the best thing about the mentalist is that jane can be paired with anyone and they'd be a dynamic duo. it's sort of a running gag (hyperbolizing) in the show that wherever jane goes, cho is right behind him, no questions asked. every whim and cho magically drives by with the most deadpan look on his face as if it's a normal tuesday morning.
the team rightfully ditches jane because he was being an arrogant asshole? cool, cho's driving. want to test the limits of every attorney in the area? cool, cho's still there. want to almost burn yourself alive to snuff out a vengeful arsonist? cool, here's cho as backup.
despite his beliefs that he's just using the cbi for red john and nothing more or less, jane does care about cho & shares that same unwavering loyalty. he helps him out in s2 ep 14 and turns a blind eye whenever he steps out of line. cho is grounded, but i think that lisbon is higher above him in that category. he does let his emotions get the better of him, it's just that he's gotten good at hiding it. jane is completely aware of his own vast capabilities yet he respects cho and doesn't poke at him much unlike the others. he does intrude in that one baseball episode and for the entirety of s2 ep 14, however, he is mostly indifferent to it (not completely of course). his directness and dry honesty disarm jane's hypnotic charm. and it must be why he is chil with cho. someone who can catch up and won't be swooned by empty words.
cho isn't that much of a stickler for rules since he is a ride or die first. any scheme that involves getting jobs back and he is the first to go. he has a lot of trust in jane & the team that he can ignore the methods and focus on the results.
i also love that they have shared interests & are on the same wavelength. both enjoy literature & interrogating suspects. it's shown that if you get sat across cho, better luck next time. he isn't a mentalist yet he holds his own. he uses his background (which is not like jane's obviously) to aid him through the toughest of cases, similar to what jane does.
they also share a need for control in their life, whatever they can get. jane is used to being at the top of this unspoken hierarchy in daily life. he's THE mentalist for a reason. no one has challenged him so far except for red john, that's why he shifts into a whole other person whenever that man is involved. his schemes are like 4D gambling but with his experience and innate perceptiveness, everything has one outcome and it's ultimately the one he wants. a little diversion does no harm to him in the end. (a little punch in the face is nothing in the grand scheme of things)
as for cho, he's been trying to keep that semblance of control since childhood. his love for baseball and promising career was the start of this. playing profesionally means having a lot of discipline and structure, overall control. his parents disapproved and what brought him joy was quickly lost, which means that he lost a piece of himself and that control he had thought he had over his own life & aspirations. ironically, his parents form of control is what took it away from him. then, the most rational decision in line was to join a gang as a little thank you note to his parents. he wasn't a leader and didn't have that much control, but it served him for a good bit. he still had some structure. it bit him in the ass when he lost control and was involved in a situation bigger than him. he didn't want to do the stunt and left on his own accord. it was messy and he managed to do it without a support system to fall back on. (we don't know much about his family after he went to the military so i'm assuming that he has a strained relationship with them) again, the military filled that desire yet he decided to look for better options. and here we are in the present. s2 ep 14 was immaculate in depicting cho's usual iciness falling apart the second he saw those calls from seung. to him that's supposed to be buried and long gone. it's his friend reaching out, but the dread and helplessness keep him from answering. everything went downhill after that. first, his friend dies. something he could have postponed or entirely stopped if he gave in to that helplessness & endured a possibly unpleasant surprise. his breaking point was when who he had thought were the playboys broke into a safe space and hurt his girlfriend. he is pretty private and no one has been to any of his places. (question is if they were aware that he had a girlfriend in the first place) so this was a complete breach of the control he had. work and personal life did clash, but the thing is, they never intertwined. he couldn't shrug it off anymore because it got too close to home and wrecked his sense of agency. (no pun intended) he laid helpless while he watched them rough up elise. he was so out of his element that he didn't go with her to the hospital, instead going on an old friends tour to settle things. he'd humiliate KS infront of his lackeys or worse if he had to, only that way could he get rid of the shame and weakness that had been plaguing his mind. (his relationship sadly took the fall for his actions & lack of restraint, losing control yet again)
the two have lots of baggage that they refuse to unpack otherwise they lose that false sense of independence and power. they'll keep pushing through it head first until life gives them an overdue wake-up call. i love them as friends but imagining them as a couple is just as entertaining. get more chane pilled now!!
*forgot to mention that cho is squeamish about the supernatural & spirituality (funny knowing jane's old occupation) while jane is uncomfortable when it comes to guns and fights (they do have a weakness!!)
