I remember not believing the real RJ was in fact real because it had so much less impact than the original fake RJ incident. I was waiting for the big reveal that once again RJ had escaped Jane's vengeance.
If they had committed to that original incident being real the show would have been a lot better for it.
I read recently that it was actually meant to be the end of RJ with the shooting but the network was afraid the show would wane in popularity without this particular big bad so they rewrote and carried it on to the kinda lame (in my opinion) final conclusion.
That makes so much sense, they got a great actor in for the part, they built up to it organically and the reveal itself had that great little twist, and the way Jane handled it was 100% in line with his character and exactly what he had been saying he would do for 3 seasons (IIRC) by that point.
Another part of the reason the "real" RJ reveal never sat right with me is because it wasn't even a season finale or anything close to it, it was just thrown in at episode 8 of a 22 episode season.
So between the random placement in a season and the previous trick the show pulled I was convinced it was another fake out and it had no impact at all.
Yeah, the random reveal threw me too. Xander Berkeley is a really good actor and all his appearances were well done but the "finale" was kinda meh. Jane being Jane is what kept many watching I suspect, for the answer to the question of "what's next for Patrick Jane?"
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u/SefetAkunosh 1d ago
Yes. Yes, it was.