Bat Caves and Mysteries.

I just found my new favorite show of the new year...The Metalist...awesome detective drama about a former tv psychic who uses his powers of observation to solve crimes. The show has an interesting back story involving the psychic and a serial killer who killed his family which gives the whole thing an over arching sadness that reminds me in many ways of Batman and his story. Patrick Jane does what he does not because he can but like Bruce Wayne he does what he does because he HAS to. He is tormented by one moment in his life that set the pace for everything that came after; a percieved failing that he can never correct and can only endure. The serial killer targeted his family because of a glib comment he made on a morning talk show. Like Bruce Wayne whose decision to take the alley shortcut left him without parents Patrick's arrogance left him without a family thrusting both into a world of pain and madness. His talents which once he easily used to enrich his life are now the one thing that keep him a step ahead of madness and despair and if he can use those gifts to ensure that no one else has that "one bad day" like he did then maybe his life can have some purpose. Its especially heartbreaking when we see at the end of the premier that he sleeps in the same room that his family was killed in...that the killers happy face calling card (much like the joker's card) is still on the wall in his house furnished only by the lone matress that is on the floor. I spent most of my life wishing to be a character like Batman and I see lots to admire in the Mentalist. I see myself as a detective and I take special interest in watching mysteries where I use my conciderable powers of observation to solve the crime every week. But that is just fantasy. If I was a billionare I would dress as a flying rodent and save the day despite the fact that I know such fiction doesn not have any basis in reality. My unfullfilled purpose. Like my father who had the misfortune of being a soldier during the cold war I live in a small central Alberta town with little real crime worthy of a sharp analytical mind like mine. Am I evile for wishing for a Joker of my own? Don't answer that.