When watching stories told from the view of bank robbers and other criminals, where Hollywood wants you to root for the criminals and wish them luck with their crimes, a part of me always is repelled and is aware how unethical this is. And it is surprising that I have never had so much sympathy for the designated villain like in this episode. R. Haibach - given a German name to expand the disgusting uncalled for hate against Germans with many of the villains being given German sounding names in particular throughout the poor season 5 - built up to be the ultimate creep, does not work for me. He is the ultimate victim for me. He was being tortured and maimed because Patrick Jane - whose evil character is perfectly revealed here - manipulates and plays with people just as he likes. He is arrogant, plays God and therefore gets (innocent) people killed and hurt. I completely understand and feel with Haibach, although I surely condemn his actions. But in this case I fully understand where it comes from. With this episode The Mentalist no longer is a good show for me, since it shows the true character of its roles (and makers), there is no decency (or justification) in building up enemies by being arrogant and feeling superior and righteous, in particular since the people behind it often err, and the enemies change, but the victims stay hurt - a very symbolic episode of what is and will always be wrong with Hollywood, because no matter what they preach, they obviously will never change. And none of it is justified, it was and is just wrong, only the victims change.
Review of White as the Driven Snow
