The Mentalist Trivia
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
7correct to beat the crowd
119 free The Mentalist trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Sep 2026.
This is the big The Mentalist trivia quiz: 119 questions covering all seven seasons of the CBS drama, from the pilot in 2008 to the wedding in "White Orchids" in 2015. The easy questions are the ones any casual viewer will get: what Patrick Jane used to do for a living, which agency Teresa Lisbon works for, what Jane drinks in nearly every episode, and the one colour that runs through almost every episode title. From there it digs into the Red John saga in detail: the smiley face, the William Blake poem, Timothy Carter at the mall, Lorelei Martins, the seven suspects, the Blake Association and the sheriff who turned out to be the killer. There are questions on the whole CBI team and the FBI years, on recurring characters like Bret Stiles, Kristina Frye, Madeleine Hightower and Erica Flynn, and on the actors, the ratings, the awards and Bruno Heller's inspirations for the character. The hardest questions are for people who noticed the Citroen, the re-soled shoes and the anagram in the title of "18-5-4". Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries for the series, its characters and its seasons before publishing, and the sentence that supports it is stored with each question. If you enjoy this one, try our Castle, Psych and Criminal Minds quizzes next.
30 of 119 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which stage skill does Patrick Jane excel at in The Mentalist?
Hypnosis
Hypnosis is a skill Jane uses to get suspects to confess and witnesses to remember what they saw.
Q 02Which tattoo does Jane learn Red John has on his left shoulder?
Three dots
Three dots, revealed in a dying woman's last words, and when Jane bares five suspects' shoulders at gunpoint, three have the mark.
Q 03Who created The Mentalist?
Bruno Heller
Bruno Heller is the brother of novelist Zoë Heller, whose Notes on a Scandal was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
Q 04What were the names of Jane's murdered wife and daughter?
Angela and Charlotte
Angela and Charlotte: the girl's name, Charlotte Jane, comes from two films written by the creator's father, Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
Q 05Why did Red John murder Patrick Jane's wife and daughter?
He taunted him on TV
He taunted him on TV, boasting that psychic powers had helped police profile him, and Red John took revenge by killing them.
Q 06Why does Sam Bosco have Jane arrested in The Mentalist's second season?
For bugging his office
For bugging his office, and Jane chooses jail over resigning from the CBI, then helps solve a murder from his cell.
Q 07What show did CBS want The Mentalist to work as a companion to?
NCIS
NCIS was the hit CBS wanted a companion for, and the show's creator wanted to prove he could do something different.
Q 08Which USA Network comedy was The Mentalist frequently compared to?
Psych
Psych, about a fake psychic consulting for Santa Barbara police, drew comparisons and made repeated jokes about the later show's similarities.
Q 09Where was The Mentalist mostly filmed?
Los Angeles
Los Angeles County's studio zone hosted most of the filming, with only occasional location scenes in Sacramento, where the story is set.
Q 10In The Mentalist's first season, what does Jane stage to trap the killer of a wealthy heiress?
A séance
A séance, which her loved ones think will expose her psychic, Kristina Frye, as a fraud, is really Jane's trap for the killer.
Q 11Which classic film star did The Mentalist's creator imagine for the role of Patrick Jane?
Cary Grant
Cary Grant was the model, and like Jane he began as a travelling showman, touring as a teenager with Bob Pender's troupe of acrobats.
Q 12Which network began syndicating The Mentalist in the fall of 2011?
TNT
TNT took the reruns, and in summer 2015 CBS itself carried the show weeknights as part of its temporary late-night lineup.
Q 13How does Jane get around for most of The Mentalist?
A Citroen DS
A Citroen DS, a DS 21 Pallas; a DS famously saved Charles de Gaulle in 1962, escaping machine-gun fire at full speed on two punctured tyres.
Q 21Which boss first hired Patrick Jane as a consultant?
Virgil Minelli
Virgil Minelli hired him after Jane, hunting the Red John files, goaded an agent into punching him.
Q 22In "Fugue in Red", what causes Jane to partially lose his memory?
A near drowning
A near drowning while chasing a firefighter's killer wipes his recent memory, turning Jane back into his old con-man self.
Q 23Whom does Jane shoot with a shotgun in "Red John's Footsteps" to save Lisbon's life?
Dumar Hardy
Dumar Hardy was about to shoot Lisbon, and he became the first of four men Jane kills in the series.
Q 14What does Jane drink in nearly every episode?
Tea
Tea is his drink in nearly every episode, while Jane openly dislikes coffee.
Q 15What is missing from Jane's trademark three-piece suit?
A tie
A tie: the vests are also a magician thing, since performers wear them so they have somewhere to hide things.
Q 16Which habit does Kimball Cho finally give up in The Mentalist's fourth season?
Painkillers
Painkillers he had taken since an accident on an earlier case end up flushed down the toilet after Rigsby is almost shot.
Q 17What mental technique does Patrick Jane rely on to store huge amounts of information?
The memory palace
The memory palace lets Jane recall massive bodies of information, and he is also a skilled pickpocket and lock picker.
Q 18How was the young Jane billed in his swindler father's carnival psychic act?
The Boy Wonder
The Boy Wonder was his billing; in 'Throwing Fire' a blow to the head sends Jane back to childhood memories of his father Alex's act.
Q 19What does Jane temporarily lose after a bomb explodes in The Mentalist's first season?
His sight
His sight, and while relying on his other senses Jane realises he is the killer's next target.
Q 20What did Jane suffer before he joined the CBI, a fact kept out of his records?
A nervous breakdown
A nervous breakdown followed his family's murder, and in season four Jane fakes another one to lure Red John into making contact.
Q 24Which poem frames the symbolic relationship between Jane and Red John?
The Tyger
The Tyger's opening words are what Red John follower Todd Johnson whispers to Jane as he dies from burns in custody.
Q 25Where does Jane live during the two years after killing Red John?
A Spanish-speaking island
A Spanish-speaking island, never named, though the phone code shown there, 58, points to Venezuela.
Q 26What condition does Jane set before joining the FBI?
That Lisbon works with him
That Lisbon works with him was his price, along with his charges being dropped, and Lisbon then became an FBI special agent.
Q 27What vehicle does Jane switch to after the death of Red John?
A 1985 Airstream trailer
A 1985 Airstream trailer came with a new look: after Red John's death Jane also stopped wearing his signature vests.
Q 28In the Mentalist episode 'Rose-Colored Glasses', where does Rigsby go undercover?
A high school reunion
A high school reunion, where the team investigates a double homicide that may be linked to an old prank.
Q 29What signature does Red John leave at his crime scenes?
A smiley face drawn in blood
A smiley face drawn in blood, always clockwise with three fingers of a gloved right hand; in 'Red John's Footsteps' one even appears as skywriting.
Q 30In The Mentalist's season-two finale, who commits the murder that interrupts Jane's first date with Kristina?
A copycat killer
A copycat killer, and when the copycat is about to kill Jane, the real Red John steps in and saves him.