According to wikipedia, BH wrote all the past 5 season finales himself. Now all of a sudden in the season 6 finale the writer is someone else named David Appelbaum? I don't know what to make of this...............if Red John were to return would he not take charge of the writing duties? Since that horrible episode 8,he has not directed nor has he written a Mentalist episode. I hope i'm wrong but is this really the end of Red John?

The show is not as interesting because Jane has no rival. There is no one who can pull a trick on Jane. It's just Jane humiliating the FBI in 99 different ways.

I just watched the season finale of the 2nd season. I think that episode was the best mentalist episode ever............ it literally sent chills down my spine even after all these years. This just motivates me more into believing that RJ is still alive somewhere and will soon make his reappearance. 

One of the reasons I’m having problems with S6E8 is because of how the entire RJ revealed is handled.  The Mentalist is not an action hero show (although Chou and Rigby provide action); it’s a show about how PJ uses his mind to solve puzzles, RJ being the greatest one he has ever faced.  What do we get in S6E8?  A long chase scene.  Huh?!?  Where’s the great PJ flourish and reveal?  Where is the gathering of the suspects (BY PJ) not a call from one of the suspects to arrange the meet.  PJ does not seem in control.  We then go to S6E9 (the “re-boot”) and PJ gives the flourish of trapping the dope dealer.  It’s there for the re-boot but not for the greatest puzzle in his life?  One might argue the most important espiode of the series?  This is what is giving me problems.  I would be OK with McAllister if we the viewers had been let in on the process.  If the writers, through PJ, had provided us with a "normal" story for the ending.  Is it a normal espiode?  Of course not, its the RJ reveal.  Why did I fell like I was watching a different show?  After all, there are no psychics, right, BH?  So I am left wondering what is going on and if the RJ story is over.  Is that the plan?  To leave the audience out in the cold, wondering?

This isn't a theory! I
just wanted to point out some serious timeline issues:

Timeline wise the earliest
episode is S05E05 Red Dawn. 




As far as i know it isn't
possible to put an exact date on those events. The only reference in
that respect is the portrait of Arnold Schwarzenegger as Governor. He
was Governor from Nov 2003 until January 2011.

So if the picture as a
time reference can be trusted the episode must lie within that time frame. It is also said time lie about 1 year after the Jane
murders. So the time frame there is 2002-2010.

By the end of
that episode Jane has gotten the Job of consultant. Also Steve
Hannigan gets transferred and Grace is thrown into the mix as a
replacement.

Assuming there is no in between replacement we know
nothing about she must have gotten the job shortly after that
episode. The time in between can't be more than a few months.




In S01E01 Rigsby
actually wears the same leather Jacket as in Red Dawn, but got arid
of the Goatee.

On the second case of the double murder, Jane meets
Van Pelt for the first time. As he hasn't met her on the first murder
two weeks earlier in LA so she could have joined in the meantime. In
any case we are most likely only moths in from Jane joing the CBI.




Jane did join the CBI
about one year after the murder of his family therefore we must be at
about 1,5-2 years after the murder.

Now there is the first flashback
to Jane doing a psychic reading in the TV Show.




The caption tells us this
happened 5 years ago.
Therefore it must be 3 years prior to the
murders. The second flashback continues in the same TV show with Jane talking
about Red John. His voice keeps on talking while the camera cuts away to a BMV
driving in the moonlight. Then there is another cut to Janes house where
he walks up the stairs and discovers the note and the red smiley.

Now
if this is in fact the scene where he finds his wife and child this
cut must be a jump of about 3 years a head.

Red John is a group of serial killers headed by Patrick Jane.  They are all playing the role of Red John all of them are made to play a "game" with Jane.  Jane the leader of Red John ends this sick game he's playing with himself by killing each "Red John" and getting away with it    that's why Timothy Carter was so surprised when Jane shot him    and McAllister pissed himself and begged for his life   and after Carter is killed Jane smiles and sits back down and after Jane chokes McAllister to death with his bare hands he goes on a two year vacation in paradise     everything comes in threes and McAllister was the second RJ fake reveal / death  and the third and final one will somehow expose Jane as the mastermind of "Red John"                   I called it when I first heard Red John's voice that it was Simon Baker's voice just whispered  the RJ voice McAllister did was not Baker's voice      every time we hear Red John's voice it's Jane's    talking to himself   playing a game with himself       Luthor Wainwright called Jane a sociopath and he was kidnapped and set up to be killed   why Wainwright ? cause he insulted Jane      what about Bosco? he stole the RJ case from Jane and was mean to him and shut him out    why would RJ go from killing Jane's family to teach him a lesson to helping Jane out by killing Bosco's team so Jane can have the case back?  then he wants Jane to join him and promises him a new better life... a new beginning   sends a hot chick to fuck him and then she helps him out...  . . .   Jane's behind everything   Red John has to be Jane's equal . . .the symmetry     the only person in the show's history who has shown Jane's level of skill and power is Patrick Jane          the only person who could lure out and hypnotize Kristina Frye     He has a sleeping disorder       he had a mental breakdown     how creepy would it be to see Jane painting the RJ smiley face with his wife's blood in a flashback?     JANE IS RED JOHN        The Rigsby's are going to die       the season is in three parts  the first is Red John: The Final Chapter     the second is A New Beginning   and the third will be The Return of Red John      

I'd read somewhere that CBS never renewed the Mentalist until after the final show of the season aired.  I also read that BH was concerned that the show was being cancelled after the third season and that the Carter ending was suspose to be the actual ending if the show didn't get renewed.  Anyone have more info on this?