Why does Red John never attack Jane directly like his other victims?

Question

I have just finished watching S03E03 of The Mentalist, where Red John leaves Kristina Frye in a hypnotised(?) state. According to Jane, Kristina was targeted because she talked about Red John in the TV show.

If this is true then, why does Red John never attack Jane directly (Jane too spoke about him in the TV show)? He attacks Jane's family, anyone close to him (according to Jane), leaves clues so that Jane takes those cases but never hits him directly (I don't know if he will later in the episodes). Is there a reason to that?

Answer 1

Indeed, it was never Red John's plan to just kill Jane.

I think, Jane was the first person that presented a challenge to him in an intelectual level. But at the time Jane was only a fake embarrassing acting the part on TV. Red John saw potential in him and instead of killing him, made sure of making him suffer by killing his family instead.

From that point they just started to play this game, with Red John always escaping or dissapearing as Jane got closer. Red John was always one or two steps forwards. But Jane wasnt too far behind, and I think Red John found excitement in their game. So he kept it up, knowing one day, when Jane stopped being entertaining or get too close to him for comfort, it would be then and only then, he would finally kill Jane.