Not exactly a theory. Just a thought, really.

In an interview, Bruno Heller referred to whatever character is Red John as the "Keyser Söze" of The Mentalist. Anyone who know The Usual Suspects knows that Keyser Söze turned out to be Kevin Spacey‘s character who a con artist with cerebral palsy who in the end was really the sociopath, crime lord Soze himself. We saw Kevin Spacey as one person on screen the entire movie as one person and watched him "transform" during the reveal at the very end of the film. 

With that all being said, a lot of character clues will mean nothing if the character is appearing to be that different from who they really are. 

Since reading that quote from BH, I feel like there are soooooo many more red herrings out there than we are even expecting. But i do still believe in Jane saying how the answers are always obvious and right in front of us.

I love the quote from Keyser Söze himself, "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist."

Just some food for thought! :)

I know we all have our own 'special pet project' suspects. I'm in Team Kirkland for example, and there are tons of Patridge fans, ditto for Haffner believers etc etc etc.

Obviously we spend more time focusing on the actions of our personal favourites in the relevant episodes. We focus obsessively on whatever 'clues' OUR personal favourites might be leaving, and we design theories and stories that convince us OUR GUY, is RJ (while often overlooking some pretty cool stuff the other suspects have to offer.....)

Example: I've obsessed (amongst my 100 other reasons that Bob is RJ on my previous theories) about:

Kirkland having a goatee in some episodes and other times not - ditto for the tie. (even going so far as to find a screenwriting reference to 'the goatee theory' - which is apparently common if one wants to differentiate between identical twins in tv/movies - wiki says so)

When Lisbon asks Kirkland where he grew up, he says starts to say WE, then corrects himself and says 'I grew up in America'.

RJ seems to have a thing for twins.

'He is Mar'. I reckon the Mexican prossie wrote that - she was facing the wall. It means, 'He is MANY' - meaning, 'He is 2 people'. English not her language, she sees two men with the same face (the twins) killing her and Renfrew. She might not know what a 'twin' is in English, and '2' didn't make sense to her - so, "He is many".

Kirkland telling Smith when asked what his story was with Jane - "It's a lonngggggggggggggg story".

The one time Kirkland really smiles in all his appearances is when he says, 'But I know you....' to Jane - a genuine smile.

So my question to everyone else is: If RJ turns out to be someone other than your 'fave' will you go back and watch previous seasons and episodes to see what you missed/looked over/ignored/though were red herrings etc?

I know I am going to. If it turns out to be Haffner for example, I will be freeze framing on every scene going way back.

afterthought: When Lorelei said she wondered why they didn't become 'lifelong' best friends when they shook hands - did anyone else get the feeling that what she was sayin was in fact: Jane and John met when they were MUCH younger - teenagers possibly? The term 'lifelong' is usually 'cradle to grave' in nature.
The only friends of mine that I call 'lifelong' are those I have been friends with since school days. Very strange she used the term, 'lifelong'. She could have just said, 'good friends' or 'best friends' NOT 'lifelong best friends'.
So I checked the ages of all the actors = because if this is true, MacAllister and Stiles are gone, because I'm sure PJ is the same age or VERY similar in age to RJ.

I'm certain we're going back to the carnival next week.....teenage/late teen years.
And we will see PJ and RJ shake hands as kids/youngsters.

Thanks for reading - sorry it's a little long.