Sure does seem hard to believe that Heller is going to deliver much at this point.  I wouldn't say all hope is gone, but many episodes have seemed to go by completely wasted:  episodes 9-16 have established what...?  

1.  Jane's "new life" amounts to...a new shirt and teacup, and not one word about what he did the previous 10 years? 

2.  Haibach [a low life pedophile] was really...a mastermind plotter/hacker/psychokiller with his hillbilly sister?   And it is truly sad that we were given more information [albeit improbable information] about Haibach than we ever got about RJ....

3.  Grigsby...[who once split to keep their jobs]  are happy to leave police work behind?

4.  Lisbon...[who has never had a boyfriend in 10 years] suddenly has a boyfriend after one episode

BUT I WILL SAY THIS -- there has been a hint of "Red" in almost every episode since Red John, the most noticeable in "Violets" -- in fact, if you really look, ALMOST EVERY SCENE has a noticeable red in it, the most memorable being:

LISBON in red PJs in a red bed with a red painting behind her [while talking to Marcus Pike AKA "red herring"]

Of course, I'd love to say that this is a hint to something deeper, something yet to come, something about RJ but we should all have learned by now, that in The Mentalist, these kinds of things are useless to wonder.   Heller caters to the masses, and apparently you can put lipstick on a pig [so long as it's red!]

Most likely, this red everywhere [besides being a cruel tease], is probably to show that Lisbon is experiencing attraction, passion and possibly love [ruled by red] since the show is now about "hopeful new beginnings"

I would have detailed the things I've noticed 9-16, but guessing and listing clues hasn't paid off well.

Perhaps it wiser to wait and see what happens.  If anything does happen [though I think highly doubtful], then and only then would it be worth while to go back and look at any clues leading up to that point.

I'd love to see old familiar faces come back [Stiles, Haffner...ANYBODY], but there, too, I have a sinking feeling that it will be for a lesser and/or demeaning purpose then what we'd be hoping for -- based on what they did with Ardiles, LaRoche and Haibach [which was truly awful]

So, I've left a little room for a bit of hope but mostly I'm not expecting much.