I have been reading a lot about mentalist lately and whoisredjohn.com is a daily stop for me. So I wanted to post my own before the big episode.
First I'll go with the ones I don't see as RJ;
1: Bret Stiles: Love the man but still no RJ. Probably really died in the explosion.
2: Gale Bertram: Nothing in the mentalist is that easy. Jane won't let anyone else reach real RJ before him.
3: Reede Smith
: Another def. not RJ suspect.
4: Brett Partridge: Sorry for the fans but he is dead. Cho was there with the body which had a trasparent cover.
So that leaves us with 3 suspects;
1: Ray Haffner
2: Robert Kirkland
3: Thomas McAllister
Ok, let's have a look at each;
1: Ray Haffner: Can't tell he is my favourite but still can't cross the name of the possible suspects. His love with Lisbon creates a "?" in my mind but on the other hand he is distant with PJ which is something I don't expect from RJ even in his fake ID. Also he was standing at the "well cooked" side of the explosion so he is most probably dead.
2: Robert Kirkland: Robert is dead as we watched it, Reede told it and so on but we should talk about the "evil twin"
2.1-Michael Kirkland: First of all if he ends up as RJ it will be a bit cheap imho. But still fittin background, never found body, possible carnival background, the tortue house in the pines (Rosalind Harker says RJ smells like pines) and so on makes him a good candidate.
I hope to see Michael in the last episode as it is a loose end but as RJ... something doesnt feel so satisfying about it.
3: Thomas McAllister: Seems like he is the best candidate. First of all he is always friendly and protects PJ as it fits with RJ's attitude. Plays a mind game on PJ about the fear of heights (which we didn't see before). RJ would love that and would def. use that chance as McAllister did.
When RJ meets PJ there would def. be some talk between them and a character that we know of would be more interesting to listen to. Lets say Michael Kirkland appears it would be like; "You thought I was Bob, HAHA!" and that will be all but on the other hand a character like McAllister can have more we can hear about.
One last thing is that he was standing (near an open door) next to PJ during the explosion with Bertram on the other side. Bertram walked away, PJ still has the perfect hair, McAllister over burned! I don't think so...
The bad side is that when we look at the next episode's promo, we can see him in the scenes (not directly but high chance that he is the one going through the glass, in the church and struggling with PJ). This is the bad side because I don't want to end up learning who is RJ in a promo but maybe we are the ones digging too deep.
So I am telling that Thomas McAllister is most likely Red John. Hope I am mistaken and the last episode will shock me so I can enjoy it much more.
Thanks.