Rizzoli and Isles - The Platform - Review :The one with the ugly chair

Rizzoli and Isles Episode 601 –The platform
Written by Jan Nash
Directed by Greg Prange

Season 5 Rizzoli and Isles was bittersweet for me and ended on a lighter note with the girls sharing a drink in Korsak’s newly acquired Dirty Robber and the new (unofficial) theme song playing in the back ground. It may not have done for Ambrosia what Glee did for The Journey it was a nice touch.
So season 6 being Jan Nash’s second at the helm I was interested to see what it had in store for us and from watching this first episode I, for one, am not disappointed.
Season 6 certainly does start hitting the ground running with an Episode written by Executive producer Jan Nash and directed by Co-executive producer Greg Prange.
Detective’s Jane( Angie Harmon) and Frankie Rizzoli ( Jordan Bridges) are clearly chasing a suspect into the underground subway station, Jane takes one route and Frankie takes the other, moments later we hear a shot and Jane turns around looking to where it’s come from a look of panic on her face.. Is it Frankie??

Cut to one day earlier
At this point I do wonder if we will ever see Jane’s apartment again, once again she is sat in Doctor Maura Isles kitchen chatting over morning coffee. This time the topic of conversation between Maura (Sasha Alexander) and Jane is Maura’s new hire Kent Drake. Yes Jane cannot resist the superhero Jokes, as he is a war veteran then it must make him a marvel super hero. The comic characters references are of course lost on Maura, her constantly eye rolling at Jane making this classic Rizzoli and Isles.
Angela Rizzoli (Lorraine Bracco) interrupts the superhero discussion with the ugliest chair I am sure the prop department could find, Maura looks worried but not for long as she states it’s for Frankie (maybe to drive the girls away) Of course Maura is polite in calling it ugly but Jane being Jane states what we all clearly can see it's horrible.

As Mama Rizzoli is about to ask them to take it to Frankie’s the phones rings, ‘Rizzoli’ ‘Isles’ ,duty calls as we go into the opening titles leaving Angela and her free chair, from Uncle Enzio, which we can now see clearly is uncomfortable as well.

Remember we are still a day earlier, this concept has been done in many shows but it is an easy way to grab the audience attention in the opening scenes.

Detective Jane Rizzoli and Doctor Maura Isles arrive at the crime scene of a woman’s body wrapped in carpet in a dumpster.
Frankie Rizzoli seems to be getting good luck wishes from a uniform officer seems he is going for Bric commander role, in last season we noticed Frankie taking a more behind the scenes investigative role in this area, Sgt Vince Korsak (Bruce McGill) states he is better than the guy with the chewing problem which in true Doctor Isles fashion she explains as a medical condition.
The body is kept in the carpet to protect evidence, no dumpster diving for Dr Isles this episode. And at least two people would be needed to move it giving us two suspects while getting rid of a body would be noticed. They compare how obvious it would be, obvious as an organ grinder because of the monkey, don’t blame me Maura said it.

Jane and Maura are entering the Morgue it’s here we get to meet the super… I mean new assistant to the Medical Examiner Kent Drake (Adam Sinclair) vacuuming the rug.

He greets our duo but won’t shake hands due to wearing gloves but having never met Jane he instantly knows who she is as Senior Criminalist Chang holds her in very high regard.
I love the little look between Jane and Maura after he says this.
He goes on to explain what he has done and Jane is beside herself when she sees his feet, Remember Maura’s toe running shoes back in season 1 episode 7 Born to Run that Maura tried to run the Boston marathon in until she changed them , well yes Kent Drake is sporting a pair on his feet.
This scene made me smile and nice reference back to an earlier episode. He catches Jane’s looks and states she should try some and when she says No I get the feeling it’s to more than the shoes, meaning Mr Drake.
A t shirt bagged on the table gives her a clue, Internet village logo on the shirt and Jane is off to do what Jane's does. And Kent to ask Maura the Question ‘is she always like that’ to which Maura replies ‘yes, in the very best way possible ’

Jane and Korsak Interview a co-worker from the Internet village, where she was due to leave soon and we learn the victim had a problem with her boyfriend Spike, no one liked him. Lucky for them she has a picture.

Back to the Chair this time we see Jane and Maura struggling with it into an apartment, Maura and Jane looks confused and doesn't remember Frankie’s apartment being this nice, none of us do we have never seen his apartment. Obviously while chair wrestling they failed to notice Angela press the button for a few floors higher, Frankie has moved. We have heard references to his apartment being messy this looks like a tidy bachelor pad. Well it did until they brought the chair up!
Jane is miffed he kept it a secret from her and then surprise Frankie appears from what we assume is the bathroom in a towel. Shocked and seeing he has company , doesn't he know mums never knock , Jane and him get into banter as to why he kept it a secret . We learn he has a date which Maura wishes him luck on, those two are like siblings now any possible relationship between them was clearly squashed back in early season 5 and I can’t see it happening again. Back to the chair Frankie doesn't like it but Angela has the last word 'free covers a lot of ugly’. Mama Rizzoli has spoken.

Next morning Boston PD Korsak and Jane going over what they have on the case. Its looks like the victim was about to run, was it because of Spike as from a neighbour sounds unstable.

Cut to Nina Holiday (Idara Victor) in the Bric it is worth noting she has now been added to main cast credits. Congratulations Idara.
Anyway Nina gets a phone call which she answers 'Holiday' and is replied with 'Rizzoli' from Frankie and a cute little scene between these two over the phone. We learn the victim’s cell phone made a lot of phone calls to a Cecil Wilson… could he be the boyfriend?? Yes no wonder he changed his name to Spike. Nina has an address and Frankie asks her to get Jane to meet him there.

In the morgue Dr Isles is showing Kent Drake around she stated she had six months to train him earlier in the episode. When her asks her how long she has worked as the Chief Medical Examiner this statement caused confusion... About 5 year’s. Personally for me I would expect Maura to be exact to the day given her character however briefly looking back at what we know it would appear longer. The time line is very sketchy from when we met her character in the first episode in how long Maura had the job.
Anyway Kent is asking Maura if she has questions and the shoes come up , now I must admit the weird shirt, glasses and toe shoes look makes me wonder what he is hiding it doesn’t seem to fit with ex-military . I am curious as to what direction they are going to take with this character.
Now here I felt towards his new boss it came across as disrespectful when he mentioned Maura wearing heels. She is his boss, it has nothing to do with him what she wear’s for work. I can see some opposing views between these two.

At this point we catch up to the events that unfolded the previous day and we aren't even a quarter of a way through the episode.
The Suspect takes off from his apartment running with Jane, Frankie and Korsak in pursuit and soon we catch up to the point of the shot, Jane rushes through the crowd to Frankie, he is ok, Korsak arrives to Frankie first, and Frankie has shot a guy who pointed a gun at him but not the suspect. Unfortunately the gun is nowhere to be found.

Outside the Subway station Korsak is organising Frankie a union Lawyer and the guy shot is taken away in critical condition in the ambulance. Jane is trying to reassure Frankie and Maura is in protective sibling mode saying he needs a sedative which will give him some time before internal affairs can speak to him.

At the Hospital Korsak and Jane discuss if the guy Frankie shot was connected to Spike, the suspect they were chasing. I A D (Internal Affairs Division) soon arrive and Jane feels its unlucky Hitchcock, is one of the investigators.
Worth noting the actress who plays IAD Detective Hitchcock, Wendy Makkena, Also was in NCIS and played the sister to Sasha Alexander’s Character Kate Todd though she was no longer in the show.

From here on we know what needs to be done they need to clear Frankie, there has to be to CCTV footage at the subway.
Jane along with Nina start looking into the Guy who was shot Sean Hayes but turn up no gun license, soon Jane is called to be interviewed by IAD

Maura is in her office clearly troubled when Susie (Tina Huang) walks in with some results. The results of the victim’s stomach contents a protein shake computer geeks use so they don’t have to leave their chairs. Interesting as Dr Isles states she has good muscle tone, so obviously left her chair.
Both Maura and Susie are concerned for Frankie. I love that Maura is drinking from a mug that says Keep Calm and Buy shoes, we all know Maura’s love of shoes and Jane stated last season she was going to get a poster with it on.

Jane is being interviewed by IAD, the security video is brought up but IAD won’t tell Jane anything she begrudgingly admits she never saw the gun. She asks the other IAD Detective Simmons (LaMonica Garrett) to keep an open mind. Jane is reminded she should keep an open mind as well by Hitchcock... ouch.
Come on Jane you need to solve the murder and clear your brother……

Korsak with his contacts comes through, he manages to get information that the security system at the station malfunctioned so no video as it is blank, No evidence to back up Frankie’s story.

We step away from the investigation, Frankie is in his apartment in the ugly chair and Mama Rizzoli is also there. What followed was a lovely scene between mother and son, him expressing his fears Angela stating he isn't going to Jail. Jane won’t stop until she gets to the bottom of things.

Jane looks lost back at the station when Maura arrives unfortunately Sean, who Frankie shot, has died, his body is heading over for Autopsy which Maura can’t do as she is Frankie’s friend.
Maura has a way they can watch the autopsy and hopefully see something that will help Frankie.

I feel now Frankie has hope and in true Rizzoli and Isles fashion working together with the help of a used coffee (yes she really did take Janes coffee and live) Maura sees a white liquid in his stomach. It could be the same as in the murder victim which means Jane can continue investigating as it is tied to her case.

Korsak and Jane obtain a warrant for the shooting victim, Sean Hayes, apartment where they find some routers, Jane contacts Nina... seems they are routed through various countries she keeps interrupting Nina who is trying to tell her she needs them back a BPD.


Nina has some video footage of the shooting from social media sites, People and cell phones with cameras may just have saved Frankie. Eagle eyed Jane in the footage notices a gun, but where did it go? They need to find it and deliver who took it to get Frankie off the hook, Jane finally smiles and gives Nina a kiss on the cheek, who no surprise, is also smiling. Nina helps save the day. I really like her character and hope we see more about her this season outside of the bpd.

Jane is on the case studying the footage and notices someone walking calmly away after the shooting... is he connected? Spike, who they were chasing, runs near Sean who Frankie shot and we have mystery guy walking away.

Maura is doing a facial recognition search on the mystery guy, Korsak has a map of the subway, feeling the routers discovered in Sean’s apartment are connected somehow, maybe to disrupt or crash a train. Kent Introduces himself to Korsak as no one else bothered to do so , Maura states they are both ex-military Kent asks’ Vietnam?’ Korsak replies with a smirk ‘ no Spanish American war’ I like feisty Korsak! Jane whispers she hates Kent. I have got to say not warming up to him much at this point either.
With new information they narrow the search, we find John Stanton who has a beef with the subway.
Korsak takes Nina back to Sean Hayes apartment, IAD has tried to stop them but they have enough time for Nina to take a look at the Routers. . Someone is trying to ping the location for response.

Jane and Maura are at Frankie’s apartment showing him the videos and that they should have enough evidence to clear him, hugs all round. As Jane escapes Frankie’s bear hug he attaches himself to Maura and Jane promptly exits, leaving her to it.

Korsak and Jane stake out a restaurant from where the ping to the router came from, they go in and find Cecil, aka Spike, trying to sneak out the back but he is apprehended by Korsak.
He claims he did not murder Mona, the girl in the dumpster who started all this. Jane lays it on thick ‘you will be to blame’ and gives him the shake down.

At the morgue Kent is bagging Mona’s, the victim's, body clearly affected by it, Maura asks if he is ok he asks Maura ‘Does it make her feel any better finding out who committed the murder’. She replies in true Doctor Isles fashion.’ it’s very satisfying to use science to solve a mystery ‘Kent feels she doesn't answers his question.
The response that follows gives us an understanding into why Maura does what she does and how she does it by compartmentalising like she has previously stated. She believes the truth helps the victims loved ones and family. This answer seems to satisfy Kent.

Jane is showing IAD her evidence to help clear Frankie, at first they are sceptical but she brings in Cecil and he confirms it all… case closed. Now they need to find John Stanton.
The race is on to find him before he crashes a train he is actually outside the subway Jane smashes his connect and she and Korsak locate him. Arrest made Case closed.

Maura is packing up when in walks Susie and a very differently dressed Kent, Yes Maura we all paused and were like damn he is a super hero. Susie calls him super-hot and is grinning like a school girl, no wonder she has a date with Kent, way to go Chang.

Kent speaks to Maura saying he doesn't like people making assumptions about him yet he has done that with everyone all day...um yes I have the same look on my face as Maura when he leaves.

Frankie’s apartment setting is getting a lot of use this episode as it comes to close , Maura and Vince making cocktails, while Angela tells Jane Frankie was so relieved he cried but don't tell him I told you. The cocktail is called the last word and from the looks of things it tastes revolting as the four toast the success minus Frankie. Jane looks very comfortable in the ugly chair.
Frankie is back with gifts and finds it hard to express how thankful he is for what they all did for him. What touched me was it showed Frankie hated that the person he shot died, even though he was pointing a gun . Jane states it’s how we tell the good guys from the bad guys and Vince takes us out with a tune on the gift Frankie bought him.

In future it would be nice to see Nina included in these scenes maybe introduce her into the fold more after all it was her input that was just as vital in getting Frankie cleared.
For me it was a well round episode with family, crime and typical Rizzoli and Isles interactions in a nice balance. It was a nice introduction to Kent and I feel purposely done to makes us unsure about who he is. As for the chair unfortunately it may be around for the rest of the series.

About the Author - Zandarl

Zandarl a Writer and avid TV and film buff ,once described as a wilful hedonist, has travelled all over and lived in the states for a short time. Now based in the UK she attends cons when able and meets stars from her favourite shows .Her first start in fandom was Xena and since then has admired tv shows that portray strong women. Her current favorites being Rizzoli and Isles and Once Upon a Time as well as anything comic book related. A regular movie goer she watches most genres but never ask her to watch a horror movie.

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