Opinion: How the Red John Story Should Have Played Out
I'm currently on a rewatch of The Mentalist, and while I love every episode of the show, I don't particularly love how the Red John storyline ended. (Not relevant to my theory, but I just finished Season 3, Episode 10). Anyway, here's how I think the Red John storyline should have played out.
The show's evolution of Red John from a singular killer, to a pseudo-god, to having an interconnected network of Tiger Tiger is phenomenal and deserved to have someone worthy in that role. However, instead of a small-town sheriff, I believe it should have been Virgil Minelli.
Virgil was in the perfect position, having been the director of the CBI even before Jane was hired. The idea that Virgil brought Jane on to investigate him gives us a unique cat-and-mouse game, but has the cat trapped in the mouse cage. Virgil would have left in Season 2 either because he believed it was getting too easy to trick Jane or because he needed to take more control of his serial killer organization.
This would also just line up with many of the reveals throughout the show; Virgil was in a much better position to be Red John than the sheriff whose name I barely remember right now.
I hope that they do a one-season revival where Red John strikes again and Jane realizes he has been tricked and the real Red John is still out there.