Let's talk about the Season 3 finale where Jane kills the fake RJ Timothy Carter. The buildup to the shooting in the mall all started when the cop killer, Todd Johnson, said the words "tiger, tiger" to Jane before he died from being burned alive. Jane assumed that Johnson was working for RJ because RJ had recited the William Blake poem in the Season 2 finale. We now know that tiger tiger is a California club of corrupt law enforcement officers which means that RJ not only saved Jane's life in the Season 2 finale but also warned him about tiger tiger. Knowing all of this means that we can safely assume that Todd Johnson was a member of tiger tiger and was killed by another member of tiger tiger and not RJ. Jane set up an elaborate plot to catch RJ but he was actually chasing tiger tiger who probably noticed Jane's interest and that's why they framed Hightower. RJ is not involved but he does have a set of eyes in the form of Craig O'Laughlin.
Jane gets LaRoche's short list of suspects which include Gale Bertram and Craig O'Laughlin. Knowing that Bertram is tiger tiger makes it safe to assume that he lit Todd Johnson on fire and he sent the assassin to the hotel. Now I'm going to assume that Craig O'Laughlin was both a member of tiger tiger and RJ's man with his loyalties obviously lying more with RJ than tiger tiger. This explains why tiger tiger knew there were two different hotel room numbers and sent the assassin with rope. It also suggests that tiger tiger was getting desperate with Jane getting really close to figuring out who killed Todd Johnson. So at the mall, Bertram's comment "you're at the end of your rope" is really tiger tiger framing Craig O'Laughlin and more importantly RJ. RJ knew something was going on because like Jane suggested several episodes ago, RJ probably has Bertram's office bugged. RJ knew Bertram and Jane would be at the mall and I'm guessing that he thought Jane was finally going to reveal tiger tiger so he sent Timothy Carter to watch.
Instead RJ gets a call from O'Laughlin telling him that Jane's scheme is really to catch RJ. I'm guessing that up till then RJ thought that he and Jane had a better relationship because RJ saved Jane's life and gave him a tiger tiger clue that Jane was following through on. RJ realizes that tiger tiger framed him and Jane completely fell for it. RJ is angry with Jane for not being as clever as he expected him to be and very angry with tiger tiger for messing with his plans for Jane. This is why he orders O'Laughlin to kill Hightower, Lisbon, Van Pelt, the kids, the cops at the cabin to teach Jane one last lesson in humility. This is assuming that RJ was communicating to Timothy Carter though an ear communication device and the conversation Jane had with Timothy Carter was really with RJ. I don't think that RJ sent Timothy Carter to the mall to fake his own death. I think it was a decision made in anger after his plan to have Jane reveal tiger tiger fell through. I think RJ meant tiger tiger to be a gift to Jane to reach out and start a relationship.
Coming up to the current season, the events in the third season would explain why RJ gave Jane a list full of tiger tiger suspects. He's finally getting his revenge on tiger tiger by setting Jane up to expose them, getting Kirkland off his back by including him on the list and knowing that Jane will force his hand, and including Visualize for some other reason. I no longer think that the list of seven suspects was Jane's planted list for RJ to steal. I think that it is completely RJ's list as a gift to Jane. When Jane exposes tiger tiger, RJ is going to think that Jane has accepted his gift and that will make him more careless when Jane finally reaches out to him using the real list of names we saw in Jane's notebook. Now I believe RJ to be Walter Mashburn but this theory is more about the origin of the seven suspects list and an explanation of the season 3 finale so choose plausible based on those. There were always a lot of inconsistencies with season 3 and RJ's motives that are all neatly tied up with tiger tiger. My theory would explain why a statement was made suggest that Strawberries and Cream was the most important episode (and I wish I could give the exact quote).
