I think the whole show is about PJ being smarter tha everyone else. The thing is that, as far as we know, RJ is prooving to be the mastermind of the show, so even if PJ unmasks one of these 3 suspects I would still have the feeling that RJ is the smartest one.

In my opinion, for the show to be complete, PJ needs to set up RJ before catching him up, not just gathering the 5 suspects in a room, because anyone could do that. So I think PJ clearly knows none of the 5 suspects is RJ, and the whole bomb thing is part of PJ plan to set up RJ.

Here's my theory plain and simple. The voice of Red John to me in every episode that he has spoke in is to high pitched to be anyone other than Partridge. I know, I know, Partridge is supposed to be dead, but, if he's actually dead then why in the next episode did it not show anything about it. It was just kind of looked over and on to the next suspect. Also when it showed his supposed dead body, it just flashed on the screen for a minute and no one could tell if it was actually Patridge or not. Partridge( if I'm correct) has been on the Mentalist since episode 1, he's been there from the beginning and he'll be there at the end......as Red John!

I have been posting/commenting for Ray Haffner as that is my pick for RJ however....I have just had a thought based on the comment from the tv guide article that reads: We now know that Red John has a burning desire to befriend Patrick. He wants to be friends with him so badly that he's willing to expose himself and put himself out in the open for Patrick. 

The only person that comes to mind that would want this kind of acceptance from Patrick would be Partridge. I realised he is dead but think about all the times Patrick has mocked him, ridiculed him, etc. He is the only one that would be yearning for Patrick to be his friend, to accept him. Even the way he asked Patrick what was wrong, etc in the first episode of this season.

Fire and Brimstone

When Jane told Bertram to meet him, Bertram called a misterious person, which seems to be Red John, I mean, who else could be? And he told Red John about the meeting. Quick note: if Red John is one of the five suspects and Bertram called him, he knows Jane is gathering all the five suspects together, because Jane asked him too.

Just like another theory I just read saying that Red John would never place a bomb where he would be, because he is a narcissist and he will make sure that everyone knows who Red John was before he dies.
But if Red John is not one of those five suspects in the room, how did he knew where the meeting was? Easy: Bertram told him.

Accusing Bret Stiles
He is the only one that would plant a bomb in such a suicidal way (he is dying), and when he arrives looks like he is looking for the others, and how did he knew about the others? Bertram.
But wait, there is a failure, Red John is a narcissist, he wouldn't bomb himself like this even when dying, so, I don't think it's Stiles I just wanted to share this thought.

About Michael Kirkland
I keep repeating this all the time, and I'll say it again: it's really unlikely that we have seen Michael Kirkland on the show and if we really did, this is such a script failure.
I tell you why. Bob has been looking for his brother for some long time and never found any clue. He can get a lot of information about anyone he wants, he just ''stalks'' them and investigate and do this kind of stuff. Now, do you really think that a guy like this wouldn't know if the brother he was looking for years was using his name? If he knew it, why the hell would he torture the people from the fake list? His vendetta would be completely pointless. This is why I assume we never saw Michael, unless it's a script failure...I think he is really dead

Final point
I know a lot of you are really pissed of Partridge theories (I once was too), but seriously, he fits everything so perfectly, specially his voice, and his looks. Also he seems to like everything working perfectly with no failures, just like Red John's crimes, just check the very first episode (S01E01) when Rigsby is like blocking the way, Partridge seems to get really annoyed by such a little reason.
And also, I know a lot of you have read this, but we never saw his dead body, and I think this is relevant since it's a crime investigation show and we see dead bodies all the time, also, he faked his death and traped Lisbon because he knew Jane would just freak out and rush to save her and that Jane wouldn't give a damn about Partridge's ''dead'' body. And he also did make sure that Lisbon saw him ''dying''. He could easily escape, he works with the forensics and he certainly has some friends there to help him out.

Thanks for reading, comments appreciated!

After watching the last episode I have came up with 5 suspects.  Brett Partridge, Ray Haffner, Sheriff McAllister.  If it is someone of the list then Walter Mashburn or Max Winter but I am sure it is Brett Partridge.

This is not a theory, just a heads up to Partridge fans.

Anybody who likes Jack Plotnick/Brett Partridge, if you haven't heard, there's a really good episode of Criminal Minds, starring him as the killer of the week, on CBS tonight at 10:00 Eastern time!

Even if he somehow ends up not being Red John, he'll sure put on a great performance as another serial killer tonight:)

The extended promo for The Great Red Dragon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZNHArXK514

For those of you who think Red John is one of the remaining 5:
Rigsby says "Red John brought in the bomb to kill Jane and the other suspects"
If any of those 5 were Red John, why would he plant a bomb in a room that he was going to be in, just to kill himself, Jane, and the other suspects?
Answer: they wouldn't. There would be no point for Red John, this extremely prideful, narcissistic, showman of a serial killer, to plant a bomb to kill himself and his nemesis, along with a few others. Really, if you were Red John, would you waste 20 years of killing people just to die in an explosion with no one knowing that you were actually Red John? No, you wouldn't. You would make sure that, if you were going to die, everybody would know who you were so you would leave a lasting effect on them.
And if it is true that Red John is on the list of 7, then we can eliminate the 5 ones that are definitively alive because of the explosion. That leaves Bob Kirkland and Brett Partridge. Bob Kirkland is definitely dead, we saw him get shot in the back 7 times.
That just leaves Partridge. 
I know that there are still people out there that won't even attempt to think that Partridge could be alive, but hear me out.
If you were a forensic investigator, do you really think you would have a tough time faking your own death? Partridge, being an experienced forensics guy, would know how to make a crime scene look convincing. Partridge's "death" can sort of be connected with the Reaper from Criminal Minds (another CBS show). The Reaper was a serial killer that made it look like he was innocent by meticulously cutting himself in the manner that the Reaper cut up his victims, but he cut himself in such a way that he knew he would not die, but it would make it look as if he was on the brink of death. 
Who's to say Partridge couldn't do the same thing?
And at this point, we can make a very educated guess that Oscar Cordiero, the EMT that was first on the scene at both Partridge's "death" and the PI's death, is definitely an accomplice of Red John.
Does anybody else find it strange that Lisbon called for backup to immediately head to 5570 West Huron before she left the CBI, but before the backup arrived, so much time had passed that Lisbon was already there, she was lured into the house by a suspicious noise, searched the house, saw Partridge "die", was knocked out by Red John + had a smiley face painted on her, and Red John also had time to make a call to Patrick + leave before anyone arrived on scene?
Enter Oscar Cordiero, the EMT that has miraculously been the first on scene at the past two RJ crime scenes.
First, he arrived at the scene with Lisbon to help Partridge escape, thus making sure that nobody else saw that Partridge was really alive. Then, he shows up to the scene of the PI's murder to watch Jane's reaction to the PI's tattoo clue, and report this reaction to Partridge, thus reassuring Partridge that Patrick is fully off his tracks.
Cordiero is definitely not a character that coincidentally happened to arrive at both of those crime scenes first. He was there first for a reason.

And honestly, I feel as though nobody could play the character of Red John better than Partridge, especially if what we've seen in the early TV Guide article is true. None of the other suspects on the list of 7 seem to have any heavily driven desire to befriend Patrick (except maybe McAllister, but he actually seems to have a desire to help Patrick catch RJ). We've seen in all of Partridge's encounters with Patrick (with the exception of the scene in the desert) that he seems to have some sort of underlying desire to be friends with Patrick, but Patrick always shuts Partridge down cruelly. This could explain why (if it's true) Red John intentionally exposes himself to Patrick in the final episode. Partridge has seen that his attempts of befriending Patrick in the past have not worked, so he figures (since he's apparently so hellbent on having a relationship with Patrick) if all else fails (which it has), then the last resort method of possibly becoming Patrick's friend is to openly reveal himself, showing a gesture of willingness to become friends. Of course, this won't work, and Jane will end up killing Red John anyways.
And what's up with the rest of the promo for the next episode? It says that the truth (as to who survived the explosion) will uncover an even bigger lie. First of all, how would who survives the blast uncover the Tiger Tiger organization? And secondly, how exactly is the Tiger Tiger organization a lie? A corrupt organization of law enforcement officials? Yes. But how is it a lie?
Some things to ponder as we anxiously await the delayed episodes (good going, CBS).