Rizzoli & Isles 4x04 Killer in High Heels

I must say, this is probably the only episode - from any show - where my gut felt twisted in knots from beginning to end. Not even when Jane & Maura were at odds in the beginning of Season 3 did I feel this much of a gut-wrenching sensation through a full episode. There was nothing more heartbreaking than hearing “Maura Isles, you’re under arrest for the murder of Brad Adams” coming from Jane’s voice.

Kudos to Sasha for such a wonderful performance – with Maura going from hungover/drugged, to suspect, to arrested, to beaten up, to helping with the evidence, to coming back into PD to a rousing applause.

I’m fairly certain that the whole opening sequence has been in some kind of fanfic somewhere at some point. Jane & Maura at a fancy party. Jane wearing a pantsuit & getting mistaken for a waiter. Jane begging Maura to leave. Maura introducing her to ‘important’ people. Jane leaving without Maura. Maura ending up in trouble because of it. It’s such a fanfic type of story.

Not that I’m complaining, mind you.

There are also a few more things we’ve learned about Maura Isles.

1.      She can even make an orange jail jumpsuit look sexy.

2.      Hungover/drugged Maura is absolutely adorable.

3.      She will spout her standard ‘google speak’ anytime, anywhere – even if it will get her into more trouble when faced with unsympathetic fellow jail inmates.

4.      Even from prison, her bio-dad, Paddy Doyle, will use his limitless power to help his daughter – even if she ends up in jail herself.

5.      She will tell her LLBFF the truth, even if the information ends up making things worse.

6.      She has enough faith in her LLBFF to know she’ll eventually find the truth and make the bad guys pay.

7.      She will only make a ‘guess’ when her LLBFF insists.

We also realized a few more things about Jane Rizzoli as well.

1.      She would destroy evidence without hesitation to help her LLBFF out of a bad situation

2.      She would willingly do a year in prison to save her LLBFF from spending lifetime there.

3.      She won’t trust anyone else to interrogate or arrest her LLBFF, she needs to do it herself.

4.      She still has a soft spot for Paddy Doyle, since she knows he can still protect his daughter while both are in jail.

5.      She actually understands and remembers more of Maura’s google speak more than she lets on.

6.      She willingly takes the blame when Cavanaugh finds Maura back in her office after being detained.

* I found it interesting that Angela went to Cavanaugh with the incriminating evidence rather than giving it to Jane. Angela said it was to protect Jane. I think that we’re starting to see where Jane gets a lot of her traits. As much as Jane gets annoyed with her mother’s antics, she still hasn’t been able to see how much they resemble her own. Although, her self-defense actions seemed a lot like the Karate Kid. I much prefer Jane’s boxing routine.

* I also loved the conflict between Jane & Angela, after Angela has brought the self defense video to light. Angela comes to Jane’s apartment and Jane is reluctant to let her in. It kind of reminds me of when Angela found out that Jane had been keeping the secret that Lydia was Frank Sr.’s girlfriend and how mad Angela was about that.

* I loved Lt Cavanaugh’s role in this. We get to see that he’s very sympathetic to the situation, and is even giving the detectives some leeway in their investigation, yet he realizes where he has to draw the line. Cavanaugh even had a couple of the greatest lines in this episode –“every cop in Massachusetts has worked with her at some point, right?”, and “oh, get ready. This is gonna be worse than you shooting Paddy Doyle.” Yikes.

* I loved how both Frost & Korsak helped out, yet took a back seat and deferred to Jane when it came time to interview Maura, giving Jane the option of him doing it or her. I also thought it was cute how they immediately recognized that Maura was wearing the same clothes she had been wearing the day before.

* so not only has Korsak had a Yugo, but he’s also owned a Chevy Citation. Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me in the least. And it was a car that “required more maintenance than any of my wives.” LOL Also, not surprising.

* I’m not sure if I’m happy or disappointed that they brought in Dr Popov instead of Pike in this one. On one hand, it was fun to see the clueless Popov again. On the other hand, I’m wondering if it were Dr Pike as the one brought in, would he have tried his best to exonerate her, or just done his usual grumbling about how he had to fix her mistakes and she’s not as good as he is, and that she’s just taking after her mob boss father.

* if there’s one highlight to this whole Maura-in-jail scenario, it’s that we get to see a lot more of Susie than we have previously. I loved the little scene with Susie & Angela in the café. We don’t ever get to see Susie when she’s not just handing someone a report or evidence.

* there were a few nice bits of continuity in this one as well – bringing back Dr Popov and Angela’s reference to him calling her ‘girl’, showing the footage of Maura on the news after Paddy Doyle was shot. Though, I do hate that they keep associating her with Paddy. I really wish they’d bring Constance back into the picture, considering all of the turmoil that’s been going on in Maura’s life recently.

* and then there’s the “Bone Room”… really? And Jane’s been in there once? Okay, not even gonna touch that one.

* a few other points:

– with Maura’s inability to remember a full four hours, wouldn’t they have suspected drugs/roofie immediately? This part of the story actually reminds me of the CSI episode where Catherine gets roofied at the bar & wakes up in the hotel not remembering anything.

- the first thing I thought of when seeing the marks on Maura’s arms is that they were defensive wounds, not offensive wounds. I don’t really think the marks on her arms actually fit with the markings that would have been left by the brass knuckles on the guy’s keychain. But apparently they are because Maura fought back when she realized that she was in trouble.

- in those photos of the party that were tacked onto the glass board in the bullpen, I find it odd that there’s a pic of Maura & Jane with the couple from M.I.L.E., but the two couples are interspersed with Tucker, Maura, Taylor, then Jane. Usually we see Jane & Maura standing together. It was so rude of them not to be side by side with their arms touching again.

- Jane’s eating olives & ketchup? Seriously? I hope that’s something that Angie actually likes. I know she’s mentioned that she eats hard boiled eggs with hot sauce, so maybe she actually does like the olives & ketchup. Sounds like a pregnancy food to me.

- we see Maura in prison, but no shower scene? I’m totally bummed! I guess I’ll have to go back & re-watch episodes of The L Word where Helena was in prison then.

- and then there’s the lack of a black eye when Maura returns back to PD to the hero’s welcome. I think the black eye would have gone nicely with the lovely blue outfit she was wearing.

* there are a number of comments that stood out in this episode as well:

J: I don’t know what to do.

K: we’ve got to do our job, Jane.

A very simple statement, but I like how Korsak puts in all into perspective

-  - - - - -

M: research indicates that even the most docile human is capable of murder in the right set of circumstances.

I guess it makes it worse with Maura because of her ‘mob’ DNA and the fact that many people know about her association with Paddy Doyle these days.

-  - - - - -

K: better us than anybody else.

Could you imagine if they needed to have someone other than Jane/Korsak/Frost doing this? Jane would totally be going rogue, and probably even making another visit to Paddy. I almost wish they would have had a scene with Jane/Paddy in this one and Jane telling Paddy that she had to lock Maura up. I could imagine that Jane would rise to #1 on Paddy’s hit list immediately.

-  - - - - -

J: we’re going to need your underwear too.

You know, in any other setting, that scene would totally end up in Jane/Maura smut. However, this time, there are too many people around and it’s all in totally different context. Although, the Rizzles fans should be pleased that Maura is actually undressing in front of Jane.

-  - - - - -

M: I have processed hundreds of suspects, but I never truly understood how humiliating this is.

That’s cuz there are two too many women in this scene. Did they really need the female CSRU tech with the camera in there too? I can only imagine how awkward the scene must have been for Sasha to do.

-  - - - - -

J: I’m so sorry, Maura.

M: don’t be. You didn’t do it

J: you didn’t either.

M: maybe I did. I’ve got a void in my brain where there should be a memory, and I’ve certainly experienced the kind of rage it would take to inflict that kind of an injury.

It seems that Maura has kind of come to terms with her ‘mob’ DNA these days. It makes me think back to a comment Jane made in an early episode (season 1, I think) “Maura, there’s not an evil bone in your body.”

-  - - - - -

Fra: how’s Maura?

J: terrible

Fra: how are you?

J: not as bad as Maura.

I love that Frankie is such a concerned brother, not only asking about Maura, but his sister as well.

-  - - - - -

J: you want me to call your lawyer?

M: nods her head

J: you want me to call your parents?

M: no.

So I guess Jane’s familiar with Maura’s lawyer. Of course she would be, right? I love all of these little things to show that Jane’s still looking out for her LLBFF no matter the situation.

-  - - - - -

M: just do your job, Jane. Whatever happens, happens.

I love how they show Maura keeping her trust in Jane to get to the truth.

-  - - - - -

S: do you have scotch?

A: no.

S: I don’t drink scotch.

LOL

-  - - - - -

A: Dr Popov? The guy who carries a gallon of vodka and calls me ‘girl’? oh boy, Maura’s really in trouble now.

It’s cute how Angela remembers Popov and immediately thinks Maura’s in big trouble.

-  - - - - -

Fra: olives & ketchup? You’re not really gonna eat that are you?

J: it’s moldy cheese or this.

Hmmm. So why doesn’t Jane just go to Maura’s place. We know Maura was worried about Bass not eating well, so I think Jane should be at the house taking care of him. Be a good LLBFF, Jane. C’mon!

-  - - - - -

Fra: I can go if you’re expecting someone.

J: yeah, I have a really romantic evening planned while my best friend spends a night avoiding the showers in a women’s prison.                 

See, Jane’s picturing the scenario. Why don’t we get to have a prison shower scene? Damn!

-  - - - - -

A: I didn’t want to put you in a position where you had to decide what to do with that video.

J: I know what I would have done with that video. I would have deleted it.

A: oh Jane, the cop in you would hate yourself if you did that.

Fra: and you’d be charged with obstruction of justice.

J: the most I’d get is a year in jail. Maura’s looking at life. 

That’s one of the sweetest things that Jane’s ever said she’d do for her LLBFF. She’d gladly give a year in jail and probably lose her badge in exchange for Maura staying out of prison.

-  - - - - -

J: attention all inmates: whoever did this to my friend’s face will have to look over her shoulder for the rest of her life. and if it happens again, it will be a very, very short life.

Awww I love protective Jane. And even more so when she’s very vocal about it.

-  - - - - -

J: which one hit you

M: it’s not going to happen again

J: oh yes, I’m sure it was just a misunderstanding. Did you borrow someone’s shank?

M: it’s okay, Paddy put the word out.

J: that’s not good, Maura. Anyone that wants to hurt Paddy will go after you.

M: oh god. Just get me out of here, Jane.

J: look, anybody that comes close to you, okay, you just go with your elbow right to the throat. Alright? Just stay alive.

See, everything with Paddy is good & bad. It’s never one or the other. It was cute to see a hint of Jane’s sarcasm show through. I also liked how Maura thought that Paddy’s protection would be enough, but Jane reminded her of how that’s not always such a great thing.

-  - - - - -

J: so what can you tell us about those bones?

M: I-I’d be guessing.

J: oh, okay. Nevermind. Have fun in prison. Tell Paddy I said hi.

MP: be happy to pass that along.

LOL is it bad that I really love Mary Pat? She reminds me of what’s-her’name – the prison guard from Oz.

I also love how even in desperate times, it’s hard for Maura to make a guess.

-  - - - - -

Fro: she’ll be up for parole by the time we’re done with this.

LOL Frost has been working with Jane for too long. He’s really starting to sound like her.

-  - - - - -

J: tick tock, tick tock.

M: well I really need more comparable data, Jane.

J: no, you really need to sleep in your own bed.

I always love impatient Jane. It’s funny because Maura really should be the one worried about taking too much time, but it’s cute how Jane wants Maura back in her own bed. … okay, yes, that sounded exactly how I think it should sound. lol

-  - - - - -

S: I can’t. it’s a criminal violation and it could ruin the evidence for court.

J: I’m not asking you to cut him open. I just want to get a look at his hyoid bone to see if it was crushed like Sofia’s. what about an X-ray or an MRI?

S: that won’t show you enough.

J: fine, what about that fluoroscope thing?

S: it might work.

See, Jane really knows more about Maura’s work than she lets on. She even knows precise names. It’s cute that she persuades Susie to do things for her just like she does to Maura.

-  - - - - -

J: Maura would be very proud of you

S: She’s my hero. … so are you, but she’s an M.D.

LOL leave it to Susie to amend her admission to include Jane, because you know you can’t consider one LLBFF to be your hero and not the other.

-  - - - - -

J: so, did you get any prison tats?

M: none that I want to show you

Ha. C’mon Maura, you know Jane will find them eventually!

Here are some caps: