I read an interview today with Bruno Heller who said a big clue was shown in the ending scene of the season premiere. I believe the clue he was referring to was the knife Red John was wiping the blood off of. That looks to be a scalpel that a medical examiner would use to cut open a body. Partridge is not dead. He faked it so when Lisbon wakes up the last thing she will remember is that Partridge died. It also looks like she had her legs swept out from under her not pulled down from behind. With the alias of Brett Partridge out of the way, Red John is more free to go about his killing spree.
