CliqueClackThe Mentalist’s Red John reveal: Even less convincing than Bradley Whitford
After seasons of following ‘The Mentalist’s’ Patrick Jane and his quest for the identity of Red John, its reveal is finally here … and you know what? I don’t accept it.
**WARNING: RED JOHN REVEAL SPOILERS FOLLOW**
Remember a couple of years ago, in the season three finale of The Mentalist, when we were supposed to be led to believe that Bradley Whitford’s character, Timothy Carter, was Red John? And then it turned out he wasn’t? I wasn’t convinced then .. and I’m even less convinced of Sheriff McAllister being Red John this season.
After everything we’ve learned up to this point about the elusive and infamous Red John, it turns out that everything lead to a cowardly, sniveling old coot with no remarkable traits to his name other than his fear of pigeons. There were several clues that led to McAllister being Red John throughout the season, but that’s not what I have a problem with. What do I have a problem with? Where do I start? …
First let’s consider everything Red John’s been up to since the first season of the show, and how we’ve gotten no answers to them whatsoever:
- Why has Red John been toying with Patrick Jane, essentially following him and continuing to make his life hell and reminding him of what he’d done to his family?
- What’s with his smiley face mark? Not a single insight into what made him use that as his calling card. What about the name “Red John” for that matter?
- The Blake Association seems to like to clear up loose ends quite quickly — wasn’t Red John a big ol’ loose end/canon that could ruin their organization? Why didn’t they just get rid of him long ago?
- All along we were led to believe Red John had a connection with mentalism in some way, perhaps having supernatural skills of mind reading. Not a peep of that, other than McAllister strangely interested in wanting Jane to know how he knew who was on his Red John suspect list.
- What about of all of the Red John disciples we’ve seen throughout the series. What the bloody hell did they see in this guy? How was this coward even remotely able to call people to sacrifice themselves for him?
- Why was Brett Partridge killed? I get that his tattoo served to allow McAllister to (very temporarily) elude the authorities, but that’s not why he was killed. …
- THIS was the guy eluding Patrick Jane all this time? Really?
- This now means Jane has killed two people due to being Red John suspects. How the hell could he ever be allowed back near the CBI?
There’s probably more, but to get into it all would just make me more sad. I think what pisses me off the most is that we’re supposed to believe that Red John is this guy who fled from Patrick Jane like some petty criminal, leading up to him actually attempting to … oh God, I can’t believe this happened .. call 9-1-1 for help. It can’t be. CAN’T! BE!
I’ve just decided that I refuse — RE-FUSE — to accept that McAllister is/was Red John. He’s simply not worthy of the title. Timothy Carter was a far more convincing Red John than McAllister in every way, and even then I wasn’t convinced. I get that creator Bruno Heller said that Jane’s list definitely had the name of Red John on it, but either Heller’s lying or it’s NOT McAllister.
Am I missing something here? Was Heller making a point that Red John should never have been such a big deal on the show, so he went and made him a wuss? Or will we start to follow a hell of a lot more clues into who the real Red John is, once we see what Bertram’s encrypted file translates to? Maybe that’s just the start to a whole new ongoing mystery for the show?
I’d still like to hold onto the Patrick Jane as Red John theory. I know a lot of people seem to hate that one, but this episode did nothing but enforce it in my eyes. How about McAllister’s “who are you?” question to Jane? The way it was asked, and then the way Jane answered, for someone like me who’d like to hold onto the Jane=John outcome, it sure felt like a hat tip in that direction. Jane’s Red John persona is so buried that McAllister questioned him that way to be sure it still held.
I get that a LOT of people are just done with the Red John plot and would be happy to see it end, and I can sympathize with that. But this isn’t how you go about it.
24 Comments on “The Mentalist’s Red John reveal: Even less convincing than Bradley Whitford”
Just a complete joke. Red John’s supposed to be this cold-blooded unemotional psychopath and this random sheriff who was reduced to begging for mercy is supposed to be him? I just can’t believe it. Furthermore, I can’t believe that Jane would believe it. I mean, Red John is sorry for killing his wife and daughter??? Makes absolutely no sense. I love your idea of Red John being Jane all along, I guess suffering from multiple personality disorder or something. The only other person I could have “accepted” being Red John was J.J. LaRoche. I didn’t catch every Red John episode as the show just got worse and worse that some episodes were just unbearable to watch so I don’t know if this is completely viable, but the actor playing him really gave off that psychopath vibe. I know he’s fat and Red John’s been portrayed as normal build but I think they could have found something to work around this. No other people really make sense… I guess Lisbon maybe could have been a shocking controversial Red John, but the show would never do that. Just a horrible way to end the arc if Red John is indeed Sheriff whatever-his-name-is. I’m holding onto hope like you that he wasn’t the real Red John but I’m not too optimistic lol.
You are totally correct, he should have been shouting “kill me you pussy Jane”… “im a killer, i dont fear dead, dead’s gotta fear me!”
You imbecile. Red John was not sorry for killing anyone, he was just a coward and he thought Jane would let him live if he had said he was sorry. There have been loads of seemingly ruthless killers who peed and pooed themselves under the gallows. Red John was not an embodiment of evil, he was always just a man with horribly twisted mind and normal human fears. I am perfectly happy about Red John being McAllister, as well as his whining when dying. I am not happy about the lack of explanation of some events from previous seasons, though.
You know a faint glimmer of hope in all this is that we don’t know 100% that he killed the Sheriff. We’re led to believe that he choked him but maybe just maybe after Jane hears that he’s “sorry” and “afraid to die”, just maybe, Jane knows he’s not the real Red John and didn’t kill him (just choked him unconscious).
Why wouldn’t you believe it? You assume incorrectly that The Mentalist is a high-concept, comes-only-once-every-few-years kind of show. It’s not, and Heller’s interviews (that he only decided on RJ’s identity in the last few years) clearly point to that. It can be a witty show, but it’s certainly not smart.
FWIW, I actually found the reveal fairly satisfying. Here’s a memorable character with lots of charisma (remember “It’s not what you think”?), in law enforcement, with a season-long build-up to this point. I would’ve been happier if it’d been Partridge and if RJ had gotten a chance to chew the scenery and explain a few more things, but all told I think they checked the boxes suitably (if not outstandingly). I think the strength of this show comes from its main cast, particularly Simon Baker. Seems they had to wrap up this Red John thing, and let’s be honest – short of the impossibly high-concept “Jane is Red John” thing, or it being another member of the main cast – nothing they brought out was going to blow us away. Of course a serial killer is going to be cowardly at heart! Of course he’s going to love his own life and do what he can to save it! With that in mind, I think they did all right with it, and I’ll consider it kind of contrived at this point if they revisit “Who Is Red John” once again. (Not that I’ll hate the idea, but how much worse will it be if they pull this a third time?)
Also, how did Red John know about the list. Mcallister says something like ” I … inside” which could mean a LOT of things…………..
So…. how did a zero personality bumkin get to be a wealthy,influential mind behind the blake association? Maybe he won a major lottery and decided to just have fun tormenting folks like Patrick? Get REAL : the show’s popularity was due to Red John. This ending seemed like a cheesy made up as you go half baked no brainer. Baker is the one who wins with his big contract. One more season and it’s by-bye time for the Mentalist.
You must be a “red-herring-redder-than-red Brett Partridge is Red John” fan – these are whining the most.
Ray Heffener could have been thee perfect red john,he also had a phobia.So many things could have pointed to him being red john.the sheriff,really?! All this hype was for nothing!
Keith, I agree. RJ had to hate Jane to kill his family and anyone who got close to Jane. And, what did these women see in RJ. How could an FBI agent kill cops and then try to kill his fiancé (Grace). No, you did a good job of poking holes in the reveal of Sheriff McAllister. He doesn’t fit the profile. It had to be someone that Lorelei could love. Someone who could persuade/hypnotize/induce people to follow his commands. Very unsatisfying!
Wow, big question came to my mind after reading your comments. Did Craig O’Laughlin had the tattoo on the shoulder? He was from the association right?
So Van Pelt would know about the tattoo and would have told Jane right? Or she is just
stupid..
If Craigs wans’t from the organization then why the fuck would he help Mcallister?
Lots of losses in the history.. yet somehow i’m enjoying it. =)
Why would she tell him? She did not know about the Blake association in that time. Nor did she know what the tattoo meant. Neither of this was revealed before season 6.
I’m not saying she would tell back then when Craig was alive. But when Jane found that RJ had the tattoo. So this way Jane would figure that exists an organization or something like that…
That should happen on s06e06. Not before season 6.
Another question, where was Jane’s house? It was near Sacramento, but he also have a house in Malibu… I guess i missed that part.
Did Rosalind Harker say tha roy tagliaforo had short straight hair
Mcallister is bald
He is bald now, he was not in 2008 or whenever she met him.
Didnt*
I saw an interview with Xander Berkeley on OMG Insider, and even HE didn’t believe his character was Red John when he got the script!
I agree. Red John had this presence that McAllister never did, not even in the end. Bradley Whitford had it but not him.
I feel betrayed, duped. I feel like a chump. I spent so much time combing through the ‘clues’ they fed us and it all came down to ‘I couldn’t be bothered.’ Well, I’m going to remember the creator’s name and I’m never giving him a second chance. It would have been different if he had ended it in a way that I didn’t like. I could accept that and move on but to say that you didn’t really have a plan all along. Seriously? Well I believe in Karma and so for now, that’ll do.
Thanks to the cast, it’s been a wild ride even if the destination ended up the worst thing I couldn’t have imagined, and not in the creepy Red John way I had come to expect.
Admit it, you are just sulky about McAllister because Red John did not turn out to be Partridge or Kirkland. You are all pathetic. You are whining worse than McAllister.
I agree with everything you said, we need closure, thus isn’t a way of ending such a great tv show.
Actually, I think it’s the country bumpkin persona of McAllister allowed the women to live and trust him. He was charming in a sweet sort of way, probably giving them lots of compliments and attention to keep them appeased. As Red John, and the Blake Association, he had power over those whose careers he’d saved, ensuring loyalty from blackmail. And finally, that same small town sheriff thing kept him from being seriously considered as a big time sociopath, allowing anonymity.
It isn’t that the Sheriff couldn’t be Red John, it’s that he didn’t do a convincing transformation into becoming Red John when he was revealed… He has been trying to get Jane over to the ‘dark’ side for years, I’d be more convinced if he had tried to persuade Jane that murder was pleasurable while taking his life etc… Or some sort of mind games, I’d doubt that he would let Jane trick him like this.
If Red John was to be brought down, it should not have been like this… He’s Jane Dr moriarty, and if Sherlock was going to bring him down it would be with the help of Watson- so we needed Lisbon to be there being pragmatic while Jane and Red John play mind games with each other… I am deeply disappointed.:(
Heller has tried to explain it away by using the “banality of evil” angle. That the Great Criminal Mastermind was actually nothing to be feared at all, just a sad old fantasist. Which would have been fine were it not for:
1) the fact that this was just a lame excuse for the writers having painted themselves into a corner and couldn’t logically have had anyone else.
2) The fact that Red John was, actually, a Great Criminal Mastermind, as he himself pointed out to Jane, running rings around Jane for six years, pulling off elaborate technological hoaxes, making women fall obsessively in love with him and running a secret conspiracy that reached into the heart of law enforcement.
3) The fact that RJ has had such an impressive build up for 6 years and so deserved a concomitant reveal – one of the team, Lisbon or Jane himself.
Any of those would have been thrilling (assuming the writers could have made it make sense logically).
I was convinced it was Van Pelt on the grounds that she has red hair, she was the only one of the team who joined after Jane (just after) and the fact she is leaving this series with Rigsby (I thought he would find out and she would kill him). My second suspect was Lisbon, on the grounds she kept having people saying “Tyger tyger” to her, or saying it to them.
Like other posters the worst thing for me was the revelation that Heller only recently decided who Red John was!! What a betrayal! This great story arc and no one has been in control of it at all!
And yes also the lack of any explanation for the smiley face or indeed the moniker.