Reading this essay made me think of how Heller failed artistically with the Red John reveal.
It's called "The Art of Misdirection"
http://www.writingclasses.com/FacultyBios/facultyArticleByInstructor.php/ArticleID/42
A good read, and I especially like the distinction made in this quote:
"Please note...."that we’re speaking of misdirection, not misinformation."
1. The writer gives enough misdirection to distract the audience from the truth of the story -- like the magician does with the pretty girl. But then the writer would have to KNOW HIS STORY in order to pull this off [like a magician knows his trick]
2. Heller was a bad magician -- he did not know the truth of his story from the beginning. He did not know who RJ was going to be.
3. Thus, the "clues" we were fed were not clues at all if Heller did not know who RJ was. They were also NOT red herrings, and as this essay points out --- they were not misdirection.
4. EVERYTHING WE WERE SHOWN PRIOR TO Lorelie claiming Jane shook RJ's hand WAS PURE MISINFORMATION. In other words, a LIES.
5. Heller clearly decided on McRJ somewhere around the end of Season 5. It is very easy now to see where the Mentalist started to become an entirely different show.
Another quote from the article:
"The writer should never lie to the reader, but, if necessary, should allow the reader to lie to herself."
7. Our heads should have been swirling upon the point of the RJ REVEAL -- as we thought back to all the wonderful misinformation we'd been given over 5 years...and all the ideas we made up surrounding it, realizing that we'd had our POV expertly manipulated in the best way possible.
8. My point: we were not given genuine misdirection. Genuine misdirection leads somewhere, it is EXPLAINED regardless of the outcome of the story. There was no trick to be enjoyed for the audience because the trick was on us. We were the trick and it's hard to enjoy the fruits of our efforts -- when there was no audience payoff.
9. Please do not give Heller any credit for having used his craft, do not call all the details we were fed "red herrings." True misdirection, along with well placed red herrings, are GOOD and necessary as a part of the journey of any artful, suspenseful mystery story that leave an audience satisfied.
10. Heller relied on MISINFORMATION aka LIES...that led nowhere. Heller let us lie to ourselves while he lied to us, too -- that is why he told us we'd be "disappointed" because...
Misdirection [red herrings] = leads to surprise
Misinformation [lies] = leads to disappointment
Heller was a bad magician who switched his trick midstream.
