The Mentalist
Let the mind games begin.
Patrick Jane, a former celebrity psychic medium, uses his razor sharp skills of observation and expertise at "reading" people to solve serious crimes with the California Bureau of Investigation.
Wokeness: 30%
Overall Score: 60%
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User Submitted Reviews
JustEntertainment
Typical TV
There's so much woke in even the more average TV dramas that it's hard to tell what is and what isn't.
Like so many TV dramas, the FIRST season contains little to no woke. In fact, it’s so normal, that I might have even suspected a conservative / liberal balance of producers and writers on there.
We have a likable male lead, and a generally male police force. There are a few stereotypical "Anything you can do I can do better" women, but they're usually guest characters - oops, I mean character, because there's only one personality - and therefore easy to roll ones' eyes at and ignore.
Though "the boss" is inevitably female (because ALL TV bosses are) she's not an emasculating hardass. She's kind of a young Captain Janeway type, who doesn't throw her weight around, make woke-ass speeches, or whine about being a downtrodden vagina.
There seems to be no real political message to the story. In fact, there's even a hardline conservative guest character in there partway through - gun-toting, God-fearing, pulling-on-the-bootstraps and fighting for his rights kind of guy. Stereotype, I know, but! He's the good guy, and wins against the woke corporation in the end. Plus! They didn't make him a racist, either. So that was a pleasant surprise.
There is a little LGBTPedo here and there. Gay guest characters, a few lesbo lovers sprinkled in, and a full-on pedo raping a 15-year-old like it's no big deal. But they're all guest characters, and yes, the pedo gets arrested in his story.
HOWEVER!! Second season takes a HARD WOKE TURN!!
They get rid of the likable male boss and replace him with another stereotypical rude, sassy, black female too young for the job who throws her weight around in EVERY scene. In fact, she’s so overly involved in the investigations of this particular team that she’s practically the fifth member of the team. The more likable boss from the first season never did that. If there is ever a person in power - FBI boss, judge, doctor or anything, it is invariably female - unless it’s the bad guy.
In addition, in every other episode there is now a white racist / white supremacist. Again, again, again, trying to pound into the audience that white men are all racists, and only white people can be the bad guys. There are ever full-on speeches about Heil Hitler, Santas debating that Santa should be open to all races and creeds - lectures, full diatribe lectures on progressivism that lend nothing to the story.
In addition, the once likable Captain Janeway team leader starts quipping feminist stuff, and suddenly the story takes on a “poor downtrodden vagina, being talked down to by the white men again” feel.
It happens far too often - the first season draws you in, the second season gets destroyed by woke messaging.
I’m not watching to the end of the second season, nor anything beyond. Who cares what happens at this point.
Created: 01-13-2023
Aj
It’s been awhile..
It’s been a few years, but I don’t remember anything being overly annoying or woke.. I don’t even remember there being a black female lead police chief replacing the white one (as the other guys review states).. and with literally EVERY character being white in the first season, one black character added doesn’t bother me.. not like they changed the persons color or gender without explaining like some woke shows do (other guy got fired or promoted or something).. this show was also pre 2016, so the only wokeism going on during then would be more black leads.. way before the LGBTQ mafia and the activism we see today (climate change, no one is illegal, wage gap, reparations, all white people BAD, etc)
Created: 12-30-2023
