My friends, after reading some interviews from BH and Simon Baker, I re-watched the leaked episode and now fear it may be legit.

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Mentalist-Simon-Baker-Red-John-Time-Jump-Bruno-Heller-1073793.aspx
- Black FBI agent is going to be a series regular going forward. This explains why they spent so much time on the bullshit FBI/CBI rivalry, to set up the backstory for the black FBI guy
- "It's a little like they're the children of divorce," Heller says of the disbanded CBI crew. Explains the childish "in-fighting" between Rigsby/Cho/Van Pelt in the car...sets the stage for the CBI team going their separate ways
- "Baker, who directed the first post-Red John episode, airing Dec. 1, said
he was adamant that the name "Red John" not even be uttered in the
hour." Doesn't look like we will get any explanations on "He is man", Rosalind's description, the coded list, Visualize connection etc. Everyone, BH and Baker included, seem to be sick of the RJ storyline and just want to move on. Baker: "Sometimes the frustration for me as an actor is that we're not going
anywhere, not moving forward. In this, we're definitely going somewhere,
and the stakes are high and it gives me something to do that I can
really get my teeth into."

Then I re-watched the leaked 6x8:
- Everyone expected Jane to have some grand plan to FIND OUT who RJ was. So when McAllister just shows up like that, obviously we're outraged because it was so easily given away. But if you think about it, Jane's grand plan was actually how to KILL RJ, which was executed by hiding the gun in the church, pigeon, breadcrumbs, etc.
- Obviously BH cares more about new viewers (rather than those of us who have been following from the beginning). That's why he's rebooting the series. From this point of view, the way the episode was constructed makes a lot of sense. All the stuff we think is "irrelevant" is designed to set up the next leg of the show. The amateur "twist" (McAllister not Bertram omg!) will probably thrill the average idiots that watch this show, but leave all of us on this website incredibly disappointed. Same thing with the chase scene. People that watch this show casually (maybe just started this season) will like to see the exciting chase scene; they don't give a damn about the clues from the last five season. My point is that that is exactly the demographic that BH cares about and is trying to capture, not us.

In sum, I feel like the leaked 6x8 makes a lot of sense from a forward-looking point of view, wrapping up the RJ storyline and setting up the next leg of the series. But if you look back and try to reconcile 6x8 with what has happened before, it is incredibly disappointing. Too bad BH only cares about money and new viewers, and thus went for the first approach.

We will see in a few hours...everyone who thinks the leaked 6x8 is the real one, vote green. If you still think this leaked episode is a red herring after reading my post, and the real one will be released tonight, vote red. Like all of you true Mentalist loyalists, I hope I'm wrong and Partridge/Kirkland comes back, but I fear for the worst.