'Mental' Games

Back in my Mario days, I would dream about that crazy Italian plumber trying to get away from the meanie mushroom people, fire-breathing-pipe-dwelling flowers and of course, that princess-kidnapping lizard Bowser. And even though I would wake up sweaty and sure I had finally figured out how to beat that damn game, thankfully, I never allowed the game to plague my awake time. In fact, it was the Mario-infiltrated dreams that convinced me that I needed to put down the controller and forget about Princess Peach (who, instead of demanding someone save her all the time, should have been demanding a new name -- I'm jus' sayin'). Poor Connor didn't have this option since his video game was a figment of his imagination, and it completely took over his conscious. Add in some over-protective parents who refused to allow Jack and his staff to treat their son and a secret family history of mental illness and you have a recipe for a very confused, upset and ill young boy. But Jack isn't one to give up, so he eventually convinced (forced?) the parents to do the right thing for Connor. Unfortunately, the mother wasn't as onboard as the father (saying that she'd call right before she walked out of the office), so I'm not sure if she's going to be there for her son. Thankfully, his father will be.

Just when I was starting to get bored with the "breathing calls," Jack gets one that leads him to a local Presbyterian church. Will he finally find his mentally ill sister? Meanwhile, Nora made a disturbing discovery about her teenage daughter. In a very timely story line, she learned that Aynsley had her own web site and was using it to post lingerie-clad photos of herself. The whole "sexting" phenomenon has become a dangerous epidemic with young people across this country, so I was expecting a bit more to this than we got. They gave us a forced scene between mother and daughter where Nora confronted her and Aynsley gave some excuse about her mother keeping her cancer recovery from her and presto! -- they were all good. I know this because at the end they were headed off to dinner together talking about that hottie Jack Gallagher. Maybe we'll get more on it in future episodes, but this was a way too tidy resolution to a very complicated and prevalent issue.

Mental airs Tuesday nights on Fox. If you missed this week's episode, watch it for free at Fox.com.