Writer’s Note: It’s impossible to write about the real and imagined crime-fighting shenanigans of a homicide detective and her medical examiner best friend this week without first acknowledging the real-world tragedy that has befallen their world. Most of you no doubt already heard about Lee Thompson Young‘s passing on Monday from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The 29-year-old actor has played Det. Barold “Barry” Frost for four seasons on the hit TNT show. The series and its stars had just been picked up for a fifth season.
I do not know what drove this young man to end his own life, but I do know that we are almost always too young to welcome death upon ourselves. My condolences to his family, his friends, his co-workers and all those who knew and loved him. Onscreen Lee made Frost a smart, compassionate, funny and dependable character who endeared himself to us even more by showing us both his geeky and squeamish sides. He was a talented man with a seemingly bright and limitless future ahead of him. No one truly knows the demons others carry in their hearts. But I hope, at least, he knew he was appreciated by fans like us around the world. I will miss him and his beautiful smile. May he rest in peace.
If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Right, so this seems like a really terrible tea party. I mean, there are no proper biscuits. It’s taking forever to pour the tea, meaning the tea will no doubt be cold. And I find it’s never a good sign when one or both of your party guests are crying. But, maybe I just have strict hostess rules.
Back at the Isles Estates Jane and Maura are preparing a delicious quinoa salad dinner together because they’re so gay they prepare delicious quinoa salad dinners together. Jane complains about quinoa because it is a scourge of the Earth second only to the full-out mouth assault that is uncooked kale salad. Maura corrects her saying quinoa isn’t a grain, it’s a chenopod. I have to agree, calling it a chiapet does not make it sound even tastier. Nor does mentioning its close biological relation to tumbleweed. No amount of bacon bits and blue cheese dressing would make that salad edible.
Maura asks Jane if she’s having second thoughts. About the salad? Definitely. But it was instead about doing a presentation about Hoyt (remember him, gravely voiced and faced serial killer who Jane killed to protect her Maura) for a Dr. Victoria Nolan. They’ll be discussing two of his murders in front of something called a “blood cottage” which seems like just the least homey place to vacation ever. Jane agrees that a three-day serial killer symposium is a terrible romantic getaway. She wanted to head to Vermont to go fishing on Lake Champlain. But, noooo, they went with blood cottage instead with the bestselling author of Three Faces of Evil. You just know she won’t be up for making s’mores.
Dr. Nolan arrives and dammit if she isn’t American Vampire League spokeswoman Nan Flanagan. Right so now we have to contend with serial killers and bloodsucking vampires? This show, man. Dr. Nolan hands Jane a bottle of wine upon entering. The hostess gift typically goes to the hostess, so I guess she knows what’s what with Maura and Jane’s relationship. She then introduces her obnoxious, texting publicist and quiet, polite research assistant. If you didn’t automatically put money down on the quiet, polite research assistant in the Guess The Killer Pool then you just don’t like winning money.
Dr. Nolan stays for dinner and everyone’s dutifully impressed with her tumbleweed deliciousness. Mama Rizzoli is of course also there too because your best friend’s mom always tags along to dinner parties with you too — right? She asks Dr. Nolan what forensic psychiatry is so we can get exposition about her job. Jane gives her the “Ma, not now,” look. But she’s undeterred and keeps asking, Maura just smirks because mother-in-laws, you know? She wants to know why the creepy lady devoted her research to serial killers. And also how serial killers can appear normal in the first place. Dr. Nolan tells a heartwarming, totally dinner-table appropriate story about a little boy who killed his dog. And then goes on to say how serial killers can “hide in plain sight.” Well, now I’m putting a few dollars down on her as well. Subtle foreshadowing is not this show’s forte.
At the symposium, law enforcement officials have gathered to learn more about techniques for tracking serial killers. That’s all fine and good, but what they’re about to get is a lesson in eye sex. Because upon being introduced Det. Jane Rizzoli and Dr. Maura Isles give each other the ocular business like we’ve hardly seen all season. Dry spell over, folks. Guess the prospect of a blood cottage was super romantic after all.
As Jane and Maura begin to discuss how they investigated Hoyt’s case, the curtain is pulled back to reveal the scene. It’s gory. Really, really gory. Too gory. Remember that terrible, awful tea party? Yeah, well it ended very badly for the guests.
Jane quickly realizes the scene is real and Maura confirms the news putting an end to their romantic blood cottage getaway. See, I told you gals, next time go to Vermont. With a real crime scene on their hands, the detectives cordon off the area and start investigating, which in a room full of cops who want to investigate is going to be a challenge. Luckily, unluckily, Dr. Nolan graciously/creepily offers her help in the case. I know she wrote a book about killers and all, but is it really wise to include a non-authorized civilian into the intimate details of a police investigation? Did this show suddenly turn into Castle? And, if so, can we then please have Maura and Jane make out soon? It took Castle and Beckett four seasons to finally do the deed so I think we’re due.
They decide to keep the symposium going, which is going to be difficult given their auditorium is now a crime scene. And then they determine the killer is sending them a theatrical message. Oh, great, a failed theater major. I can’t wait for Dr. Nolan’s bestselling book on this case, When Jazz Hands Kill. Side note, the recently deceased female crime scene tech totally looks like family on her police ID card. I mean, look at that adorable alternative lifestyle haircut. Sure, it’s a little Bieber, but who am I to speak ill of the dead. Beat from a long night, the detectives finally call it a day at 2 a.m. Maura immediately turns to Jane and says, and I quote, “You can stay with me tonight.” I don’t know about you, but I yelled, “Oh my God, come on!” at my television at that. Like out loud with emphatic hand gestures.
Jane looks at her like, girl, I know. I’m there every night anyway. But then she declines because she wants a clear head to solve this case and can’t be distracted by all the things they do together on the yoga room floor. And the kitchen counter. And the living room couch. And, just to keep it interesting, the bed. Jane says she’s going to go home, take a bath and pet her dog. Are you sure you wouldn’t rather pet a pussy, honey? I’m just saying, stress release is important at times like these. Instead Jane walks into her apartment and is greeted by Jo Friday. Aw, little Jo. Also, poor Jo. This means she’s not going to get a walk tonight which means I hope she has a really, really strong bladder.
Jane takes out her gun to check her place, even though we know and she knows it’s not Hoyt. But, dammit, if it still isn’t scary. Like I legitimately hugged my couch pillow with worry, though mostly I worried that something terrible would happen to Jo. They can’t kill Jane, her name is in the title. Jane and Jo fall asleep on the couch, and then like some kind of terrifying Nightmare on Elm Street scenario, Hoyt suddenly reaches out and touches Jane’s face. We know it’s not really Hoyt, just Dream Hoyt because he has weird long, dyed brown hair. Is Hoyt having some sort of afterlife mid-life crisis? What’s with the hair and the leather jacket, is a dream sportcar waiting out front, too? Dream Hoyt invites in a little boy holding a puppy. And then tells the story of how he killed his first puppy. Come on, writers, what is with all the dog endangerment this week? Are we going to have to call the ASPCA and get Sarah McLachlan to come over and sing “Angel” super slowly in the writer’s room as punishment?
Jane wakes up with a start and realizes her major error in not sleeping over at Maura’s house. She might have still had the bad dream, but then there’d be Maura to cuddle with afterward. The therapeutic benefits of cuddling are totally underrated. So she gives Jo a cuddle for good measure. Fine, she’s pretty cute. But she’s no Maura. At the Isles Estate, an early-morning visitor interrupts their coffee. It’s Jane, she called Maura to tell her she made a terrible mistake and needs emergency snuggles. At the door Maura gives her some Totally Gratuitous, Totally Gay Touching, but only for a second because Mama R is there too making coffee. See, some people still respect boundaries.
Speaking of boundaries, Jane tells Mama R she doesn’t want to talk about her nightmare, but then promptly tells Maura about her nightmare. She asks her doctor girlfriend if she thinks she has PTSD. Maura says she’s not sure and then there are statistics about nightmares to spout. To Jane hearing Maura go off on her scientific tangents is like emergency snuggles — so predictable and reassuring. While Mama R wants Jane to just fuggedaboutit, a remnant of her days with Tony Soprano no doubt, Maura has a better idea. She wants Jane to replay the dream, but change the way it ends. Jane says she can do that, because she routinely changes the way her dreams end with Maura. Mixing things up is the spice of life.
But then Jane asks Maura whether her dream meant something. Hey, I want to know that, too. I keep having this nightmare where I’m being chased, but can’t run. And recently I’ve been having these dreams about my teeth falling out. But I think that’s just guilt about not flossing enough. Mama R tells her daughter to take a sick day, and then gives Maura a look like, “If you loved her, you’d make my daughter take a sick day.” But, alas, Jane is determined to see this one through. In the autopsy room, Maura makes a cast of the burn mark on both victims’ necks. Thankfully, these two aren’t the type to let a multiple-murder investigation get in the way of some good old-fashioned lesbian processing. Maura tells Jane, “I think it’s healthy that you’ve begun to process your trauma.” Later they’ll process how Maura feels when Jane doesn’t fold the laundry right after it comes out of the dryer. With no leads to go on, the detectives try Dr. Nolan’s idea of giving all the police officers at the conference a personality test. Um, is that even admissible in court? Can you get a search warrant off of a personality test? For once I’m going to agree with the obviously created just to be obnoxious detective character who calls it a “stupid friggin’ way to solve a double homicide.”
Of course, then I promptly stop agreeing with him when he acts like a pompous ass and tells Maura and Dr. Nolan to call him when they want to solve the murder. No, dude, she’s going to call Jane and they’ll have this thing wrapped up in time to share a beer and glass of wine on Maura’s couch before they retire for more, um, aerobic activities.
The test identifies three detectives, including Pompous Guy, who tried to cheat the test based off their official police records personality test. Korsak says he’ll bring them in for questioning. Then he asks Maura how Jane is doing. See, everyone just knows. She says she’s OK, and then asks Korsak. He was, after all, the one who saved Jane from Hoyt the first time. He says that was the worst night of his life and he wished he’s have killed the SOB.
But Korsak can’t interview Pompous Guy because Pompous Guy is now Dead Guy. They found his body on campus and it has the same burn mark as the other bodies. But instead of copying Hoyt, this time the culprit copied another of Dr. Nolan’s profiled serial killers. Maura breaks the news to her at The Dirty Robber. Hey, that’s where you take Jane. Not creepy authors who are obviously involved in the murders in some way. Dr. Nolan is all, “Is this about me? Me, me, me, me.” See, she’s not even a good dinner companion. Maura asks if the third and final killer profiled in her book could be the next to be copied. The killer was a seemingly perfect family man who chained his victims to a wall and drove knives, nails and scalpels through their hands and feet while they were still alive. So, yeah, maybe don’t invite him to be part of the neighborhood watch.
They discuss serial killer statistics, because it’s Maura, and then Dr. Nolan says law enforcement is unlikely to serve as a deterrent to their actions. Maura’s face says, “Oh, honey, you haven’t spent enough time with Det. Jane Rizzoli.”
Jane arrives back at her apartment only to find Frankie on the couch already. He’s such a sweetheart, that little brother. Then, shortly after, Mama R barges in with food and motherly concern. Looks like the Rizzolis all had a talk with Maura about how stubborn Jane was being about staying at her own place. Mama R pulls out a box of chocolates and Frankie and Jane revert to being gradeschoolers immediately. Be cuter, this family. In the autopsy room again, Maura takes another impression of the burn mark. This time it’s clearer and she concludes that it looks like the rod of Asclepius, not to be confused with the Caduceus. Because who would do that? Non-geniuses like Maura, that’s who. It’s a medical symbol.
The detectives look up cases with similar burn patterns and uncover six starting back in 1988, then resuming in 1999. The first was a prominent Cleveland doctor and his wife. Their teenage daughter survived by hiding in the closet. Not to be critical of the research department, but everyone in that picture’s hair would have been way, way bigger in 1988. Korsak greets Dr. Nolan and her quietly subservient assistant in the café. She has made copies of all her interviews with the killers for the detectives, or more accurately she made her minion do it. She wants to check out the latest crime scene and Korsak says he’ll go with her, but first he has to go check on his latest batch of rescue puppies. Dr. Nolan invites herself along because “it would be so good to just pet an animal today.” Spidey sense warning bells, activate.
He leaves the interview DVDs for Jane and the crew to listen to. Maura offers to take the Hoyt batch, but Jane wants to be all stoic. Ever the vigilant girlfriend, Maura keeps an eye out for Jane who is off having a day-mare about Hoyt. She mouths, “You OK?” to Jane across the room and we all swoon just a little. Good girlfriend is good.
In the interviews Hoyt mentioned the Cleveland doctor and wife killing from 1988, which he couldn’t have committed because he was off training elsewhere. So that case is now the key, or shall we say cufflink, to solving the new murders. They uncover the doctor’s cufflink — with its rod of Asclepius, not Caduceus — is consistent with the burn patterns and missing from one wrist.
Back at Korsak’s place, Dr. Nolan meets his rescue pups Starsky & Hutch. She seems genuinely touched by his love of his dogs and for a split second you think they might have a love connection. But Korsak is no lucky dog. Well, except when it comes to his dogs. Those are some cute mutts. The team delves more deeply into the case and discovers the surviving 14-year-old daughter, Tori, had recently given birth. Putting the pieces together they realize the doctor was abusing his daughter and no one reported it or her birth because they all worked for him at the hospital. Way to go health care system. I don’t know why, but I blame Obama. (Not really, yay, hope and change.)
Things have taken a decided turn for the worse at Korsak’s place. They’re all in the basement, and by all I mean Dr. Nolan, her quiet assistant and Korsak. The latter is chained up and has just been shown Dr. Nolan’s confession about killing her parents in 1988. She was the 14-year-old daughter. Um, hold up. I’m no math genius but that was 25 years ago. Add 25 to 14 and you get 39. I think Jessica Tuck looks amazing. But she’s 50 and does not look 39. Though, on the plus side, I’m all for actresses playing younger than their age. Why not. If men can do it and act like it’s perfectly acceptable to have onscreen love interests 20 to 30 years their junior then why the hell not. OK, sorry, got off on a feminist hear me roar track there. Back to Korsak’s impending torture and murder.
Dr. Nolan has a not entirely unjustified chip on her shoulder about law enforcement. Because as a teenager she was repeatedly raped and abused by her father, but hospital workers and police did nothing to help her. Her child was explained away as an orphan left on their office doorstep and put up for adoption. Oh, and that child is the creepy quiet assistant. Hey, if you put money on both of them in the pool you’re rich now. So they became a crazy psychopathic serial killing team. Mother-son bonding at its finest. Just then one of Korsak’s new puppies waddles into the basement. OH MY GOD DO NOT HURT THAT PUPPY. I mean it, if anything bad happens to that puppy I will stop watching this show. It’s already awful enough knowing Dr. Nolan desensitized her son to violence by teaching him how to kill puppies.
Korsak chokes out a don’t and I feel bad at how relieved I am when she says, “We’re not here for the puppy, we’re here for you.”
Back in the office Jane has pieced together that Tori is Victoria and their killer was indeed hiding in plain sight. So Korsak is definitely not getting puppy love from Dr. Nolan back at his place. So they spring into action. Will they save him in the nick of time? Please, I’ve already got five Blue Moons chilling in the cooler for when they’re done.Dr. Murder & Son are talking big about all the unpleasant things they’re going to do to Korsak. She blames him for cutting Hoyt’s killer career short. She’s also very bossy, ordering her son to use this blade and that. Do this and that first. Korsak catches on and starts egging him on about being his mom’s lackey. All the while she’s bossing him in the background. Until finally he explodes and tells her to shut up. But junior picked a bad time for some natural child rebellion, because Mama shoots him in the gut for his insubordination. It might be a little late, but could I suggest family therapy?
Just then Jane bursts in with guns blazing, literally. She clips Dr. Nolan in the shoulder and saves the day. She’s alive, and so is her son. But she tells the detectives to just let him die because he always reminded her of her father anyway. OK, so definitely too late for family therapy then. Jane frees Korsak and repays her life debt with a smile and a handshake. Case solved, bad guys arrested and/or pumped full of lead, the team convenes on Korsak’s porch for some puppy snuggles and product placement. Korsak says he would have shot them through the butts for hurting his dogs, which of course only makes us like him more. Seeing the gang — Jane, Maura, Frankie, Korsak and Frost — all like that together and smiling is truly bittersweet. Thanks for always being one of the good guys, Mr. Young.
This week was a tough one to find much mirth amid the real-life sadness. So thank you for you #gayzzoli tweets and your remembrances.
I can’t #gayzzoli tweet tonight, too devastated about #LeeThompsonYoung. #loveyouFrost– Remy Ridge (@RemyRidge) August 21, 2013
Cooking together and arguing over quinoa. Get more gay. I dare you. #Gayzzoli #RizzoliAndIsles– Cassie (@ColumbiaRose) August 21, 2013
“You can stay with me tonight.” You do every night anyway. #Gayzzoli– Bella Neufang (@bellaneufangz) August 21, 2013
When your girlfriend offers you unconditional cuddling in bed you take it, Jane! #Gayzzoli– tt keely (@tootallkeely) August 21, 2013
Love how Dr. Nolan gave Jane the wine like a housewarming gift when Jane opened Maura’s front door. #rizzoliandisles #rizzles #gayzzoli– Dacaria (@Dacaria) August 21, 2013
Leave it to Hoyt to bring us Jane/Maura eye sex. #RizzoliandIsles #Gayzzoli– KayLyne (@KayLyne) August 21, 2013
I am waiting for this author to command a bunch of vampires to kill everyone…wait, wrong show. #RizzoliandIsles #TrueBlood #gayzzoli– Kay Murillo (@kay427) August 21, 2013
Tonight’s #gayzzoli episode may have been titled “No One Mourns the Wicked”, but everyone was mourning Lee Thompson Young. Goodbye, Frost.– Tom B (@AnistonAnarchis) August 21, 2013
And here are a few tweets from the cast, crew and creator of Rizzoli & Isles.
We are all without the words to truly express our collective grief and profound sadness at the loss of such a sweet, bright light.– janet tamaro (@JanetTamaro) August 19, 2013
Lee reminded me so much of my son — kind, gentle, everyone’s friend. A young man I wanted to adopt as my own.– tess gerritsen (@tessgerritsen) August 19, 2013
Goodbye @Lee_T_Young I am shattered at your startling departure. It was an honor to work with you. Love and Prayers to your family.– Jordan Bridges (@Jordan_Bridges) August 19, 2013
