shows.ctv.ca 11/05/2010

RED JOHN TO FINALLY BE REVEALED ON 'THE MENTALIST'

by Tyrone Warner

So far he’s only be known by his signature: A weeping, smiling face drawn in blood.

But according to the producers of “The Mentalist,” Bruno Heller and Chris Long, Red John is about to be revealed in the flesh.

According to series creator Heller, “Red John is kind of the Moby Dick of the show.  And you don't catch the whale until the last chapter, whenever that is. We will meet him in the last episode of this season, Season 2.  I can't say more than that.”

Heller says his biggest concern about introducing Red John, is to ensure that the show retains a proper balance of the regular cases the CBI investigates, and the overreaching story of Jane and John.

“It's a tricky balance, I think, and we'll never get it exactly right because it depends on any given audience member will have a different appetite for it.  The normal run of the show is much -- is lighter and more fun than a Red John story allows for.  The Red John aspect of the story is kind of the anchor of it.  That's what anchors the character in the real world.  But it would be a very -- it would be a much grimmer and darker show if we went to that place every week.  So life.  It's a balance between life and death,” says Heller.

“It's just renewing the initial premise of the show, which can get lost over time, you know. The reason that Patrick Jane does what he does is because of Red John.  So if all the good that he does comes from, you know, to a degree, a bad place, on a day-to-day basis -- and this is something that Chris has to deal with as a challenge for his job -- keeping that balance between the charm and the fun of Patrick Jane and the motivation for him being in the show in the first place is what drives the show forward and stops it being just sort of comedic.”

Long adds:  “It's interesting because people think they want more Red John episodes.  But when they get them, because they're darker, the essence of Simon, the way he plays the character, he's so much fun when he's light.  So by going to those dark places, it takes away so much of his character.  So you have to really meet the -- as Bruno was saying, it's really hard to balance any fun in a Red John episode.  We tried in the season finale at the end of one.  There were a few things in there, like a little dog chase and stuff like that that we did in there, but it's very, very difficult to balance it.”

While the producers wouldn’t release any other tidbits -- like if Red John is a he or a she -- they do promise the season two finale will be a cliffhanger.

source