I said in my theory (#13061) I couldn't shake the feeling that Heller
was trying to make history by being the first TV series to ever re-jump
the proverbial shark.

Sadly my prediction was correct and oh how I wish I'd been wrong. :-(

Hopefully, I'm wrong about the South America angle the series might take if they want to try for a third shark jump.

I'd say spoiler alert, but honestly, how could I possibly spoil something so rotten?

To
anyone who hasn't watched the Mentalist before, do yourself a HUGE
favor and stop watching the series at the end of season 3.  

Accept Timothy Carter as the real Red John. That ending was brilliant and the acting was superb.

Then pretend seasons 4 to 6 never even happened, or else a very long long dream Jane had while in jail.

This leaked ending (if we're not being punked by CBS) is beyond a stinker.

It's
almost like it was written by first year college students taking TV
writing as a bird course elective (pun intended). 

Either that, or it's a gag
ending before the real ending (now that would be cool).

Can you imagine an experienced cop frisking Jane for a gun, finding it, but NOT finding a live pigeon on him?

Really ... think about it.

Can you imagine Red John's backup for his confrontation with Jane was a kindly church lady with a knife?  

Neither can I, but somehow "professional" writers managed to generate that random thought.

The entire episode was so frustratingly cliché, I didn't know whether to laugh or throw my computer through the window.

If we're being punked by Heller and CBS, great, that would be worthy of the show.  I'll have a good laugh at being duped by an unbelievably stupid plot line with an über awful ending.

However, if this is the real ending to the Red John arc, the following snippet pretty much sums up Episode 8 for me:

Heller, Heller, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy stupid episode?

Did he who made "Strawberries and Cream" make thee?

NOTE: For the full poem check out theory #13711 by stopwriting

Cheers to everybody hoping we're just being punked by Heller and CBS!