Who is Red John?

Theories of WhereisBH (10)

Teresa Lisbon is dead.

Patrick Jane is currently in an asylum for the insane.

Lisbon died at the hands of Red John at the end of S6E1.  How else can we explain why RJ didn’t kill her?  RJ always draws the smiley face when he kills and it is present at Lisbon’s death site, on her face.  A very personal message for Patrick Jane.  Jane at that point loses his sanity and begins to hallucinate.  He wants to believe that it is drawn on her face because he can’t deal with the responsibility that he is cause of the death of another who is so close to him.  He wants to wash off the smiley face because he wants to wash away the reality of Lisbon’s death and believe that Lisbon is still alive.  Are we to believe that RJ is afraid of birds or that he just wanted to show Jane that he is in control of the situation?  Jane has been hallucinating everything from S6E2 on.  In S6E2 he believes that his original psychiatrist Sophie Miller is murdered by RJ but the murder is not typical of RJ.  A note is placed on the refrigerator and her head is placed in the oven.  RJ is always proud of his work and as Jane has stated, the smiley face is always the first thing you see because he is proud of his work.  Jane is back in the mental hospital, and he refuses to accept that Sophie Miller is again treating him.  So, he believes that RJ has killed her but in a way which alerts him subconsciously that the murder is not real.  As Jane has stated before, he has revealed things to Miller he doesn’t remember and during his first mental breakdown she was able to analyze him deeper than anyone has ever been able to.  A secretive man like Jane would not be comfortable with anybody understanding the true Jane that well.  E3:  Jane dreams that Rigby and Van Pelt get married, moving on with their lives in much the same way that his subconscious (through Charlotte) tried to tell him to move on.  E4:  Jane's subconscious reveals to himself that Hightower is involved with RJ (her statement that RJ is cleaning house).  E5:  Why would RJ need to bug CBI?  He has access to the building (if we believe it is McAllister) because he meets with Bertram and it was not presented as an unusual event for him to be in the CBI Building.  The private detective who approaches Cho looks like Summer and this is either RJ showing he has the ability to influence Cho or Jane believing that Cho is not the rock of the group.  E6-8:  they speak for themselves.  They wander like a hallucination.  How would Jane contact and set up the meet in his house as quickly as he did, in two days.  He is able to contact Stiles and “convince” him to attend the meeting.  Why would Stiles attend?  It is not to his advantage and places him in Jane’s control.  Why the time between the shot and the explosion?  The time sequence is off in these episodes and they suffer from being rushed and contrived to get to the house.  Then the episodes suddenly slow down and we are to believe that Jane is being held and prevented from getting to the final meeting place?  Then the ridiculous chase scene?  Why no fundamental answers to the RJ mystery?   

The new beginning or two year break.  Huh?  A new beginning with all of the old characters?  The new characters they’ve added:  Abbott who is suppose to be a FBI supervisor but is really the hospital administrator who we barely see.  Fischer who is suppose to be his FBI handler but is really the new psychiatrist who tries to first reach out to Jane (the island) and then when that is not affective, she exerts her power over him by trying to control him (the strict Fischer at the FBI office).  So who is with Jane at the FBI?  Cho and Lisbon.  This is to re-enforce the concept in Jane’s mind that he is not responsible for Lisbon’s death, but wants to believe she is still alive.  The idea of the FBI shutting down the CBI makes no sense.  How can a federal agency close a state agency?  Can’t be done.  But if Lisbon is dead, then the CBI team would have to disband.  Lisbon is the glue holding the team together.  When she was replaced by Hightower, Jane did everything in his power to have her re-instated.  If Jane were responsible (at least in his mind) for Lisbon’s death, it would close his relationship with the CBI.  He has far more information on RJ, at this point, than the CBI does, he is only still at the CBI because of Lisbon and the stray piece of information which comes their way.  He promised to keep her safe in the first season and has failed.

So Jane kills McAllister and then goes off to an island for two years where no one can find him.  Yet, Fischer is not only able to locate him, but is able to strike up a personal relationship with him.  It is as if Fischer has joined the hospital staff (after two years?) and is introduced to Jane and he relates this through his belief that he is on the island.  But that relationship is limited and then she reveals her true self, that of a person with power over Jane who tries to control him (the drugs to bring his psychotic events under control).  Again, she is a person who is in Jane’s life but not willingly in Jane’s life.  He sees her on a daily basis but Patrick Jane could not read her for who she is?  An admission from his subconscious about where he really is.   

How can we explain the lack of public reaction to Jane murdering a second man (who happens to be a police officer) and yet nobody discusses it (apart from Abbott and Fischer)?  This never made the papers?  Lisbon is OK with this even though she has always maintained that Jane would not kill RJ?  Not only did Jane commit a revenge killing, he did it twice.  That wouldn’t be national news?  Wouldn’t Karen Cross want to interview him, hold shows about Jane and his actions?  Make as much out of this action as possible to revive a career that Jane messed with?
 

So Lisbon is dead and Jane is back in the mental hospital. 

Finally who is Red John?  I would suggest that RJ is Brett Partridge.  He’s not dead because he killed Lisbon.  He is the only other person we know was in the house even if it is implied that there is someone else.  That someone was created by Jane's mind.  Partridge has been battling Jane from the very beginning.  The RJ who is the master manipulator allows the rest of the world to know him as Brett Partridge.  Jane insulted him on TV and RJ killed his family.  Jane is condescending to him (as Partridge) every time they meet at work.  As Partridge, he resents the relationship Jane has with Lisbon.  He lures Lisbon to the abandon house and then kills her.  His motive is to prove to Jane that he is smarter and has won the game the two have been playing for ten years.
 

The season finale will be Partridge coming to the hospital and saying in the RJ voice “Hello, Patrick.  I told you I’d be back to visit.”

Argue on this theory or rate it.
plausible
unlikely

I’ve argued in a number of postings that I do not believe what is going on in the current reboot is real.  I have suggested why I believe this, i.e. the lack of logic of the story line post S6E7.  Issues:  how could the FBI close down the CBI?  The CBI (if it existed) would have been established by California state law.  The FBI could have come in an arrested all CBI employees (if it were able to get a court order to do so) but it would never have been able to get a court order to close the CBI.  The CBI is a state agency whose existence is based on that state’s legislative power.  That ability simply does not exist under US constitutional system.  If Lisbon, Chou, etc. were out of a job (fired), they would also be in jail or on trial.  They would not be working other jobs (and certainly not FBI agents).  If the story line was that they were fired or quite, that would be logical, not that their jobs were abolished.  Also, the FBI is a bureaucracy and follows rules.  Chou had to go through agent training before he is an actual FBI agent, Lisbon would have to do the same.  I agree that none of the FBI personnel appear to be “fleshed out;” they seem like stock characters that have been introduced and intentionally not developed.  This might be a timing issue (S6E11 could be argued that the writers are doing so with Fischer but we then need to believe that the story is really post-RJ and the writers are pushing the triangle story line).If this is all in PJ’s mind as a result of the blast, it’s his delusion. 

One last thought:  there was a discussion of what type of woman is PJ’s type of woman.  If this is his delusion, one could argue that Markham is his type of woman because she was a criminal and PJ recognized her as such.  His decision to expose her does not take away from his attraction to her.  PJ’s wife certainly understood he was a conman/criminal.  If he is delusional would he not reveal his true self?

Argue on this theory or rate it.
plausible
unlikely

Linus Wagner was present at the beginning of season 1.  He impersonated Red John to commit his murder.  Why didn’t RJ murder him or have him murdered by one of his followers?  RJ had the ability to get at his victims in all different types of circumstances and does not tolerate insults.  Jane went back to visit Wagner so we know he’s alive.  What’s their (RJ and LW) relationship and why is he still alive?  Probably not RJ, but why is he still alive?

Argue on this theory or rate it.
plausible
unlikely

If you haven't been on the CBS website recently there's a behind the scenes interview with BH.  Hopefully this link will work:  http://www.cbs.com/shows/the_mentalist/video/YucQsDCUM5GL9PJSw7RWQiNoLbFdyB7R/behind-the-scenes-moving-up-to-the-fbi/   Appartently he wants to explore the relationship between Libson and PJ.  This is after both actors have repeately stated that it is a brother/sister relationship.  We have seen this "relationship" idea being pushed, but if RJ is still out there (as we all hope) was there really a need to move the location from the CBI to the FBI?  Why?  This moves the location completely away from RJ's hunting grounds.  I believe that RJ is still alive, but that he has not done all of the RJ killings, that his followers have done so under his orders.  I have never trusted the list and am not inclined to believe BH when he tells us RJ is on the list or anything else about the show.  I think this link is one more indication that we can not believe what BH tells us in interviews.  I have believed it was Partridge in the past but now think I need to re-examine our clues.  I think that BH is playing the long con on the audience.

Argue on this theory or rate it.
plausible
unlikely

All shows run re-runs during the Christmas break. What's new this year is that several CBS shows have chosen to do mid-season "crisis" or re-boots or re-directs of their shows (Elementary, Person of Interest, etc.). Normally the shows simply run episodes from the previous or current season. I agree that it is interesting that S5E2 was chosen. Remember that this show centers on Jane's sub-conscience, through the appearance of his daughter, telling him to move on from RJ. We can take this two ways: BH telling us to move on or the theory that has already been out here, that Jane is in the hospital because of the explosion. It doesn't make sense that he has been hallucinating since S5E2, it makes more sense that he is in the hospital as a result of the explosion. I think that we are getting more red herrings and BH is running a con on the viewers. I still haven’t made up my mind if RJ is dead and there will be a new underlying mystery or if Jane is in a coma. Both are the strongest theories currently. .

Argue on this theory or rate it.
plausible
unlikely

One of the reasons I’m having problems with S6E8 is because of how the entire RJ revealed is handled.  The Mentalist is not an action hero show (although Chou and Rigby provide action); it’s a show about how PJ uses his mind to solve puzzles, RJ being the greatest one he has ever faced.  What do we get in S6E8?  A long chase scene.  Huh?!?  Where’s the great PJ flourish and reveal?  Where is the gathering of the suspects (BY PJ) not a call from one of the suspects to arrange the meet.  PJ does not seem in control.  We then go to S6E9 (the “re-boot”) and PJ gives the flourish of trapping the dope dealer.  It’s there for the re-boot but not for the greatest puzzle in his life?  One might argue the most important espiode of the series?  This is what is giving me problems.  I would be OK with McAllister if we the viewers had been let in on the process.  If the writers, through PJ, had provided us with a "normal" story for the ending.  Is it a normal espiode?  Of course not, its the RJ reveal.  Why did I fell like I was watching a different show?  After all, there are no psychics, right, BH?  So I am left wondering what is going on and if the RJ story is over.  Is that the plan?  To leave the audience out in the cold, wondering?

Argue on this theory or rate it.
plausible
unlikely

I'd read somewhere that CBS never renewed the Mentalist until after the final show of the season aired.  I also read that BH was concerned that the show was being cancelled after the third season and that the Carter ending was suspose to be the actual ending if the show didn't get renewed.  Anyone have more info on this?

Argue on this theory or rate it.
plausible
unlikely
Follow us on