The Mentalists - Recap

Grandma Goldy, a medium, is conducting a séance for a couple. The wife, Cynthia, is eager to make contact with her Uncle Danny on the other side, while her husband is initially skeptical. Goldy has them place their hands on the planchette of an Ouija board and it begins to move. The spirit knocks twice and Goldy confirms that Danny is happy and has his dog Sadie with him. Convinced, the husband wants Goldy to ask the spirit about some missing papers. The lights flicker and the fire in the fireplace surges up, and Goldy is just as surprised as the couple. As the temperature in the room drops, the planchette levitates into the air and then drives itself into Goldy’s throat, killing her.



Dean is on his own in Raleigh and checks his cell phone, and discovers that he’s received no message from Sam. As he steals a car, the morning radio host announces two bizarre murders in Lily Dale, New York, the famous “most psychic town in America.” Dean drives there to investigate and poses as a FBI agent to check out the crime scene. He soon confirms that Goldy was a fake medium who used props and special effects to summon her “spirits.” He heads downtown to the local diner and starts to leave when he discovers it’s a spirit-themed restaurant. However, Dean hears Sam ordering and sits down with him. He insists on discussing the case and finally asks Sam how he’s been. Sam starts to object, but Dean says that neither one of them is going to leave while people are dying, so they might as well work the case together.



A woman walking by notices the brothers and recognizes them from the Leviathans’ recent rampage, but they quickly convince her they just happen to look like the Winchesters. Her boyfriend, psychic spoonbender Nikolai Lishin, comes over and introduces himself. He waves a hand over Sam’s spoon without effect and invites them to the local festival to see a complete demonstration. Once they leave, Sam shows Dean the files on the two deaths. The first woman, one of the festival headliners, was bludgeoned to death with her own crystal ball. Dean notices that both victims are wearing the same necklace, and Sam confirms that the first victim left it to Goldy in her will. They figure it might be a cursed item and plan to check it out. As Sam tells Dean that Goldy’s granddaughter Melanie has arrived in town and that she’s also psychic, his spoon bends on its own.

The brothers go to see Melanie, who is back in town from a psychic tour. She’s just saying goodbye to her friend, Camille Thibodeaux, and invites the brothers in. Dean points out that she doesn’t appear to be a psychic, and Melanie explains that she reads body language. She accurately concludes that the brothers have worked together for a long time, Sam is pissed, and Dean is stressed. Melanie explains that she doesn’t believe in psychic phenomena, but her grandmother did. She’s surprised to learn that Dean does. They ask about the necklace and Melanie tells them that the owner of the local emporium has it. The brothers go to see the emporium and its owner, Jimmy Tomorrow. He has the necklace and explains that it contains the Orb of Thesulah, a mystic object. The brothers take it as evidence but as Sam reaches for it, Jimmy grabs his hand and says that a loss weighs on him. He gives Sam his card and invites him to come back for a private reading. Outside, the brothers examine the necklace and confirm that it was made in Taiwan, and figure that the killer is still at large.



That night, Nikolai is at home practicing his spoon-bending ability and takes a spoon from a pile of silverware. He finally has to bend one fork on his own, but it suddenly unbends itself on its own. The lights flicker and the temperature drops, and all of the silverware points straight up. Nikolai backs away but something grabs him, lifts him up into the air, and drops him onto the knives and forks, impaling hm.



The next day, Dean and Sam check out the crime scene. Chief Bramberg explains what happened and notes that he’s received 46 tips from clairvoyants claiming to know what happened. He has confirmed that Nikolai had a vision of his own death in the exact same way that he died. As they talk, Dean gets a call from Melanie, who calls them over to tell them that her grandmother had left her a message that she had a vision of her death at a séance. Dean tells Melanie that they’re dealing with a real ghost and admits that they’re not FBI agents. Afterward, Sam suggests that the quartz in the crystal balls attracts spirits, and that there may be enough real psychics with minor abilities to confuse the issue. He immediately suggests that they split up to check out the town and walks away before Dean can object.

Camille is doing a bone-reading for a client and collects her fee. Afterward, she has a vision of the cuckoo clock in her home at 2 o’clock and someone breaking her bones. Melanie and Dean arrive to talk to her and she tells them what she experienced. Dean realizes that Camille has a hidden surveillance camera and checks the footage, which shows a female ghost on the screen, giving Camille her vision. He figures that the ghost is giving out psychic visions and then making them come true, killing her victims. Melanie recognizes the woman from an old photo she’s seen at Lily Dale’s museum.



Sam and Dean go to the Museum of Curiosities and look around. They find a photo of the Mystifying Campbell Brothers in the exhibit of psychic siblings and the curator explains that they got along well, but that they weren’t really brothers but had an “alternative lifestyle.” Sam asks him about a photo of the Fox sisters, Kate and Margaret, and the curator explains that they were among the founders of Lily Dale. Kate could levitate objects and foretell deaths, but was disturbed. Margaret wasn’t a natural psychic but looked after her sister. They lived, died, and were buried in Lily dale. As Sam leaves, the curator grabs Dean’s arm and tells him that he’s received a psychic message from a spirit called Ellen, who has told Dean to trust someone or she’ll come back to kick his ass.

Outside, Dean insists on working things out with Sam. His brother reminds him that he lied to him and killed a friend, but Dean insists that he dealt with a monster that was killing people. Dean points out that Sam knew Amy and couldn’t bring himself to do it, and that he planned to tell Sam once he knew that his brother was stable.

That night, the brothers go to the cemetery to dig up Kate’s bones. As they dig, Sam wonders why Kate is warning her victims first. They salt the bones and prepare to burn them, but Kate’s spirit appears and shoves Sam to the ground. She begs them to listen, but Sam ignites the bones and sends her spirit to her final reward. They call Melanie to let her know that Camille is safe. She invites Camille to stay with her and they go to Camille’s house to get her things. The clock strikes 2 and the events from her vision begin happening. Melanie calls Dean, and Sam takes the phone and tells her to make a ring of salt and grab an iron poker. The ghost of Margaret appears and Melanie manages to dissipate it temporarily with thrown salt. She runs out of salt and the ghost shoves a wardrobe into her, knocking her out. Margaret grabs Camille and breaks her neck.



As the brothers arrive at Camille’s house, Melanie runs out and tells them what happened. The next morning, they work out that Kate was trying to warn people about her evil sister and they burned the wrong bones. Melanie confirms that Margaret wasn’t interested in her and enjoyed killing Camille. The Winchesters go back to the cemetery to dig up Margaret’s grave, but discover that her bones are gone. They realize that someone took the bones to cast a major binding spell. As they load up their stolen car, dean notices a flyer for the festival and realizes that the first three victims were the headliners. They show the flyer to Melanie, who confirms that Camille was offered a headliner slot after the other three died... and that she would be next to be chosen.

After checking with Bobby to see what is necessary to cast a binding spell, Sam goes back to the emporium and asks Jimmy if he sold an ashwood altar to anyone. He comes up with an address and gives it to Sam, and notes that he just heard about Camille’s death.

At Melanie’s house, Dean draws a circle of salt to protect the woman. She wonders if burning a ghost’s bones hurt the spirit, and Dean admits that he hasn’t thought about it before. When he says that it probably does, Melanie says, “Good.”

As night falls, Sam gets to the address and breaks in, only to discover that it’s a Lamaze class. He calls Dean and tells him that Jimmy sent him on a wild goose chase, which means that he must be the killer. Dean tells him to hurry as Margaret appears at the window. Sam goes back to the emporium and discovers that it’s closed, but gets Jimmy’s nearby address from the card he gave Sam earlier. He breaks into Jimmy’s apartment and finds the real altar with Margaret’s skull, but Jimmy gets the drop on him with a gun. Sam easily disarms him and says that it’s enough.



Margaret’s spirit summons a strong wind to blow apart the salt circle.

Jimmy tells Sam that he doesn’t need a binding spell because Margaret wants to help him. They’re both real psychics, but neither one of them were entertaining enough and they scared people with their gifts. Jimmy then telekinetically snatches the gun away from Sam and prepares to shoot him.

Margaret shoves Dean away and advances on Melanie, who tries to hold her off with an iron poker. He recovers and shoots her with rock salt, and then rebuilds the salt circle. Margaret reappears and shatters the floor, breaking the salt line, and Dean attacks her with iron chains when he runs out of ammo.

Sam insists that the psychics don’t deserve to die and realize that Jimmy has the rest of Margaret’s bones in his bedroom. He draws his own gun and shoots Jimmy, grabs the skull, and goes to the bed where the rest of the bones are hidden. As Margaret starts to choke Melanie, Sam salts and burns the bones, destroying the spirit for good.



The next day, Sam and Dean have breakfast and Melanie comes to see them. Sam leaves them to talk alone and she thanks Dean for saving her life. She tells Dean that the brothers seem better and figures that he won’t want to come back, and says goodbye. When Dean says that no one can tell for sure what the future will hold, Melanie takes his hand and suggests that he try again later.

Outside, Sam is packing when Dean comes out and is surprised to see that his brother is going with him. Sam admits that his brother was right about Amy and that he doesn’t know what he would have done if he didn’t know her personally. He figures that Dean did it so that no one else would get hurt, but insists that Dean isn’t sleeping and asks how he can trust Dean’s instincts. Dean says that he went with his gut, but admits that he doesn’t trust anyone since Castiel. He suggests that he’s had a hard time since he had to lie to Sam, and the brothers take off.

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