Red John is a fictional character and the primary antagonist of the CBS crime drama The Mentalist for the first five seasons and in the first half of the sixth season. As a serial killer, he is believed to have begun his killing spree in 1988, and has, with his operatives and acolytes, killed more than 70 people in California, Nevada, and Mexico. Five years prior to the action of the first episode, he murdered the wife and daughter of Patrick Jane (Simon Baker), making Jane his dedicated nemesis.
In the season-three finale, "Strawberries and Cream (Part 2)", Jane encounters a man (Timothy Carter, played by Bradley Whitford) in a shopping mall who convinces him he is Red John and whom he subsequently kills. However, after this cliffhanger episode, over the course of the first several episodes of season four, Jane determines that Carter, although a psychopathic killer himself, was not Red John, but one of the killer's many operatives.
In season five's "Red Sails in the Sunset", Lorelei Martins (Emmanuelle Chriqui), a Red John operative, who goes astray after Jane convinces her that Red John murdered her sister, Miranda, accidentally reveals to Jane that he has already met Red John and shaken his hand. Jane compiles a list of men whose hands he has shaken and eventually narrows the list to seven names. Lorelei, however, is captured by Red John, whom she refused to name to Jane, breaking a promise she had made, and reads a pre-mortem message from Red John threatening to go back to killing “often" until Jane captures Red John or vice versa. In Lorelei's message from Red John, she names the seven men Jane had narrowed down his list to include, indicating that somehow Red John has gotten inside Jane's mind, although Red John doesn't deny being one of the seven men.
In the season 6 episode "Red John", the eponymous serial killer's identity is revealed to be Thomas McAllister, the sheriff of Napa County, portrayed by Xander Berkeley. After unmasking himself to Patrick Jane, McAllister discloses that he is the founder and overall leader of the secret organization known as the Blake Association.
TV Guide included Red John in its 2013 list of "The 60 Nastiest Villains of All Time".
Character profile
Patrick Jane relentlessly pursues Red John, and ultimately in season 5 narrows his list of suspects to seven. The number of people in series who claim to have met "Red John" is limited. Although Patrick Jane learns that he has met Red John and shaken his hand at some point, he only discovers Red John's true identity midway through season 6.
Smiley face and other signatures
As part of his criminal signature, Red John draws a smiley face on the wall with the blood of the victim—always clockwise (except when it was portrayed in skywriting in "Red John's Footsteps"), using the three fingers of his rubber-gloved right hand. Jane says in the pilot episode, "Red John thinks of himself as a showman; an artist. He has a strong sense of theater ... the first thing that anyone sees is the face on the wall. You see the face first and you know. You know what's happened and you feel dread. Then, and only then, do you see the body of the victim. Always in that order."
Jane uses this information to work out that an apparent Red John murder was a copycat crime. Red John has twice painted his victim's toenails with their own blood. Both were female. The first was Patrick Jane's wife, Angela; Red John wanted to punish Jane for saying derogatory things about him during a TV interview. Years later, knowing the case would be intercepted by the California Bureau of Investigation team and that the reminder of his wife's death would make Jane furious, Red John painted the toenails of a young girl, to lead Jane into a trap.