The Mentalist vs Wire in the Blood
Many people love watching crime shows (or Krimi, in German) on TV. CSI, NCIS and CSI:NY among others have become very popular of late. But the style of shows epitomises the difference between America and the UK. Whilst stick-thin agents with tans, lipgloss and sunglasses strut around with laser beam crime detectors in Miami, British TV seems much more likely to feature a heavy drinking, misogynist, pot-bellied detective with a smoke in his mouth and a heavy accent. Whatever this says about the British psyche or American confidence, we thought it would be appropriate to pit the big hitting TV psychologists against one another.
Patrick Jane versus Dr Tony Hill
There’s a transatlantic battle between the TV psychologists. Here we pit Patrick Jane and Tony Hill against each other in the ultimate TV crime psych-out:
| The Fight | The Mentalist | Wire in the Blood | Winner |
| Title | The Mentalist has unfortunate connotations in the UK where it is often used by schoolkids to describe degenerative behaviour | Wire in the Blood makes me think of wires in veins which isn’t very nice | The Mentalist wins because even though it doesn’t make sense in Britain, at least it’s funny |
| Name | Patrick Jane – Irish roots and the Mr Jane catches out his enemies | Tony Hill – Mr Normal | Patrick Jane wins – Tony Hill is too forgettable |
| Occupation | TV Psychic | Trained Pscyhologist | The properly trained psychologist has more qualifications than the TV showman |
| Stlye | Tailored suits with a waistcoat but no tie and wavy blond hair | Badly fitting off the hanger suits with the tie always loosened. Same old army haircut | Patrick Jane wins out in the style stakes |
| Staying within the law | Patrick Jane often uses tactics that would make evidence inadmissable in the UK | Resolutely within the law | Tony Hill is by the book – his concern is to get the perps locked up rather than win the game |
| Lighting & Photography | Warm honey colours from a sunny American climate | Dark and green filters making everything stark | Wire in the Blood is more realistic than the honeycomb crime fighting in the Mentalist |
| Who would you rather be? | Patrick Jane is a good-looking lovable rogue with plenty of money | Tony Hill left his potential girlfriend’s welcome back party to play on the Playstation by himself in his dishevelled suit | The TV Psychic is way cooler we all want to be able to hypnotise at will |
Who do you think should win? Tell us in the comments below.
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