Theories of MentalistFanGermany (2)

Hi everyone.
First of all I want to thank all of the people posting theories, I enjoy reading them all, no matter how crazy they are, keep up the great work!

I posted my own first theory 2 weeks ago and it's kinda funny, because my take on who Red John is, is completely different now.

Where do I start ...

Having seen the extended promo for "The Great Red Dragon", When Rigsby says "RJ planted the bomb to kill Jane & the other suspects" while pointing to the clipboard behind him with Bret Stiles, Ray Haffner and Thomas McAllister on it, I assume that these 3 are killed by the bomb, which leaves only two suspects alive.

Gale Bertram and Reede Smith.

Now... everyone imagines Red John as the Bret Stiles-kinda guy. The guy who has so many followers, leads a cult, has mind-bending power etc., while in reality, he's just a normal man. I think exactly THAT is his coverage. Think about it... This is exactly how Red John would act.

Reede Smith....
... fooled Kirkland with ease when Kirkland said "Tyger Tyger" to him. (Which proves that he can lie very good)
... had no hesitation killing Kirkland with six shots in the back. (Which proves that he has no inhibitions killing people. See the look on his face when he shoots?)

Nobody knows Smith and nobody would recognize him. The director of the CBI is often on TV. I imagine Bret Stiles also to be on TV a lot. Is being Red John really possible if a lot of people know you? I don't think so.

Red John tried to bug the CBI. Now why on earth would Bertram bug the CBI? He can just ask Lisbons team to keep him informed.

But... if Red John worked at the FBI (like Reede does), he could have a reason to bug the CBI. Now you may say: But he's in the Tyger Tyger thing with Bertram. Okay... let's see what Smith said to Bertram:
 "it's your job to find out what Jane knows".

Maybe Smith now tries to get information first hand because Bertram didn't find out enough? Maybe he was angry because when Jane said RJ has done a mistake he got cautious... so RJ assumed that Bertram must have missed something. A perfect reason to bug the CBI himself instead of relying on Bertrams information.

A lot of people assume Bertram leads the Tyger Tyger conspiracy, but why would Bertram take orders in a Tyger Tyger meeting from Reede Smith then?

Another thing: Heller said people would be disappointed. Why could that be? Again, Reede Smith just appears an ordinary man, not the monster people make him out to be.

Robin Tunney (Teresa Lisbon) was shocked when she found it out, even more "than if she herself was Red John". What other guy than Reede Smith can have this shock effect? The Partridges, Bertrams, Stiles, Haffners have a lot of clues leading to them, Smith has not.

That is exactly how I imagine Red John would act. To be the guy in the shadows, the guy that no one expects. People look at the big spotlights... CBI Director, the cult leader Stiles.., but not at the seemingly unimportant Reede Smith.
 
In addition to that, the actor that plays Red John was "stunned and flattered" and "thought he was a Red Herring". Exactly the same. If I was the guy playing Reede Smith I would be as surprised.

Some playing-around:
Reede Smith is an anagram of  "The Red is me".
Reede Smith ... Reed - Red, Smith - Tagliaferro (cutiron) ... is this a coincedence?

You don't have to convince me who Red John is, you have to convince me it isn't Reede Smith. :)


Thanks for reading & let me know if I did a mistake in my deductions or your thoughts about this. Excited to read.

Finally I will write my own little theory here. Always enjoyed reading and overall I think this site is an awesome idea. Curious to read all of the other theories. :-)

(Sorry for any mistakes as english is not my native language :-))

So first of all, Brett Partridge and Robert Kirkland are off the list.

I don't really buy into the ideas that Partridge faked his own death or that Michael Kirkland is Red John. Seems too simple for me, and Michael Kirkland is not on the list, which I think is true, as there are just not enough episodes left to have another twist and another twist and another twist in the story.

After "Red Listed" we now know that "Tyger Tyger" is the codeword for an underground government organization, with Reede Smith being a member of it. In "Black-Winged Redbird" we also saw McAllister, Smith and Bertram discussing stuff; which leads to the conclusion that these three are all part of the Tyger Tyger Collective.
They seem to have some connection to Red John. My theory is that the revelation of Red John would bring them into trouble somehow... to quote them in a scene: "How much does Jane really know?".

Smith also killed Kirkland, probably because they don't want Jane to get information from him. I don't know if they know the identity of Red John, but I think they have an interest in Jane NOT discovering who RJ is.

This leaves two names: Ray Haffner and Bret Stiles. 

A lot of things point to Haffner. He likes Lisbon (that would explain why he spared her and just drew the smile to scare Jane), he's a good whistler (as he leaves Lisbons room), he's involved with Visualize (Stiles had information about RJ).In the press release for the "Red John" episode and the episode before, there's an actor listed as "young man". You could say that from his looks that he may play a young Haffner at the Visualize farm back in the day.Haffner also had more appearance in the show than Bret Stiles. I think it would be smart to not pick a character who hasn't appeared in ages to be RJ.

Obviously there are more facts pointing to Haffner at the moment, but there are also some pointing to Stiles.

Stiles has the connections, charisma, mental abilities and intelligence to be someone like Red John. I don't really see these qualities in Ray Haffner. Out of all the suspects on the list, Stiles is the only one I could picture being able to be able to tool Jane like RJ does.

There's also a statement of Bruno Heller saying "we would be disappointed" if we find out who RJ is. This obviously can be interpreted in a lot of ways, but one could surely be: Bret Stiles is the only one capable of doing the complicated, intelligent things RJ does to fool Patrick all the time.

To conclude: I'm really split between Haffner and Stiles. It could be both of them. If I go with the facts I must say Haffner, but somehow my feeling tells me it's Stiles.

Thanks for reading :-)