Rizzoli and Isles – East Meets West

By: Natasha Collins-Lynn

A young man walks down the street and two men watch him from a car before one gets out with a gun. One of the men begins to cross the street towards the boy, but is almost hit by a car. This alerts the boy right before the man shoots. People scatter and the boy ducks behind a car, but luckily he has a gun. He runs, but the man shoots him. The boy falls into a doorway and the killer looks to a fleeing woman before turning back. The boy shoots him in the chest.

Cut to Maura’s (Sasha Alexander) house as she pours what Jane (Angie Harmon) says is her second coffee. Maura clarifies that it’s her third. She was up late because she is taking a writing class to keep her mind off of her recent kidnapping, but she sneezes mid statement. Angela (Lorraine Bracco) says she has a home remedy and is already pulling together ingredients and hands Maura an orange peel with garlic on it. Jane is skeptical. Maura takes the peel though and puts it in her ear. Before Jane can mock it, both of their phones are ringing. While Jane is listening to the call, Maura is repeating, “Hello?” Jane slowly lowers her phone and reminds her pointedly of the orange peel she has just stuck into her ear.

As Maura and Jane walk towards the crime scene from the intro, Jane says that Maura doesn’t have to use her mother’s “crazy home remedy” just to be nice. Maura looks genuinely confused and asks, “What’s a lazy bone melody?” Can we talk about Sasha’s comedic timing? The banter between these two is everything.

Jane merely shakes her head as they step up to Vince Korsak (Bruce McGill) who lays out the scene: gun fight, 1 dead and plenty of witnesses but no one is talking. There are five spent casings on the ground that match the victim’s gun and a pool of blood in the doorway signifying the killer was hit. Rizzoli notices a trail of blood showing where the killer went, confirmed by Frankie (Jordan Bridges) who says that they have video from across the street showing the whole thing. Korsak wants to see if Nina (Idara Victor) can pull a clean shot of the killer from the video.

Cut scene to the Medical Examiner’s autopsy room where the duo get down to business. A single gunshot wound to the heart is the cause of death. Jane states he fired first meaning “the killer” was probably defending himself. No prints on file and the gun is stolen.

Maura recounts a list of things on the bottom of his boots including a small piece of metal. That’s when news comes that Nina has a good photo from the video of “the killer.” Rizzoli and Korsak visit the address she gives them and are greeted by a brisk woman at the door. A naked man lays on the table in the background and when they introduce themselves, he tries to leave, but that woman is having none of that. She demands he gets back on the table and tells the detectives that she’s busy. Jane shows her a picture of the boy and she doesn’t know him. When Jane pressures her about the kid being her son, she says the questions are over.

Flash to Rizzoli and Korsak at the Boston PD. Korsak wants to get a warrant and go back because she’s hiding something. Nina explains who she is: she’s Katrina, a Latvian native – no children. She has an extensive record of prostitution, thefts and even a prison stint 15 years ago, but she is a licensed massage therapist with 5 stars on Yelp.

Meanwhile, Maura has found high levels of a radioactive isotope on the victim’s thyroid common after Chernobyl. He could be from Latvia due to a radiation spike that was there a long time ago. When Jane leaves, Kent mentions that Maura looks exhausted. Maura can’t go home because she is busy with work and this poetry assignment. What follows is some good nerdy comedic moments between the two of them before Kent (Adam Sinclair) says he can help.

Meanwhile, Frankie has learned that the boy goes by Little Nikki on the streets and had a falling out with the Quint Street Boys. Frankie takes the info to Jane and explains their money laundering places which include junkyards. Korsak comes in with “victim” info – he’s a professional mob hitman.

Nina’s discovered Katrina had a son named Nikolas, so they pull the cops in the neighborhood hoping he’ll go to his aunt’s house.

What follows in a heartfelt exchange between Jane and Korsak on their stake-out. They discuss Korsak retiring and Jane hating the idea. This bounces between Frankie flirting with a resident of the apartment building. She calls him on it and I like her already. When Jane calls to check on Maura, she’s laying on her examining table with bright lights above her. She tells Jane the metal from the victim’s boot came from a car part as Kent piles blankets on top of her.

Maura’s assignment is “The Opposite of Me,” but she has no clue what the professor wants. Kent says it’s vague because she is to think of the assignment without structure, which is the antithesis of everything Maura. She looks appropriately terrified, but then she’s having a pretty interesting dream that gives her insight.

Back at the stakeout, Jane spots Katrina coming out of the building and they follow her. But bursting out the back of the building, Jane runs into only Vince in an empty alleyway. They lost her.

Nina has tracked her to an ATM 3 blocks away, but Frankie says she’s at her apartment. She must have given her bankcard to Nikki when they first lost her and there’s an Urgent Care across the street. They’re worried Nikki (Noah Crawford) may take a hostage in there and when they find him with a small boy, there is tense moment. Reason gets the better of him and he gives up willingly. They have enough proof to put him away for life on murder, but they want him to flip on the gang. Cooperate and they’ll see to it he can do 6 months for unlawful possession of a gun and then put both he and his aunt in Witness Protection. He knows who orders the murders and gets rid of the bodies, but before he can agree to the deal they want him to make, his lawyer comes in. Nikki is confused because he doesn’t have a lawyer.

As Maura and Kent talk about her poem and Frankie talks to Vince about girls, Jane visits Katrina and asks for her help. If Nikki goes to prison, the gang will find someone to kill him on the inside. Katrina says the gang wanted him to prove himself by killing a man and weighting down the body but he couldn’t do it. Now he knows too much and they ordered him dead. Jane says she’ll help get him out of this, but to call off her lawyer first. Katrina is very confused because she didn’t send a lawyer.

When they get back to BPD, Korsak tells them that the “lawyer” convinced a judge for bail and Nikki is gone. They know that Nikki is only alive for as long as he can hold out telling them what he’s told the police. Maura identifies a substance found inside the boot’s sole which is only found in high pressure industrial machinery. Car part and lubricant used in high pressure industrial machinery? By cross-referencing a list of salvage yards and gang members, the team races to one address.

Nikki is handcuffed inside a car that’s being crushed as police come in. Rizzoli sees Nikki, but can’t get him out and the crusher is coming down fast. When she can’t shoot the controls open, she shoots the hydraulic pipes instead and the crusher stops.

As Frankie gets a date with his crush, Kent’s bringing spa water for Maura and showing off his super nerdiness. He is a male Maura, so I guess we should get ready to see him paired with Jane? When Kent reads Maura’s poem out loud, Jane gushes with an, “Aww, Maura.” Maura cuts her off and says that it’s about Nina, but can’t hide her laugh.

As playing ensues, the show ends.