Prime Video’s revival of The Mentalist, the 6-part thriller that premiered October 10, 2025, with a 94% Rotten Tomatoes score and 22 million premiere hours, has detonated a decade-dormant dynamite, plunging viewers back into Patrick Jane’s (Simon Baker) psychic sleuthing with a “chilling story of lies, betrayal, and secrets buried so deep” that fans are calling it “the most addictive true-crime binge ever,” a “mind-bending masterpiece” redefining the genre 17 years after its 2008 debut. Directed by The Undoing‘s Susanne Bier and penned by creator Brune Heller, the series—filmed in Sacramento’s shadowed suburbs from January to July 2025—stars Baker, 56, as Jane, now a “haunted handler”‘ whose return to CBI unspools a conspiracy where colleagues conceal crimes and cults harbor grudges.
The saga’s sinister surge? Spellbinding: Episode 1’s “Shadow’s Return” catapults Jane into the fray, a cult leader’s “suicide” etched with doubt, pulling him into a web where whispers weave webs. Baker’s Jane? A “masterclass in menace,” his wry wit warping to weary watchfulness, unraveling a ripple of regrets where a partner’s “accident” surfaces as sabotage. Co-stars carve the chaos: Robin Tunney as the “suspicious superior” with a sting, Owain Yeoman as the “haunted handler” with dificulty, and Indira Varma as the “calculating” confidant with secrets. Heller’s script quivers with quips – “Minds don’t lie; memories do” – but the “brutal” brutality bites: A botched burial buries a body, a VVIP viper’s venom turns ally to assassin.
The “grittier than original”? Seismic: Heller’s adaptation amps the “pacy” probe with “spooky” soundscapes and “authentic” accents, Bier’s direction a “gripping” gasp of “grim themes” in Sacramento’s “es eerie charm.” The Guardian‘s Lucy Mangan raves “very well-liked, pacy drama” with Baker’s “reliably likeable” levity; The Independent‘s Ed Power hails Tunney’s “Icily Glamorous” icedness and the “understated and spooky” score. Evening Standard‘s Vicky Jessop praises the “overall confidence, style and authenticity.” Skeptics? “Mired in mysticism,” but the 1-in-2 clue-to-cliff ratio hooks, BARB metrics outgunning The Jetty.
This isn’t whodunit wallpaper; it’s a web-weaving whirlwind, the revival a requiem for the resolute where secrets sear and survivors splinter. Jane’s joust? Jaunty, jagged. The shadows’ sting? Sinister. October 10? Not a drop – a deluge. Binge it; the betrayals blister, the battles bind. Baker’s bite? Breathless. The obsession? Overnight, inescapable.
