The perfect way to end Season 6:

In the finale, have the FBI team get caught up in an intense series of serial murders. The killer taunts them with letters, messages, etc. throughout the case.
Towards the end, have the killer send them a letter in a cypher that tells them where his next victim is, and also gives them how much time they have until that victim will die.
Time is ticking, and the whole team is attempting to break the cypher to no avail. Suddenly, Patrick figures it out.
We see a quick series of flashbacks that explain how it was the first cypher his father ever taught him.
The team rushes to the location that Patrick figured out.

They break the door down on the front of the building/house.

As they break the door down, Bach's Prelude in C (the song that Rosalind Harker always played for Red John/that Red John always played to mess with Patrick) begins to play.

They search frantically through the house/building, and finally they reach the end of a hallway with a closed door.

The camera angle switches to inside the room at the end of the hall, and we see the door open and the team enter with their flashlights/guns. Patrick is behind them all. Finally, we see everyone holster their weapons and Patrick enters.

We see a look of fear and worry on his face - the look he gets at a real Red John crime scene.

We then cut to a shot of Rosalind Harker playing the end of Prelude in C on piano.
The camera pans out, and we begin to see a man grab a teacup from a table.

Cut to black as the last note of the song plays.

"Executive Producer -- Bruno Heller"

Then he has to spend a whole season making up for the pathetic shitshow of the Red John reveal from this season.

So Sunday's episode wasn't horrible.  It was fun.  And, unlike the last several episodes, it felt like a complete thought.  

For me, much of the evidence that we weren't through with the RJ storyline was in how poorly it was handled and, then, how clumsy and awkward the post-RJ episodes have been.  It is these things that gives us room to theorize and makes it easier for us to make the leap that it is all subterfuge to make way for a grand twist or reveal.

If all of the other episodes were as good as this one (and it wasn't perfect), it would be much harder for me speculate that we are being led up the garden path because I could buy this as a genuine effort at revamping The Mentalist.  

So I find myself wondering - can I get on board with a decent 2.0 Mentalist (that gets renewed) and accept McRJ as the real deal?  

I'm not sure I'm built that way.  

It would be easier if, for instance, the new character wasn't named "mar"-cus.  It can't be a coincidence that one of the MAJOR CLUES THAT IS NOT ADDRESSED AT ALL IN THE RJ REVEAL is in a new character name.  I'm not suggesting that he is RJ but rather that Heller is purposefully poking the bear.  If they are SO ADAMANT that the show is through with RJ, why do this?  

For now, I will find solace in the fact that this was at least a good episode and perhaps a renewal isn't totally out of hand.  

Damn Heller -- he is fucking with us or what?  To go and name a new character MARCUS PIKE  -- really?  At this point?  

Because if he has no intention on fixing this McRJ crap, he should have named Lisbon's boyfriend something more generic, like Dan Brown, okay? 

NOT....He Is MAR[cus]!

Marcus: means Mars, war, red and hammer
Pike:  is a place, a fish and a weapon

The show feels as if it doesn't want to cling to RJ anymore.

I mean, even Baker himself said how tired he was of RJ in an interview at the time that episodes 1-8 were airing. He distictively said that Blue Heaven was the first episode he would be directing and he wanted to make sure that there's no mention of RJ's name in it.

There's a constant dismissal of past events in the post RJ episodes. Everything is downplayed, or brushed off in a sentence, as if it is of no importance or had any impact.

I got reminded of this during Marcus Pike's and Wiley's scene in this last episode.

Marcus asks Wiley what the relationship of Lisbon and Jane are, and as soon as Wiley gets to the wife and daughter part he gets interrupted by Marcus right before he says "murdered".

It's as if the show has abandoned its dark overbearing RJ tone for a case of the week formula.

I remember watching this show with my sister, week to week, back to back, right up till 06x08. She always were a bit frustrated with most of the "filler" episodes, aka any not involving or alluding to RJ.

This show's overarching story has always been that of Jane's revenge, a man reaching hubris and being brought down by a most tragic event. It wasn't about the week to week case per se, or Jane's life story. It was the chapter of the life of a man who after solving cases he cared nothing for, fell asleep on a matress placed in the room of his murdered wife and child, with the killer's brand still uncleaned from the wall.

That character's journey ended in episode 8, according to the writers, since RJ was apparently killed.
What followed up till now, as long as there's no end game grant design in store, must be one of the longest epilogues in TV history.

I find it sad that there are people on this site referring to others as idiots, blind, retarded or ghouls.

Those are simply called FANS guys, nothing more. Being an RJ fan means that you are a Mentalist fan. He was the character that gave the show the only thing that is missing now.

He made the protagonist's actions MATTER.   

OK, I just watched episode 16. 

More grinning and giggling from the FBI as Jane runs around playing dress-up.

A hint of romance for Lisbon.

Some swarthy, bearded baddies. They really should have had them dressed in pirate costumes.

Oh, and a murder victim who seemed quite eager to be shot over a painting of his wife.

The episode ends with Jane looking forlorn while Lisbon and her new b/f head off for an all-day breakfast diner.

Poor Cho looks as though he really doesn't want to be there any more. I know the feeling, pal.

Looks like the end of the road for this once great show.

Certainly, it is the end of the road for me. I will watch the remaining episodes in this season, but then I am out of the game UNLESS the fix this mess by episode 22. I see that BH is listed as the writer, which means they want to wrap-up the whole thing with some sort of elegance. But my guess is that they will drop some sort of bombshell in the last episode - something to give us hope. Maybe a red smiley-face? Even if they do, it will probably come to nothing.

If the they want to fix the show, the must do a number of things.

At a minimum point, we need to see several questions addressed:

1. Who is Red John?

2. Where is Lorelei? She must be alive, as evidenced by the tape of her naming the list-members.

3. Where is Kristina Freye? Is she RJ? If not, how did she know so much?

4. What is the relationship between RJ and Stiles / Visualize? How did Stiles know the whereabouts of Freye?

5. What made RJ a killer?

Perhaps RJ watched a TV show for six years but felt betrayed by the producers in how the convoluted plot was resolved. Unable to cope with the awful show it became, he began to kill people to relieve his tension and disappointment?

"THE FLAPPIST"
When Pigeon Jane goes on national TV to mock Rooster John as an "ugly, tormented little Dodo," Pigeon Jane comes home to find that Rooster John has plucked his family and left the Sad Bird face on the wall.  So, Pigeon Jane devotes his life to finding Rooster John, working for the California Bird Investigations alongside: 

Teresa Lisbird, Kimball Chickadee, Wayne Robin, Grace Van Parakeet and Director, Gale Birdtrap

SEASON SIX:  As the hunt for Rooster John intensifies, Pigeon Jane narrows the suspects down to LIST OF 7.  They are:

Bret Starling, Ray Hummingbird, Bob Kirkrane, Reede Sparrow, Brett Partridge, Sheriff Mockingbird and Gale Birdtrap


SEASON SIX EPISODES:



Episode One  -- "THE PIGEON THAT SAVED LISBIRD"  --  When Partridge is "braced" by Rooster's claw, Lisbird runs to help but winds up a sitting duck herself until a pigeon flaps his wings at Rooster John, causing him to fly the coup.  Before Partridge dies, he utters "Raven Raven" to Lisbird, something Rooster John had said to Pigeon Jane once -- linked to the famous poem by Edgar Allen Poe.



Episode Two --   "THAT'S NOT TURKEY FOR DINNER"   --- When Pigeon Jane pays a visit to his former doctor, Sophie Mallard, he finds her goose is cooked in the oven, knowing it was the work of Rooster John when he sees the Sad Bird Face on the refrigerator.  Turns out, Rooster John had been visiting Mallard, disguised as "Blue Jay" to get info on Pigeon Jane.  However, Rooster John is getting sloppy doesn't know is that he left a bird dropping himself.



Episode Three -- "BIRD'S EYE VIEW" -- When Pigeon Jane investigates a murder by a duck pond in Napa -- Mockingbird territory, the cocksure Mockingbird saves Jane from falling off a church roof -- but when an unknown pigeon flies into the bell tower, Mockingbird's feathers get ruffled.  Lovebirds Wayne Robin and Grace Van Parakeet finally wed.
  


Episode Four --  "KILL TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE" --  Homing Pigeon Security expert Kirkrane kidnaps Pigeon Jane, along with known chick stealer Hawkbach, and it is discovered that Kirkrane been on the hunt for Rooster John, too.  Jane is rescued thanks to former Bird Investigating Director, Madeleine Hawktower, and Kirkrane is arrested.  Reede Sparrow, worried Kirkrane will be a stool pigeon, kills him for knowing about "Raven, Raven." 



Episode Five --  "A LITTLE BIRD TOLD ME" --  Pigeon Jane tells Lisbird that Kira Titmouse told him that Rooster John has a 3 egg tattoo on his left wing.



Episode Six --   "BIRDS OF A FEATHER FLOCK TOGETHER" -- with the 3 egg tattoo clue, Pigeon Jane gathers up the remaining 5 suspects : Starling, Hummingbird, Birdtrap, Sparrow and Mockingbird to his seaside coop to reveal that Mockingbird, Sparrow and Birdtrap all have the 3 egg tattoo.  When Lisbird arrives, a blast sends her flying back.



Episode Seven --  "AS THE CROW FLIES"  -- It is revealed that Starling, Hummingbird and Mockingbird are all killed in the blast, but Pigeon Jane, Reede Sparrow and Birdtrap lived.  Van Parakeet and Robin succeed in catching Sparrow and we finally learn about the significance of Raven, Raven: it's the password for the "Poe Society," a corrupt group that's for the birds.   Also, Birdtrap, accused of being Rooster John, goes on the fly with Oscar Cuckoo.  Subsequently, California Bird Investigations is shut down by Federal Bird Investigations boss, Dennis Albatross.



Episode Eight --  "CHOKING THE CHICKEN -- otherwise known as the long anticipated ROOSTER JOHN REVEAL -- Pigeon Jane meets Birdtrap and Oscar Cuckoobird in a church, but Sheriff Mockingbird shows up, telling Cuckoobird to shoot Birdtrap because Birdtrap tried to be a crow, but is really an emu.   As Mockingbird feigns a high bird chirp, claiming to be Rooster John -- Pigeon Jane throws a pigeon at him -- having remembered how Mockingbird's feathers got ruffled the last time a pigeon got near his beak.  



A chase ensues with Rooster John running like a chicken with it's head cut off, and finally he drops near a duck pond where Pigeon Jane wrings Rooster John's chicken neck, choking him to death.


Episode Nine -- "MY BIRD HEAVEN"  --  2 years later and Pigeon Jane has flown south.  He meets Kim Falcon and they
become like night owls, staying out all night, singing like canaries and doing the chicken dance -- until Federal Bird Investigations Agent Albatross shows up to offer Jane a deal he cannot turn his beak up at.  However, Pigeon Jane writes his terms in his chicken scratch on a napkin stating that he will only go if they agree to let him sit in the catbird's seat.


Episode Ten --  "THE PIGEON TOE"  --  Jane  flies back to Texas to join the Federal Bird Investigations but gives them the bird when Agent Albatross won't honor his chicken scratch.  He also learns that Kim Falcon, the chick he danced the dirty bird with, is really a Federal Bird Agent.  And when Jane won't submit to her Agent Falcon's talons, she gets madder than a wet hen, realizing that she in fact, is under Jane's pigeon's toe whether she likes it or not.  Finally, they call Lisbird in to handle Pigeon Jane, and she gives him a pair of really good socks.

Episode Eleven -- "WHITE BIRD LINES"  -- When Pigeon Jane goes on a date with Brianna Budgie, knowing that while the Rooster crows, it's the hen that delivers, and getting closer to her, he realizes she's really a snow bird struttin' a lot of bad eggs.


Episode Twelve -- "GOLDEN BEAKS" -- While Jane hatches an idea about an egg that's been scrambled, Osprey Ardiles clucks to Lisbird that he feels he's being watched over the pigeon wire, but he keeps laying an egg when it comes to doing anything about it.  And before Lisbird can help him, he is pecked out faster than a chicken on a Junebug.



Episode Thirteen -- "BLACK HENHOUSE" -- Pigeon Jane rules the roost in a henhouse commune.  Meanwhile, Van Parakeet and Robin go visit former Bird Investigator Director J.J. LaRoundTail but he doesn't want to stick his neck out. Later on, LaRoundTail later walks right into a dark henhouse like a dumb cluck because it's really a booby trap that fowls him up for good.



Episode Fourteen -- "FIFTY SHADES OF GREY CHICKEN" -- The FBI team investigates a fracking on land where chickens used to roam.  Van Parakeet and Robin are almost killed when a fox enters their henhouse, and they fly south to investigate with Lisbird and Pigeon but Van Parakeet is abutted and put in a bird cage.



Episode Fifteen -- "WHITE AS A SWAN DIVE" -- Hawkback is back and tired of being henpecked by those FBI/CBI people but Pigeon Jane knows Hawkback's story isn't all it's cracked up to be.  Turns out, Van Parakeet's near the cabin that Hawkback's sister scratches out a living at.  But leave it to Pigeon Jane to devise a plan, making think Hawkback think he's abducting both him and Robin so Hawkback will take them where Van Parakeet is tied up like a turkey.  Hawkback tries to clip Pigeon Jane's wing but Robin saves the day and the yolks on Hawkback. 

Turns out Van Parakeet and Robin are good eggs after all, and they leave for good, content to just feather their nest from now on!

Now we await the remaining episodes:
"Bird-Foot Violet"
"Silver Wings of Time"
"Forest Green Ducks"
'Brown Eyed Barn Owl"
"Il Toucan Bianco"
"Black Herons" -- AND FINALLY, the just announced FINALE, "BLUE BIRD" 


I believe that in "BLUE BIRD" -- we will finally learn the TRUE IDENTITY of ROOSTER JOHN when PIGEON JANE comes beak to beak with BLUE BIRD, going back to the abandoned CBI building and finding Blue Bird's nest, along with Edgar Allen Poe books, cowboy boots, a teapot and CBI Ron clucking around like a chicken.

Blue Bird traps Pigeon Jane and tells him the story of how she has always sought revenge for the chopping down of the tree her Blue Bird family was in, which killed everyone in the nest --- when they cleared the land to build the new California Bird Investigations headquarters.  That is why she orchestrated the closing down of the CBI -- to reclaim her ancestral home.  

She tells Jane how she took refuge after losing her home and family by joining Visualize and Bret Starling, who encouraged her to take flight to Napa, where she built a new nest above the Napa Police Station, planning her revenge, and developing a male alter ego ROOSTER JOHN.  Blue Bird went on to start her own law enforcement mafia, The Poe Association, that she ran from her nest, controlling the lives of thousands with just two words: Raven, Raven

But her true mission was hypnotizing vultures with her birdsong, getting them to do her dirty bird work, finally honing in on one particular bird brain, Napa Sheriff Thomas Mockingbird -- and using him as a sitting duck to exact revenge on the CBI and Pigeon Jane, finally letting him roast for being Rooster John.

Blue Birds relishes her success in fooling everyone, proclaiming that she is the "Queen of Fowl," strutting her stuff as she chirps to Pigeon Jane that she's going to feed him to a vulture like a worm -- but just then, Lisbird breaks in, arresting Blue Bird and saving Jane and CBI Ron who go home with Lisbird where Jane makes everyone the best scrambled eggs.

All this time, how did I not see?  Of course, the sad bird smiley face with a cowlick is really the face of THE BLUE BIRD!  
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-103772471/stock-vector-sad-bird.html

New episode leak here!