I am really confused about what the rest of this season is going to be about.... So I hope to answer that question by talking about the fans and/or the backbone of the show.
Anyway, there are a few different reasons I've come across as to why fans watch the mentalist and I wanted to write a little something about that:

There are those who watch the show because...
1) They are interested in the Red John case.  This one probably applies to 99% on the people on this site, obviously.
2) They want to see Jane and Lisbon get involved romantically.  Probably not too many people reading this are part of this group.
3) They are interested in the character Patrick Jane.  Probably applies to most of the people here.

Of course, someone could watch the show for any combination of the three and not just one reason and probably other reasons I didn't mention.  I was just trying to go over the main ones.

Whatever Bruno Heller considers the backbone of the show out of these three, (again, it could be something else entirely) is what the rest of the season/series will be about.  I am leaning toward #3, but it could also be #2, or it could be #1 and hopefully that would appease some of you who have been disappointed this season.