As we stand now, I think there is a higher possibility that McAlister was the real RJ and that part of the show is over, although I do also believe there is a decent chance it was another situation like the one with Timothy Carter, and RJ is still out there.  I hope this is the case and at the end of the next episode we see Van Pelt and Rigsby dead (since we know they are leaving the show) under a RJ smiley face.

The rest of this post will focus on my thoughts assuming McAlister was RJ and the hunt is over.

Even though I thought the last episode was awful, and the whole story in season six felt very rushed I think the mistake was made with the selection for the lists in season 7.  I remember watching that episode and thinking to myself who the hell are some of these guys (McAlister and Smith) when their names were announced.  If I was a writer on the show I would have selected the final 7 suspects to be the following, (in alphabetical order):

1) Bunting, Tolman - Probably too minor of a character only appearing in one episode to end up being RJ, but the intelligence he showed in that episode would have at least made him believable to be on the list.  I loved the part of his episode of him and Jane playing chess without a board as it showed the true capability of their mind to memorize where every chess piece was and not forget.

2) Haffner, Ray - He has/was for the longest time one of my prime suspects for RJ.  The scene of him sitting in the office with Cho always struck me as peculiar and suspicious.  He asks Cho if Cho thinks Patrick is smarter than him, then asks Cho if he thinks Jane is smarter than Haffner himself.  After Cho tells him that he does indeed think Patrick is smarter, Haffner gives a nice little half smile almost as if to say "yeah right" and then agrees with Cho.

3) Mars, Ellis - Like Bunting, maybe too minor of a character to be RJ, but there was a beautiful irony about him that I loved as a potential RJ.  In his episode, Mars comes in as an aloof psychic who appears to be of minor intelligence.  This is exactly the opposite of what we would expect RJ to be like and what a beautiful trick that would be on Patrick to carry yourself around him to fool him like that.  The only thing that doesn't really fit with him is the fact that he is not the best looking of guys, and it is somewhat difficult to see women "falling in love with him" (especially a woman at the level of the gorgeous Emmanuelle Chriqui).

4) Mashburn, Walter - In his first episode he is almost taunting Patrick with a catch me if you can attitude.  When it turns out later in the episode that he didn't commit the murder, I was sort of wondering if maybe he was talking about something else, aka he's Red John.  Also his enormous wealth would make it a lot easier for him to accomplish some of the things RJ does. To make things even better with him as RJ is the fact that Lisbon slept with him and the irony/twist that would be.  

5) Partridge, Brett - Don't really have to say much about why I included him on this list as many people have long suspected him.  He's in the first episode, in that episode Jane describes RJ as a showman and Partridge is over the top in demonstrating how RJ killed the wife and doctor, and of course there is the voice comparison.  But one of my favorite parts about this character is this.  He appears in three episodes before season 6 and in each one he is collecting evidence at a supposed RJ murder scene.  In the first two the murders turn out to not be committed by RJ, but at the scene he says they were (or he at leasts makes it apparent that he believes they were).  In his third appearance he states that it's not a RJ scene, and it turns out that it is one.  I've always thought it was odd (maybe suspicious) that he was wrong on all three.

6) Stiles, Brett - Leader of visualize to which RJ was once a part of.  Appeared to be smart enough to be RJ and has disciples at visualize where he manipulates people like RJ does.  He does seem a little old to be RJ, and after reading posts on here I like him better has RJ's dad/adopted dad, etc. 

7) The last one I couldn't decide between Bertram and Virgil Minelli.  I was leaning towards Bertram because he had some really creepy moments in season 6, but I would be fine with Minelli as well.

Hi folks, long time lurker first time poster. Ray Haffner was my bet and I'm beyond disappointed with the reveal.

So much so I've taken to my rarely updated blog to moan about how Mentalist has jumped the proverbial finny thing:
http://simonkeeganmedia.wordpress.com/2013/11/26/his-red-right-hand/

I don't mention the name of Red John since it hasn't been on in England yet.

I used Haffner just to easily find my post later hahaha

I guess we all agree that the "RED JOHN" episode is not among the top 100. However I'm thinking about the three episodes (RED JOHN Trilogy) ... they have a lot of tricks and events <can make one excellent episode> but instead we got very slow paced three of them and have much more fillers with no real need for them that ask questions other than giving answers

- Bret and the blood scene!!
- Ray and silencing a woman!!
- Jane can find FBI agent location whenever he want to - may be he asked the reception about Reed's location hahaha
- Gale and the creepy voice (how did he know about it??) -Read it here to be honest
- The FBI can listen to Jane's calls but cannot track Jane's location whereas Grace can, so they followed a bug in Lisbon's car then "magically" arrested the guy holding Jane's phone
- The car is bugged and Jane have know idea ... so, FBI has to be dumb enough to show him that he is followed


any other ideas??

Is Ray Haffner really deceased??
Can't the trick be the same with what the sherrif did?
I just can't wrap around my head that someone as careful as Red John would be so careless as to mark himself !! I mean... A leader needs to be distinguished !
Plus, this should be RJ offering Jane closure, since he cannont talk him into joining him...
THIS CAN'T BE OVER, too soon, too fast, too disappointing :(

I still believe that Haffner would be the best candidate for RJ.
 Anyway, the show is over and that's the decision of Heller. Should say, the ending was really disappointing but the overall show was good. There were many interesting episodes. At the end nobody cared about the identity of RJ anymore and that's OK, because it was obvious that nobody may be so cunning in this era of technology. Red John was smuggling in the houses of people and killing them and no camera recordings, no neighbors... just ridiculous. So, lets say that we watched a sometimes good sometimes bad detective story, where one of the cases was about the notorious killer red john. Obviously they could come up with an interesting ending.

I've been reading these forums for a while and I agree with the collective here that the final reveal was disappointing. Mainly due to the fact that none of the questions were answered and none of the clues throughout the five seasons turned out to be relevant. 

In light of this I think we should do our own endings. In my scenario Ray Haffner would be Red John and it would be him with the 3 dot tattoo and the fear of pigeons instead of McAllister. This is my script for the church scene, everything else in the episode I'd keep the same:

HAFFNER: You didn't know me you don't know me. You have no idea.

JANE: I know you're an orphan, I know your parents abandoned you. I know that made you grow up with a feeling of abandonment, which is why you crave commitment so much.

HAFFNER: I don't crave commitment, people just give it to me on a plate.

JANE: You don't crave commitment? Isn't that why you made all the members of your precious Blake Association get a tattoo. A permanent, incriminating tattoo. If the secret ever got out it would be easy to incriminate the entire society and everything you built would come crashing down. Not very logical is it?

HAFFNER: Look at Gale over there. As you can see I tie up loose ends pretty well.

JANE: Are you tying up loose ends, or preventing a further feeling of abandonment?

HAFFNER: Oh easy there Freud! Like you said the mark is incriminating. I have to tie up loose ends and sometimes cut off loose shoulders.

JANE: The mark, that's what you call it? That's what Renfrew was trying to write. Renfrew didn't actually know your real name  but he knew you were marked with the tattoo. He was writing "HE IS MARKED"

HAFFNER: You know I actually came back to the scene of my crime, I could have taken that off but I thought it would be funny to have that confuse you. What theories did your bungling detectives come out with? He is many? He is married? He is many times smarter than I am? You still don't know how I fooled you do you? How did I survive that bomb?

JANE: The bomb gag is simple. The first was a concussion grenade, knocked everyone out...

(flashback shows Haffner running away and throwing the grenade)

... The second lethal bomb that killed McAllister and Stiles only after you dragged Bertram, Smith and Me out of harms way.

HAFFNER: Correct

JANE: Faking your own death was easy. Brett Partridge was Blake Association. His job gave him access to the primary DNA database. He switched your DNA records with a body that you had on ice, a surrogate, and you brought the body to my house in the trunk of your car and you put it alongside Stiles and McAllister.

HAFFNER: Very good, your hindsight is 20/20.

JANE: You even killed Stiles, he was like a father to you!

HAFFNER: A father? Are you kidding me? I'll admit there was a time when I respected Bret. He could make anyone do anything. I once saw him gain someone's lifetime commitment using just kinds words and a flower. Taught me a lot about the law of reciprocity. You give a little, and gain a lot in return.

JANE: A trick you used all your life. Maybe you should be thanking him instead of blowing him into pieces.

HAFFNER: It wasn't a big loss. My respect for him diminished when I learned over time that he actually believed all the crap he was spewing. He was just a loon.

JANE: A loon? Coming from someone that's been killing women for 25 years?

HAFFNER: They shouldn't have said the things they said about me. Their men should learn to keep their mouths shut.

JANE: And that warrants killing people does it?

HAFFNER: Deep down you understand. We're not that different you know Patrick. Lorelei is right. You should have accepted my hand of friendship when I offered it.

JANE: You mean WAS, and Lorelei WAS wrong. I'm nothing like you.

HAFFNER: I mean is, Lorelei is still alive. Faking a death is easy when you got disciples in forensics. The CD was filmed after you whittled down the names and left the pictures in your apartment ripe for anyone to break in and take a peek. You didn't actually think I was psychic did you? No it was all part of the game. I was just planting the seeds of doubt into your mind. And I must say it was fun.

JANE: I've been planting seeds of my own.

HAFFNER: Oh yeah?

JANE: Yes, in fact just a few hours ago a planted bird seeds all round this church.

(Patrick throws bird seeds on Haffner, put his hands to his mouth and makes a loud pigeon call. Masses of pigeons from outside the church descend onto Haffner. Haffner shakes in a panic, drops the gun and falls to the floor. Patrick picks up the gun)

Oh my god... What a big disappointment.
Six seasons for this?? And the confession that baker gave RJ his voice.
So they had no idea who Red John is.
Macallister? 1 fucking episode before season 6.
Great! The whole show doesn't make sense for me.