Well, I've been thinking about the Red John's identity a lot lately. I looked into not only the information we can collect directly from the show, but also all the spoilers and unconfirmed news provided by Heller, magazines, websites and even cast lists. Here's what I came up with:1. As most of you know, Bruno Heller said, that there is a very big clue hidden in the last scene of the season 6 premiere, "Desert Rose". However, he also said that it would be impossible to identify this clue at the time, because this clue would be explained in later episodes and without them, the clue means nothing. I've been trying to find this clue nevertheless. I accepted the fact, that I wouldn't be able to interpret it, but I was looking for something exepctional, something that would be somehow "highlighted"... I confronted my findings with all the other teories about the clue that I found online. I focused on three things, that I find interesting:a) 666 on the wall. In the house, where Lisbon found Partridge, there is a very... "highlighted" number 666 on the wall. By highlighted, I mean that it doesn't look like just part of the scenery fot this scene. It's almost like it was very important for viewers to see this number painted on the wall. But why is it so important? Episode 7 is called "The Great Red Dragon", which in mythology is also known as "The Beast". And of course - the number of "The Beast" is... 666. What would this clue mean then? I would say, that it implies, that Red John is Partridge, or that Brett is Red John's friend of some kind, because Partridge is the only suspect, that is "tested" by Patrick Jane in this episode...b)The Pidgeons. When Lisbon investigates the abbandoned house, she is at one point scared by pidgeons flying out of the room. I think that everyone will agree, that this is a very strange place for birds, especially that as far as I can tell, the window is closed, so pidgeons had no natural way into the room. Maybe someone brought the there? The only other time this season, when we see someone scared by pidgeons, is the episode "Wedding in Red". After Thomas McCallister rescues Patrick, they talk in the church tower. When Sheriff is about to leave, he is suddenly "attacked" by pidgeon and is very affraid of it, just like Teresa in "Desert Rose". It's difficult though to make any theory out of this hypothetical clue. If Sheriff is affraid of birds, why would he bring them to his "hideout", or whatever is the place that Red John placed Partridge?c)RJ's signature on Lisbon's face. At the very end of the season 6 premiere, Red John paints his signature on Teresa Lisbon's face. But there is one very interestin thing about it. For some reason, the red eyes are painted vertically, even though he has always been painting them horizontally. I guess we can rule out a simple mistake. So what would it mean? Again, it's difficult to find an explonation to this clue. To which suspect connect it then? Again, as Partridge is pretty much the only suspect investigated so thorougly by Jane in this episode, I like the theory, that the signature is painted wrong, because... there was no murder! And Partridge is Red John...2. Ok, but "the clue" from season premiere is just one thing, and the things that we see in every episode may imply other things. For example - episode two and one more thing about Partridge. I found it curious, that there was no interest from Jane and his team to examine Brett's body, noone actually checked if he's really dead, I mean not immediatly after the Police arrival, but after a day or two... We know stories from "The Mentalists" of bodies just vanishing... Of course we learn from the conversation of a cop named Sheridan and Gale Bertram, that Partridge is dead, but it wouldn't take much to make things look that way, and I'm sure that Red John has friends, who could have helped him in this "act".Let's look into another suspects now. I knew, there's something going on with Bertram, Smith and McCallister since their meeting in episode 2, it was obvious, that they are involved in something connected to Red John or Patrick Jane. Now we know, that they are members of the "Tyger, Tyger" collective. So what about them? For now, we are not sure wether the collective is the enemy or a friend to RJ, but all the signs implicate, that they are enemies. So wouldn't it be smart for RJ to invigilate the organization that tries to stop him? Especially, since the collective is the real deal - FBI, CBI, Sherrifs, Police Departments and who knows what else is involved? So lets focus on those three, Bertram, Smith and McCallister. We know Bertram for a long time now, he has been important part of the show long before he was announced as a suspect and frankly, there was next to none theories about him being RJ, and if they were some, they were more about "how wierd he looks at Patrick", rather than any actual, logical theories. Smith's debute on the show was the season's 5 premiere, so not so long ago, but Just in time to shake hands with Patrick... Also, it would be very safe for writers to bring the completely new actor to play RJ's real identity, because, as we would know very little of such character, there would be no contradictions, they would be able to create this character from nothing, with only one purpose - to fit all that we know about Red John's real identity. Sheriff is a bit similar for that matter. We met him very early on the show, haven't seen him since, so the writers can say anything they want about him, create any story so that it would fit to what we know about RJ. So out of those three - I think Sheriff is the best guess. As I said, he "can be made" to fit into all what we know about RJ, plus we've seen him in the one of the first episodes, so it would be even more frustrating to Patrick, at least that's what I think.I never liked Kirkland as a suspect, he was "too obvious". And while his voice and the manner of speech sounded similar to what RJ sounds on phone and in real life, I honestly thought from the moment we met him, that he hunts RJ, like Jane. His death concluded it all, we saw him actually die so I think his story has ended.Stiles is out of the question, if you ask me. He's simply too old, and leading such a great organization as Visualize, it would be difficult for him to live his secret life as a murderer.Haffner... well, there is something about him, isn't it? He's in Visualize, so was RJ. He's physically strong, he's clever, ambitious... But is he a murderer? And also, why would he leave CBI, since working in the same building as Jane was giving him advantage over him? I don't know, I don't like him as a RJ, I have nothing on him...So yeah, that's what I came up with... pretty much nothing... But whoever is Red John, I hace a feeling, that it would be satisfying to me ;) It was a lot of fun gathering this information, creating theories. The show so far was hell of a ride and I can't wait to the final chapter of Red John's story...P.S. Sorry for my english, it's not my first language. ;)
