When I first saw Redline, the episode where Walter Mashburn
is introduced, I thought that he would become a regular character for sure. I
noticed that his relationship with jane and lisbon was very different than any
other murder suspect in any other episode. He enjoyed their company. He was
affable. It seemed that he could be good friends with jane. But then after that
episode he disappeared for a while. I thought that was kind of strange. It
seemed to me that the writers wanted to make him somewhat memorable but not
necessarily expected to be seen again. Then when he reappeared in Red Hot, I
thought "Aha! There he is!" But why did the writers bring him in
again? They could've chosen another character to fill his role in the episode,
right? And then after that episode, he was gone again! Even though he slept with Lisbon! That's when I started to suspect him of being RJ. The more I've thought
about it, the more I am convinced and have come up with the following
conclusions.



I cannot think of anybody throughout the entire series that is more like Jane
than Walter Mashburn. He is likeable. He likes to have fun. In the Redline
episode he joked at the thought of being a murder suspect. He enjoyed it. Could
you see Jane doing the same thing if he were in that situation? Absolutely!
Anybody else would be scared witless, angry, they might even laugh at the idea if
they knew they were innocent but they certainly wouldn't joke about it the way
Mashburn did. It was as if he was saying, "Come on! Try and catch me! I dare you!" But he did it in such an innocent way that you liked the guy for it. Just like you like Jane even though he's being a pest. Also in the redline episode as jane and Mashburn are walking on
the beach mashburn admits to being arrogant, hates to be ignored, cunning,
ruthless, etc. Sound like Jane to you? Sure does! At the end of the episode,
Mashburn says that in order to top the fun he and jane had together during the
investigation that maybe next time "I'll be the killer". So Patrick
Jane! Light and jovial on the outside but very dark and twisted on the inside,
assuming Mashburn is RJ, of course.



Why do I bring this up? Lorelai said that jane and RJ are a lot alike.
Manipulative and deceitful. she said it's no wonder they're not lifelong
friends. Can you imagine anybody who could be better friends with Jane than
Mashburn, based on personality alone? I can't! Then the question begs, why
aren't they best friends already? The answer is because they've only been
around each other twice. Given more time I'm sure they would be. But I think
Mashburn is purposely keeping some distance because he wants Jane to seek him
out rather than vice versa. But you also have to get into Heller's head a
little bit (not just red john's) as to why Mashburn is not seen more on the
show if he really is RJ. Because that would give it away! Once it's obvious who
RJ is the show has lost its appeal and thus would lose viewers. That's not what
Heller wants!



Another thing that convinces me that it's mashburn is that he slept with
lisbon. Again, I'm getting into Heller's head here but he could've chosen
anybody for Lisbon to be intimate with, but how much of a plot twister would it
be if it was Red John?  It's genious because the scene is very light and
somewhat comical, which is what Heller wants you to think. He wants you to
think, "Oh! She slept with that charlatan! That's funny!". And then
you forget about it because it was just a comedic side story. The scene plays
light music and becomes even more humorous once lisbon walks out of mashburn's
place taking the phone call as if this was only a one night stand. As if she is
in complete control of the relationship. Mashburn manipulated her to think that
she was. Heller is a master of distraction. Could you imagine that scene having
a completely different mood if the music were scary and we knew that mashburn
was RJ? Don't be surprised if that exact thing happens later in the show as a
flashback, once we've discovered that Mashburn is RJ.



The last clue, though subtle and maybe even a little far fetched, is the color
of the two cars in Redline (and colors involving Mashburn, in general). The
first is mashburn's yellow lambourghini. The second is the red car that was
used to commit the murder. If mashburn really is RJ, then there are obviously
two sides to him: the side that we see as mashburn who is fun and entertaining
(yellow), and the dark side that is a twisted serial killer (red). Right after
Mashburn says that maybe next time "I'll be the killer", the camera
focuses on the red car in the background. Masburn wears red clothes in a couple
scenes including that very red turtle neck on Red Hot, and he owns that red
speed boat. Do you think that maybe Heller is trying to give us a symbolic clue
here? Maybe. I don't know. The thing is... it's not blatantly obvious, it's
very subtle. You have to be paying attention to catch it.



Bottom line. If mashburn is not RJ I'll be shocked. he's the perfect candidate.
Not because there is a lot of hard evidence against him so far, but because he
would make for the best story. It would be ironic, and it would also be a
"how did I not see that before! It was so obvious the whole time!"
moment once you discovered it was him. If RJ is somebody else and all of these
clues about mashburn are just a coincidence, then that's a very huge
coincidence in my opinion. All these people that think Partridge is RJ just
because of his voice must think that the writers are pretty shallow. Do you
really think they would make it that obvious? Giv'em a little more credit than
that!