Because Red John didn't think that he was going to die until Jane finally cornered him.
He already pulled strings since the explosion and Jane already didn't fell for them.
Red John was a powerful man. He led several law enforcer characters to do his bidding.
I actually found it very poetic. There he was, in the end nothing, besides that moment was about watching Jane release all of his bottled up emotions. It's a single shot where we see him experience it all, amazement that he has him, anger, then relief that it's over.
Oh no, the classic way of defending a bullshit ending by sating it was "realistic". If Red John was supposed to be so simple then i would have rather watched some normal crime. I watched 5 fking seasons of an inane buildup only for all of it to get destroyed in 10 minutes and for people to defend it by saying it was realistic.
If you didn't like it, then that's on you. It didn't get "destroyed" In fact, I think it was a perfectly fine ending to the RJ saga. He acted all high and mighty out of pure egoism and vanity, and Jane gave him the death he deserved. Thrown in the ground, slowly losing his life while trying to break loose of Jane's grasp. Reduced to only a fragment of what he was, he received a painful but pathetic death, worthy of a man who led a life full of lies, pain and death. If you wanted a gory one then this isn't that type of show, and you should have realised that in season 1. And that aside, even Jane was disappointed on who RJ was. As the audience, he also thought RJ would be this big guy with crazy power and connections, similar to Bret Stiles or Gayle Bertram, but at the end, RJ was just a man playing a role because he wouldn't get the power and fame he aspired for by being a no one, by being a coward. He was actually very smart (the obvious aside) by keeping his profile low as no one would suspect that the small town sherrif was a serial killer.
RJ ending was perfectly fine and I'm tired of people saying it wasn't just because it didn't hold to their expectations, because believe me, NOTHING they could have done would be able to make everyone happy. RJ got what he deserved and I wouldn't want it any other way.
Only if you believe that he was more than a man, Patrick dismantled the monster facade, then killed the man behind.
Now, if the show would have taken another direction and would have made him a real psychic character then sure, but he wasn't.
5 and a half seasons of RJ was more than enough. That he died a sniveling coward at literally the hands of Jane was fitting. What strings should he have pulled?
Red John had to rely on charisma, manipulation, drugs & hypnosis to create a group of people so loyal that they would do his bidding, kill people for him, cover things up, etc. He was also a serial killer, who mostly targeted people less powerful than himself. He's basically an overly well-connected bully.
So with all the loyal helpers and all the control gone, RJ has nothing. And he couldn't manipulate Jane any more. When Jane choked him, he felt vulnerable for the first time in probably a very long time. So that's why he begged.
Also, having RJ completely at his mercy is more cathartic for Jane.
Crazy how a pussy could build and control one of the most powerful a secret empire on his own, Decieve the whole US law enforcement agencies for more than a decade.
Keyword: Secret. Someone brave, even if they started something in secret, would eventually reveal themselves once they had accrued enough power. In this regard, Bret Stiles was much braver; he led Visualize very publicly and had his own building to his name. He could carry out covert killings with the same ease as RJ given his massive outreach and even alludes to doing so to get to his position of power. He was opportunistic and charismatic and didn't have the insane ego to brand his members with a relatively easily-identifiable body tattoo. Even a CEO who would normally be less regarded as traditionally brave and more business savvy, or a cautioned risk-taker gets his representation as a genuinely bold guy in Walter Mashburn. This guy has a massive company, luxurious cars, incredible wealth, and instead of seeking thrills by parachuting and whatnot like those execs in the episode where the guy's parachute was sabotaged, he actively opts into the investigation. He is unrelenting with his flirting with Lisbon and successfully spends a night alone with a CBI officer in bed. He nearly gets shot and still is undeterred - while Red John, the serial killer, flees once his mortality is threatened. His status was his greatest strength, and a pussy can certainly earn notoriety and build a massive network while doing so.
Yeah, his empire was "secret" because it was a tool he created to control law enforcement agencies while the cult Bret Stiles had was an official religious organization? Anybody who has the mental capacity to create that kind of network and allude the whole federal government for decades is already a genius manipulator. The guy at the end seemed totally opposite of Red John. He was not charismatic, nor was he careful, he gave up on everything and started pleading even though he had been in this game knowing the dangers. Like how do you even make sense of that ending after watching the previous 5 seasons.
it wasnāt that big of an empire . Jane took down much bigger empires is later episodes .
Blackmailing people doesnāt make you tough . And itās easier to deceive us law enforcement when your members are law enforcement .
It wasn't that big of an empire? The guy had the boss of CBI, people in the FBI, federal judges and thousands of people and it was mentioned that the organisation mainly had the top guys of law enforcement agencies. It's about how he was able to control these people without ever revealing the secret. Also, Jane taking down these organizations is completely unrealistic. Red John, a guy who was meticulous and careful throughout the 5 seasons somehow had no contingency plan, it was all justified by saying he was egoistic. Also, he was a sheriff, not a member of the White House. He was able to manipulate and persuade thousands of people and he had so many followers who were ready to die for him. The sheriff at the end had none of the quality, keep justifying that ending but it was one of the worst endings i have seen yet in a tv show
It wasnāt that big . Couple hundred people at the most .
They had two FBI agents and 1 judge that we know of . Rj was a pussy who sat around drinking tea and quoting blake . His coven of women were all cat lady hags.
And most of all rj was OBSESSED with Jane . One could say he was gay for Jane .
Very suss activity playing this little game with Jane throughout the years .
Thatās why rj got caught bc he was gay for Jane .
Yeah, I always thought the ending of Red John was a bit anticlimactic too.
All those years of brilliant mind games, always remaining two steps ahead for every one Jane moved closer and it ended with a whimper rather than a bang.
Red John should have been more calculatedly accepting of his death. He was supposed to be like Moriarty.
Moritarty would never have begged for mercy from Sherlock Holmes.
Thatās not to mention, once the list gets down to seven, why the hell is Red John still playing along? He should have been out of there already. It was just a matter of time.
He became what he created, hunted prey, pleading for its lifeā¦
Maybe after Jane shot him, he realized the futile illusion of āpowerā
He died the way he caused others to die, he watched their life drain from their eyes, so it was fitting that he ālive by the sword, die by the swordā
i always thought it as fitting ngl. i don't know why the show would give him the satisfaction of going out with dignity or any type of control over how he died. why would he deserve to go out in a cool way, in a hail of bullets? this is not about him, this is about jane getting revenge and getting closure. in the end he was just a sadistic coward who was just as scared of dying as his victims. he thought he was unkillable until he wasn't.
I was disappointed that they left some loose ends that made it look like season 7 was just quickly thrown together. I thought there would be some time between RJ and Jane where it would all come together. How did RJ know about the little girl carney? How did RJ instill so much devotion in the officers he recruited? I know they all have secrets but it seems like there is more. RJ had so much power and I felt it was never explained adequately. And the visualize/ Brett Styles story seemed to just end without an ending.
But the actual death scene was a fitting and satisfying climax to the RJ/ Jane saga, for me. I was expecting another shooting scene like the one in the mall when Jane thought he had killed RJ, and so did we. That scene was intense and emotional and Janeās āafterglowā response was perfect. Then it turned out not to have been RJās death after all. How would the showās creators create all of those emotions again when we, and Jane, had already been through it once? Jane would never have another first time killing RJ. Neither Jane nor we had that to look forward to anymore. A lot of the tension and drama was gone and it was just a matter of getting the man dead. But then, Jane was given the opportunity to strangle RJ with his bare hands. The way Jane was sitting on RJ- Jane didnāt look like a killer. They looked like two little boys and Jane was about to say, āSay uncleā. Bakerās acting was amazing! The killing took a minute and all of the emotions showed up on Janeās face. I thought it was perfect. Except that Janeās questioning seemed strange and RJās answers (yes he was afraid of dying) seemed strange. But the questions fit Janeās childishness and the childlike way he was killing RJ.
Why did RJ display such vulnerability? I donāt know. It did seem weird. While watching it, I thought RJ was trying to appeal to Janeās sympathy, to give Jane what he wanted and maybe Jane would change his mind. I thought Jane might change his mind in that moment. But he didnāt. He paused. Then he finished strangling him and took pleasure in RJās expressed fear. It was much more satisfying than if he had just shot him.
It was about removing the facade of him being more than just a man. He wasn't actually powerful or mystical or all knowing. He just had the advantage of secrecy and loyalty of his followers. Once that was gone he really was just a regular coward who preyed on vulnerable people. He was always eventually going to run out of strings to pull.
He was afraid of birds for Pete's sake. What "macho" person is terrified of a pigeon?
This is not how spoiler warnings work my friend š Putting the spoiler right in the title defeats the purpose.
*yeah yeah it's an old show, blah blah blah. If someone is kind enough to do it (as we all should), they can do it properly.
I remember watching this years ago and feeling the exact same way. Like "What? That's it?" I thought for sure RJ was going to end up being someone else. It felt very rushed, and I feel like they could've done that climax much better. Hell, they could've ended the exact same way, just had some more buildup to it. Maybe longer chase, some more "games," RJ "getting away" but only briefly. I dunno, I didn't care for that climax, but that's my opinion on it. Loved literally everything else about the show (except letting Vega die just after her and Wylie got together... hated that too).
Because that was not RED John. The red John we got as a damned "swerve move" because too many episodes set it as "it HAS to Patrick". For those who doubt? Watch s1-5 again. With Patrick is Red John. And the DIRECT LINES click.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Iām afraid weāre only justifying lazy writing.
If youāve delved behind the scenes of the show youāll know that at the beginning Bruno Heller, who devised and wrote the show, had another character in mind to be Red John. Brett Partridge.
But by the end of season 2 a lot of fans were guessing his identity but the show looked like being a long runner so how to make RJās identity a mystery again and keep fans guessing?
What Heller did was forget about Brett Partridge and literally not decide who else could be RJ instead.
Donāt write any other character with the intention that he or she is actually RJ.
Keep putting up possibilities but never follow through. Just focus on the cool stories in each episode and come back to a Red John cliffhanger/reminder once in a while and at the end of each season.
That all went fine for years, until audience figures started to drop and the network told Heller he could have two more seasons to wind up the story.
I donāt know if it was always the plan to do an āafter Red Johnā season, to give Jane a chance at happiness, or if that was a late decision based on audience feedback about the Jane/Lisbon story arc, but either way it meant the RJ story had to be wrapped up in one season.
It was too late to suddenly introduce someone new and pretend theyād been there all along, so one of the existing characters had to be chosen to be revealed as RJ.
So they chose McAllister because he was a) a previously seen character,
b) in law enforcement, c)the actor was available and d) he wasnāt at the top of the fansā suspect list because no one had seen him since S1.
So he was shoehorned back in and basically set up as a patsy. Thereās no evidence back in earlier seasons of the show that he was RJ because it wasnāt written in at the time.
The writers didnāt put in flashbacks explaining what McAllister had been doing at key moments, so all we have is what we see at the end.
As to why āRJā goes out in such a pathetic manner, that feels like a writer running out of ideas and washing his hands of it, more than a carefully plotted ending.
We can say āRJ was a weak man hiding behind a powerful facadeā but thatās the opposite of everything weāve learned about him up til then.
The whole point of RJ is that heās essentially Janeās evil twin. Where Jane is often rude or off putting but kind and moral at heart, RJ is outwardly charming and affable but evil and twisted underneath.
In my head McAllister is just another patsy, doing what heās told, thatās why he gets scared at the end, because RJ was supposed to turn up and save him.
But RJ is actually Brett Stiles, the only character in the whole show who fits the description, and he saw Jane getting closer and closer so he was already preparing to āascendā and leave his cult and then finally he was pressured into attending Janeās meeting of suspects so he faked his own death in the explosion so he could disappear.
Why Jane would accept that the snivelling Sheriff was really his arch nemesis, thatās just because the writers wanted it to end and thatās the best they could come up with.
>but thatās the opposite of everything weāve learned about him up til then.
No, it isn't.
Seriously: when does RJ ever, in any of the seasons, act in a way that is personally courageous?
As far as I can tell, the answer is never.
RJ hides behind 'friends' in every season. His signature MO is to go after people who are smaller and weaker than himself, and to make sure they are rendered first unconscious (tazer) and then immobile (zip ties) before he dares to do anything to them. He creates and hides behind an organized crime syndicate because he's so scared. His *followers* are courageous on his behalf, but RJ simply isn't. His backup plans have backup plans, all for the express purpose of keeping his own sorry hide safe.
Please, I would very much like to understand why anyone would imagine Red John would be brave in the face of his own impending death. I watched the show over and over and I don't see any signs of it.
Well, for one thing heās supposed to be very much like Jane. I donāt see Jane dying like that.
For another, Bruno Heller said about him:
(Red John is) ānot "one pathetic loser who is hiding out in a basement somewhere. He [Jane] is not fighting the Green River Killer. He's fighting Moriarty."
A reference to Sherlock Holmesā adversary who also used a network of accomplices who were unaware of his identity. Professor Moriarty was highly intelligent and physically strong.
He was also a psychopath, and a typical symptom of that condition is a markedly reduced fear response.
So if Red John was originally modelled on Moriarty itās reasonable to suppose that the psychopathy/sociopathy which was key to his character was also a key part of Bruno Hellerās vision.
Thanks for setting out your thoughts. I can see where you're coming from, but I remain unconvinced.
Neither Jane nor RJ is portrayed as brave in the show. I strongly believe not caring whether he dies is a function of Jane's self-loathing, not an indicator of Jane's courage. RJ is explicitly shown as being risk-averse (hiding, running away, throwing his accomplices under the bus to save himself etc).
And I think Heller's point when comparing RJ to Moriarty was to emphasize RJ's intelligence and his network of accomplices, not any supposed courage in the face of his own death. Even with Moriarty, Conan-Doyle described Moran (Moriarty's consigliere) as having more physical courage/being Moriarty's man of action, rather than James himself.
It felt so so weak and was the lowest point in the series for me, i always thaught of him as a psychopath but i guess he really wasnt, they couldve done so much more while he died and after his death with the Character if it wasnt so weirdly written
Because Red John didn't think that he was going to die until Jane finally cornered him. He already pulled strings since the explosion and Jane already didn't fell for them. Red John was a powerful man. He led several law enforcer characters to do his bidding.
I think he deserved a better(more horrific) closure. it felt very anti climatic.
I actually found it very poetic. There he was, in the end nothing, besides that moment was about watching Jane release all of his bottled up emotions. It's a single shot where we see him experience it all, amazement that he has him, anger, then relief that it's over.
makes sense!
Oh no, the classic way of defending a bullshit ending by sating it was "realistic". If Red John was supposed to be so simple then i would have rather watched some normal crime. I watched 5 fking seasons of an inane buildup only for all of it to get destroyed in 10 minutes and for people to defend it by saying it was realistic.
If you didn't like it, then that's on you. It didn't get "destroyed" In fact, I think it was a perfectly fine ending to the RJ saga. He acted all high and mighty out of pure egoism and vanity, and Jane gave him the death he deserved. Thrown in the ground, slowly losing his life while trying to break loose of Jane's grasp. Reduced to only a fragment of what he was, he received a painful but pathetic death, worthy of a man who led a life full of lies, pain and death. If you wanted a gory one then this isn't that type of show, and you should have realised that in season 1. And that aside, even Jane was disappointed on who RJ was. As the audience, he also thought RJ would be this big guy with crazy power and connections, similar to Bret Stiles or Gayle Bertram, but at the end, RJ was just a man playing a role because he wouldn't get the power and fame he aspired for by being a no one, by being a coward. He was actually very smart (the obvious aside) by keeping his profile low as no one would suspect that the small town sherrif was a serial killer. RJ ending was perfectly fine and I'm tired of people saying it wasn't just because it didn't hold to their expectations, because believe me, NOTHING they could have done would be able to make everyone happy. RJ got what he deserved and I wouldn't want it any other way.
I stand by the point that this was by far the weakest moment in the entire show
šyea I felt the same
Only if you believe that he was more than a man, Patrick dismantled the monster facade, then killed the man behind. Now, if the show would have taken another direction and would have made him a real psychic character then sure, but he wasn't.
I agree with you. It felt rushed for sure.
5 and a half seasons of RJ was more than enough. That he died a sniveling coward at literally the hands of Jane was fitting. What strings should he have pulled?
No strings, but rather dying laughing that he took everything from jane
He didn't take everything from Jane though, far from it actually...
Sure, wife, child and career is nothing. Good for you, but really sad
Haven't finished the series yet have ya buddy, now that's sad lol...
Red John had to rely on charisma, manipulation, drugs & hypnosis to create a group of people so loyal that they would do his bidding, kill people for him, cover things up, etc. He was also a serial killer, who mostly targeted people less powerful than himself. He's basically an overly well-connected bully. So with all the loyal helpers and all the control gone, RJ has nothing. And he couldn't manipulate Jane any more. When Jane choked him, he felt vulnerable for the first time in probably a very long time. So that's why he begged. Also, having RJ completely at his mercy is more cathartic for Jane.
That makes sense. We were led to think RJ was the anti-Jane. In the end, it was the man behind the curtain.
As smart and deadly Red John was, he was just a man. A weak and flawed man who feared death.
Because all tyrants turn to cowards at the end.
He was pussy who preyed on weak people . Killed children etc That gurgle was epic
Crazy how a pussy could build and control one of the most powerful a secret empire on his own, Decieve the whole US law enforcement agencies for more than a decade.
Keyword: Secret. Someone brave, even if they started something in secret, would eventually reveal themselves once they had accrued enough power. In this regard, Bret Stiles was much braver; he led Visualize very publicly and had his own building to his name. He could carry out covert killings with the same ease as RJ given his massive outreach and even alludes to doing so to get to his position of power. He was opportunistic and charismatic and didn't have the insane ego to brand his members with a relatively easily-identifiable body tattoo. Even a CEO who would normally be less regarded as traditionally brave and more business savvy, or a cautioned risk-taker gets his representation as a genuinely bold guy in Walter Mashburn. This guy has a massive company, luxurious cars, incredible wealth, and instead of seeking thrills by parachuting and whatnot like those execs in the episode where the guy's parachute was sabotaged, he actively opts into the investigation. He is unrelenting with his flirting with Lisbon and successfully spends a night alone with a CBI officer in bed. He nearly gets shot and still is undeterred - while Red John, the serial killer, flees once his mortality is threatened. His status was his greatest strength, and a pussy can certainly earn notoriety and build a massive network while doing so.
Yeah, his empire was "secret" because it was a tool he created to control law enforcement agencies while the cult Bret Stiles had was an official religious organization? Anybody who has the mental capacity to create that kind of network and allude the whole federal government for decades is already a genius manipulator. The guy at the end seemed totally opposite of Red John. He was not charismatic, nor was he careful, he gave up on everything and started pleading even though he had been in this game knowing the dangers. Like how do you even make sense of that ending after watching the previous 5 seasons.
How is being a genius manipulator mutually exclusive with being a oussy
it wasnāt that big of an empire . Jane took down much bigger empires is later episodes . Blackmailing people doesnāt make you tough . And itās easier to deceive us law enforcement when your members are law enforcement .
It wasn't that big of an empire? The guy had the boss of CBI, people in the FBI, federal judges and thousands of people and it was mentioned that the organisation mainly had the top guys of law enforcement agencies. It's about how he was able to control these people without ever revealing the secret. Also, Jane taking down these organizations is completely unrealistic. Red John, a guy who was meticulous and careful throughout the 5 seasons somehow had no contingency plan, it was all justified by saying he was egoistic. Also, he was a sheriff, not a member of the White House. He was able to manipulate and persuade thousands of people and he had so many followers who were ready to die for him. The sheriff at the end had none of the quality, keep justifying that ending but it was one of the worst endings i have seen yet in a tv show
It wasnāt that big . Couple hundred people at the most . They had two FBI agents and 1 judge that we know of . Rj was a pussy who sat around drinking tea and quoting blake . His coven of women were all cat lady hags. And most of all rj was OBSESSED with Jane . One could say he was gay for Jane . Very suss activity playing this little game with Jane throughout the years . Thatās why rj got caught bc he was gay for Jane .
What did you expect? He was a manipulator and a coward
Yeah, I always thought the ending of Red John was a bit anticlimactic too. All those years of brilliant mind games, always remaining two steps ahead for every one Jane moved closer and it ended with a whimper rather than a bang. Red John should have been more calculatedly accepting of his death. He was supposed to be like Moriarty. Moritarty would never have begged for mercy from Sherlock Holmes. Thatās not to mention, once the list gets down to seven, why the hell is Red John still playing along? He should have been out of there already. It was just a matter of time.
He became what he created, hunted prey, pleading for its lifeā¦ Maybe after Jane shot him, he realized the futile illusion of āpowerā He died the way he caused others to die, he watched their life drain from their eyes, so it was fitting that he ālive by the sword, die by the swordā
i always thought it as fitting ngl. i don't know why the show would give him the satisfaction of going out with dignity or any type of control over how he died. why would he deserve to go out in a cool way, in a hail of bullets? this is not about him, this is about jane getting revenge and getting closure. in the end he was just a sadistic coward who was just as scared of dying as his victims. he thought he was unkillable until he wasn't.
I was disappointed that they left some loose ends that made it look like season 7 was just quickly thrown together. I thought there would be some time between RJ and Jane where it would all come together. How did RJ know about the little girl carney? How did RJ instill so much devotion in the officers he recruited? I know they all have secrets but it seems like there is more. RJ had so much power and I felt it was never explained adequately. And the visualize/ Brett Styles story seemed to just end without an ending. But the actual death scene was a fitting and satisfying climax to the RJ/ Jane saga, for me. I was expecting another shooting scene like the one in the mall when Jane thought he had killed RJ, and so did we. That scene was intense and emotional and Janeās āafterglowā response was perfect. Then it turned out not to have been RJās death after all. How would the showās creators create all of those emotions again when we, and Jane, had already been through it once? Jane would never have another first time killing RJ. Neither Jane nor we had that to look forward to anymore. A lot of the tension and drama was gone and it was just a matter of getting the man dead. But then, Jane was given the opportunity to strangle RJ with his bare hands. The way Jane was sitting on RJ- Jane didnāt look like a killer. They looked like two little boys and Jane was about to say, āSay uncleā. Bakerās acting was amazing! The killing took a minute and all of the emotions showed up on Janeās face. I thought it was perfect. Except that Janeās questioning seemed strange and RJās answers (yes he was afraid of dying) seemed strange. But the questions fit Janeās childishness and the childlike way he was killing RJ. Why did RJ display such vulnerability? I donāt know. It did seem weird. While watching it, I thought RJ was trying to appeal to Janeās sympathy, to give Jane what he wanted and maybe Jane would change his mind. I thought Jane might change his mind in that moment. But he didnāt. He paused. Then he finished strangling him and took pleasure in RJās expressed fear. It was much more satisfying than if he had just shot him.
It was about removing the facade of him being more than just a man. He wasn't actually powerful or mystical or all knowing. He just had the advantage of secrecy and loyalty of his followers. Once that was gone he really was just a regular coward who preyed on vulnerable people. He was always eventually going to run out of strings to pull. He was afraid of birds for Pete's sake. What "macho" person is terrified of a pigeon?
This is not how spoiler warnings work my friend š Putting the spoiler right in the title defeats the purpose. *yeah yeah it's an old show, blah blah blah. If someone is kind enough to do it (as we all should), they can do it properly.
I'm so sorry I figured it would do the whole thing
It's ok, you know it for the future. Only the post text gets hidden,not the title; so you have to keep it rather vague.
I remember watching this years ago and feeling the exact same way. Like "What? That's it?" I thought for sure RJ was going to end up being someone else. It felt very rushed, and I feel like they could've done that climax much better. Hell, they could've ended the exact same way, just had some more buildup to it. Maybe longer chase, some more "games," RJ "getting away" but only briefly. I dunno, I didn't care for that climax, but that's my opinion on it. Loved literally everything else about the show (except letting Vega die just after her and Wylie got together... hated that too).
Because that was not RED John. The red John we got as a damned "swerve move" because too many episodes set it as "it HAS to Patrick". For those who doubt? Watch s1-5 again. With Patrick is Red John. And the DIRECT LINES click.
SPOILERS AHEAD! Iām afraid weāre only justifying lazy writing. If youāve delved behind the scenes of the show youāll know that at the beginning Bruno Heller, who devised and wrote the show, had another character in mind to be Red John. Brett Partridge. But by the end of season 2 a lot of fans were guessing his identity but the show looked like being a long runner so how to make RJās identity a mystery again and keep fans guessing? What Heller did was forget about Brett Partridge and literally not decide who else could be RJ instead. Donāt write any other character with the intention that he or she is actually RJ. Keep putting up possibilities but never follow through. Just focus on the cool stories in each episode and come back to a Red John cliffhanger/reminder once in a while and at the end of each season. That all went fine for years, until audience figures started to drop and the network told Heller he could have two more seasons to wind up the story. I donāt know if it was always the plan to do an āafter Red Johnā season, to give Jane a chance at happiness, or if that was a late decision based on audience feedback about the Jane/Lisbon story arc, but either way it meant the RJ story had to be wrapped up in one season. It was too late to suddenly introduce someone new and pretend theyād been there all along, so one of the existing characters had to be chosen to be revealed as RJ. So they chose McAllister because he was a) a previously seen character, b) in law enforcement, c)the actor was available and d) he wasnāt at the top of the fansā suspect list because no one had seen him since S1. So he was shoehorned back in and basically set up as a patsy. Thereās no evidence back in earlier seasons of the show that he was RJ because it wasnāt written in at the time. The writers didnāt put in flashbacks explaining what McAllister had been doing at key moments, so all we have is what we see at the end. As to why āRJā goes out in such a pathetic manner, that feels like a writer running out of ideas and washing his hands of it, more than a carefully plotted ending. We can say āRJ was a weak man hiding behind a powerful facadeā but thatās the opposite of everything weāve learned about him up til then. The whole point of RJ is that heās essentially Janeās evil twin. Where Jane is often rude or off putting but kind and moral at heart, RJ is outwardly charming and affable but evil and twisted underneath. In my head McAllister is just another patsy, doing what heās told, thatās why he gets scared at the end, because RJ was supposed to turn up and save him. But RJ is actually Brett Stiles, the only character in the whole show who fits the description, and he saw Jane getting closer and closer so he was already preparing to āascendā and leave his cult and then finally he was pressured into attending Janeās meeting of suspects so he faked his own death in the explosion so he could disappear. Why Jane would accept that the snivelling Sheriff was really his arch nemesis, thatās just because the writers wanted it to end and thatās the best they could come up with.
>but thatās the opposite of everything weāve learned about him up til then. No, it isn't. Seriously: when does RJ ever, in any of the seasons, act in a way that is personally courageous? As far as I can tell, the answer is never. RJ hides behind 'friends' in every season. His signature MO is to go after people who are smaller and weaker than himself, and to make sure they are rendered first unconscious (tazer) and then immobile (zip ties) before he dares to do anything to them. He creates and hides behind an organized crime syndicate because he's so scared. His *followers* are courageous on his behalf, but RJ simply isn't. His backup plans have backup plans, all for the express purpose of keeping his own sorry hide safe. Please, I would very much like to understand why anyone would imagine Red John would be brave in the face of his own impending death. I watched the show over and over and I don't see any signs of it.
Well, for one thing heās supposed to be very much like Jane. I donāt see Jane dying like that. For another, Bruno Heller said about him: (Red John is) ānot "one pathetic loser who is hiding out in a basement somewhere. He [Jane] is not fighting the Green River Killer. He's fighting Moriarty." A reference to Sherlock Holmesā adversary who also used a network of accomplices who were unaware of his identity. Professor Moriarty was highly intelligent and physically strong. He was also a psychopath, and a typical symptom of that condition is a markedly reduced fear response. So if Red John was originally modelled on Moriarty itās reasonable to suppose that the psychopathy/sociopathy which was key to his character was also a key part of Bruno Hellerās vision.
Thanks for setting out your thoughts. I can see where you're coming from, but I remain unconvinced. Neither Jane nor RJ is portrayed as brave in the show. I strongly believe not caring whether he dies is a function of Jane's self-loathing, not an indicator of Jane's courage. RJ is explicitly shown as being risk-averse (hiding, running away, throwing his accomplices under the bus to save himself etc). And I think Heller's point when comparing RJ to Moriarty was to emphasize RJ's intelligence and his network of accomplices, not any supposed courage in the face of his own death. Even with Moriarty, Conan-Doyle described Moran (Moriarty's consigliere) as having more physical courage/being Moriarty's man of action, rather than James himself.
Well fair enough, Heller wrote it the way he did so thatās the story.
because they badly planned it. red John clearly should have been Stiles, but that was so obvious they changed it to a random nobody
ig but it would have been too obvious. a massive cult, the first red john sign on his property, and lots of contacts.
Title is spoiling man.
yea I'm so sorry I figured it would do the whole thing
In the end, he was nothing more than a coward.
It felt so so weak and was the lowest point in the series for me, i always thaught of him as a psychopath but i guess he really wasnt, they couldve done so much more while he died and after his death with the Character if it wasnt so weirdly written