: Yeah. I I think they let they let Simon shoot it, didn't they?

Amanda: my goodness. Yeah, Simon 'cause Simon had his camera and he was yeah, he was

Tim: Mm-hmm.

Amanda: shooting a bunch of photos and it was all part of a a feature that they had done. I it maybe it we maybe you're right, maybe it was Entertainment Weekly.

Owain: I think I have the corresponding image of that that Simon is actually taking. I'll see if I can dig that out. But yeah w

Amanda: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's

Tim: Yeah. It may

Amanda: it's out there. You can find it on

Tim: be in the album. Yeah.

Amanda: the you can find it online, I'm sure. 'Cause it was

Owain: It it is on the tinternet. I know that there's some ridiculous

Amanda: Yeah.

Owain: ones of us riding a tricycle with Robin and a and Greg Itzin on on my back, I think, right? Yeah. And then there was a couple

Amanda: Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Owain: of others, just me and you. They they literally went five minutes before. Go outside and shoot some stuff. And that's, you know Yeah. Yeah.

Amanda: Yeah. It was it was so fast. It literally it was in between

Tim: Is that how it went down?

Amanda: set ups. They were like changing direction. They were it was like a twenty minute lighting setup that we had.

Tim: And and how how did they how did they wrangle Simon into taking the photos? How did that work? Did they because presumably they brought a photographer, right? Right. He's taking the photo.

Owain: It seemed to be part of the setup.

Amanda: Well Simon was already they did, but I think Simon had brought his camera or something. I I think he

Owain: He had an I and I feel like

Amanda: had his Leica or something like that. And they Yeah.

Owain: I feel like they'd asked him to shoot some of the stuff and I I got a feeling that some of his photographs ended up being the copy that the article used. So whether it was

Amanda: Yes.

Tim: I see. Okay.

Owain: you're right, I think it was TV Guide, and I think that that a couple of the pictures were actually taken by Simon, which I guess was part of the the novelty of the shoot, but God, so much fun. my goodness. not a stitch of brown in sight. We're definitely in a new season.

Amanda: Mm-hmm. I know. Not a stitch of brown.

Tim: Cool. Yeah, Yeah.

Owain: That's amazing.

Amanda: Completely.

Owain: I have a I have a small little something that I wanted to to do with Amanda while she was here as well, Tim, if you'll indulge me. So talking

Tim: Yes, please.

Owain: about social media, and conversing with with our fans across the globe. I don't know if it's a lost in translation thing, but occasionally I get people who write to me and they will say, How's Van Pelt? And then other people will say, How's Fan Belt? And now

Amanda: Fan built.

Owain: quite a lot of people have asked after fan belt. And to me, a fan belt is a rubber belt in a car engine it it actually gave rise to a little bit of inspiration where I thought we could test your knowledge of your character and play a little game that I've called Van Pelt or Fan Belt. Right? So it's true or false. And we're going to dig deep into seeing how well you know. Van Pelt. Okay? And and

Amanda: Okay.

Owain: So question one: Grace grew up in a small farming town in Nebraska. Is that Van Pelt or Fan Belt?

Amanda: I thought it was Iowa fan belt?

Owain: You're absolutely right. She's from a small farming town in Iowa. Yeah. No no no, you you

Amanda: These are trick questions. you sneak. You're trying to trick me. Okay.

Owain: nailed it. Okay. Her father was a football coach. Is that Van Pelt or Fan Belt?

Amanda: Van Pelp.

Owain: That is Van Pelt. Bonus points if you could name if you could name him. No, I couldn't. Amos, apparently.

Amanda: I don't think he was named. I remember hold on. I don't think he was named. There was just Sylvia, the cousin that she wa was a win.

Owain: Online apparently he he was Amos van Pelt. That's news to me. That's news to me.

Amanda: No. News to me too. Where did they find this?

Owain: I don't know. This is from Mentalist Wiki. Okay, in the pilot, Jane tells her to say yes when Rigsby invites her back to his hotel room. Is that Van Pelt or Fan Belt?

Amanda: The pilot?

Owain: In the pilot.

Amanda: Fan belt.

Owain: That's Van Pelt. 'Cause it's

Amanda: Really?

Owain: what makes me choke at the table. Do you remember he says when Agent Rigsby invites you back to his hotel room tonight, say yes.

Amanda: Right, that's right. the the infamous lobster eating scene. Your favorite.

Owain: Okay. Yeah, the lobster eating scene, my favourite. In Bloodshot, Cho saves Van Pelt and Jane by shooting the killer. Is that true or false?

Amanda: Van Belt Van Belt, I meant fan belt.

Owain: That's fan belt. That is fan belt. Yes. Grace and Wayne's daughter is named Maddy.

Amanda: That's Van Pelt.

Owain: That's Van Pelt. Van Pelt does not appear in the series finale.

Amanda: Fan belt.

Owain: That is Fan Belt. You know your Van Pelt very well. You only got one wrong. Yeah. Yeah, that's

Amanda: Sort of. Did I? Okay, good. Phew.

Owain: very good. Good job. Good job. So I thanks for indulging me. Amanda, you're our guest. What w what was your favorite moment, scene, or little vignette from today's episode?

Amanda: I I just I loved the corpse bit where Jane says used a corpse

Owain: Yeah, that was fun. Yeah.

Amanda: in response to you abused a corpse

Tim: Yeah. Right, right. There's no ad there. It's used.

Owain: That was great. How about you, Tim?

Tim: again, leaning into the Cho Rigsby banter, I think this episode you know moved it up another couple notches with our scenes. And so those were were my favorite moments. If you if we if we're gonna go down into the absolute moment moment, it's when the trunk opens, Rigsby goes. something like I think that's her shoe or something. You you use your napkin to bring the shoe out. And as you're bringing the shoe out, right before the the trunk closes, you take a sip out of your drink. So you're holding absolutely crucial evidence and taking a sip out of your soda. Yeah. It was great. It was that's my favorite moment.

Owain: Yeah. Still get yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I I I I would have to agree with you. I think Chigsby and also fitting that the three of us are together. I think Chigsby and the Van Pelt scene, you know, I love the banter that we had throughout. I thought the the whole betting on the I love the fact that we got a little window, as much as we always get, you know, which is always tiny into Cho's private life too.

Tim: Sure. Yeah. Yeah.

Owain: yeah, I gave that girl a call. And I I thought that was a nice throwback. just seeing the way that we were, it it feels like we're owning a new rhythm. Like, you know, you're yes, we're cops, but we're also cops who are friends. And I think before it was very much procedure. Now it's procedure happening whilst relationships are forming. And I think that they're really digging into that. And as the episodes are opening up, for me, the culmination of that moment being the have fun. You know, that was that that was the moment where he could have just. Finally not fumbled it. And of course he does because we've got a few more seasons to go. But yeah, I I really, really enjoyed that. And I th I also honorable mention to the to the well-placed bug under the table when when Jane brings the the box of donuts in. I thought that was

Amanda: Yeah.

Owain: very, very nice. I I I'm really enjoying the whole Terry Kinney Bosco of it all. I'm I'm a big Terry Kinney fan, so I think I think he's adding a a worthy nemesis in there. But It's always a pleasure having you on the show, Amanda Ragesi. We thank you for your time and we are so, so

Amanda: It's always a pleasure to be here. Yes. Thank you.

Tim: Thank you, Amanda.

Owain: excited to be able to add another Van Pelt, Fan Belt episode to our to our repertoire. And

Tim: Repertoire.

Owain: and I know that this won't be the last time. So we we

Amanda: Yes.

Owain: love you, we appreciate you. Thank you for being here, thank you for telling us about all the wonderful new projects that we can catch our beloved Grace Van Pelt in. And if you haven't seen Scarpetta yet, do yourselves a favor. Go and watch it. Remind us where they can where everyone can watch that, please, Amanda.

Amanda: On Amazon Prime Video.

Owain: On Amazon Prime. Go watch it today. that concludes our season two, episode two, Scarlet Letter. We'll be back with episode three, The Red Badge. Until then, we

Tim: Red.

Owain: have been the TV police!

Tim: T B police.