From what I understood this is the last season and first half (till winter break) will be finding out who Red John is while the second half of the season will be them trying to catch Red John.
Not many suspects left so cant be that many episodes left until they till us. After that I imagine Red John will have some ways to fight back. For example the secret organisation "Tiger, tiger" and army of murderers at his disposal.
I still think that Jane uses the same tricks at his disposal this season. He solves some crimes with it but a big part is also geared towards the different Red John suspects. Many where saying that the show had gotten stale and me personally think this season is refreshing.
(It might be that they have lowered the "clever show for dumb people" stigma this season. Less things where they tell the audience that something is clever. I did not really enjoy that part myself.