Spoilers abound.
My favorite thing about The Mentalist has always been the Red John story. It was the piece of the puzzle that gave Patrick Jane gravitas. It was the part of the story that had the most juice. Despite his brilliance and his appearance of being in control and aware of everyone around him, Jane was not there to protect his wife and daughter, who were murdered by this serial killer. In this case, it was personal. Jane,who then made his money as a psychic, had made a television appearance where he had been openly dismissive of Red John and his actions. Red John answered by killing the ones Jane loved most.
In his grief, in his desire for vengeance, Patrick became a law enforcement consultant who now used his skills to help others, while always looking for ways to find and kill Red John. The best episodes have been when that storyline has been in the forefront. On too many episodes this year, that story has been abandoned. It's bad enough when the episodes are just standalone, when the team works on individual cases and Red John is not mentioned, but the writers chose not to pursue the Kristina Frye story, the psychic who had made a connection with Patrick, who, despite Patrick's warnings, made a similar tactical error with Red John, who was abducted and severely traumatized by the events. My favorite scene of the whole season was when Patrick meets with Kristina and tries to reengage with her. I really hope there is some way that the character will work her way back into the story.
In the series finale, Jane finally meets Red John, who turns out to be Bradley Whitford, a fine actor but too well known for this part. Red John also needed to be larger than life. Bradley Whitford is too recognizable and not nearly formidable enough.
The funny thing about Jane throughout this series is that although he seems fearless about psychologically challenging people, when there is physical danger present, he often seems at a loss. He seems genuinely afraid and flummoxed on what to do. It's always a relief when he beats a hasty retreat. Here, in this moment, when he does finally meet Red John, when he is satisfied that this is truly Red John, there was a moment when I thought he wouldn't be able to pull the trigger. However, he did kill Red John, and the creator has promised that Patrick Jane will have to face the consequences of his actions.(I think for someone who should have been fired a million times over, the creater had to specifically state that this time, he would have to take responsibility for what he has done.) But will a legal drama be as fun as the chase? To me, it seems like the future courtroom scenes will be things that we've seen many times before. I would have liked to have seen the Red John story continue until the series finale.