What an amaing show! This eposide really did make a statement with Red John continuing to disrupt the life of the Patrick Jane character. I can't wait to see this storyline unfold going forward.

For some fun, vote for your favorite Mentalist character, quote and more here: http://www.squidoo.com/The-Mentalist.

The identity of Red John? Look at
Jane, Patrick
John, Red
One possibility is Red John killed Jane's wife and child so they could be together. Meaning Red John is female (Alicia Witt) and a master hypnotist (to make Rebecca think she was in love with a man named Red John.) Alicia arranged for Jane to follow a stuffed elephant to her, and he never tumbled onto her secret. He sat and listened to her play piano.... Hard to believe no one caught the face of a cop walking toward a guard escorting a prisoner in a hallway. There wasn't anything else to look at.

Did anyone besides me see Jane at the very end leafing through the Red John file, now filled with what appeared to be BLANK SHEETS OF PAPER (at least the first two pages)? In other words, Red John somehow got the real files and replaced them with BLANK PAPERS for Jane to start his "investigation"?

One of the best episodes of any show I've seen this season.

The pacing was great, the suspense just kept building and the pervading sense of dread and fear kept me on the edge of my seat. The way Jane was almost completely unsettled until he made the connection to Red John. The white hot rage you could feel coming off of Lisbon when they catch Rebecca in the hospital room trying to finish off Bosco. What had me nervous there was the balloons. I was worried there might be some kind of poison in them, slowly leaking out, perhaps as a 'play B' of some sort or something. Little things like the flowers left on the chair propping open the door to the doctor's office where Hick's was found. Just a terrific episode.

On some points mentioned above. The phony(?) officer that poisoned Rebecca was in fact wearing gloves. And I'm fairly sure that a little googling would turn up references to skin contact poisons that in proper concentrations could take effect that quickly.

As for the two vs. four coffees, there was no inconsistency. She's shown carrying four coffees when Jane meets her, they're in a carrier and you can clearly see all four when she drops them when the bodies are found in the office, and she's seen carrying four coffees in the tapes of her arriving. One might ask why she has four coffees when there are only three agents present, but the easy out there is that the fourth coffee was for her.

Minelli as Red John. Wow. Up to now, I hadn't really started on figuring out the Red John puzzle. I was more or less assuming up to now that he is a figure apart from anyone known, and I haven't entirely abandoned that assumption. Minelli is now gone, so that greatly limits the opportunities to play on that idea further. But, watching this episode with Minelli as Red John in mind, the theory is *very* persuasive.

There are numerous little, and not so little, red flags (no pun intended) that pop up. Enough that, if they were all enumerated, it would feel almost like a spoiler or one heck of a red herring (again, no pun...). I will point out one in particular. In the scene where Minelli dresses down the reporter during a press conference, afterwards when Lisbon finishes talking to him, not only is he wearing a red tie throughout this scene, but he is now framed very prominently by a bright, red door and we can hear a reporter in the background quite clearly ask, "How close are you?". How close are we/Lisbon/CBI at that moment to Red John? Standing right next to him perhaps? Thinking of Minelli as Red John puts a very interesting spin on many of his remarks and reactions in this episode.

Tonight's episode gets a standing ovation.

Sorry for the double, similar post. I didn't think the first one went through.

Yeah, I thought about that too, but we know Red John has had many "helpers" before, couldn't he have had someone dressed in a cop uniform down there to take out the secretary? What I did wonder, though, is if that poison was enough to kill her that fast, wouldn't the killer have it on his hand/finger & die also? He wasn't wearing gloves or something, I don't think? Weird.

Yeah, I thought that also but remember Red John has had quite a few "helpers" so I don't think it would be out of the question to have an accomplice dressed as a cop take out the secretary. I did wonder though if that poison was enough to kill her that fast, wouldn't the cop have it on his hand/finger & be poisoned also? It's not like he was wearing gloves or something? Weird.

Rebecca was killed by a cop (or someone in a cop uniform), I doubt the people escorting her wouldn't have recognized Minelli and wonder what he was doing dressed as a cop.

Bosco's death could have been handled better. I mean, seriously, after having been stabilized, he dies of having lost too much blood?!? Um, no, to have stabilized him, they would have had to profuse him, so his blood level would have been fine by then. Just sloppy writing...

Other than that though, I agree, a very strong episode.

I agree with the previous posters in that I still think Minelli is Red John. But, having said that, this episode made me doubt that theory just a bit, it didn't make it stronger, just because of how broken up Minelli acted. Maybe Greg Itzin is just that good of an actor, could be. But him resigning gives him the perfect alibi, so to speak, for when Jane figures out it's him. Not sure how he'll collect his pension once that happens, but I doubt he's too concerned about that. I think Bosco was getting close but just didn't know yet, or he obviously would have acted on the info, he wouldn't have just called Jane in "whenever". I think Jane will figure it out, maybe with info Bosco gave him before dying. While this show takes a lot of liberties in realism, what show doesn't these days? I still really enjoy it, even if I question that things could actually go down like they do.

Hm.. I don't know if it's just me but I didn't quite catch it as Lisbon's saying she loved him back like he loved her, I mean.. it seemed more like she loved him in a not romantic way but still understood what he meant when he said it. Maybe it's just me.

And about Bosco's being in the hospital and all, in Black Gold and Red Blood, Lisbon stated that Bosco was a "happily married man", well... all that happily or not, shouldn't his wife come at least visit him -if not stay with him? I know it wouldn't have been relevant for the case, but still it's a loose end.

I do too wonder about what Bosco really said to Jane in the hospital (funny that we don't buy what Jane said to Lisbon when she asked.. not completely at least).

Loved the chapter and was anxious to see it since the previews, although as every Red John related episode, it just left me more anxious than before watching it.