The Mentalist, season 3

The year's cases run through the usual California gothic, but the architecture underneath is all Red John's: he has people everywhere, and the season is about learning what that means. Todd Johnson, a cop-killer in custody, burns to death inside a CBI holding cell - which means the killer reached inside the building. The investigation that follows, run by internal affairs' J.J. LaRoche, turns the unit's own corridor into hostile ground.

Jane plays a longer game than anyone credits. He cultivates LaRoche, shelters a suspect list, and quietly sets a trap using the one thing Red John cannot resist: an accomplice loose end. The thread runs through Rebecca, through Kristina's empty shell, toward a patron who has been near the team all along.

It ends in a shopping-mall food court, in daylight. A man sits down opposite Jane, quotes what was said in the dark two seasons ago, and describes - accurately, cruelly - what he did to Jane's wife and daughter. Whether he is Red John or another cutout, Jane does not wait to resolve: he shoots him dead over the table, sets down the gun, and waits to be arrested. The season closes there, on the series' one irreversible act - and its first real question about what Jane has become.