Basics of "The Mentalist" Seasons 1-4 Quiz

Answer: his wife and daughter were murdered

Patrick Jane grew up on traveling carnivals together with his father (played by Nick Chinlund), a con artist who took advantage of his son's astuteness and observational skills. Later, Jane made a living as a medium and psychic, claiming to have supernatural powers and to communicate with the dead.
His life turned upside down when he was interviewed on television and claimed to help the police catch a serial killer called "Red John". He later returned home to find a note on his bedroom door saying, "Dear mister Jane, I do not like to be slandered in the media, especially by a dirty money-grubbing fraud. If you were a real psychic, instead of a dishonest little worm, you wouldn't need to open the door to see what I've done to your lovely wife and child."
Since then, Patrick has turned his back on his former life, admitted his alleged powers were fake, and has been working as a consultant for the CBI for five years by the time the show starts. When the series began, he still slept in his old house on a mattress on the floor of his former bedroom, with the red smiley face that Red John painted still visible on the wall. Lately, Patrick has more or less claimed the attic of the CBI building his new home.

Answer: Red John

Red John is a serial killer who is believed to have killed at least twenty-eight people, including Patrick's family. His signature is a red smiley face, drawn on the wall in the victim's blood. He always makes sure that this smiley face is the first thing people see, even before they find the body of the victim. He is Patrick Jane's nemesis and, in a way, his match, as he is the only criminal Patrick has never been able to fully outwit. On occasion, Red John has intervened on Patrick's behalf (for example, by killing people who were about to kill Patrick) and seems to enjoy being hunted by him.

Answer: Madeleine Hightower

Madeleine Hightower is introduced in season 2 and replaces Virgil Minelli as Special Agent in Charge of the CBI. She is therefore not a member of the team, but Teresa Lisbon's direct superior.
She is a tough but fair character who manages to earn Patrick Jane's trust and respect. During season 3, the team embarks on an elaborate mission to clear Hightower's name after she was framed for murder by Red John.
Hightower is a single mother of two children.

Answer: "He closes cases."

The relationship between Patrick Jane and Teresa Lisbon is multi-faceted. Jane has been shown to deeply care for Lisbon (despite his driving her mad every now and then and getting her into trouble), and Lisbon herself is not invulnerable to his charm.

She usually has his back and intercedes on his behalf with superiors. Her standard reply, "He closes cases," has been heard numerous times on the show whenever someone doubted Jane's value for the team.

Answer: True

Episode titles have included obvious usages ("Red Tide", "Red Handed", "His Red Right Hand"), synonyms of the color ("Russet Potatoes", "Scarlet Ribbons", "The Crimson Hat"), and the word embedded in a longer word ("Redemption", "Redacted") as well as numerous references to blood ("Blood and Sand", "My Bloody Valentine") and more cryptic allusions ("18-5-4", the positions of the letters R, E and D in the alphabet, and "Aingavite Baa", which is Shoshone for "Red Water").

All titles included some reference to red until the "Red John" episode of season six. After that, different colours were used in episode titles.

Answer: Wayne Rigsby and Grace Van Pelt

Wayne Rigsby, the arson specialist on the team, falls in love with red-haired rookie Grace Van Pelt on the day she joins the team. Since a romantic relationship between agents in the same unit is against the rules, they both fight the attraction initially, especially Grace, who is very correct and diligent.

They finally cave in during season 2 and begin dating in secret. (Patrick Jane knew, of course.) They announce their relationship to the team a little while later. Lisbon, who would have been obliged to report this, decides to pretend she didn't know, but the end comes shortly after when Madeleine Hightower becomes the new SAC and orders Rigsby and Van Pelt to either end their relationship or have one of them transfer out of the unit. Rigsby offers to transfer out, but Grace knows that he would sooner or later blame her for it, and so she ends it. Before they become involved, Rigsby's infatuation with Grace and his inability to hide it is a constant source of amusement to the team.

Answer: hypnotizing them

Patrick has been shown several times to hypnotize, or attempt to hypnotize, a suspect or witness. Usually he gets reprimanded for it, as it is not proper procedure and could possibly endanger a trial.
He also discovers that someone else hypnotized Wayne Rigsby, and on one occasion hypnotized Teresa Lisbon at her own request to help her recover her memory of the previous evening.

Answer: Bosco takes over the case of the serial killer Patrick is hunting

Sam Bosco was Teresa Lisbon's mentor when she was a junior agent and has been in love with her ever since, even though he is married. He never acted on it, but Patrick picked up on it anyway, telling Lisbon at one point that he would do anything she asked him to.
The main bone of contention between Patrick and Bosco was the fact that Bosco was assigned the Red John case and refused to impart any information on it to Patrick. They disliked each other immensely; however, when they were forced to cooperate at a later point, they developed more respect for each other.
Bosco's team was shot and killed by an associate of Red John in season 2 and he himself was fatally wounded. Before he died, he made his peace with Patrick, who reciprocated and promised Bosco that he would kill Red John.

Answer: Visualize Self-Realization Center

Brett Stiles first appeared in season 2, where Visualize was the center of an investigation. He is a very ambiguous character and has hinted that he has some insider knowledge of Red John.

Answer: he was shot and critically wounded

Patrick temporarily lost his eyesight in "Bloodshot" (season 1). He was jailed in "Black Gold and Red Blood" (season 2) for spying on Bosco's team. "Fugue in Red" (season 4) had him losing his memory after almost drowning and temporarily reverting to his old con man personality.
He has also been punched, kidnapped, and charged several thousand dollars in fines for contempt of court, but as of season 4, he has never suffered a critical gunshot wound.