Hey guys, just wanna share some of my thoughts abt why i think it make sense for mcallister, among the 7 suspects, to be red john. Some of them are alrdy shared, some of them are of hindsight but dont mind me, im just dishing out everything on my mind now cause i might not watching the mentalist anymore since theres no more red john lol.
1. he has the oldest appearance in the show.
2. he has the most free time as a sheriff in Napa, compared to the rest except maybe partridge.
3. in season 6 epi 2, jane notes that he walks very quietly, similarly to the case where they first meet face to "face" at the end of season 2 (well, mask).
4. sophie miller mentioned that jay roth (red john) is middle aged and in good health, that pretty much rules out bertram and smith (somewhat fat), brett and haffner (too young), and stiles (too old), only mcallister and kirkland qualify.
5. he shaved his moustache from season 1. Why is that? Why not keep his original appearance? Might be nothing but i feel its possibly because he's gonna be involved in something big that requires his appearance to look "clean", like being red john himself.
6. he's the only one who kept quiet when jane shared his reason of gathering the remaining 5 at his house, the rest are either amused or skeptical. Abit of a giveaway here.
7. when jane asked him to meet him as a "favor", nothing else being mentioned, mcallister was casually calm, and immediately deduces that it is about red john. How could he know that, among other things? The other people were curious and/or frustrated, and they were also provided a half-truth (to give the latest info about red john). Giveaway also, on the writers' part.
8. when lorelei named the list of suspects, she addresses mcallister as "sheriff thomas mcallister". She didn't say "agent reede smith" or "agent robert kirkland" or "director gale bertram", why? Because mcallister is red john, and he is an authoritarian, enough for her to subconsciously address him as "sheriff".
9 when the bomb went off and it conveniently "kills" mcallister as well, him being one of the suspects with the tattoo, its quite the giveaway also. How can they kill off one of the strong suspects without explaining? Something is off, and we all know why now.
All in all, i think jane already had a hunch that mcallister is red john the moment he called the 5 suspects to meet him. And im just disappointed that the writers decided not to disclose how red john knew abt the suspects list, kinda lame really. But overall nice episode, especially the part where jane kills him, really brings out the "revenge kill" feeling in us lol.
