THE MENTALIST
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LINKS:
** Official Website: www.cbs.com/primetime/the_mentalist/
** Official Sountrack: www.blakeneely.com
** The Mentalist - The Complete Series on DVD: click HERE to buy it
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In this page you will find everything there is to know about Teresa Lisbon, Robin's character on The Mentalist.
Early in her career she worked at the SFPD. Her superior and mentor was agent Sam Bosco. We've learned at the beginning of season 2 that it was thanks to a successfully closed case that she could make the big move to the CBI. She arrested a pedophile, earning also the nickname of "Saint Teresa" for that arrest.
Bosco wasn't just her superior though. The two were close friends, and there were also hints of the fact that Bosco developed deeper feelings for Lisbon. But because of his marriage and his position as co-worker, Lisbon never returned those feelings. They shared an intimate and heartbreaking moment right before he dies (Bosco was in fact killed by Red John's accomplice Rebecca), when he openly declared his feelings.
Lisbon was also very close to her former CBI boss Virgil Minnelli. We often got the feeling that he was for her like a father figure, and she was for him like a daughter figure.
We know just a few details about Lisbon's past.
She was born in Chicago, her dad was a fireman and her mom a nurse. She has three brothers: Stanley, Thomas and James (the last two names were revealed by Walter Mashburn during season 3 (episode 3x07, "Red Hot"), while it is only in Season 7 that we finally learn the third).
Lisbon is of half Irish and half Portuguese decent. She went to a Catholic School.
Her mom died when Lisbon was just 12 years old, and she had to replace her mom's figure for her brothers and deal with an alcoholic and abusive father, who then killed himself.
We also know that there are probably problems between her brothers.
A new detail about her past is that when she was in college, Lisbon used to love listening to the music of Willie Shubert, a saxophonist. She met the musician during an investigation, and Lisbon told him that whenever she felt sad because she missed her family in Chicago, she would listen to his music. This also tells us that she didn't attend college in Chicago.
Thanks to episode 4x06, we finally learned something more about one of Lisbon's brothers, Thomas (Tommy).
Tommy is the youngest brother, and Lisbon finds out that he is now a bounty hunter.
He didn't use to have a regular job before, and he has also a 14 years daughter, Annabeth (Annie).
We learned also that Lisbon, having raised her brothers herself, is very protective towards Tommy and she doesen't like his new job. She tries to convince him to quit it, but at the end she accepts the fact that his brother isn't a kid anymore, and even helps him.
Her niece Annie is very close to her dad, and as a good 'Lisbon' already knows how to use a gun. Her aunt suggests her that she should follow other interests, more kids' like, but Annie says that she wants to be a cop just like her aunt, she praises Lisbon and her job, by saying: "Aunt Teresa, you get paid to carry a glock. You beat up people when they get out of line. You're totally badass".
Despite the initial problems, Lisbon and her little brother are close and love each other very much. Lisbon says to Tommy that she is proud of him, that she will always be there for him and that she is even a little envious.
We can imagine that is because despite the difficulties, he managed to raise a beautiful and good kid, to create his own little family, something that still misses in Lisbon's life.
Stanley instead lives in Chicago with his wife and kids, we meet him in Season 7, and we also meet James. The two are involved in an investigation that Jane and Lisbon finally solve. The relantionship between Lisbon and her two other brother is also not so easy, but eventually the investigation, and Jane's help, manage to bring them close together again.
Lisbon always wears a cross chain. Robin revealed the reason why of this.
“My character wears a cross because it belonged to her mother, who passed away when she was 12".
Lisbon may appear in the surface as brusque and a too serious by the book agent, but we often have a glimpse of her more sensitive and passionate side. She has a generous soul, she often puts herself into dangerous situations to save other people. She's brave and reliable.
This is how Bruno Heller (The Mentalist Creator) describes her in the Pilot of the series:
"A woman of serious faith and integrity, leavened by wit and compassion. She's given up the idea of a love life or a family life to devote herself- nun-like- to homicide work. Her intense drive and self-discipline is born of a subconscious urge for marytrdom. You get the sense that there's another more passionate and sensual woman inside the brusque persona. But for some reason, that inner Lisbon is almost always kept hidden. "
She considers her team (agents Cho, Rigsby and Van Pelt, plus Jane) a family, and she had often shown that she's ready to skip some rules for them, especially for Jane.
She likes listening to the Spice Girls' music, she likes animals and strawberries, she's a fan of the Chicago Bears.
We don't know much about her past love life. What we do know is that she developed feelings for the billionaire Walter Mashburn, who was involved in an investigation in season 2. It was in season 3 though, that we saw the two go open about their mutual attraction. We don't know if the two are still in contact, but it appears that they aren't anymore.
Thanks to episode 4x22 ("So Long, And Thanks For All The Red Snapper written by Ashley Gable) we know that Lisbon has been engaged to her highschool boyfriend Greg Tayback, but she ran away from that relationship in search for a different life away from Chicago. The two meet again years after, Greg is married with three kids, and Lisbon has finally the chance to talk to him and apologize for running away from him. She leaves him saying that she's happy about her life now, and Greg states that he finds her stronger than before.
Another complicated relationship in Lisbon's life is the one with Patrick Jane. At the beginning of the show, she apparead to be quite intolerant to Jane's methods of investigation. With time, the two become close, and developed a mutual form of respect and affection, even if Jane's desire to seek his revenge towards Red John causes a lot of friction between the two.
Lisbon saved Jane's life in many different situations, him being not used to action. But also Jane saved Lisbon in different situations, showing that he was willing to sacrifice leads to Red John in order to save her.Eventually, after Red John's death, Jane understands that his feelings for Lisbon go beyond the ones a friend can feel. He loves her, and he declares his love in the Season 6 Finale.
Season 7 shows us how Jane and Lisbon deal with their fresh relantionship. Despite some problems, their love is strong. Jane buys a land and decides to build a house for Lisbon and himself, he asks her to marry him, taking off his "old" wedding ring, giving it to Lisbon as a symbol of his past, his present, and his future with her. Lisbon now wears Jane's ring on her chain with her mom's cross.
There is a final surprise, revealed in the very last scene of The Mentalist Series Finale: Lisbon is pregnant.
There is a baby Jane on the way home, and we can only imagine that it will be the most loved baby in the world!
