Frankly, I think it's a little bit ridiculous to believe that Jane and Red John are the same person. Besides the fact that this is a television show, and the viewers' possible reactions to a certain plot twist or revelation are taken into consideration by the show's writers, the idea doesn't make any logical sense. The show itself is a procedural--a typical "who done it" mystery. I'm sure, at one point, the idea that Jane and Red John were one in the same crossed every one of our minds, making him, at least in my opinion, the least likely suspect. There have been constant little suggestions that Jane and Red John have similar personalities, that they could even be friends. It's little things like those that are designed to make us consider the possibility that Jane is Red John. And that would be much too easy considering the show's complexity. Ironically enough, writing Jane, the easiest of suspects, as Red John would be an extremely complicated matter. The details that would have to be revealed about each and every one of his murders and deceptions would be overwhelming and implausible--the show would lose its sense of believability. That being said, Heller himself mentioned in an interview that Jane and Red John are not the same person; it would be much too unfair to the fans that have rooted for Jane since the start of the series.

Regarding the real identity of red john: I believe that the idea is to surprise the viewers. I don't doubt that it could be any one of the more obvious suspects(excluding Lisbon and most of the CBI team, it doesn't seem very likely) but I also think it's wholly possible that it could be someone else entirely. The fun is in the speculation, the clues. It's been said that this latest season will be a big one in terms of Red John's identity, and I, for one, cannot wait to be surprised.

Kirkland. He has a weird, high voice like Red John and oddly, if you watch closely his mannerisms are quit similar to Patrick's, especially his hands.  What made me believe he is Red John was Red Dawn, the 5th episode in season 5, the 100th episode of The Mentalist. This was a "special" episode where they showed how Patrick came to be a consultant for the CBI. At the end of the show Alexa Shultz, the Director of the FBI calls Minelli and tells him she has heard about the new consultant they have hired and tells him he was in a mental institution. She then asks him to keep her informed on the Red John case so she has information for her boss should he ask for it. She is in a limousine when she makes this call and when she hangs up she looks at the man across from her, who happens to be Kirkland, and says,"done." I think Shultz is the mole in the FBI feeding Red John information. So even though Kirkland has not been visible to us the viewer throughout many seasons, he was there from the beginning. There was one other instance that caught my attention.... Red Sails in the Sunset, episode 8, season 5. Patrick pretends he has been kidnapped by Lorelei and has to wreck himself into a tree to convince everybody that was what occurred. When Lisbon finds him Kirkland is with her and speaks into his radio Patrick asks who that is, as if the voice was somewhat familiar. I also think Kirkland implanted himself into this particular investigation because he does not want Lorelei out of prison. If he did he would have helped her escape. However, Patrick helped her escape and now he has a loose end that needs tied up.....because she should have come running to him as soon as she escaped. If he still had control over her she would have. That is my theory........    

I just can't believe that so many of you fail to write even a slightest bit of sense. I've gotta admit it - I'm obsessed with figuring out who RJ is. I re-watched complete series 2 times, and important episodes 3-4 times. The more I watch, the more I am confused. And I often come here, to read new theories, new ideas, to find some new clues and facts from you. But some stuff that was posted here . . . damn, it's just shockingly stupid. I will now go to my story.

First, about RJ . . . they've altered his voice so that you wouldn't be able to identify him by comparing voices. And yet, most of you say it's Partridge because he too has a creepy voice. RJ recites Blake's poem to PJ - Bertram does to same in front of JJ and Lisbon - and all of a sudden you think it's him. JJ tells her it's Blake, Cho later tells it's Blake - she could've connected those dots. It wasn't meant to be so obvious, get it through your skulls already. That's why this show is so awesome.

Second - the "He is ma" clue according to some of you was meant to be He is married. Or Heisman. Bravo ! Thank God there's only one guy on this planet who's married and that clue was all Jane needed to solve the mystery.

After all my closely watching, if I was forced to guess who RJ is - I couldn't even venture that guess. I wanna say Minelli just because when he suggested to GVP about Tagliaferro name - he said "Try the name in english" and not "That's ITALIAN for cut iron" . . . that caught my attention. Not likely, but because of his Italian descent and because Jane wrote about him only OLD CBI BOSS and RETIRED in his book (which is a common knowledge) in his little book of suspects, I wanna say Minelli. He didn't notice anything else important about him, like with the others. But maybe that fact rules him out. Then I found this - http://www.sheknows.com/baby-names/name/roy - and because of that, you can say it's Harken. Also unlikely, but you can't rule him out. Then I started thinking - who cuts iron ? Who smells of pine, and nails and earth ? It got me way over to Trinity killer, hammering nails in wooden boards, building those houses. But it didn't bring me back to someone in The Mentalist.

What was obvious so far in this show - there is more to the Rosalind's horrified reaction to Carter's corpse. What he said to Jane is what RJ is all about - RJ instructed him to tell those things to Jane.
There is more to Ellis Mars than meets the eye. The first card he gives to Jane, which was hand-written, has a huge impact on PJ. It triggers his reaction, he immediately starts thinking about The Tyger. Later on, Mars gives Jane another card, that one was fully printed. If he is RJ, it is a case of MPD.

What was disappointing so far in this show - when Jane enters the limo with Lorelei, he uses the rear-view mirror to look at the back. If he had turned, he would have seen that it is Wainwright and that he is already dead. Yes, Darcy didn't kill him during the shooting - he was already dead. Otherwise, he wouldn't be quiet and sitting still - he would have let Jane know that something's wrong.

But even more disappointing is the fact that Stiles told Jane that he knows more than he or RJ could imagine and he even gives him a location where they find Kristina - and Jane is not pursuing him to tell everything he knows about RJ. That's the greatest error in this show. He could easily find out who RJ is, but he let's Stiles of the hook like nothing was said. RJ is connected to Visualize, but he's not Stiles.

I'm looking forward to this next episode, which is about RJ and Visualize. Finally we will get some new facts and clues. And with Volker arrested, I believe his bargaining chip will be RJ info. They created him this late in the show not without a reason. He is a big player and he will turn out to be very important. I hope he is not RJ, that would be really lame. But I am sure he knows things.

At the very end of this post, I would like to send my best to my biggest fan here - FJ !  :)