Bruno could easily be manipulating us with false info and clues so we can't trust that RJ is on the list. They've done it before with the waldo clue but nobody on the List has been in the background so it was obviously just a throw off. If red john is on the list the character has to have this criteria to match red john.
RED JOHN:
1.has to be younger than 50. 25 years earlier on the farm he wouldn't be considered a kid even by an old man if he was older than 25/26.
2. Can't be leader of visualize in '88 because he was young and working on the farm.
3. Kills with knives meaning sexual repression or impotence with women he kills. Probably isn't married because this would make killing difficult and wouldn't fit the profile.
4. Has to money for resources.
5. Narccicstic
6. Psychic?
7. Manipulation skills
8. Mixed feeling for Jane

The following are eliminated because of the above profile and RJ info we know:
Bret stiles- 69-70, leader of visualize, too old, married?
Bob Kirkland- 43-44, stole Janes info after RJ already had it. He's wants his own revenge on rj.
Seeds Smith- 37, appeared only once, let's face it he's just fodder.
Sheriff McAllister- 57-58, not enough money, too old.

The remaining might be RJ but there's also evidence for the contrary:
Gale bertram- FOR: AGAINST:
CBI director. 50-51
Weird vibe. Married
Fishes. Not "psychic"
Doesn't like Jane Works with Kirkland. See above reasoning.

Brett Partridge - FOR: AGAINST:
Forensics expert. No psychic ability
Mocks psychics. Money?
Mixed feelings 4 Jane. No way of knowing James list/ memories
Quotes Moby dick. Wrong about every crime scene. ( could be an act )
Not married. Could he manipulate and charm his followers

Ray Haffner - FOR: AGAINST:
FBI, CBI, PI, and visualize. Not psychic that we know of
Expert in taps/ surveillance how could he know James list
45-46 what's his problem with women/ why kill?
Info on elliston farm. A little too obvious.
Former football player? Married? Hasn't appeared before season 4.

All three could be red John but I believe RJ is really Kristina Frye and they are just fooling us and leading us on like RJ is Jane. We have to be mentalists and see threw their smoke and mirrors. She's the only one that fits all the criteria and psychological profile plus she's psychic and talked to James wife who could know Patrick's happy memories as they both worked In the carnival. Who cares if she's a woman RJ followers could easily be lying. Its not like they haven't done worst. And who says Harker Rosalind was actually with RJ. Roy could just be RJ's helper to do the dirty work or be the "face" of RJ so Kristina doesn't get caught so easy. Why else would she be the only one RJ didn't kill? Especially since Jane liked her. When they met they weren't friends at first because Jane mocked her psychic abilities and didn't want to work with her. She might also kill women to assert dominance over them as women are very competetive or she's bisexual and stabs girls as a way to penetrate them and gain sexual gratification from it because she doesn't have a penis to do so. This is my theory hope you like it.

Not a theory. Just some sort of question.

In the The Red Barn episode, in which we learn Red John has some connection with Visualize, I noticed something odd. The timeline for the killing is kind of confusing. 

Patrick talks to the priest who was a former Visualize episode about the smiley face painted on the barn. He says one of the Visualize guys (one of the 2 victims) told him some kid drew it and, when asked what it meant, he said "what does anything mean?"

But the guy was one of the victims... so why was the smiley face painted on the barn if he was still alive? Red John always paints the faces after killing someone, using their blood, and making sure it's the first thing you see when you enter the room. But this killing doesn't add up: the smiley face wasn't easy to spot and it was painted before anyone was killed.

Also, in the scene where the mother and her daughter go to the barn and see one of the Visualize guys with a gun, the smiley face is already there.

That means, either:

a) Red John painted the face (using someone else's blood or just paint) beforehand and then killed the 2 Visualize guys in the secret basement, and was hiding there when the woman and the daughter went there. Maybe this was to mark his territory, like he did at Rosalind's house in the season 1 finale.

b) The face was painted by someone other than Red John (and maybe, just maybe, that's how he decided to adopt that signature) but it was indeed Red John who committed the murders.

c) It wasn't Red John at all.

What do you guys think? I guess a is the most likely answer, but with the sketchy timeline, anything's possible.

My English is not very good, but here's my theory. First we should mention that RJ knows the list of names that patrick has. Why? is the question. if you look at the episode where they enter patrick's room in the CBI take photographs. BOB later kirklan is doing a sort of reproduction of this. RJ possibly not. but who but the photographs had accceso. RJ has not gotten in the minds of patrick. through the investigation that led patrick could account for the names. About the memory of patrick, all you think is that possibly RJ was in the asylum with Patrick, or the partner was there and erase the mind or was a doctor from there and the same thing happened, remember that patrick within asylum was very hurt because of their loss, RJ could take this situation.

Been a while since I posted here. But thought I'd share something to eliminate a couple suspects from the list of 7 names (even though I believe that list is fake and Heller, as usual, is trying to deceive us, just like he did in the previous season finale interviews.)

Do any of you remember Ashley Gable? She was one of the writers and executive producers for the show for the first 4 seasons. She wrote one of the best RJ episodes, "His Red Right Hand". And she was the one who said we had to look at RJ "like Waldo" (it was her, not Heller).

But most importantly, she said RJ "had already been visible in prior episodes" (yup, plural), before season 4 premiered. In addition, Heller mentioned in an interview last year (for the season 4 finale) that "Red John may have already been cast" and that we "may have already seen him". I know this contradicts one of my previous statements, but note that he didn't confirm it (like he did with the list), he mentioned it as a possibility.

So, neither Kirkland, nor Reede Smith, nor Haffner could be RJ, since they were introduced in seasons 4 and 5. However, Kirkland is one mysterious character, but his obsession with RJ, him warning Lisbon of Tommy Volker (telling her to back off) and his "can we trust her?" conversation with Bertram, make me think he's either a RJ associate (which I hope isn't true, since the whole "associates" thing is getting repetitive) or someone trying to get personal revenge or a very big promotion. Who knows? Haffner fits the profile too, and his connection with Visualize is something we can't overlook.

Also, if you take Gable's words literally (meaning she meant we had seen RJ more than one time by then - although it'd be too obvious to say we had only seen RJ in 1 episode), there's the Sheriff. By the season 5 premiere, we had only seen him in 1 episode (S01E02). I think it'd be safe to rule him out.

Then there's Stiles, Partridge and Bertram left. We had seen all those in more than 1 episode in the first 3 seasons. Although I honestly don't think it's any of them, they have enough reasons to be suspects. I liked Max Winter, CBI Ron and Ellis Mars better.

Anyway, even though this season finale was very disappointing (all of the other season finales had bigger reveals and more action-packed scenes), I can't wait until next season. I think we'll quickly know truly how RJ got the exact names on the list - after all, The Mentalist has always enjoyed finding rational explanations to supernatural phenomena. Don't be silly, they ain't giving RJ no superpowers... yet.

Also, worth mentioning: I liked that theory about the 2 different lists (the real one seen at the ending of the episode after Red Sails in the Sunset, and the fake one created around the time of The Red Barn, if I'm not mistaken). Something I just came up with: Patrick says, since his wife and child were killed, he met an exact number of people, in 2 different episodes, Red Barn and Red John's Rules, both times to Lisbon. If he was lying (if the second list is actually just a con), he could have just made up fake numbers. Did he mention the exact same number both times? I need to redownload those episodes.

Okay, I watched Episode 1x02 again. Twice. That's the episode Sheriff McAllister is in.

Before I share my thoughts about him, I want to say something else.

You are a writer/screenwriter. You are writing a book or a TV show script. You have this big mystery plot. You do your best. You are spinning the spot. You are putting subtles clues along with some clever red herrings. You continue spinning the plot, more and more. Until you realize the plot has started to spin out of control. But you don't panic, because you are an experienced writer.

Let's say that in this particular TV show, for some reason, you have to present the audience with a list of suspects for the killings in your big mystery plot. You have a bunch of guys, who somewhat fit the profile of the killer and the clues you've planted. But you are not really sure, because you've lost control of the plot. You have to name seven suspects. And you decide to include one or two names, who will serve as an insurance policy, a bailout, just in case. Some obscure characters nobody knows anything about and whose stories you can safely implant in the main story and say "yeah, they were there the whole time, pulling the strings from behind the curtain". It's cheating but it happens, even with good writers.

I am starting to think this is exactly what has happened with The Mentalist and that's why people like Sheriff McAllister and FBI Agent Smith are on the list.

So, I watched Sheriff McAllister's episode.

1. Jane does not shake hands with him onscreen. We see the moment they meet, but we don't see the moment Jane leaves the town. So, yeah, they might have shaken hands when Jane was leaving. Possible, yet unsatisfactory.

2. Lorelei: "I only wonder why the two of you didn't become life-long friends ..."

Okay, maybe Lorelei meant "shook hands" figuratively, so point 1. is not a problem. But the "friends" part? 

What we see from Sheriff McAllister is this: He greets the CBI team and shows them the body of the victim. Jane does his thing describing the circumstances around the murder. A minute later the Sheriff asks Lisbon "who is this guy?", learns Jane is a consultant and starts asking him stupid questions like "are you a clairvoyant, do you have psychic powers" while making funny faces. Janes explains he has no powers and the Sheriff asks him "so what is it you do exactly?" (with a funny/confused voice and a somewhat silly expression again). Then The Sheriff gets beaten by Jane at rock-paper-scissors six times in a row. He seems a little upset, but not much I think.

Then there is the Van Pelt incident when the Sheriff interferes with Jane's plan and is even considered a suspect for a moment. Jane is not there, they do not talk.

And that's it. The Sheriff spends the rest of the episode making more and more strange/funny/silly facial expressions.

There is nothing even remotely special or unusual in his short interactions with Jane. Not onscreen at least.

So, assuming the Sheriff is RJ, tell me this - how can Lorelei even think that Jane and the Sheriff might have become friends? Let alone wonder why they didn't. Life-long friends, yeah, right..

3. The only strange thing I saw was this: When Lisbon and Jane begin questioning that guy Hector, just before he starts talking it seems like he looks at the Sherrif. At least that's the impression we are left with. The Sheriff gives Hector a strange look and we hear a short spooky music. That's it. Probably doesn't mean anything.

4. Rosalind's description + age.

I am not sure if he fits Rosalind's description. He is about the same height as Jane (I think I saw 6 ft being posted here). He is neither muscular, nor soft. He might smell "of pine and nails and earth" as he is living in the country. We are shown his hands and I don't know if one could describe them as "rough" or "strong". He does not have a gentle voice. He is balding, or at least the actor is.

Age. The actor was born in 1955. If we assume this age for McAllister, this would make him 33 at the time of the Red Barn killings. I am 33 and nobody has called me "kid" for quite some time now.

5. "He is ma". I don't know. Someone here posted "He is marshal".

6. Visualize connection. None shown.




I don't know. He seems like a random guy to me. An insurance policy, as I said above. The only somewhat plausible theory I can think of is this: McAllister knows Jane has joined the CBI, so he decides to ask the CBI for help in a local murder case (which he might have orchestrated?) and see how Jane works. That would explain his strange behaviour with Van Pelt - he knows Van Pelt is with the CBI, he knows Jane is watching, he knows Jane will catch the real killer. So he decides to play a little game with Jane or to mock him or whatever.

It's ALEX JANE.
Patrick Jane's father.

Nobody else knows Patrick better than him.
Alex taught all he knew about about being a mentalist/psychic, when they were living together 24x7 in the fair, carnival lifestyle.

Alex is very good manipulating minds, with no regrets and no feelings.
Actually he has no feelings for his own son Patrick neither!.
His father is also known to be very focused in getting money and spending it gambling or playing poker. In example, the night they sell the cristal/mineral to the dying young girl at the fair in the tent. This is a psyco mind profile, no empathy or feelings for a dying child that needs real help.

As long as Patrick abandoned the carnival, and he was key part of the mentalist show at the fair, his father lost a very important part of his way of life to get money.
So, in a way, Patrick took/stole to his father what he most loved or needed.

In revenge, Alex Jane took what Patrick most loved: HIS FAMILY.
(Actually, Patrick Jane's wife was living in the fair too, and abandoned the carnival with Patrick.)

After some years of Patrick abandoning the fair, Alex saw his very own son to be a mentalist of success (making money!) on TV shows using his father's skills, tricks and knowledge about being a mentalist.
In short, Patrick used the training of his own father after abandoning him, doing precisely what Patrick renounced to: stealing money from innocent people.

All of this long story between Red John and Patrick is like a test built by his own father to demonstrate that Patrick is not as smart or clever as his father.
Is a pulse fight between them two.

All people Red John uses to kill people or trick Jane, are people that lost something important in their lives, so they are vulnerable or easy-to-manipulate for a professional mentalist like Alex Jane.

It's not yet supported, but maybe Alex killed his wife too; in other words: Patrick's mother.
Alex is a bad person, apart from a bad father.

DAMN CLEAR.

I think the 7 people on the list are the 7 letters of Red John (3+4). Red John is such a complicated character it's probably a well structured killing organization. Each letter signifies a contributor to Red John, although I don't know the order in which they will structure Red John.