The Mentalist 4x23 (spoilers!!)
I really should not be surprised right now.
But, if you'll excuse my language...holy shit.
I succeeded in avoiding spoilers aside from the little blurb on TV.com, but still, I should have expected to be shocked (is that an oxymoron?). And I guess I was expecting to be shocked, but in a totally different way. I was expecting Jane to spiral into a self-destructive loop, for him to become suicidal and give up, for him to break down in tears in the privacy of the loft. I wouldn't have been surprised if he had lashed out at Lisbon or the rest of the team in his pain, or if he'd tried to run away again.
What I was NOT expecting was for him to turn into a full-on torturous sociopath. It wasn't even *what* he did so much as *how* he did it that horrified me. The look of casual indifference on his face as he listened to Marks screaming for help in the coffin was downright chilling. And his obvious pleasure as he taunted Wainwright...whoa. (Speaking of Wainwright, what IS it with men and their inability to tolerate insults to their masculinity?! I guess Jane's cold-reading abilities let him know exactly what buttons to push, but Wainwright overreacted a tad in my opinion.)
The look of dawning realization Lisbon's face as she realized what Jane had done was wonderful. I was taken aback at her and the rest of the team's seeming lack of reaction later, though. I would have expected them to be a little more shocked on learning that the man they'd worked with for four years had coldly and deliberately tortured someone -- had planned it out days in advance, even. Marks was certainly no innocent victim, but that doesn't make Jane's actions any better.
I'm sure there's some kind of ultimate plan as to where TPTB are going with this, especially after seeing next week's promo. I just cannot believe they would give Jane such a complete character shift over the course of two episodes, especially since we got such a beautiful reminder of his humanity at the beginning of this one. All of his interactions with the little girl were heartbreakingly poignant and I feel like they were put in as kind of a reassurance that Jane isn't going completely round the twist. At least, that's what I'm telling myself so I don't go crazy before next Thursday. :p
Feel free to come agree/disagree/tell me I'm insane/etc.! :)