Supervisory Agent Dennis Abbott (Rockmond Dunbar) gathers Lisbon and the rest of her team to explain that they are now under federal investigation due to the likelihood of them also being criminals alongside CBI director Gale Bertram (Michael Gaston), who is publicly believed to be Red John.
Lisbon insists she doesn't know Jane's whereabouts and leaves, only to be greeted by the rest of her team in the parking lot.
Cho (Tim Kang), Rigsby (Owain Yeoman) and Van Pelt (Amanda Righetti) arrive and hold Abbott at gunpoint, countering him by inquiring whether he too is a member of the corrupt Blake Association.
Jane, on the other hand, misdirects the FBI by allowing a few teenagers to steal Lisbon's tracked car, and hitches a ride to the cemetery.
Arriving at the cemetery's church, Jane, inside, is greeted by Bertram, who goes on to claim that he is not Red John, nor is he even among the Blake Association's higher ranks.
McAllister faked his own death by placing a body with falsified DNA evidence provided to him by the now-deceased Brett Partridge.
As Jane relishes having McAllister—whom he finally acknowledges as Red John—at his mercy, he is interrupted by a woman (Kamala Lopez-Dawson) who tries to persuade him to spare McAllister.
While Abbott's team finds a dead Bertram in the church, Jane pursues Red John through the cemetery, a neighborhood, a playground and over to a park bordering a pond, where McAllister loses stamina and succumbs to his wounds.
"Red John" is written by series creator Bruno Heller and directed by executive producer Chris Long.
Bruno Heller and star Simon Baker did an interview with Entertainment Weekly discussing the events of the episode and the series' future.
[1] He further said about Red John's identity that "once the curtain is drawn back from these evil Wizard of Oz characters they tend not to be very interesting dinner companions" and that "ideally you want it to be Sean Connery with horns and a tail in a cave, but that guy doesn’t exist.
Saying he was "stunned and flattered" and that "earning this little place in pop-culture history was the last thing [he] ever expected", Berkeley stated that he was only informed of the role earlier during season 6.
[4] While acknowledging that a degree of disappointment was inevitable, Hibberd was dismissive towards Heller's remarks that "once the curtain is drawn back from these evil Wizard of Oz characters, they tend not to be very interesting dinner companions",[1] noting times when mystery villains can indeed be compelling, including Bradley Whitford's character from the season 3 finale "Strawberries and Cream".
[4] Mack Rawden of CinemaBlend was more positive in his review of the episode, feeling that Red John's identity made sense and saying McAllister had a "menacing voice".
[5] Rawden also expressed satisfaction over Jane's killing of Red John, found the episode to have balance, and appreciated the series' freedom for its future.
[5] Shaunna Murphy of Hollywood Life, while acknowledging the inevitable disappointment and calling McAllister the "sacrificial lamb for fans to hate on", described both Red John's death and Baker's performance as "remarkable".