the thing about the tail end of the mentalist is that the playing field has changed so much and the stakes are so much lower that its completely impossible for the series to taste the same after red john dies. and also the desperate need to make the new cast as likeable as the original in 1/6th of the time just winds up making them like. 1 note joke characters and people are saying one liners and stuff. however that said. i think it IS important for the story to keep going because janes story DOES keep going after he kills red john. like he doesn't get to die after that he just has to keep on living somehow for some reason. and so i think that exploration of what he would even do next and how his relationship with lisbon will progress now that he's done the thing he set out to do but still has not beaten the innate fear in him of being close to someone for fear of losing them in the same way is genuinely valuable and good. i just think the supporting cast was so rushed that it bogs down the whole thing so you really have to laser focus on jisbon and put on blinders for like most of the other stuff.
the thing is the original cast beyond jisbon wasn't even that interesting until like at least a season and a half in and you don't ACTUALLY truly start caring for them until even longer after that. so honestly they shouldve just had the whole original gang back together lowkey ToT the feeling of things changing that was won by rigspelt not being in law enforcement anymore does not outweigh the positive which is that you don't need to try and make your viewers fall in love with a new cast. abbott offered them jobs after that case they collabed on they should've taken it !!!!!!!! but i dont care obviously it doesnt bother me at all that a story that could have been (and in fairness , was) really valuable is so bogged down by whatever lapses in judgement resulted in the second half of s6 and s7
