I say brett partridge. But only because I know the least about him and because he is supposedly dead, so anything could happen. But I don't care about him much.

The facts I do care about:
I say that it cannot be PJ because it would take far too long, a whole season maybe, to explain how he has done it over the years.

However if pj is rj, then tiger tiger must be a separate organization not directly involved with red John. The three members from 6x6 would have given it away.

I believe that a third party will be the one who ties all the loose Ends together. It could be Patricks father or someone from his circus past. Brett partridge. VP and her past with rj. Visualize maybe. TT seems too obvious, although I could be wrong.

Until we see that third party come in, I believe we are just looking at the parts and can't have more than a guess who red John is. We are still missing too much story.

I completely disagree that it is cho because he has no background, no roots on the story, and is really not a very developed character. A flat character can't be rj, which is also why I don't believe it's any of the three tiger tiger members from 6x6.



Not pj, not cho, and not the three remaining suspects. I'm going to be pissed if red John is some kind of organization/cult and there is not a real red John.

Bruno Heller has specifically stated that he decided who RJ would be before they even started filming the show. This comment can probably be trusted more than some of his other ones, seeing as how he didn't have any reason to lie about that at the time, but he now has reasons to lie about who RJ really is, because we're only an episode away from the reveal, and he wants to keep the audience on their toes. So if we take this comment seriously, and we also assume that the list is correct, then we can conclude:

Gale Bertram
The most likely suspect of the alleged "remaining 3," but likely not RJ. Heller wouldn't plan out, from the beginning, for RJ to be the 3rd CBI director that appears in the 3rd season of the show. That doesn't make sense. He is, however, a probable suspect for RJ's right hand man in the CBI, and obviously a member of Tyger Tyger.

Bret Stiles:
Even though he was there since relatively the beginning, and it would make sense if Heller had planned him to be RJ from the beginning, he's much too old to be RJ himself, but very likely RJ's father. He has the unlimited resources that we expect RJ to have, and he has the ability to charm and manipulate others, but he likely taught that skill to his son, RJ, as Stiles is much too old to be RJ. 

Ray Haffner
Fits everything a little too perfectly. The build, height, phobia, whistling, fondness for Lisbon... it's way too obvious. Plus, he seems as if he wants to help Lisbon + the members of her team more than harm them, which isn't how RJ would act. There isn't much that points him to even being connected to RJ, so my guess is that he's the guy that does any dirty work for Visualize. If he is connected to RJ, he's probably the "brute force" guy that gets the quick work done, i.e. killing the PI.

Reede Smith:
Doesn't make sense. He has too much of a temper, he's much too large to be RJ, and he acknowledges the fact that he's a "lower level guy". RJ is a showman, and if he was talking to someone he was about to kill, he would glorify himself in every way possible rather than saying he was a "lower level guy." He's probably a high-ranking member of Tyger Tyger that gets the brute force work done for them, and possibly RJ's main FBI informant.

Bob Kirkland
Dead. Definitely dead. But he may have talked to/left a clue for Patrick about RJ. His twin, Michael, on the other hand, is/was more than likely a RJ accomplice, if not RJ himself (provided he's alive). Some people are wondering "why did Bob kill Jason Cooper if he could identify RJ, since he's hunting him?" Well, the answer is, Bob didn't kill Cooper. Michael did. Watch the last scene of 5x18, when Kirkland and Jane are in the hospital. Jane is in Cooper's room, then Kirkland shows up and has some agents escort Jane out. Then, the shots change, and Kirkland has a different tie on. It very clearly switches from a solid red tie to a red tie striped with white and blue. Some time may have passed between those shots, we don't know. But then, Kirkland (likely Michael) goes into Cooper's room and asks him if he recognizes him. He's reassured and calm when Cooper responds with "no". He then begins injecting the poison into Cooper's IV drip, while doing it he says "It's okay, I'm here for you. I won't leave you." This could be Michael mocking what Bob said to him when they were young before Bob left Michael with their dad. Plus, according to Rosalind Harker, RJ smells of pine, nails, and earth. Michael Kirkland owns a large building in the middle of a pine forest.
I still don't think he's RJ though.

Thomas McAllister
He wouldn't be a bad RJ, and he has indeed been there since the beginning (1x02), but he seems to have a genuine desire to help Patrick catch RJ. If he were really RJ, he wouldn't want to help Patrick with catching himself, that wouldn't make any sense. Definitely a member of Tyger Tyger, but I don't think he's an accomplice of RJ.

Brett Partridge
He has been there literally from the beginning (1x01). His first line in the show is "Red John enters here". He appears to have acaraphobia, the fear of biting bugs. He fits the physical descriptions that we've been given from Rosalind + Sophie Miller. His voice is a match. He's the right age. He always suggests the opposite of the real case at a RJ crime scene. He seems loathsome and jealous of Patrick. He has a symbolic, between-the-lines connection to William Blake, the author of RJ's favorite poem, Tyger Tyger. 
What better way to get your nemesis off your trail than fake your own death?
RJ: "I'm going to start killing again, often. Until you catch me, or I catch you."
RJ is Partridge, and he will most likely reveal himself in 6x08.
He's everybody's favorite creep, a ghoul.
He's irksome.
He's Red John.

Is it plausible that Patrick Jane ditched Lisbon because he was the one who planted the bomb and he didn't want her there when it exploded....

Dead ?  My ass.  Partridge is alive and Red John. 

I am not gonna repeat everything-ad nauseam.

Red John walks (slithers) - he talks (even when muffled)  - just as Partridge does.  Also been there since the Pilot.

But then, I don't think Kirkland is dead either and several clues point to Virgil Minelli.  WHAT THE HELL DO I KNOW ???

I think Partridge is RJ and here are my thoughts on this and Stiles and tiger tiger.

1. I think RJ is or at least used to be very close to Brett Stiles. Perhaps Stiles helped him in some way as a kid (like the way he helped the Ecuador guy who became minister). I think it's possible that RJ is completely obsessed with Stiles and wants to be noticed by him. He's probably jealous of the control he has over people and how so many people worship him. He wants to be like Stiles - adored, worshipped and a performer.

2. I think RJ tipped off the FBI about Stiles in order to get him out of PJ's way. He either wanted Stiles arrested and safely in custody or he knew Stiles would run and find refuge somewhere. He either cares about Stiles a lot or he wants Stiles alive so that he can find out he is Red John and be "proud" of him.

3. I think Stiles suspects Partridge is RJ but doesn't know for sure. That's why Stiles was so surprised when PJ said that RJ was one of the 5 in the room. I think he was actually really happy that Partridge wasn't there because now he believes his suspicions about him being RJ were false.

4. RJ has led Patrick all this way, being in control and he has timed this whole thing so that it is revealed now because Stiles has cancer! It's important for RJ to reveal himself before Stiles dies!

5. The tiger tiger thing is a complete red herring. RJ is trying to frame one of them. This could just be convenient for him but I think it's more likely that the tiger tiger crew were involved somehow in a murder cover-up of some sort with someone (or more) RJ was close to. This could have been a trigger for his killings or simply added fuel.

6. Partridge's first line in the show was "Red John enters here". That is fantastic.

7. Partridges aren't fond of heights.

8. I am almost certain there is a link between Stiles liking Van Pelt & her red hair, and RJ having a relationship with a redhead (Rosalind Harker). Maybe RJ is Stiles' son and they have similar taste in women.

Some of these things don't directly point to Partridge but I think it is the most likely scenario. Even if we disregard the fact that they both have the same voice, he is the one most like a performer, an artist and he always seemed a bit creepy, a "ghoul" and a bit macabre, obsessed with all things death to the point where he works with dead bodies for a living. 

Not so much a theory, but rather a question for the group.

What do you think the explosion at the end of the last episode was?  I mean, what caused it?  Who caused it?  Why?

Personally, I think it was Red John.  I think Brett Partridge is Red John.  He faked his own death with the help of some of his disciples (think about it, he is a forensic guy, and likely his first disciples would be those closest to him - other forensic guys).  The list included not only him, but also those who were hunting him (Bob Kirkland, perhaps members of Tyger Tyger) or whom he perceived as a threat (perhaps Bret Styles is his father and was engaging Ray Haffner to track down his son, Brett Partridge, to convince him to STOP killing). 

Brett Partridge first had to throw Patrick Jane off of his own trail, hence faking his death.  Then he could sic Patrick Jane on the remaining people on the list, thereby using Jane to actually further Red John's own goals.  When Jane conceived to gather all five remaining people on the list in one place, Red John/Brett Partridge just couldn't resist the opportunity to try to eliminate so many of his enemies with one blow.

Also, I do not think that Patrick Jane trusts Lisbon (and with good reason).  He ditched her, after she promised that she would not try to stop him from killing Red John.  And, of course, after he did that, she had to call him to try to convince him to not kill Red John (showing she was obviously intending to go back on her word about not preventing Jane from killing Red John).

And, FWIW, I think that Sheriff McAllister IS trusted by Jane and was/is in on the plan Jane hatched about getting all five "suspects" together.  Jane knows Red John is NOT one of the five, but now he needs to act like he DOES think that in order to draw Red John out.

For all you who think its Brett and think that he is not dead and he was alive and pull lisbon down. Let me give you this slight clue as to why I dont think it is him watch the part where he dies. when Lisbon enters the room there is a white door to the right when she enters it was closed. I repeat the door was closed. when lisbon gets back up after seeing Brett die and say tiger tiger the door is open. There was someone else in that room. How else can you explain door closed and door open. Brett is gone guys I thought he was RJ as well until I picked that up and was like shit nope cant be him. He was on the ground and dead he could not have moved that fast to open the door.

Thoughts on this? You think it is still Brett?