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Cheap Burgundy - Recap

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The scene opens, and Jane is recruited by Agent Darcy to work on a special FBI case, while Lisbon and the rest of the team are left to pick up Jane's mess in a concurrent murder case. A press conference is conducted for a dead woman named Matilda. At the press conference, Matilda's boss, Gary, offers a ten million dollar reward for any information leading to the arrest of the killer; he is dead serious about finding the killer from the look of things. Of course, Jane calls him out on it and is met with a punch to the face; as he clearly offended by the assumption that he might be the killer, and is hence offering this reward so as to draw attention away from him.

Lisbon has Gary arrested for his outburst and it looks like it's another closed case for The Mentalist. Wait a second...there's still 57 minutes left. What kind of bizarro world is this? Back in the office, Jane is told that Darcy and the FBI want him to help them with a murder case that they have been entrusted with investigating. Jane agrees, but Lisbon is angry that he is leaving them high and dry, as they too need his help. As Jane is leaving the confines of the CBI, Gary and his lawyer are told that Gary will be held for 48 hours for his assault on Jane. Lisbon tells the team that he is the only suspect, and that they have to prove his guilt without Jane; as he can’t be involved in this case anymore, as he is pulled away into a different investigation.

Good luck with that. The case that Jane is so urgently needed on is a murder of a woman named Katie; whose murder has baffled the FBI no less. Why the FBI is investigating the homicide of a single female is really quite intriguing, considering that it has no national implications. At the scene Jane notices that there was no struggle, but does finds a piece of a wine bottle which seems to intrigue him. He goes to Katie's house to speak to her in-laws; to try to find out something more if possible. They insist that Katie wouldn't go into the mountains alone and say that she was very predictable; and thus wouldn’t do something out of the ordinary.

Sandy, Katie's husband, comes to the house where Jane says that he is a possible suspect, thus making a grieving family feel even worse, from the look of things. Jane looks on the phone and calls the only two outgoing calls that day, hoping to find out something more. One was to her mother-in-law and the other was to a pizza place. Jane can't find any pizza boxes after looking around, so he goes to the pie factory; to make further inquiries. He meets Manny and Lilah, the siblings who own the shop, and learns that their brother James left at the time of the murder and hasn't been seen; hence there obviously has to be a connection between the murder and him. Not only that, but he is suffering from severe PTSD from the war; that is another interesting spin on things.

Jane and Darcy go back to the woods in search of James when he comes out of the bushes wielding a knife, and covered in blood; things couldn’t look more obvious. And something like this is never a good sign. They obviously take him in custody and ask him what happened. He says that he blacked out and doesn't remember anything that might have transpired, possibly from his PTSD; he seems absolutely at a loss about what has really transpired. Darcy is convinced that they have their killer, but Jane isn't so sure; especially since things look too obvious and. The two go to a diner and Darcy starts asking Jane about Red John. Jane says he'll answer her question if he can use his black magic on her first during a reading.

She agrees, and Jane learns that Darcy blames herself for her sister's death when they were young. Darcy then says that Jane is working with Red John as one of his disciples. That makes perfect sense. A guy loses his family and gives up his millions because he is brainwashed by a nut job. Back in the CBI office, things aren't going well for the investigation against Gary. Matlida was last speaking to someone online about Shakespeare, but they can't find who; so the killer might know Shakespeare. Besides learning that Matilda was a nerd, they can't find any real evidence that would provide them any assistance, and Rigsby goes so far as to try and hypnotize the suspect; in order to get something out of the suspect. It obviously doesn't work, and we are left to realize that these people are terrible at their jobs, from the look of things.

Jane and Darcy go back to Katie's house and search her room for her wedding ring, which wasn't on the body; thus they might just be able to find it somewhere in the room is their assumption. They find out that Katie and Sandy are using separate bedrooms and find the ring hidden just as they had suspected they would. That means that she was having an affair; from the look of things. They go to James with this information and he confesses that the two had been seeing each other intimately the last six months; hence their doubts are confirmed. James then says that he killed Katie, but Jane says that he is still 80% sure that he didn't; as something tells him otherwise and thus his reluctance in believing the fact that James is the killer. Jane then shows the in-laws and Sandy the evidence that Katie was having an affair, and says that the real culprit is still out there, and thus it’s possibly not the one in custody.

Jane calls Lisbon and tells her that he needs her to help him with the case. Like a responsible cop, and worker, she agrees to quit working on the case she is assigned with Gary and leaves her team alone; so she can help Jane out. There is clearly oversight going on in the California law enforcement system? Jane tells her about Darcy's theories during a stake-out and they eventually catch Katie's in-laws planting evidence; much to their surprise. The two say that they were shocked at her infidelity and that they poisoned a bottle of wine causing both Katie and James to pass out during the murder; thus all is revealed, and most importantly the motive for the killing.

Hence Jane’s gut feeling that James is innocent was correct all along. Jane returns to the office, just as Gary is being released from imprisonment. Jane says an incorrect Shakespeare quote, which Gary corrects, thus making him a suspect again. While Jane just single-handedly closed two cases, Darcy tells Wainwright that the FBI is investigating Jane for his connections to Red John; as they suspect his involvement in the whole affair. It looks like Jane has a troubled future ahead, from the look of how things are shaping up. The episode ends.