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Robert Kirkland is a major antagonist of The Mentalist TV-show from all of season five and the beginning of season 6. He is a Homeland Security Agent, whose goal is to find his twin brother Michael and kill Red John. He is played by Kevin Corrigan.
Biography[]
We first meet Robert in the middle of the fifth season of the series, when he comes to warn Teresa Lisbon that Tommy Volker, against whom the investigation has been launched, is a very rich and influential businessman, who will not be easy to arrest, even if there is a reason. He also crosses paths with Patrick Jane. Patrick asks if he knows Robert. Robert says that Patrick does not know him, but Robert himself knows Patrick. In the future, Kirkland often crosses paths with Teresa Lisbon's team and helps them in investigating various crimes. It is also made clear that for reasons known only to him, he is keeping an eye on Patrick Jane. After Lorelei Martins escapes from prison, Kirkland takes part in the investigation. Soon the investigation leads to a certain Jason Lennon, who was wounded by Lorelei. Jason was a serial killer and rapist. Robert comes to him in the hospital and asks him if he recognizes him. Jason replies that he does not. Suddenly, Robert injects Jason with a deadly drug. Jason dies in agony. However, Robert tells Teresa and Patrick that Robert did not say anything before he died. Soon, someone breaks into Patrick's closet and steals a list of people Patrick suspected of being Red John. Patrick confesses that the list was fake. It was just common criminals whose guilt the CBI was never able to prove (like Benjamin Marx, who stole money from his company and framed and killed a colleague, or pedophile Richard Haibach). Benjamin is soon found tortured to death. Patrick and his friends suspect that one of their colleagues did it. The viewer is given to understand that it is Robert Kirkland. He turns to FBI agent Reede Smith and asks him to check his colleagues for involvement in the Blake Association (an organization of corrupt cops who kill each other's enemies and cover each other up for dirty stories). Patrick soon learns from Madeline Hightower that Kirkland has been following him. Without telling anyone, Patrick makes a big mistake. He goes to Kirkland and lays his cards on the table. Robert kidnaps him and brings him to his secret place, where he is already holding Haibach, whom he had kidnapped earlier. He tells Patrick that he once had a drunkard father, because of whom Robert's mother committed suicide. Soon Robert's father drank himself to death. Robert's twin brother Michael inherited their father's addiction. No matter how hard Robert tried, he was never able to save Michael from his addiction. However, Red John did. Soon Michael went missing. What exactly happened to him is unknown. He was probably killed. Now Robert is trying to find Red John to avenge his brother. Robert tortures Patrick to beat Red John's name out of him. But Patrick can't help. He himself does not yet know his name. Luckily, Lisbon and Hightower burst in and save Patrick and Haibach. Robert asks Patrick to take revenge on Red John and suggests meeting him sometime. But on the way, he is intercepted by Reede Smith. It turns out that he is a member of the Blake Association,Robert accepts his death letting Reede frame it as an escape and on Red John's orders, Reede kills Kirkland shooting him six times in the back.
Personality[]
Robert Kirkland is clearly unscrupulous in his methods. He is willing to torture and kill criminals (and he clearly does not care about their crimes). That is, he clearly does not care about the sacrifices he will make in his crusade against Red John. On the other hand, he clearly does not do this because he has a good life. After all, his brother Michael went missing because of Red John. Whatever happened to him, it was clearly something terrible. Robert can’t even bury his brother properly, since he does not even know where his body is. This indicates that Robert is attached to his brother. He is also sincerely friendly with his colleagues and Patrick (and nothing indicates that his friendliness is fake). It can also be assumed that his actions against Red John are the only thing that has tainted him, and otherwise he is a truly honest cop.
Kill Count[]
Numerous Before the show started
Total : 2+
Trivia[]
- He can be seen as a foil to Partick Jane. Both want to get revenge on Red John for killing their relatives (Patrick's wife and daughter and Robert's brother Michael). But while Patrick does want to kill Red John, he never wants to commits torture or something sort of. If Patrick had let his revenge to consume him far, he could've ended up like Robert.