Dirty Little Secret (Episode 302)

After the season three premiere, I didn't think they were going to be able to top the excitement and drama that left us on the edge of our seats the whole time. I can honestly say they didn't top it in episode two, not even close. THEY FREAKING BLEW IT OUT OF THE WATER!!!!!!! So much happened in episode two that you could hardly keep up! There was drama and laughter, fighting and tears, gunfire and car crashes. The writers really keep setting the bar higher and higher for themselves with each passing episode and haven't disappointed their fans since the series premiere.

There were many surprises in this episode and they gave the audience a shocker before the opening credits: the return of Frank Sr. If you remember all the way back to season one, Jane's parents split up and Frank Sr. moved to Florida and had a girlfriend. The Rizzoli kids are in Jane's apartment watching a baseball game when Frank Sr. shows up with no warning. Jane is clearly hurt and on the defense, Tommy knows something the others don't, and poor Frankie Jr. is stuck in the middle. Frank Sr. hands them all an envelope, an invite to an upcoming wedding, his. The Rizzoli's are Catholic, and in the Catholic faith, marriage is sacred, you only marry once. If you want to marry again, then you need to get an annulment, which means "an ecclesial tribunal determines the sacrament of marriage was invalidly entered into." The Rizzoli children are deeply hurt and put out by this, Jane the most visibly.


This episode was not without it's murder. A young woman was found in the tunnels underneath a university. This is the first case Jane and Maura have worked on together since the shooting. There is still some obvious tension between the two, their relationship is no where near being where is was before. Their constant bickering makes for an awkward situation for Frost and Korsak, who are inevitably stuck in the middle. the two men, and Frankie Jr, come up with this plan to put Jane and Maura into a situation where they will be forced to talk to each other. 

Jane and Maura both want to go to a yoga resort that their victim attended, but refuse to ride together. Korsak and Frost have their cars towed, which force them to take Frost's unmarked. They argue all the way to the resort, bickering and trying to outwit each other. After discovering that the yoga resort is just a cover for a fracking company, Jane and Maura lives are in danger. 


After their car is hit by a truck, being shot at, and running through the woods for hours to get away from the men that are trying to kill them, Jane realizes Maura is seriously hurt. The blood circulation has been compromised in Maura's leg, and if Jane doesn't perform a surgery on her leg, she could loose it. They don't have any medical equipment, they don't have any working cell phones, they only have each other. Jane saves Maura's leg, but Maura passes out with the pain. 

After being discovered by the men trying to kill them, they take the two women to a water reserve, strap them into their wrecked car, and leave them to die. With Maura barely coherent, It's up to Jane to save them both, She uses the broken screen from her phone to free herself from the tape, then uses Morse Code to send a message to Korsak, who eventually saves them both. 


What started out a a ploy to get the two women back together, turned into a fight to stay alive. Jane saved Maura's leg, and Jane led the team to the arrest of the yoga instructor. Back in Maura's living room, the Rizzoli family is back together, helping Maura as she returns from the hospital. The final scene is the one we have all been waiting for. The make up scene. Jane and Maura both realize that they were wrong, they they were acting like jerks, or as Angela puts it, assholes. The episode ends with the two in an embrace, back together again. 

Until next time, 


J. Cavanaugh

P.S. All photos in this post are screen shots from episode two.

What Doesn't Kill You (Episode 301)

Well, season 3 definitely started off with a bang, or rather, a look that could kill in a heartbeat. Season 3 picked up right where season 2 ended, with Jane shooting Maura's biological father, Irish Mob Boss Patty Doyle. Season 3 opens with everyone outside the warehouse. The paramedics have removed Doyle and Agent Dean has been taken to the hospital after getting shot in the leg by Doyle. Jane knows Maura is mad, but she doesn't realize just what she has helped set into motion. Throughout the episode we see a few flashbacks, some great arguments, and even a moment that makes you go "aw."

Right from the start, Jane knows that her relationship with Maura is never going to be the same. Jane sees that Maura is hurt, that she is shocked that Jane shot her father. Jane doesn't quite understand why Maura all of a sudden cares about this man. You can see it in both of their eyes that they are hurting. After the incident, Jane is told that she is going to be interviewed and investigated by the IAD (Internal Affairs Department). Turns out that there is someone inside the BPD that is working for or with Doyle.

Jane and Agent Dean's relationship also comes to head in this episode, with the revelation of their intimate relationship. After Agent Dean dropped by on the undercover opp, and was shot in the leg, he too was interviewed by IAD. He admitted he had an intimate relationship with Jane, which she was then asked about, in front of Korsak and Cavanaugh. Jane is embarrassed and pissed. Will Jane and Dean ever be together again?

Maura has a lot of things running through her head. Did she overreact when it came to Jane's actions? Does she care more about her father than she originally thought? Most importantly, who or what is Hope? Maura saw a different side of Jane in the warehouse. She had never actually seen how someone ends up on her autopsy table. Seeing Jane fire her gun and shoot a man, her father, right in front of her freaks Maura out. She is stunned by what Jane did and she is stunned at her own emotions and her own reactions to the unfolding events.

Meanwhile, Jane and the gang are called to a homicide at a convenience store where a cop has been murdered. Since Maura is tied up with her family (her mom was hit by a car in the season finale), Dr. Pike is back and just as snarky and anal as ever. Jane runs into Maura in the ME's office, leading to a very heated cat fight full of accusations and name calling which needs police intervention. Jane is sentenced to time in Evidence Management and Maura hands in her resignation letter, turning her duties as Chief ME to Dr. Pike.

While working in the EMD (Evidence Management Department), Jane talks Frost into "test firing" some guns confiscated by BPD. Turns out one of the guns is the same one that was used to shoot the officer and the store clerk in Jane's murder case. After searching the murdered officers house, they learn that the officer was not only dirty, but was working for Doyle. Which also leads Jane into figuring out that the two men investigating her, the two from IAD,  happen to be dirty as well. All working under Doyle.

Jane finds pictures in Doyle's boxes in evidence that closely resembles a pencil drawing of a young woman that Constance gave to Maura, a piece that one of her students drew. Jane believes that this woman could have been Maura's mother, leading Jane and Angela to a tombstone with the name of a baby, baby Maura Doyle. Jane shows Maura, which leaves Maura with even more unanswered questions.

After the end of episode one, we know one thing for sure, Jane and Maura are definitely not LLBFFs anymore. Will they ever be that way again? Who knows. It is going to take a lot to get them back to the friends they were before, lets just hope they make up soon, because it just isn't Rizzoli & Isles without Rizzoli AND Isles being together.



Until Next Time,

J. Cavanaugh

All photos used in this post are screen shots from episode one.