I believed McAllister when he said he wasn't Red John.  I didn't buy his Red John reveal.  Timothy Carter was a more convincing RJ than McAllister.  The show has to convince the audience that the character is RJ and McAllister didn't convince me at all. you can't just have some character appear out of nowhere and just say they are Red John they have to prove it                 I have not heard one person say they were happy or satisfied about the RJ reveal   the show hasn't even done a good job of making a new begining or given us a storyline that replaces the RJ story   If Timothy Carter wasn't RJ and did such a good job of playing RJ than I believe McAllister was doing the same    if Red John could hypnotize Christene Frye into a catatonic state than he could hypnotize Carter and McAllister to believe they are Red John   Jane killed them both caues he believed they were RJ     he believed them because they were hypnotized to believe they were RJ                                                            how does Bertram not know who RJ is but knows about the "silly voice" ?

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.

anyone understand the reason for the removal of PJ;s waistcoat?

Is it possible that jane made that tape along lorelie ?
I know its a long-shot but i am sure some of you may of thought of it before
-when lorelie "dies" jane hardly seems to care . He doesn't check the crime for clues or even check it at all. He briefly looked and said "she had it comin"
- on the tape lorelie says rj is mad at me for the handshake remark, ok but he's not mad you are trying to kill him ? Hmm
-We have to assume that jane wanted to show lisbon the list that "rj" guessed since he showed her
- the outcome that jane KNEW was gonna happen
1. Lisbon tells the team.
2. Gps trackers were put. on the suspects.
But why?
I assume jane did this all as a chess move thus waiting to see what his enemy would do .
So what can we conclude rj did ?
Killed partridge ? Why?
Put his mark on lisbon
-------i think this is when patrick found out who rj really was since only his own team had this info.
------patrick knew rj is leading him to tiger tiger . Thats what red johns rules means. It means find tiger tiger.

I've just finished watching "Sherlock" and I realized something:

Supposing that Sherlock Holmes and Patrick Jane have similar skills,
(They do have a lot of common skills, like extremely high observation, arrogance, narcisism, they consult the police solving crimes etc)

Then, Moriarty and Red John should also have similar skills.
Well they don't.The way Red John appeared in the 8th episode makes me state that.
When Sherlock meets Moriarty, he has a gun.But Moriarty has 3-4 men pointing him with snipers.
When Patrick meets Red John, he has a gun and a pigeon (well...) and Red John has Cordero (HOLY crap) and a lady with a knife?

OK, don't get me wrong, but Red John is gay. I was watching the series and I've been obsessed with Red John.I started to be on his side, just because I wanted the hunt to go on.From what we watched for 5 seasons, He was a human being far beyond others.Elegant, strong, determined, secretive, clever, manipulative, he was there and he wasn't there.He was extremely educated, sophisticated, arrogant, playful, he managed to take advantage of the pain of the others and turn them on his side eventually.He killed because he had mental issues and a childhood wound that made him hate women and use them only for sexual relationships.He is a common psycho?No.Because he is like Patrick.And Patrick has something that common people don't have.

And then we watch episode 8.Red John appears to be totally predictable, dumb as hell, sexomaniac, pervert, scared by a pidgeon and afraid of death.This man, this man has killed over 40 people, manipulated thousands of people, seduced the sexiest women, still he is afraid of death and he calls 911.Season 4 finale:
PJ: "Go to hell"
RJ: "As you well know Patrick, there is no hell.When I die I won't be punished."

So,why he is so much afraid of dying?I don't know the creators really messed up.

Red John is meant to be someone that fulfils all those things that they have shown to us the first 5 seasons.That's why people refuse to believe that RJ is dead.It's not the Sheriff, it's not the actor.It's the attidute.

And only one question comes to my mind.

WHY?

Great theories here, if only Heller could just decide to copy one of them.
Don't mean to disapoint you guys, I want is as bad as you want it, but Red John isn't coming back.(Fingers Crossed)