Simon Baker belongs to an exclusive club I just made up called HAWGFAA: Hot Aussies with Good Fake American Accents. Alex O’Loughlin of Hawaii Five-0 is also a member of this club. There’s a similar group called HBWGFAA for British actors, headed up by Hugh Laurie.
Simon Baker stars as Patrick Jane in The Mentalist, where he plays a former professional psychic who now consults for the California Bureau of Investigation. His character is both smug and charming as he solves cases by noticing things ordinary people overlook.
Next week, Simon is adding another directing credit to his resume (he directed an episode of The Guardian back in 2003). Baker directed the “Red Moon” episode of The Mentalist airing Thursday, November 18.
In the episode, the CBI investigates a triple homicide in a small town.
“It was a masochistic challenge,” says Baker with a laugh. “When you direct, it’s the luck of the draw which episode they give you. When I read the script, I was like, ‘Holy s–t! This is a tough one. Gee, thanks, guys!’ … I was most critical of myself,” Baker admits. “You can’t let your acting suffer because you’re thinking about 14,000 other things.”
[TV Guide, print edition, November 15-21, 2010]
The episode also drops hints about Red John, the villain who killed Jane’s family.
“It’s like we’re slowly creating our own conspiracy theory here,” says Baker. “Who or what exactly is Red John? Is he one person or many? … This season is a lot darker, and Jane is even more fatalistic — I’m happy about that,” says Baker.
[TV Guide, print edition, November 15-21, 2010]
Baker is devilishly hot, but I’m not a big fan of the Red John episodes. I’m not a big fan of supervillains in general, like the Miniature Killer on CSI, the Compass Killer or the Taxi Cab Killer on CSI: NY, the Reaper on Criminal Minds, Gormogon on Bones, etc.
I’d rather watch Thomas Jane nap in his spiffy vest while he figures out who the murderer is 45 TV minutes before the rest of the investigators.
The Mentalist airs Thursdays at 10 PM on CBS.
He is adorable, and I love his character on The Mentalist. I skip the Red John episodes. Like you, I don’t care for the supervillains in the crime shows. They are like carrots to keep the viewers tuning in; a sleazy gimmick that does not really work. Solve the crime in one episode, occasionally two episodes, but move on with different stories. Perhaps they need more creative writers, producers, network suits, or whatever.
I love the show, Simon and the rest of the cast, but I’m with you on Red John. I hate to be kept dangling waiting for a mystery to be solved, so unless Red John turns out to be someone at CBI like Lisbon I wish the writers would do a big reveal at the end of the season and move on.
The character’s name is Patrick Jane. I don’t mean to look a gift horse in the mouth – because I love any article about Simon Baker and I love the show – but Thomas Jane was only the name used in the original script and press material before the show was ever filmed.
@Susette
Doh, I fixed it. I was thinking Patrick but typed Thomas for some reason 🙂
Thanks
Don’t like his character. Love him. I’ve watched videos of his interviews and he is very fast on his feet. He’s always, witty, interesting and self-effacing, but not too self-effacing. And you’re right–his American accent is perfect.
re: the nature of the relationship btwn jane and red john, i heard a bbc report on jainism [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jainism ] and thought maybe the character’s last name had something to do with that. esp’y check out the ‘core beliefs’ list starting halfway down, and i thought these were the best for here, because they all seem to apply to the character of jane:
– Non-violence (to be in soul consciousness rather than body consciousness) is the foundation of right view, the condition of right knowledge and the kernel of right conduct. It leads to a state of being unattached to worldly things and being nonjudgmental and non-violent; this includes compassion and forgiveness in thoughts, words and actions toward all living beings and respecting views of others (non-absolutism).
– Jainism stresses on the importance of controlling the senses including the mind, as they can drag one far away from true nature of the soul.
– Limit possessions and lead a life that is useful to yourself and others. Owning an object by itself is not possessiveness; however attachment to an object is.[20] Non-possessiveness is the balancing of needs and desires while staying detached from our possessions.
– Enjoy the company of the holy and better qualified, be merciful to afflicted souls and tolerate the perversely inclined.[21]
i like the RJ storyline [jane’s ‘perversely inclined’ antagonist here], as it’s the basis of the whole show for me – how he comes to learn about his tormentor, and learns to deal with his need to control his own life, not just other peoples minds for personal gain. i just wish they’d actually get back on track with it; i really feel like they’ve lost that storyline to a bunch of 1-shot-solve-it-all-in-a-single-episode yawners. it’s lacking the depth of last season.
and he’s said on talk shows that he can’t do the american accent when not in character, so i wonder if he directs in ‘australian’ but acts in ‘american’.
I like Simon Baker, but don’t watch the Mentalist – tried one episode and passed, plus they basically used the same premise as Psych but made it a drama instead of a comedy.
I watched “The Mentalist” because of
Simon Baker. He is such a good actor.
He is also very very pleasing to the eyes. He makes this show work…it’s just that simple. I say this with no disrepect to the other actors, but it is Baker who makes this show a success.
I love the show and I LOVE HIS CHARACTER but do you really think that the fake nerd glasses (that seem to be popular in hollywood to make you look smarter) is going to help him pull it off? ugh…hate these dang things–there are a few things I wish they could fix tho–I agree with the red john episodes, eh. And the boss lady character-LISBON-kinda bugs me…she never looks anyone in the eye and she is really starting to irk me.