Patrick Jane is drawing ever nearer to catching his serial killer nemesis, but what will his quest cost him?

As the search for Red John speeds towards its conclusion, Jane (Simon Baker) has already seen how perilous others involvement in the hunt can be. Jane told Agent Lisbon (Robin Tunney) that anyone who knew the names of the seven Red John suspects would be in danger and he was proved correct when Lisbon was abducted.

However, executive producer Tom Szentgyorgyi claims that Jane would not continue with his current course of action if he felt it would endanger those he cared about.

"He feels an enormous amount of protectiveness over Lisbon and is deeply disturbed by what happened to her," Szentgyorgyi said, according to the Christian Post. "But I think he also feels confident that, if they follow the course he lays out, she'll be alright. I think if he really thought his pursuit of Red John was going to risk Lisbon's life, he would find some other way to pursue Red John."

Now that Jane understands how Red John was able to access his deep, secret memories during last season's finale, it seems he is much more confidant in his pursuit.

"Ever since the finale of Season 5, when Red John apparently magically reached into Jane's head and killed a happy memory and also figured out who the seven suspects were on Jane's board, it felt like Red John had gotten a step up on Jane," Szentgyorgyi told the Christian Post. "['Black-Winged Redbird'] gave Jane a chance to get that step back by answering at least one of those two questions: How did he find that happy memory of Jane's? He found it by going to Jane's psychiatrist and using her as a way into his mind."

Although the series is currently employing a rapid, serialized format while its character winnow down their suspect pool, next week's episode will spread some of the focus to Agent Rigsby (Owain Yeoman) and Agent Van Pelt (Amanda Righetti) as they decide to get married.

The Mentalist airs Sundays at 10 p.m. on CBS.

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The Mentalist, CBS, Television