Let me say first that I do NOT necessarily think that Bret Stiles is Red John; I just think that he is one of the only characters, or perhaps THE only character, who is as intelligent as Patrick Jane, which I am sure that most of us assumed to be one of Red John's traits. The traits of a man and his nemesis, though not always equal, perfectly balance the others'. Sheriff McAllister can not even come close to being comparable to Jane, nor comparable to the picture of Red John that has been painted for us over these years.

(A brief side-note: Stiles may not be dead as presumed; after all, McAllister wasn't.)

I am upset and appalled and utterly disappointed by this most recent episode, as most of you are. Perhaps I am not saying anything that hasn't already been said, but I will give my two cents anyway. I am in denial. I refuse to accept that the Red John Saga could possibly end this way. S06E08 absolutely MUST be a hoax. 

The end to this is something which should COMPLETELY BLOW OUR MINDS!! Like in Fight Club, when The Narrator realizes that he is Tyler Durden... something you did not anticipate, but which makes PERFECT sense, in retrospect.

Why, of ALL Mentalist episodes, was THIS particular one accidentally "leaked"?

There are so many unanswered questions (there was a GREAT list posted a few days ago, but I cannot find it) which can in NO WAY be tied to McAllister; he is an insignificant character who has had little to no effect on the show or on the character of Patrick Jane. Even when he was revealed last season as one of Jane's suspects, I was so confused. There are a lot of characters who make good Red John suspects; if I had made a list of character who I thought were NOT Red John, McAllister would have been on that list, assuming I would have even remembered who he was before the end of last season. He wasn't just a bad choice to be Red John... he was the WORST choice.

I am going to state now that I believe that S06E08 is a hoax, as well as the promo for S06E09.

Here are some viable suspects (not from Jane's list) and my take on them. They are just summaries, and I will give both pros and cons:

1) Patrick Jane: This made a lot of sense for a long time, but I have begun to think otherwise, mostly because of the conversation in the limo, and Lorelei's reaction to Red John's words. I had thought for a long time that Jane is Red John but does not know it, because of his psychosis, and that Jane's interactions with Red John were mental fabrications, visual and aural hallucinations. (For example, maybe his encounter with Timothy Carter was just a delusion. After all, a link between Carter and Red John was never established; the whole idea was just abandoned)

2) CBI Ron: He would be the perfect fit for Red John. Though he is always there, he is an undeveloped character; we know absolutely nothing about him, so we can NOT logically deduce that he is NOT Red John (sorry for the double negative). Why has he remained on the show for so long if he holds no significance? The only issue, however, is that simple fact; if they decide to develop his character this season, it will become obvious to the viewers, and the only way this should be done is for us to find out when Jane finds out.

3) Bertram:  Is he dead? Just because we saw him get shot doesn't mean that he is dead, nor that he actually got shot. Why did Cordero even shoot him? There was no purpose. It could have been a ruse, which went awry after Jane unexpectedly shot Cordero. Bertram is an excellent choice for Red John in many respects. However, he was always a follower trying to be a leader, hoping people don't see him for the empty-suited bureaucrat he is.

4) Someone in Lisbon's unit: Any of them is a possibility, though I think Grace is the most unlikely. Perhaps Rigsby's dimwittedness is just a front? (He HAD to know that he was giving up Jane's location to Abbott.) Cho is still very mysterious, and Lisbon is someone, the only one really, who could know Jane's movements at all times. And what better choice than the only person he loves and trusts? However, we see that Lisbon does really love him; Cho is too noble; Rigsby is too dopey to be faking it.

5) Stiles: Sorry, I have to pose this, even though he is on Jane's list. Furthermore, I think he is the ONLY one on the list that could possibly be Red John. Intelligence. Charisma. Power. Influence. Affluence. Stiles is far too smart and far too important to be killed in so random an act of violence. I love Visualize episodes, almost as much as Red John episodes. Red John is connected somehow to Visualize. But perhaps Stiles was meant to be so obviously possible that it simply cannot be him.

Oh well. We will see on Sunday. Will Jane really be strolling on the beach and dancing with children? Check out the promo on YouTube... it is so ridiculous. The only thing more stupid than S06E08 is that promo. I think that if you could compress the 42 minutes of stupidity of S06E08 into 30 seconds, you would get that promo.