Lets start by looking at the last episodes from various angles. Seriously the season 5 finale actually made everything so interesting..
--The video showing Lorelei Martins reading the suspect list.
1) let us assume it is true and legitimate and that Red John is probably 1 of the 7 suspects.
--bearing that in mind, lets proceed with reason and logic..
A) How does Red John predict the suspect list so accurately?? Do we really believe that he is a real "psychic"? The entire show, "The Mentalist" is about how psychics dont exist and that its possible to deduce most things by being observant and having an understanding of human nature. So it would be really disappointing if Red John turned out to be extraordinary. It would sort of rob the show of the respect its built up.
So, believing Red John is like Jane, maybe a little better, he still needs to be close to PJ or have a person close to him, who understands him best. The obvious choice for this accomplice would be Lisbon but we will come to that later.
If we are to consider Red John to be someone close to him, then gale bertram or bret patridge would qualify. Bertram or patridge may have infiltrated jane's hideout anytime and figured out the list themselves. I personally believe Bertram is not talented enough (but maybe, u never know).
Bret Patridge would definitely have the brains. And the resources. So Bret Patridge is on the list of possibles.
Ray Haffner seems a distant choice. He is not exactly close enough to jane though the accomplice angle still needs to be worked out.
Mcallister somehow has been left too far out of the story to be Red John but his age would be suitable for Red John.
Bret Stiles is yet another on the possibles. Through Visualize he can have a number of accomplices like Lisbon, Van Pelt and even Cho. He is also the the right character for Red John in terms of age, influence on people and intelligence. So it puts him on the list of possibles.
Kirkland would have been my favourite for Red John if he had broken into Jane's hideout before Martin's dying because that would explain how Red John accurately predicted the suspect list. But unfortunately that does not happen.
So the possibles---
Bret Stiles
Bret Patridge
Gale Bertram (an outside chance)
Now for Red John to delve into Jane's mind, it has to be someone on the team.
-Lisbon is the most obvious choice. Her history of an alcoholic father, and her hardened insides with no ties to anyone is a very vulnerable target for Red John to break through. She is lo the one closest to PJ, the only one to have been inside jane's hideout. In the season 5 finale we saw something wrong with her hand which she passed off quickly. Under our current assumption of he 7 suspect list this is not too important, but does make her a prime supect for accomplice.
-Van Pelt is another potential target with an ubknown tragedy earlier in life followed by several tragedies throughout mentalist. She is vulnerable and the fact that she joined the CBI right after PJ makes it better. And she always appreciates Jane's tricks as if she understands them.
-Cho is less expressive. But for some reason i dont believe Red John would have broken through to him especially if it was Bret Stiles. That character of Cho wouldnt accept anything like Visualize at all.
-Rigsby is a possibility. I mean, we are always seeing him asking Cho what Jane is planning and trying to do. We laugh at it in a comic manner. But he could be the accomplice pretending to be goofy but actually keeping his eyes and ears open all the time.
So for accomplices i'd go with Grace as a big possibilty followed by Lisbon and Rigsby.
Now,
2) The video is a set up by PJ. Its purpose- Debatable as we shall discuss.
---if we assume that the video was staged earlier by lorelei and Patrick before Lorelei's death, then there are two very obscure things to consider, the first one easy but the second one wierd.
A) jane believes that Red John is someone very close to him. He suspects, maybe even, Lisbon to be Red John or an accomplice.
B) The murder of Eileen Turner in the finale was Jane's work and not Red John's because if the video was staged then there's no way Rd John would have known about the memory from his head and the taking of the memory. So he has to make the last kill to make the video convincing and then enure that he disguised as red john givesbthe cd to that girl( who did the actual killing) to give to himself.
Or the easier way out is, PJ does not play the cd sent Red John in front of Lisbon. Instead he plays the staged one.
Either way this proves he does not trust Lisbon. He is probably not yet sure as to whether Lisbon is involved or not, and hence has not taken a risk yet. So this throws the case open. The 7 suspects are not the ones Jane has in mind. So this gives us a whole new list of possibilites.
We still include the earlier possibles
-Patridge
-Stiles
-bertram
Let us now understand the new possibilities.
Actually ibring only two new possibilities.
-Grace Van Pelt strikes me as a possible candidate for Red John because,
-she joined immediately after Jane.
-tragedy in past.
-does go well with Jane but not too close.
-appreciates Jane and his work.
So she's a suspect, but i dont know..she fits the role of an accomplice more likely. If my next suspect is Red John then she'd be the perfect accomplice.
-Lisbon- the prime suspect for me. And i think Jane is trying to figure out her reaction to the video. The brushing off of the question about her arm. And then, think about it, she was leading the hunt for Red John..how much more appropriate does it get? When Bosco's team got the case, she had them killed to get the case back. She has more observant abilities than she shows. She knew that killin Jane's wife and daughter would bring him to seek revenge and join the CBI, under whom?-- but her as she was already leading the case against Red John.
The purpose behind the video then beats me. Because if lisbon is red john she knows she did not make the last kill, and did not make the video. So she must now be in a little bit of confusion as to what to do next. I think Jane wants to identify this confusion. If he does that then he will know for sure about Lisbon.
Lisbon as Red John also gives Jane the dilemna. How does take revenge on the one person who has come to be his friend in all these years? But remember Bosco said something to Jane before he died? I wonder if it was something like this. Another incident is Craig O'Laughlin's death. He was probably instructed to injure Lisbon enough and not kill her. Remember Grace killed him? Grace may have been Lisbon's accomplice almost always staying behind at the office. She could have been called up by Lisbon to join as soon as Jane arrived so that she could keep an extra eye on Jane.
The main point in favour of Lisbon as Red John is that Red John seems to know so much about Jane. His ways, his thoughts. Even his breakdown and travel to Las Vegas was tracked. Lisbon probably knew thatJane did it purposely to draw out Red John. She went ahead by sending Lorelei anyways to probably bring Jane back and make it a challenge.
There are however two points against Lisbon though.
- Rosalind Harker said Roy was a man. Lisbon could have used an accomplice. We all assume it was a Red John with Harker. It may not have been. Roy could be one of many accomplices.
-lorelei says that jane and Red John should have become friends when they shook hands. In my opinion lisbon and jane are friends. So this one has me stumped. Unless Lorelei lied. Which would be like moulding evidence to suit the theory.
So i will end it here by saying that
- i believe in the second theory--that the vid was a set up to confuse Red John.
- the 7 suspect list is fake.
- Lisbon is probably Red John and Grace is her accomplice.
