Rizzoli and Isles 709 review
Written by Meredith Philpott & Dan Hamamura
Directed by Mark Strand
I apologize for the late review but holiday time and fun was to be had. Normal service will resume as Rizzoli and Isles returns next week.
What I enjoyed most about this episode is it took a step back from the crime of the week and looked an upcoming trial for a case, unfortunately, a vital piece of evidence has gone missing. It turns into a race against time for Jane and her Scooby Gang, they need to locate the evidence before the Judge kicks the case out. As they dig further it seems one piece of missing evidence may actually have them on the trail of a master thief who will do anything to keep his accomplishes out of jail even if they did commit murder.
We start off two years ago a couple return home from holiday early only to surprise an intruder in the kitchen who uses a knife on a cutting board to kill them.
Present day Jane and Korsak are going through the evidence for the upcoming trial. Blood evidence was left on the chopping board leading to an arrest and he is due to stand trial. The defense has requested to see the evidence before trial but when they go to check it out it is nowhere to be found.
At the dirty robber Angela still seems in a sour mood and has taken in a package for Frankie, he wants to learn magic to impress Nina. As Frankie gets called away when she starts asking about Nina Angela’s comment about her children always working shows she is still far from happy.
Jane is in court but without the evidence they have little to go on with the Judge gives them until Monday morning 65 hours to produce the missing evidence.
Convinced it was stolen to sabotage the case they try to discover how someone broke into the evidence room and request the key code logs’ and security cameras footage.
Nina discovers an unidentified login which could have been done remotely and a blanked out camera in climate control room.
They also look into all know associates of the defendant, Banyan, but come up with nothing and apart from his 82-year-old mom no visitors in prison.
In the Lab, Kent has a problem seems he has brought an injured duck into the lab hoping to help it but giving it electrolyte water isn’t helping. Of course, when Dr Dolittle Korsak comes in he has the solution for Kent. There is more of the duck later on but am only going to mention it here as found it a little silly but it did provide a chance for Maura to thank Kent for all he did for her even if it was via the duck.
Jane goes back and checks out a hunch as Frankie had mentioned the new climate control system being installed 12 months ago, sure enough, there is a tunnel that should not be there leading directly outside so ease of access (surely someone would have checked the works and noticed this in such a secure location!)
Maura has the DNA results of hair found in the tunnel which is a Caucasian woman. They narrow down the construction crew and one fits the bill but on further checks, she has been disabled for a long time but her sister Donna Marks, who seems to be in and out of trouble with the law, could have used her construction id to get the job.
At her address, she makes a run for it but Frankie gets her without getting a trash can lid to the face this week.
While her DNA may have been in the tunnel she doesn’t have the technical knowledge to pull off getting the security code.
Jane is tired but they seem to be getting closer, she goes to Maura who offers to lend her a clean shirt. I am hoping she had spare other things somewhere!
Jane hands Maura a ring that Donna was wearing she had on a 20,000 dollar ring a rare gem. Maura find's Jane a clean shirt and its bright, Jane comments it could be seen from space. It is brighter than Janes usual wardrobe I must admit.
Korsak asks Nina to look into rare gem robbery’s starting in Chicago
Jane shows Frankie a magic trick another of Jane’s many talents. Frankie isn’t buying her story how she learned magic.
Nina has three unsolved robberies involving rare gems in Chicago. They widen the search and find a lot more, seems the thieves have been busy. One more involved a murder.
Jane and Korsak go back to check the original crime scene as no one seems to know how they gained entry in all the robberies.
Nina and Angela have a chat and Angela can tell things are going well between Nina and Frankie.
At the old crime scene, the daughter lets them in the house she hasn’t been back since her parents were murdered, she was still staying with a friend that night. Korsak and Jane search for something to give them a clue where he came in and notice a damp patch on the carpet seems the skylight which shouldn’t be opened had leaked. They also find blood on it seems he may have cut himself on the skylight. Also, the height involved it would need two people so definitely shows there was an accomplice. Who is behind the evidence theft and trying to clear his partner?
At the court they make it appear Banyan is free and in fact, he isn’t it was all for show. they want him to give up his partner. The new evidence on the skylight and the fact the judge dismissed the case without prejudice.
Banyan agrees and they set up a meet and catch the other guy.
At the Dirty Robber, an exhausted Jane is still convinced Maura is a robot, thought her robot dance leaves something to be desired. They watch Frankie perform tricks for Nina, we learn Jane’s old boyfriend taught her the tricks and a lot more says Maura, dropping her in it with her mother. Frankie seems to be failing at a disappearing trick as the credits appear.
While it's noted Maura was absent in the episode due to Sasha preparing for her upcoming directorial debut it was an ok episode but not as outstanding as other episodes going for the silly rather than amusing .
So thoughts on the episode?
Are you looking forward to Sasha Alexander’s directorial debut on Rizzoli and Isles next week?
With 4 more episodes to go, how do you think the series will end?
