**** CAUTION: Spoiler ****
A few months back I told you that I had inadvertently stumbled onto the identity of Red John, the serial killer in the TV Show “The Mentalist”. Several people wrote to me to say I was “arrogant” and “full of it”, but I still didn’t reveal anything, not wanting to ruin the surprise for anybody.
But you may also know that my mother, who was also my best friend, died a month ago. I have no idea where I’ll live or what will happen to me next or even how much longer I’ll be able to keep my blogs going. And keeping the secret of “who Red John is” is NOT at the top of my priority list right now. So I thought I would let YOU decide if you wanted to know. But part of me feels that not telling you is unfinished business I need to take care of. So I'll tell you, but I must warn you, if you don’t want the surprise ruined, STOP READING NOW.
I must admit that it does take some of the thrill out of the show once you know who it is. And once you do know, it becomes so obvious you will wonder how you could have missed it. And once you know it, you can’t UN-know it. So, if you don’t wish to know who Red John is, you’ll have to stop reading right now. (I know you’re probably thinking I have no idea who he is, but do you want to take that risk and perhaps ruin the surprise for yourself ?)
So here it goes. One last chance for you to bail out and just be content to not know.
For those of you who are continuing to read, … you asked for it.
Let me start by telling you how I figured it out.
I have a talent for philology. Which is the study of language. That also means I am able to discern different aspects of speech.
It was during the first broadcast of the episode “The Crimson Hat” in which Patrick Jane meets Lorelei that I found the answer. Through Lorelei, Jane meets up with a man he thinks is Red John, sitting in the backseat of a car.
I was quite excited and very attentive at that moment. Patrick Jane and Red John were finally going to meet. Up until then Red John had been frustratingly out of reach. You think they’re going to get near him, but he has so many people working for him that he's too isolated to get close to. It reaches the point where Jane actually kills someone, believing him to be Red John, and it turns out not be him at all.
I figured that since Patrick Jane is the only one that Red John has any respect for, he'll be the only one Red John will allow to get near him. The only one who has an intellect equal to Red John. Patrick Jane is the perfect nemesis for Red John.
Then I heard the voice of Red John in the back seat of that car and my Philology “kicked in” and I realized the truth.
Patrick Jane IS Red John!
My mind had never even considered it before that moment. But when I heard “Red John’s” voice I thought, “Hey. The actor portraying Red John has the exact type of cadence of speech as Simon Baker.” Then all the pieces of this mystery quickly fell into place in an instant.
Also, in my area that same episode was rebroadcast only one hour later, so I got to listen to his voice again right away. I’ve heard Simon Baker with a British accent, a Southern American states accent, his regular American accent and, of course, his normal Australian accent, but even as talented as he is, he cannot disguise the cadence of his speech.
The next thing I thought was, “Maybe they just didn’t have the money to hire another actor and just got Simon to do it. Or maybe the actor who was supposed to do it got sick that day and they asked Simon to fill in.” I dismissed both those excuses immediately as pretty stupid. But I simply didn’t want the mystery to be over. Because once you know Red John is Patrick Jane, it is VERY obvious.
It’s like the example of the magician that I often use when discussing the plots of “The Mentalist”. Once you know how the magician does a trick, then he can’t trick you the same way anymore.
I think they are going to conclude the show by saying that Patrick Jane has Multiple Personality Disorder. They have already alluded several times to him being in a mental facility and seeing a psychiatrist before he came to work at the CBI.
The writers have left a lot of open doors so they don’t write themselves into a corner, but I’ll leave all of you to try and figure out the minute details.
But the fact remains that if Red John is so isolated that even the people working for him don’t know who he is, then he definitely can be Patrick Jane. And now that you know, it will become obvious to you too.
In the episode following “The Crimson Hat”, when Patrick breaks Lorelei out of prison, there is a HUGE clue to the identity of Red John. (I gave you a hint in a previous blog post but I don’t think anyone picked it up).
Lorelei says to Patrick that he has shaken hands with Red John. And for several episodes since then Patrick has been trying to remember all the people he’s met and shaken hands with.
BUT that wasn’t the actual clue. What Lorelei said in it’s entirety was, “You and Red John are exactly alike. I don’t know why you didn’t become friends as soon as you shook hands.”
As a good magician would do, the writers made us look at the “Shaking Hands” part of that statement so that we wouldn’t notice the line about, “You and Red John are exactly alike”. And really, if Patrick shot a man thinking him to be Red John, how does Lorelei know she's been with Red John at all. In fact, she hasn't been. She's just been another one of Patrick Jane's "agents" that he hires and assigns duties during the times he believes himself to be Red John. That's the reason Red John is too smart for him. He is him. (Actually it's quite brilliant writing)
But you don’t have to take my word for all this and I don’t have to prove it to you anymore. I’m attaching a video with the conversation in the car, so that you can hear it’s Simon Baker as the voice of Red John.
Also, as you watch the next episodes (and especially watch the reruns) you will see that the writers have it written so that Patrick Jane is Red John. However, it’s not as obvious in the first two seasons of the show because they may not have completely decided it would be Patrick Jane yet.
So now you know. I hope it doesn’t ruin the show for you too much. It’s still a good show and worthy of watching even now that you know.
Thanks for taking the time to read all this. It was my one piece of business on the Internet that felt I needed to resolve before I left. But it’s been a long time since a television show has kept me interested and guessing for several years. Well done “Mental People”.
Sincerely, Laura-Lee
P.S. Now that you know who Red John is, it might be interesting for you to go back and read my previous posts on this topic. They may make more sense to you now.
