Is anyone else sad Bret is dead? I always liked him for rj, he's the perfect blend of creepy, I hope he somehow faked his death but I doubt it. I feel like today's episode was pushing to hard that it was Bertrum so I don't think it's him, Brett stiles has been m.i.a for a bit and he's not middle aged. Other then that I'm not exactly sure who it is except I know it's not Jane, that would be stupid.

Did you notice the cop who was talking to Bertram outside the house at the beginning of the show.?  He was telling him about Lisbon and Partridge.  I forget the cop's name in the episode tonight (he gave his last name), but he looked a lot like the cop who killed Bosco's secretary as she was walking through the hall by putting poison on her hand.

If so, he's obviously an accomplice of Red John and was sent to do the killing.  When Lisbon was looking at the computer screen last week, nobody else was near by...so by sending this cop, it took the attention away from all of the other suspects.  This also would explain how he was using both of his hands to wipe the knife while the real Red John called Patrick from another location. 

Aside from Partridge, none of the other suspects' voices even remotely sounds like Red John's. If it turns out not to be Partridge, how will they explain that away?

All the Blake references (Tyger tyger, The Great Red Dragon) may be nods to the movie Red Dragon. This may be stretching it, but the serial killer in Red Dragon smashes the mirrors (on the walls), the fractured shards reflecting a distorted image; Red John paints ghastly smiley faces on walls.

In Red Dragon, the killer fakes his own death, leaving a body that everyone thinks is his. Likewise, Partridge seems indisputably dead. Partridge coming back at the end and surprising everyone would be exactly like what happened in Red Dragon. I can just see the writers thinking that would be really clever. But one problem is that in 6x2 they pronounce Partridge as "DOA" at the start of the episode. Then again, if you've seen Silence of the Lambs you know what can be done with cutting off faces...

(Something else that jumped out was that shot of Ray Haffner during the voiceover at the end of 6x1. They showed him working out obsessively; the serial killer in Red Dragon was likewise obsessed with body building and there were multiple shots of that in the movie. And Haffner was shown whistling as he left Theresa's hospital room BEFORE Jane heard Sophie's observation about Roth's whistling. Granted, they showed Sheriff McAllister whistle as Jane left the room after the "conference" with Bertram and Reede, but they made sure to show McAllister whistle in the voiceover at the end. Probably a red herring as people will all remember McAllister as the whistler now, and not Haffner.)

The Bertram/McAllister/Reede conference was weird but a little too obvious, like we were being bludgeoned over the head. Don't think it's any one of them. They've been trying too hard to make Bertram suspicious in 6x1 and 6x2. McAllister lives all the way in some boony town. Reede is too fat. Kirkland is a helper but probably not the mastermind. That leaves Stiles, Haffner, and Partridge. Stiles runs Visualize and knows who Red John is, so he's probably not RJ himself. Between Haffner and Partridge I like Partridge because of the voice.