I saw this for the first time end of 2011. I loved it. I just love the way this guy actually cares about his patients - which is really the only way to heal people (engage with them). I love the way he is outside of the box and isn't a tame psychiatrist who belongs to the health authority, but uses his expertise and humanity to do what needs to be done. He takes one person at a time and enters into their take on the world & holds them steady while they do what they need to do. It comes at a cost to him of course. He doubts himself & gets hurt, and can make choices that don't turn out well - welcome to the real world. But no decision is really wrong, and it's only from engaging that you learn anything at all. I loved this. All trainee psychiatrists should have to watch it.

OK, i don't know how to start this. Each and every aspect of the show is just terrible, the storytelling, the editing, the direction, the characters and of course, the actors.Oh, and it seems like every show now must have a gay character. I don't have a problem with that, the problem appears when the character has to say 25 times per episode that she is gay, come on! It's so forced it tears any script apart. Then we have the main knowing-all character, who is so cute, unorthodox and intelligent as unreal as it can get. We have thousands of this characters in other shows, being a much better version The Mentalist character...we didn't need a new one. We also have this cheap look along the episodes, I don't know why, it looks like a soap opera shot with cheap cameras and edited by a cheap editor. Yes, I mean cheap.I would recommend staying away from this show, and if this gets a second season I will probably cry. Well, not really, but I would pretend.

Is someone forcing Chris Vance to over play the part of smart-Brit-in- America? One reviewer noted that he was ever smirking. I concur. Are we supposed to like his character or distrust him? It's hard to trust a character who is trying to manipulate the audience into believing he is always spot-on, with ready-made wise answers. Make the ossified American version of the BBC stereotype go away! The public watch BBC and PBS programming and expect a more complex protagonist, if only because he is not American. Give us the savvy consuming public(& Chris Vance) a break!!! Vance looks like a cross between a youthful Sting and Harvey Keitel. And sounds like Julian Sands to boot! Shine on, Chris Vance.

Nine years ago, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) killed a TV series called "Wonderland" after only two episodes by inundating its network, ABC, with protests. "Mental" has in common with "Wonderland" the portrayal of people in the mental health system as having stereotypical experiences and behavior, including bizarre hallucinations and potentially violent behavior. These were the things that seemed to outrage NAMI. Where are they now? According to their website, they are aware of the series but are taking a wait and see approach. "Wonderland" took the problem of mental illness seriously. "Mental" thinks that mental illness is a laughing matter. "Wonderland" was well written, directed and acted. "Mental" is lame in all those departments. Why is NAMI sitting on its collective hands? They might as well. If there is any justice, low ratings will kill this stupid series faster than NAMI could.