Rizzoli & Isles – 2M7258-100

By: Kelly Kearney

This week’s 100^th episode of “Rizzoli and Isles” was a home run for star turned director Angie Harmon. The crime was interesting with Jane (Angie Harmon) going undercover in jail but the real shining spot of the show was the focus on the relationship between the two leads. The detective and medical examiner’s friendship was the foundation for the show’s success and Harmon revisited that chemistry all the while keeping us entertained with her tough prison persona.

The Case

When the show opens its nighttime at a local garage where two biker gang members are fixing a car. All of a sudden a man walks up and shoots both of them dead. We don’t know if the two victims know their assailant since the gun man doesn’t say a word before murdering them.

Across town at Jane’s new townhome, Maura (Sasha Alexander) is helping Jane decorate. There’s just one problem… she wants to decorate with pictures of her and Maura, but thanks to Jane’s job there aren’t any. No selfies and no pictures at Celtics games. The only one photo from their work vacation to Los Angeles. While Maura keeps looking for a single photo of the two, Jane’s reading the first chapter of the medical examiners novel. She’s impressed with story, but let’s be real, Dr. Isles doesn’t do mediocre. She’s a brainiac and a perfectionist so of course her first attempt at writing is great! After a few complements and poorly timed selfie, the duos phones ring and their off to solve the case of the two dead biker mechanics.

At the scene, it’s still unclear if the victims knew their killer, but as Jane and Korsak (Bruce McGill) search for evidence they find a lipstick smudge and a hidden door with a full arsenal of guns behind it. Back at the lab, Maura and Kent (Adam Sinclair) are cataloguing the evidence, searching for traces of DNA in the lipstick smudge and talking tattoo history. Upstairs in the brig, Frankie (Jordan Bridges) and Nina (Idara Victor) found one possible eye witness that saw a woman running near the garage. They’ve also identified the two victims as Leo and Graham, top members of The Lords of Thunder bike gang. Apparently the L.O.T. have ties to Albanian crime lords, criminals that profit from the sale of illegal weapons. Did Leo and Graham cross the Albanians when they found a cheaper source for their weapons which then led to their death?

The Lipstick Killer?

The DNA in the lipstick matches a woman named Kelly Wagner (Brit Morgan) who’s known to run with the L.O.T. and is an ex-girlfriend of one of the victims. She has a couple of petty crimes on her record, but nothing that would peg her as a killer. Korsak wonders if she could be the woman running from the scene so Frankie and Nina take off to question her, only it doesn’t go as smoothly as they would’ve hoped. The woman spots them, takes off running and blindsides Frankie with a trash can lid to the face. Visibly upset, Nina pulls her gun and orders the woman to stop. The detective is ok, but Nina is terrified of losing her new boyfriend the same way she did her previous one. She’s angry and lashes out at a surprised Frankie.

The detectives question Kelly, but she’s not talking. They remind her that she’s a parolee and hanging out with the L.O.T. violates it. If she won’t talk, maybe she will after a couple days in the county jail. I’m not sure if blackmailing witnesses with jail time is proper procedure, but they’re willing to take the risk.

Down in the morgue, Maura uncovers a partial print from one of the guns they found at the scene. The print belongs to an Albanian American with a long lists of arrests, but not a single conviction. This screams of organized crime and while a print isn’t enough for an arrest they now have a possible suspect. Jane and Maura banter about the case and the book that she’s writing. The chemistry between the two has been downplayed as of late, but their morgue banter in this scene gave the viewer those first season feels. The two joke with Kent about Maura omitting him from her book and the assistant seems to take it in stride.

Jane Rizzoli Goes to Jail

The print on the gun leading them to the Albanian crime lord goes nowhere when he refuses to cooperate. The hold him on an illegal gun charge while they try to gather more evidence and that’s when Korsak tells Jane about his prison informant. Apparently, Kelly has been in jail for six hours and has already tried to hire a hitman. She’s scared and Jane thinks it’s because she’s their eye witness and can pin the crime on the Albanians. Kelly won’t talk and is frightened for her life so Jane comes up with a plan. She’s going undercover as a jail inmate. Being a cop, Jane could be easily recognized by an inmate so similar to Clark Kent hiding his Superman persona under glasses, Jane has Maura paint a semi-permanent tattoo on her neck and shoulder. Everyone seems fine with Jane flushing out the murderer behind bars, everyone except Angela (Lorraine Bracoco). Mama Rizzoli full on loses it at her detective daughter. She tells Jane that she knows this is her job, but her friends and family pay dearly for it. Korsak’s wedding, Maura’s kidnapping and her break up with Ron were all a result of Janes job. She storms out, but Jane heads to jail anyway. She’s hoping either Kelly will talk or jane can find out who she hired the hit on. Whoever it is, she’s convinced it’s their killer.

During breakfast in the prison cafeteria, Jane meets a friendly jewel thief played by television icon Sharon Gless. Jane, who’s trying to keep her bad ass criminal persona, blows up at the friendly woman, threatens her, trashes her breakfast and walks out. Back at the morgue, Angela seeks comfort from Maura over Jane’s decision. She’s terrified because her daughter has always been too brave for her own good. Angela knows Jane’s job is important to her but at what cost?

Tying Two Murders Together

At the jail, Jane’s getting an up close and ”Orange is the New Black” kind of view of prison life. She puts herself in between an aggressive inmate coming on to Kelly. The scene is tense except for the friendly jewel thief’s advice on surviving prison life. Jane has no intention of staying long and hopes that rescuing Kelly can gain her trust and lead the detective to their killer. While Jane is sticking her newly tattooed self in harm’s way by kicking the crap out of inmates for Kelly, it seems that Maura and Korsak discovered another murder that might be linked to the Albanian crime lord. The key that ties these two murders together is evidence of industrial chemicals on their clothing. These kinds of chemicals are linked to drugs and explosives. Maura suggests the guns weren’t the reason for the killings, but maybe the sale of these chemicals. Later, she explains this new evidence to Jane over a prison phone call. She tells the detective that they haven’t been able to tie the Albanians to the death of the bikers, but they can tie them to numerous other murders. Maura is worried about her best friend and its obvious when she pleads with her to be careful. Jane is the most important person in her life and losing her is unthinkable. The conversation gets cut short and later the undercover detective is approached by Kelly with an offer. She will give her ten thousand dollars if, when Jane is released, she kills a L.O.T. biker named Snake. Now that Jane has a name to match a suspect, she alerts the prison guard that it’s time for her to go home and what a homecoming it was! For the first time in a very long time, Maura greets Jane with a welcome home hug, something the fans have been clamoring for now for a few seasons. It’s sweet and exactly why this show dominated the ratings. It’s the two strong, professional women and the close bond that grew from the dangers of their job. These two are family and the hug was something Jane really needed since her actual family, her mother, isn’t answering her phone calls. Angela is still angry at her daughter for taking the risks that wind up hurting everyone around her. Will Angela finally convince Jane to leave the BPD and look for a safer alternative, like say teaching at the FBI with the handsome Agent Davies (Mark Deklin)?

Case Closed

The case comes to a quick close when Jane finds out why Kelly was trying to hire a hit woman. It seems the woman has a younger sister that saw Snake kill Leo and Graham and now Kelly’s trying to protect her. Snake knows Kelly’s sister saw the murder and will have no problem shutting her up, permanently. The young girl is in foster care and Kelly fears she might already be dead. She tells the team that she gave her sister a meeting place if they ever got separated. Jane finds the young girl at the spot, seconds before Snake can creep up on the girl and abduct her. The sisters reunite and the feds offer them a new life in the witness protection program if they turn states evidence against Snake and the Albanian crime organization.

Thanks to Kelly and the evidence Maura and Kent collected, three Albanians, a few L.O.T. bikers and Snake are arrested. The case is closed and Jane gets a surprise visit from her jewel thief who wasn’t a thief after all. She wrote a few bad checks and thanks to Jane she was given early release. It’s a touching moment that is quintessential Jane Rizzoli – badass cop with a heart of gold that hugs more criminals then she arrests. The show ends with Angela and Jane making amends which leads to the detective contemplating a job change. With Maura’s new writing passion, Korsak’s impending retirement and Frankie finally finding his footing at the BPD, Jane calls Agent Davies at the FBI to discuss the details of the teaching job. With only a few episodes left in the series, it appears that the two best friends might be going their separate ways. Will Jane accept the position at the FBI and leave her friend and family in Boston? Will Maura quit her M.E. job to become a novelist? Stay tuned to the final episode of the series to found out!