The Mentalist should have ended with this episode. The Red John plotline was the driving force for this series. It was the reason Patrick Jane was working with the CBI. With Red John gone there's just no further motivation and the rest of the show feels forced. This attempt to milk additional seasons from the show really hurt this episode which really should have been one of the best of the series. They were trying to do too much really, wrap up the Red John plot, introduce new characters and advance the story arcs with Lisbon's team so that they could be included in the new seasons.
Re-watching the series it also becomes clear that the writers didn't really know what to do with Red John. If you look at Red John in the beginning vs. Later season there's a change. At first he's just a serial killer then morphs into this cult like figure with these disciples that would do anything for him. Wrapping this all up with the Bertram and McAllister being the two guys basically running this network doesn't quite fit with the earlier seasons. Again, I think if they were looking to end the show this could very well have been fixed.
There was such potential for this episode that was blown.
Re-watching the series it also becomes clear that the writers didn't really know what to do with Red John. If you look at Red John in the beginning vs. Later season there's a change. At first he's just a serial killer then morphs into this cult like figure with these disciples that would do anything for him. Wrapping this all up with the Bertram and McAllister being the two guys basically running this network doesn't quite fit with the earlier seasons. Again, I think if they were looking to end the show this could very well have been fixed.
There was such potential for this episode that was blown.