First time post.
I love reading the theories on this site, but it seems
pretty clear, especially lately, that many of the clues in the show are
ambiguous. “He is Ma”, for example. It could be anything. Or nothing. Or
EVERYTHING. What hand does Red John use to drink tea? It’s a CLUE!! Haffner can whistle!! He must be Red John!!
I’m not mocking, but the problem is those types of theories could
show anybody to be Red John.
Instead, I like to approach it from the question of who, in
reality, COULD be Red John. I know that it’s a tv show, but in real life, what
type of person could get people to devote their lives and their loyalty blindly
to a SERIAL KILLER? That’s not an easy sell. That would take an extraordinarily
special type of person, one who excels in at least three things:
1)
Extreme charisma
2)
Extraordinary manipulator
3)
Filthy rich
In the show, there are really only two characters that fit
that mold well – Bret Stiles and Walter Mashburn. Both are highly likeable, are
absurdly rich, and can get people to do what they want. However, Bret Stiles
seems content with that, but Walter does not. Bret is the type of person to get
others to kill for him, rather than getting his hands dirty himself.
Rewatch the episodes with Walter. It’s obvious he is
extremely bored with his life, and loves thrills. He accompanies Jane
throughout investigations in his episodes because it’s fun. In addition, he
really genuinely likes Patrick and Lisbon, to the extent that he calls them in
as his “personal security” in his second episode. Who else in the show likes
both Patrick and Lisbon? Walter constantly flirts with Lisbon. If Red John is
so powerful, why hasn’t he killed Patrick? Why didn’t he kill Lisbon? Seems to
me it’s because he likes them. Nobody on “the list” likes Patrick. Well,
perhaps with the exception of Stiles, but that seems like more of a respect.
Also, in watching his episodes again, another thing that
stood out to me is it seems he could do the Red John voice. I think the only
two people I could say that about are Partridge and Mashburn.
Mashburn’s always been my guy. He’s the right fit for the
role. I know there are a lot of clues that point to a bunch of people, but I
just can’t see it. On the list of seven, the only one I could fathom as a
serial killer is Partridge, but he’s a creep. Who, in reality, would REALLY
follow him? How would he get such loyal followers? If you set aside the
ambiguous clues, and focus on actual personalities, there aren’t many people that
could actually fit the role. There’s really only one – Walter Mashburn.
As a side note, although I believe many people are correct
in the parallels to Revelation with the show, the one thing that keeps being
stated that is not true is that the dragon in Revelation has a head killed and
then brought back to life. In Revelation there is a great dragon AND a great
beast. Both have seven heads. The dragon gives the beast its power. The beast
is the one that has a head fatally wounded and then healed, so with all of the
theories saying Partridge is coming back because of the dragon’s resurrected
head, the parallel isn’t quite there. (Rev 13:1-3)
