Leaked image from the real 'Red John' episode that will air this Sunday.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Ig1jdak7Nus/TU7b1J2lQCI/AAAAAAAAANM/B3wTj5gRiPM/s1600/pigeons_gone_mad.jpg

Wow. 
Were all Britney spears. 
That episode was in fact real.... 

I honestly don't know who to blame... 

Red John 
or
Bruno Heller

My opinion was that this episode, was just horrible. Red John is a badass killer, not a pussy. Get your facts straight Bruno.  

NOTHING was answered in that episode. Just a bunch of running around. 
I say, lets re-do the episode, or [spoiler] is not Red John, and its one if his awesome tricks. 

I'm extremely one pissed of Mentalist fan. 
And I love this show to death...

Wow, that pigeon is kind of a celebrity now. Soon we will start following its fashion choices or scandals from newspapers. I can't wait to see its next project, a movie maybe?

I never thought a pigeon would be more successful than me.

I just want to say thank you to all the Partridge fans out there; I had planned to come here on Sunday to make fun of the Partridge fans, but upon watching the genius upcoming episode penned by Heller, I have cancelled that plan. My primary reason for cancellation is that so many Partridge fans wrote more entertaining theories than the insipid, idiotic, unimaginative, cartoonish, anticlimactic, inane, and unbelievably stupid and foolish piece of shit episode I just watched. At the end of the day, it is not about who Red John is, it is about the journey, the story, and the methods by which Red John accomplished his ingenuity.

I do not think that it would have been asking for too much for the Mentalist handlers to have dedicated three consecutive episodes to the Red John saga, primarily focusing on just our main antagonist and our main protagonist! Even if Reede Smith had been Red John, just give us a satisfying explanation. At the very least, we want these questions answered:

(I) Why was Partridge the first to die?

This wasn't explained. We were just told that Partridge was a member of the Blake Association in charge of evidence contamination; duh, almost everyone knew that! Why would Red John kill the man who helped him clean up and manipulate crime scenes. Dare I say that Partridge was one of the most important members of the Blake Association.

(II) What was Red John's connection to Visualize?

(III) Why didn't they include that chilling, monotone, high-pitch bad-ass voice of Red John, that is often accompanied by that awe inspiring music? 

 Most baddies in movies or TV traditionally have low baritone voices; Red John is the only bad-ass motherfucker I know of who can make me cringe with fear, just by listening to his high-pitched voice.
That's insane.

(IV) Why didn't they explain the gunshot in the bomb scene? Who shot who and who yelled out "no"?

The explanation we received was that there were two bomb explosions. The first was a non-fatal one that simply knocked everyone out; then Red John pulled Patrick, Reede, and Gale to safety while he detonated the second bomb, effectively killing Bret and Ray. But if the first bomb knocked everyone out, how come Red John was not also knocked out? A possible explanation is that Oscar helped Red John.

(V) Why didn't Red John kill Lisbon?

This would have made sense if Haffner were Red John; to those who used the pigeons as an excuse, recall that Red John had no problem painting her face with blood, so, evidently, he could have killed her.

I have tons of other questions from earlier seasons, but I do have neither the time nor energy to list them. Finally, to fans of all other suspects, thank you for your steadfast commitments and theories. 

Let's think on this one long and hard for a minute.

First, pre-supposing that the episode that is leaked IS the real episode.

If that's true then we must keep the following things in mind:

1. The Mentalist is a police procedural show that appears on CBS, the same network that brings us the CSI, NCIS, Criminal Minds, etc. I would hardly call any of their episode's crescendos shocking or clever. Just amusing, somewhat.
2. The Mentalist is not like Castle, where there are twists and turns, followed by twists and turns, and the final whodunit is the both the first and last person we'd suspect. Castle is much lighter, whereas the Mentalist is very dark. Jane's obsession/hurt over his family's brutal murder haunts and colors everything he does and experiences.
3. Every Mentalist episode usually boils down to Patrick knowing slight ahead of time the who/how dunnit because there is usually ONE thing he deduces before anyone else. In Red John, it was the explosions, the bombing was "theater" and Brett Partridge's having been part of Blake and switching out the Sheriff's DNA. Although not specifically addressed in the Red John episode, Patrick must have known that Sheriff was lying in the house when he denied being Red John, because of what he said about needing to look Smith and Bertram in the eye in the next episode.
If you were to watch it back again, over and over, you'd see that the episode in itself isn't bad. It's actually quite good, poetic. But when you relate it to all the other seasons and episodes, very few things "connect." I think this way, Heller can move Jane's character past his loss, Red John, and forward to Jane doing what Jane does best, being completely emotionally detached from the cases he consults on and solving them faster and better than anyone else.

I'm also wondering if any of us here, who are true fans of the show and its characters could have been satisfied by any ending. You think it's possible that Heller purposely made a mediocre, melodramatic Red John finale on purpose, just because the expectations could not possibly have been lived up to?

A minority, but perhaps plurality, of voters are relieved it isn't Partridge. But even some Sheriff voters are disappointed at the hum drum ness of it all. Obviously the lead up to the reveal was more satisfying than the reveal itself. Maybe it was meant to be.

I am really sorry a lot of you didn't like the episode and it didn't live up to your expectations. :( For me, I thought this would be another 'Lost' ending but I was happy with the outcome. A couple of points about the episode that I'd like to put out there. I welcome any discussion on these. *SPOILERS*

- PJ did not smuggle a pigeon into the church - that would be ridiculous. He took the pigeon feed into the church, which attracted the pigeon he already knew was there...he noticed it when he went there in the previous episode.

- RJs voice. The voice RJ uses to speak to PJ in the ep was different than we have known it to be the entire time we have known this character and it was different to the RJ voice. I therefore assume this is his normal voice and as such matches with the description of 'he is well spoken'. As for the RJ voice this matched exactly when  he said 'The game is over and I won'. Therefore this voice was always put on by RJ. The reasoning for this? 'His sense of theater' as PJ observed from day one.

RJ being scared of pigeons - Many people have found this ridiculous, however for me it reinforces that RJ is just a man not a monster. Yes a deranged sociopath, but still human and not a work of fiction,

RJ being scared of dying - Again reinforcing the human element. I think he is genuinely surprised that PJ has the stones to kill him. From what he says, 'you're not like me, you're a good man', he genuinely thinks PJ will not follow through with this and explains his pathetic response in calling 911 and running away, he truly did not expect it to end like this. Also just because he kills does not mean he is not afraid to die?! In fact he is desperate to stay alive because he wants to keep killing, and worse than that he knows that PJ outsmarted him in the end.

Bret Partridge not being RJ - I must admit my top hope for RJ was that it was Ray Haffner with Brett Stiles as his father. However there were a lot of cool theories on this site such as the Kirkland twins etc that would have been cool. For me Partridge would have been a disappointment. Because he was the obvious choice...voice-yes, access to police information etc...maybe, charisma...no. Ok I know that RJ didn't appear overtly charismatic when appearing as his character but the actor sold it to me that RJ was a great pretender, a true sociopath who was able to hide their true disturbed identity with the appearance of a hick sheriff who couldn't win a game of rock, paper, scissors. Secondly Partridge was a great red herring. I was always doubting myself thinking it can't be him it's too obvious. However, Heller made him so convincing as a suspect (apart from the obvious lack of charisma and power which is why it never sat quite right for me) that I couldn't ever truly discount him. I wonder if some people wanted it to be him so they could say 'I was right from the very beginning'.
I was also happy the writers didn't go back on what they said about the list being legit. I would have hated another 'it's not purgatory, oh no wait, we lied, it was!'.

- He is Mar - It has always been unclear as to whether Jared Renfrew wrote he is Mar or he is Mac. This requires no explanation in my mind...he was trying to write a variation (didn't know the correct spelling) of RJs name. 

PJ won the game - For me the show followed through with its theme, PJ can not be bested. Heller did a good job of convincing us that PJ was lagging behind RJ with no clue what to do next however a highlight for me was that PJ truly was smarter than RJ. The years he spent profiling and studying RJ paid off and used RJs insecurities to manipulate and best him.

RJ is just a 'guy' -  Bruno Heller said he felt like some people would ultimately be disappointed because RJ was 'just a guy'. Some people were disappointed that the show spent years building up this manipulative, charismatic monster and were let down by who it was and the fact there was no explanation. However for me the actions of RJ were explained in those last 15 mins. The guy was a sociopath and a great pretender, and all his actions were facilitated by the powerful Blake Association. Why did he kill PJ's wife and child, because of what PJ has said all along...his deluded sense of grandeur, he couldn't take the insult of what PJ said about him on that chat show.

For me RJ was a great choice and I felt like the years I spent watching and waiting to discover his identity paid off. The only disappointment for me....that damn promo!

Oh man, I love this website! This stuff is actually better than The Mentalist itself.


Now, apart from what happened in the "Red John Episode" (which to my mind is about a fifty fifty case - parody or real deal), one question:

Has this ever happened before?
Has an episode of a major TV series been leaked on the internet, ever?

Seems no coincidence to me that this has to happen right now, when things concerning RJ are getting extremely tense.

Are the makers of this idiots, or are they geniouses who hooked us like fishes? We will see about that in two days.