Nothing Gold Can Stay (2024)

Nothing Gold Can Stay is the tenth episode of the seventh seasonof The Mentalist.

Summary[]

Jane takes extreme measures as the team tries to apprehend a deadly gang of armored car robbers before their desperation to remain free costs more innocent people their lives.

Recap[]

An armoredtruck guard is dragged away from his truck by armed, masked gunmen. The drivercalls in the robbery while the thieves unload all the cash from the truck andtake off in an older car from the 70s. Jane tells Teresa about a rustic,romantic cabin he wants to take her too but she doesn’t like the word rustic.They meet Cho on scene and he runs down the crime with them. Vega says shefound out this was the biggest cash delivery of the year and the trackingdevices weren’t implanted yet.

Cho saysthey can do surveillance on bank employees to see who gave the inside info butJane wants to just ask them. He goes inside and asks who among them is therobbery accomplice. Gil, the bank manager is shocked and says it’s outrageous.Cho says it’s not yet. Jane tells the employees that guilt causes a reactionand singles out a teller he thinks looks squirrely. He hands over the burnerthat’s in his pocket and when Cho asks him who gave it to him, the guy faintsin his arms.

Jane jokesthat he killed him. Ken the clerk says he’s hypoglycemic and that’s why hefainted. He has a lawyer with him. Abbott says they know he doubled the bank’scash order. Abbott says to tell them about the robbers. The lawyer blocks thequestion but they keep Ken locked down. Abbott tells Cho that he’s holding outand won’t say anything. He tells Cho to take lead on this one since he’ll be incharge soon enough. Wiley tells Vega about a League of Legends tournament andinvites her along.

She agreesto ride with him and have dinner. Cho shows up asking for Jane and Teresa. Vegasays the getaway car was found not too far away. Wiley says Ken made calls toanother burner. Vega says they probably met in person at least once so Wileydecides to run the locations of Ken’s personal phone and use security camerasto see if they can find it. Cho and Vega head out to run these down. Wiley asksAbbott about Vega.

Wiley askswhat kind of restaurant he should take her to so he can impress her withoutcoming on too strong. Abbott gives him some solid advice and reminds him thathe already got her to say yes. He reminds him to have fun. Vega says Wiley senta list of 14 locations. She says they’re all over the county and he says theyhave to search them all today. She asks if Cho is excited to take over the teambut he says he doesn’t think about it that way.

She says heshould be excited and he says he is, but his face doesn’t show it. She asks ifhe’ll make any changes and he says rookie agents will be seen not heard. Janebrings Teresa a box of mints for her pillow and says he found them a resortthat will meet her wants but she says it doesn’t sound rustic. He says he’llfind a tree. They watch the security footage and Jane points out one that hethinks is the one in charge.

Teresa saysthe guy with the automatic weapon is the new guy. Jane thinks the alpha and thedriver are brothers. Jane thinks they have a genetic anomaly that gives themdifferent sized legs. Teresa calls this to Cho. Vega and Cho hit a diner ontheir list. The waitress is dismissive but then Vega points out a guy with abuilt up boot on one foot. Cho calls for back up. The two guys get up to leaveand Cho stops them. He says he wants to talk and flashes his badge. Vega comesup behind them.

They tellthem to stay calm and they can talk outside. Cho asks where the third guy isand then that guy starts shooting from behind the counter. Cho corners one andhe puts his gun down but then goes for it again and Cho shoots him. Anotherrobber comes for him and drags him out. Cho shoots out the window but they getaway. He goes back into the diner and tells them to call 911. Vega has beenshot. He holds her and tells her to keep breathing.

She’s beengut shot and he puts his hand on her stomach to try and stop the bleeding. Shesays it hurts and asks if she messed up. He tells her she did good and tellsher to keep breathing. She tries but it doesn’t look good. His voice is fadingas they hear sirens. Teresa and Jane show up the hospital. Abbott is alreadywaiting there. They go in a room and see Vega in bed. She’s pale and still. Cholooks ready to kill. Wiley sits distraught at his desk in tears.

Brian Portiscomes in and says he’s the homicide investigator assigned to Vega’s case. Heasks for her desk and Wiley points. Then he asks for Abbott and Wiley shows himwhere to go. Teresa comes over and pulls Wiley into a hug. Portis tells Abbotthe’s sorry about this but they can’t investigate the death of one of their own.He tells Abbott he’s there to work with him and says the diner hostess toldthem the crew were regulars and they ID’d them.

AaronBrunell, Tommy Brunell (the one Cho shot), Steve Seller was the one who shotVega. Portis asks if Vega did anything different this morning and Abbott sayshe doesn’t know, he didn’t even get to talk to her this morning. Abbott saysPortis can have the collar and the credit but those men belong to him. Portisagrees then asks to talk to Cho. He goes and tells him that he’s Austin PD andoffers him time to clean up. Cho declines. His shirt is covered in her blood.

Portisstarts a recording and asks him to walk him through the events. Cho says theywere out canvassing for the suspects. He says the diner was the fifth location.He says Vega spotted two suspects and pointed them out to him. Later, Abbottfinds him putting on his jacket to cover the blood. He tells Cho he has to callVega’s next of kin, her aunt. Cho insists that he be the one to do it andAbbott tells him to use his office for some quiet.

He looks ather personnel file that Abbott has pulled up on his screen and drops his headinto his hand. He looks sick. He shakes his head and cries. He pulls ittogether and dials the aunt. He tells her he’s calling from the FBI aboutMichelle. Teresa finds Jane and asks if he doesn’t believe in the afterlife. Hesays no but she tells him she does and asks if it’s foolish. She says she needsto believe that Vega is someplace.

Abbott comesand tells them Austin PD may have something. Portis is with Wiley and showsthey are near Windsor Park – they stopped at a gas station looking forbandages. Jane says they’re hunting a wounded animal and don’t want to drivehim to ground. Jane says they’re not thinking about fleeing, they’re lookingfor medical supplies. Teresa suggests placing people quietly near areadrugstores to wait for them. Abbott sees one of the guys at his location.

He calls itin and calls in more units. Cho moves to their location. A car pulls up withsirens on but it’s too late. They alerted the gunman who takes a woman hostage.His ride pulls up and they fire on the cops then peal out taking the woman withthem. Abbott calls in the gold minivan and says they have a hostage and warnsnot to engage.

The cops areoutside a suburban home with SWAT and all sorts of fire power. They’ve cordonedoff the street. Cho says they drive right into the garage and the home belongsto an older woman and her nephew. Aaron works on Tommy but he’s stillbreathing. Portis says they’ve demanded food, a doctor for their wounded and ahelicopter. Jane says Ace is worried about his brother but Sellers just wantsthe money. Cho goes to the door and hands over pizza and says they get a doctorwhen they surrender.

Sellers asksAce what the cops said and says no doctor til they surrender. They put a tinycamera on the pizza box insert. Jane asks if they hear the TV on and Teresasays it sounds like local news. Cho tells Abbott he thinks they can take them.Abbott says Jane has a plan but Cho says he’s improvising and they can’t wait.Abbott thinks he’s just looking for payback for Vega and Cho says maybe. Hesays to let Jane’s plan play out.

Jane goes totalk to one of the reporters. Then she’s on the news saying one of the robbershas started back channel negotiations for surrender. Sure enough, that drives awedge between Ace and Sellers. The nephew begs them to let them go and Sellersslaps the nephew hard. His aunt begs them to stop. Tommy looks like he’s in badshape. Cho and Abbott talk to SWAT and make a plan to breach but Jane says togive it more time.

They say no.Then Jane asks Teresa not to go in. He says Abbott and Cho just want to killthese guys and other people could get hurt. She says she doesn’t think it’sgoing that way. Jane walks up to the house, unarmed and arms out. They open thedoor and ask who he is. He tells Ace that he can help he and his brother but hehas to let a hostage go and says to swap him for one. He says he’s FBI andworth more.

Ace callsout for Sellers to bring the crier. Sellers doesn’t care. He shoves the guy outand Jane goes in under gunpoint. Teresa is not happy with her BF. Portis askswhat happened and Teresa says they may as well give him time since Jane isalready in there. Abbott says to call a 30 minute pause on the plan to go inside.They pat Jane down and then hold a gun on him when he heads for the lady. Hesays he just wants to check on the woman who’s diabetic.

He goes tosit by her and asks how she’s feeling. He asks if she’s got any numbness andshe says she’s not sure. He asks about her feet and he says her breath isgetting shorter and she’s going to lose vision. She starts to pant and Sellerssays it’s not his problem. He says the FBI his microphones everywhere and ifshe starts to slip into a coma, they will storm the place. Ace takes her outthe side so the FBI can get her out.

Jane tellsSellers it’s a shame that all this is over $800k. Sellers says it was $600k.Jane says they got an official count and there was $800k. Sellers is skepticalbut Abbott says they can support it. The news program says that more than $800kwas taken from the bank. Ace says the news needs to get their facts straightbut Sellers doesn’t seem to buy it. He goes off to take a pee. Ace asks Jane ifSellers said anything to him and he says he just said he didn’t want to die inprison.

Ace takesJane out to the garage. They argue over money, Steve shoots and kills Ace, then Cho enters the garage and shoots and kills Steve. Jane is in shock at how rapidly he took the guy outwithout even considering alternatives. Little brother Tommy is taken out to theambulance – he’s the only surviving robber. At Vega’s funeral, Abbott and Choare the lead pall bearers. Teresa walks beside Wiley who still looks to be inshock.

The agentssit behind Vega’s devastated family. Her aunt, her cousins are there. Herparents are already gone. The honor guard pulls the flag off her coffin andfold it. Cho kneels and hands it to her aunt. She cries as she accepts it. Ashe walks away, she breaks into sobs. Abbott puts a shovel of dirt on her gravethen passes the tool to Teresa then Wiley. There’s a long line to say goodbyeto her in this traditional way.

Abbott putshis arms around Wiley as they walk away. Cho looks like he’s wound tight enoughto burst. Teresa finds Jane later kneeling by a tree and says places like thismust be hard for him. She says she doesn’t feel right taking their weekend tripand he agrees. He tells Teresa he can’t watch her do this anymore. He says itcould have been her in that coffin. He says he can’t go through that again.Teresa says he’s the one who walked into that house.

He says hewent in so she wouldn’t. She asks how him dying would be different and he sayshim dying won’t hurt him. She says he can’t keep pulling her from the paths ofoncoming trains and says there are new trains every day. He tells her he’sleaving, that he has to. He asks her to go with him. She asks where he’s goingand he says – someplace nice. He kisses her and walks away.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

• Simon Baker as Patrick Jane
• Robin Tunney as Teresa Lisbon
• Tim Kang as Kimball Cho
• Rockmond Dunbar as Dennis Abbott
• Josie Loren as Michelle Vega
• Joe Adler as Jason Wylie

Recurring Cast[]

• Lisbeth Kingsley as FBI Special Agent Childs

Guest Cast[]

• William Gregory Lee as Steve Sellers
• A.J. Buckley as Aaron “Ace” Brunell
• Alex Weed as Tommy Brunell
• Kal Bennett as Elizabeth Kerrigan
• Jill Basey as Susan Cofield
• Alex Fernandez as Detective Brian Portis
• Jason Cabell as Detective Caldwell
• Victoria Garcia-Kelleher as Tawnia Meeks
• Troy Blendell as Gil Clark
• Ben Begley as Ken Fletcher
• Allison Bills as Jenny Moss
• Sean Spann as Phil Cofield
• Lewis T. Powell as Larry
• Michael Christ as Deputy Attorney General
• Cody Buchanan as Pallbearer
• Melissa Dawn Johnson as Diner Patron
• Phillip E. Walker as Gun Fight Pedestrian
• Margaret Newborn as Family Friend

Trivia[]

• This episode marks the first death of a regular cast member.
• This is one of the rare episodes in whichKimball Choloses his stoic demeanor and breaks down crying. He had been shown often to give a quick smile or show some amusem*nt with a dry sense of humor. There was a previous episode in which he broke down in the end when informing his childhood friend's grandmother that he had indeed been going clean and trying to leave thinking life behind.
• Vega's death, and Wylie's reaction It's the same reaction of Patrick when Red John kills his wife and daughter, and his fear of losing someone close to him (Teresa Lisbon).
• The title of the episode comes from the poem of the same name by Robert Frost, "Nothing Gold Can Stay".