The letters in Thomas McAllister 's name spell out molest him as cat.  Psychotherapists theorize that "there's a desire to merge here," on Red John's part. Red John wants Patrick to be like him. And perhaps he wants to be like Patrick.  The poem Tiger Tiger is about a hunter calling out his prey - supposedly a tiger.  The hunter (in the text of the poem) is trying to merge with the tiger, while hunting.  McAllister said to Jane "I've been a hunter most my life".  As the cat (merged identity) the hunter is supposedly gaining ground (advancing) on his prey.  Knowing your enemy as the old saw goes.  In one episode, Harker Rosalind was talking to patrick jane, while red john was there.  Red John was mimicing Patrick Jane: his posture sitting crossing his legs drinking tea;  Red John was trying to merge himself with Jane.  IN red sky in the morning Red John was rubbing Jane's shoulder- which hints at Red John's psycho sexual urge to merge with Jane.  The theory is about Killers needing to return to innocence; its what drives many killers to kill again.  They feel righteous, but they sink to depths - in their mind.  To get out from the darkness, they seek routine.  McAllister is about as routine as they come.  The poem Tiger Tiger references a similarity between Tiger and Lamb - by having the same creator.  The tiger preys on animals that are similar to lambs, so the tiger wants to be like a lamb.  The hunter in the poem is seeking to merge with his prey much like Red John sought to merge with Jane.  McAllister was an avid hunter.  He played rock paper scissors with Jane.  Jane had to switch his gesture, because McAllister was trying to copy him.  Jane was seeing the competition as coy rivalry, but McAllister was getting angry about losing.  I think he snarled at Jane.  In the second episode of the show, McAllister is clearly seen as Jane's antagonist which is rivaled by Red John.  The two identities merge, in the episode titled "Red John".  In a sense, Jane has done his merging - by killing Red John he cannot merge.  Jane is at peace, and the episode titles reflect that - by excluding the color red - from the title ( of the episodes).

It seems obvious that it is McAllister, because the show has changed the title theme of Red to other colors - after Mcallister was killed by Jane.  The show's first episode contained a Red John tie-in.  Dr. Linus Wagner pretended Red John killed his partner & a woman.  The second episode revealed Mcallister - who was a sheriff that uncomfortable about Patrick Jane.  In the first episode, Wagner pretends to not know who Red John is.  In the second episode, McAllister pretends to not know who Jane is.  The theme is guilty minds can't keep a secret forever, there are tells that are visible to observers like Jane.

After 6X08 aired, so many people were posting reactions.  Most of them were fascinating to read, as a lot of us Mentalist fans had very strong reactions to how the Red John reveal was handled.  I didn’t have quite as much to say, so I never posted any theories at that time.  It’s a couple months late now, but I wanted to post my reaction.

McAllister as Red John.  I thought Haffner was gonna be RJ, but Sheriff was my second choice.  I really didn’t have good arguments why it should be him like I did for Haffner.  The best reasons for McAllister I ever saw on this site really had nothing to do with “clues.”  Because, as many of you have said, they ignored the clues.  Anyway, people questioned why they would bring back McAllister after only appearing in 1X02, unless he was RJ.  The other argument I liked was the handshake one.  The list of 7 were all people who Jane had shaken hands with.  Obviously, not all were shown on camera.  Therefore, we can likely conclude that RJ is one of the handshakes not shown on camera, otherwise, why are those guys on the list?  I thought Xander B. did a good job portraying RJ given the circumstances.  It is annoying though that we only got to see Red John once before season 6 and back then they didn’t have him cast as RJ.  I wish we would have seen RJ as much as Bertram and Stiles.

The pigeon trick.  This part didn’t bother me as much as a lot of fans.  I didn’t even think about the fact that he got past Cordero with the bird undetected until I started reading stuff online.  But I can buy that Jane could do that.  He’s a con man, magician type.  The part I don’t like about the bird thing is McAllister’s phobia.  In 6X03, he acts like anybody else would when the bird flies at him.  This is also true in 6x08, when Patrick surprises him.   Sheriff never appeared as someone who had a bird phobia.  He appeared as someone who gets startled by a bird.

There were 4 different occasions Red John could have killed Patrick (or let him die) but didn’t.  Season 2 finale, 6x03 on the roof, 6x06 with the bomb, and 6x08 in the church.  I guess this is just a general complaint for me with movies or television.  The villain never kills the hero when they have the opportunity.  Red John is so smart and has been following Patrick for years.  Yet, when Patrick wants to show him something (bread crumbs), he doesn’t seem at all worried that Patrick is trying to trick him!  You really thought Jane was helpless to hurt you in that chapel?!  Come on!

Timothy Carter scene vs. McAllister scene.  Is it just me, but wasn’t there a lot more dialogue with Carter than McAllister?  Even though I thought the Carter scene was better, I wouldn’t have wanted the Mentalist to end with the season 3 ending.  RJ wouldn’t just let Patrick kill him like Carter did.  Jane would have to outwit RJ like he did with McAllister, although the execution of it wasn’t the most creative way the writers could have done it.  The strawberries and cream line was more haunting than anything McAllister said to Jane.

How did RJ know the list of 7?  Since this was left wide open, a lot of people were unhappy.  I guess we all have our preferences about which plot lines we wish were explained.  I think it is unrealistic for EVERYTHING to be explained.  The list thing is a big part of the show so I can understand why people were upset.  Bottom line is I don’t think there are psychics in the show.  So your guess is as good as mine.  Of course, there were other things unexplained or unrevealed.   For me, I wish they would have shown a flashback to Kristina Frye being abducted, Rebecca being killed, RJ painting a smiley face,  RJ’s connection to Visualize, McAllister setting off the bombs, how he started the blake association etc.

Ending the RJ saga 8 episodes into the 6th season and then going in a new direction.  The first 5 season finales all were about RJ.  I know, I know, some of you are saying season 6 will be too, but I’m not that optimistic.  I always envisioned Jane killing RJ and then just one wrap-up episode after that.  Or Jane confronts RJ the episode before the series finale and they leave a cliffhanger.  Then the series finale picks up where they left off and Jane defeats RJ and then the last half of the episode is closure of the show.  I don’t know, am I the only surprised they didn’t do it that way?  I was never sure about who RJ was but I really thought that is how they would end the series.  These last 3 episodes feel like random episodes from season 1 through 5 except Jane, Lisbon, and Cho work for the FBI and Risby and Van Pelt are gone.  But the thing is, seasons 1 through 5 were Jane chasing RJ.  So if 6x09, 10 and 11 are not RJ related, what is the show based on?  I really don’t know how to answer that question.  It seems like there is no overarching storyline now.  Very puzzling

The quality of 6X08 as a whole.   I didn’t hate it like many Who is Red John people did.  But I probably wouldn’t put it in my list of top 10 mentalist episodes.  Now that’s sad.  To make 6X08 the best episode ever is lofty, but come on, they didn’t even make it as good as the season finales.  Some of the episodes with Lorelei were better.  06X04 was probably better.  I could go on.  I thought the ending scene of 6X08 is definitely a top 5 mentalist scene though.  The chapel and chase parts were very average.

I still love the Mentalist.  It has been my favorite tv show of all time.  I first came across it a couple of years ago.  I feel bad for those of you who watched the show since the beginning and felt shortchanged with the RJ reveal.  What really shocks me is the people who stopped watching after seeing 6X08.  I think their expectations were too high.  One bad episode, or two, or three, would never keep me from watching.  But I guess some people were only watching for the Red John mystery.

McAllister found the Red Barn (operated by Visualize), and he kills most of the members.  Two survived the Red Barn, but one was killed - in a struggle.  I suspect two people were "die-hard" Visualize members, and the other two didn't care.  The one that is left could be Haffner or Smith, but is most likely involved in law enforcement.  McAllister could be Lisbon's uncle (her mother's brother), and he set out to kill Brett Stiles.  Jane crossed him, when he publicly sought to capture him.  Red John wants to stay free, and he wants retribution.  Red John thinks his murders are for a good cause.  It is just like the season opener, when Dr. Wagner kills someone to provide money for African children suffering.  Wagner framed Red John.  Jane is allowed to live, since his wife & daughter were executed.  His survival is humilation, because Red John believes Jane needed to be punished.  Red John sees Jane's vanity as his weakness.  However, Jane was raised as a Carnie, so he can only be vain.  Red John merely drives Jane to be more vain, eventually.  Jane worked for Lisbon, and he closed cases.  Red John was planning on killing Jane, if he didn't close cases for Lisbon.  Lisbon is the key to his survival.  McAllister said he was sorry, but he wanted to tell Jane that Lisbon is the person helping him.  Those people (in the FBI) that help Red John, they are helping Lisbon be covered by any "blow back" from the Red John leaks.  She didn't intend to help Red John, but she used MCAllister as a crutch.  He is her family.  Red John took an apprentice with him, after Red Barn.  The apprentice is still out there.  In fact, the apprentice could be Lisbon.  McAllister could have used her to get closer to Stiles, but he got to the farm. Perhaps, she was raped by Visualize members (instead of the dead mother theory) - on the farm.  She fought back, and she killed the first Red John victims.  Red John is someone who will take responsibility for what happened.  She cant say what happened.  Local law enforcement knows about it, but they wont say.  Stiles wants them to stay quiet.  They keep all the evidence, in case stiles breaks his promise.  His promise to make up for his indiscretion.  He doesn't want any bad publicity, so he helps every cop that knows about the drugging.  Most of the evidence is circumstantial without the victims testimony and the police reports.  They say it was Red John, and nobody looks at Lisbon or whoever killed those people.  Either way Visualize & Red John crossed paths - in the Red Barn.  It was Red John's supposed first time killing.

Sadly, I think our last, best hopes for revisiting Red John, at least anytime soon has gone with the title of 6x13 being revealed to be 'Black Helicopters'.

I was holding out hope that the withholding of the title of the episode was meaningful and would come with 'Red' as the colour within it...I fear we may indeed be stuck with 6x8 as the close to the arc...sad days.

Thomas McAllister is old enough to be located in police position around the time of Red Barn.  He is related to the true leader of Visualize.  McAllister is either the son of Visualize's former leader or another type of relation.  He decided to start killing Visualize members to test himself.  He may have covered for the ex-leader (executed) of visualize (if he is not it) by showing up to help make it go away.  He may have taken the blame for the killings, and he could be covering his tracks or someone he cares about.  Robert Kirkland was onto Visualize as a Red John associate, and he ended up going crazy.  He killed people, because he thought they knew who red john is.  What he was trying to do was find his brother who he believes joined Visualize.  Brett Stiles supposedly had the sheriff investigating Timothy Farragut's (original Visualize guru) death executed, because it was staged to look like an accident.  Lisbon's mom was killed by a drunk driver, and Timothy Farragut's (ex leader of Visualize) fatal accident involved alcohol.  There is a small chance that those two are related.  However, Farragut's death was ruled an accident.  Somebody wanted retribution for Stiles executions.  Red John is possibly someone struggling against Visualize.  Jane offers Red John a chance to kill Stiles, but he must be sacrificed - or there is no deal.  Jane can make it happen, but Red John has to die for killing his wife and daughter.

One last attempt to convince all the stubborn people who STILL think McAllister wasn't Red John. This feels like talking to kindergarten children..

McAllister was absolutely terrified of dying. All he had to do was tell Patrick Jane the truth (that he wasn't RJ) and he could have lived (which McAllister wanted more than anything).
Jane is not stupid, he would have believed him if he started telling the truth. McAllister could have saved himself. He didn't, because he is Red John. He knew Patrick knows it, he knew there is no point of denying it.

If anyone doesn't understand that, then you have the mental age of a child.

I don't care if I get 30 dislikes, just use your logic and common sense people! Peace.:)