Rizzoli and Isles 5x10 Phoenix Rising Review

All aboard Rizzoli & Isles flight 510 from Boston to Jacksonville, Florida. Vince Korsak will be your pilot for this flight, with Frankie Rizzoli sitting in the co-pilot’s seat. Nina Holiday will be in charge of navigation. In a moment, flight attendant Maura Isles will go over the emergency safety procedures, and later on, attendant Jane Rizzoli will be passing out peanuts & pretzels for your in-flight snack. Air Marshall Angela Rizzoli is on board this flight as well, so please be on your best behavior or Mama R will put you in timeout – after she hides your boarding passes!

A number of movies from Stewardess School to Freaky Friday, and even an episode of CSI, were running through my head as I watched this episode.

The Stewardess School part is, of course, the whole gag with Jane dressing up as a flight attendant – until Maura makes her take off the scarf. Then – voila! - she morphs into a librarian. The cutest part is in the fact that Jane has actually raided Maura’s closet, and it takes Maura a moment to realize that Jane is actually wearing her clothes. And might I just say how refreshing it is to see Jane wearing something that isn’t her regular work suit & t-shirt! I’m sure Angie was dancing a jig when she found out she got to wear different clothes for most of an entire episode.

The Freaky Friday part comes when Jane worries about Angela out dancing with an unknown suitor – and the whole ‘when should we get worried?’ routine with Jane & Maura.

M: she actually went out dancing, but she sends her love

J: I’m sorry, did you say she went dancing?

M: I did. She is.

J: hold on. Where? With who?

M: she didn’t say

J: you didn’t ask?

M: well Angela is a grown woman.

J: yes, but she can’t be out clubbing in the middle of the night

M: it’s 9:30.

J: Maura, don’t hassle me with the details, my mother is missing

M: (takes Jane’s hand) okay. I know that it’s scary, but Angela has to leave the nest and spread her wings. 

J: that’s good advice…if we were talking about a cockatoo, which we are not. My mother has dated two men in her entire life – both of whom I knew very well. She doesn’t know what men are like. What if she leaves her drink unattended and somebody puts something in it? I think we all know how that turns out. Don’t we?

M: *gasps* I can’t believe you would bring that up.

J: I can’t believe you’re not concerned about my mother. Do I need to pull up your booking photo?

M: I think we both know that your mother is okay.

J: yeah.

M: so you’re just gonna wait up for her?

J: well I can’t sleep now

M: well, I was going to give you a goodbye present when you left tonight, but apparently…

J: (opens present) you got me luggage!

M: they’re made with 3-ply durable plastic and they even have a Ziploc & handles.

J: it’s perfect.

M: I was gonna get you a stick with a bandana on the end of it, but then I thought it was too hobo-chic.

J: thank you

M: you’re welcome. So, should we order a pizza? We might be waiting up for a while.

J: you don’t have to. I’m sure you’re exhausted.

M: I doubt I could sleep either.

J: what time is it now?

M: 9:36

J: what time do we start calling hospitals?

M: not until later… after 10…10:05.

J: raising my mother’s a lot harder than I thought.

Remember back when Cailin stayed over at Maura’s? Maura was the worried one and Jane said she was overprotective. Oh how the tides have turned. Or maybe it’s Jane’s motherly instinct that is still in place since losing the baby? I loved the hazmat bag that Maura gave Jane. I should try using that as my luggage some time. No one would mistake it for their suitcase! It was cute that Jane brought up Maura’s prison ordeal. I’m guessing that everyone yelled “yes!” at their tv screen when Jane asked if she needed to pull up Maura’s booking photo.

Also on the subject of Jane & Angela’s switched roles – I had to laugh when Angela said she steamed open Jane’s letter. Turnabout is fair play. After all, that’s exactly what Jane did with Angela’s letter from the IRS.

As for the CSI part, other than I remember the guy playing the suspect, Sal, being on an episode of the show back in the day, CSI also had an episode, “Farenheit 932” in season 1, where a prison inmate asked Grissom to review his case, and it ended up where he had also been wrongly accused of setting fire to a house and killing his family.

I love how Vince is the one that’s running the whole case, and being personally involved. (he looked so great in that leather jacket too!) I also love the Maura/Korsak scenes in the park. This is the second time they’ve had a discussion in the park. Her “I’m doing this for you” comment was sweet! And who didn’t “awwww” at his silent “thank you” to Maura in the interrogation viewing room! And Vince even brings her a bottle of wine when he first arrives at the house with the evidence box. He sure knows the perfect bribe for Maura.

We also see Vince not totally tuned in to the finer nuances of Maura’s googlespeak:

M: the original chemist tested 38 materials inside the Sullivan home. Drywall, doorsills, fabric, foam, plastic…

K: are you gonna list all of the materials he tested?

M: yes. … this is usually when Jane says ‘get to the point’ before she’s overcome with the urge to strangle me with her bare hands.

K: I miss her.

Poor Maura. Korsak hasn’t learned yet when to butt in on her googlemouth.

I found it amusing that Vince brought all of the files to Maura’s house for her to review, even knowing that Jane would be there & wouldn’t be able to resist work temptation. I love how they used her fridge door as the ‘glass evidence board’. He’s also finally realized that there is usually a method to Jane’s madness (aka work obsession)

K: you took files out of the box, didn’t you?

M: what do you mean? (to Jane) what does he mean?

J: not many.

K: I should be mad that you ignored department policy, but sometimes your blatant disregard for the rules works to my advantage. Tell me what you got.

J: apology accepted.

I love how Vince plays it fairly calm & cool, and of course, unsurprised. This came off much cuter with it being Korsak than if it had been Cavanaugh giving her the scolding.

And if you notice, Jane only gets a minor scolding for writing on Maura’s good cloth napkins. “can’t you just write on a piece of paper like a normal person?” Maura Isles has the patience of a saint when it comes to her LLBFF.

An extremely bored Jane Rizzoli is a funny thing to watch. An unwatched box of old case files becomes Jane’s cookie jar, and just like a regular little kid, she has to take the goodies out of the jar when no one is looking. It was also fun to see her be so engrossed in reading the files (hidden in the fashion magazines) that she was oblivious to anything her mother was saying.

I also loved the ‘kid Jane’ references to Jane’s first day of school and how she came home with a broken tooth.

J: you ready, Ma?

A: I feel the same as I did on your first day of school, sending you out into a world where I can’t be there to take care of you.

J: and I was fine that day. I’m gonna be fine today.

A: no, you came home missing a front tooth, fighting with that Murphy boy

J: well he started it! besides, the tooth was loose anyway.

A: *sighs* you could always take care of yourself, Jane. Go ahead, go knock ‘em dead.

J: I’m a homicide detective, Ma. They’re already dead.

A: don’t be a smartass!

And this time, it’s Jane who gives her mom a big hug, not the other way around! I Love It! and of course, we all know Jane has her own personal physician, should she get an injury.

And the other sweet Jane/Angela moments:

J: I went to headquarters, Ma. I had to help out Korsak.

A: you really love your job, don’t you?

J: when are you going to get it? I love what I do.

A: (takes an envelope from a drawer) this came for you two days ago.

J: is that from the department doctor?

A: yeah.

J: you hid this from me?

A: I wasn’t ready for you to go back.

J: well that’s not your decision, Ma.

A: I know, and I hate it. I hate this whole thing. I hate the fact that you have a job where you can get hurt so easily.

J: I don’t even know if I’m cleared, so…

A: I steamed it open.

J: no!

A: you can go back in two days.

J: YES! (hugs her mom) thank you!

A: oh yeah, wonderful news.

J: oh, come on. I’m ready.

A: well I’m not, Jane. I fixed you up and now you’re gonna go back out there & I’m gonna stay here and worry.

J: not tonight, okay? Tonight it’s just you & me, alright? And we’ll watch a movie & we’ll sit here on the couch and you can massage my feet if you want to, even though I hope you don’t. come on. What do you want to watch?

A: I’m gonna go make some grilled cheese.

J: I love you Ma

A: you’re only saying that because you’re getting your way.

I’m not sure Jane realizes that the ‘sit on the couch watching a movie, getting a foot massage’ is just a Jane/Maura thing. It didn’t seem like her mother’s idea of a good time!

I can’t forget the cute Rizzles scenes, like this:

J: what am I supposed to do all day, lay here & dream about a world with no salad?

M: you could read magazines, you could just let your mom take care of you

J: okay, but as my best friend & a doctor, will you do me one favor?

M: anything

J: put me in a medically induced coma.

M: I’m going to the market.

J: just one little coma, is it really too much to ask?

M: you’d have better luck asking me to give you oxycontin.

J: well, can I have some of those then?

I love how Maura doesn’t hesitate when she says ‘anything.’ However, she may be rethinking that for the next time Jane asks for a favor.

I liked how Maura was able to play detective herself and find some missing evidence just by looking at the crime scene photos.

M: there are no hardwood floors in the house. It’s all carpet & linoleum. … it’s not that the chemist didn’t find any other accelerant, it’s that he misunderstood what it was.

N: I’m sorry?

M: the answer that we need? It was in this report all along.

That’s why we love Maura Isles, because she’s the best, even when she’s doing detective work!

It was so nice to see Jane’s deadpan “really?” quip. I’ve missed her deadpan snark.

How about that new painting in Maura’s house over the fireplace, where the tv used to be. I don’t remember seeing that previously – or maybe I just didn’t notice.

I noticed that Jane was complaining about not being able to go back to her apartment until she’s cleared by the doctor. My question is, why? Is there an actual reason she can’t go to her apartment? Not that I’m actually complaining, because it’s just natural for her to be at Maura’s these days.

I really loved seeing Nina away from her desk. When she was getting coffee in the cafe with Maura and talking about not missing having to wear the cop uniform, I couldn't help but think of The Fosters, and Teri Polo always saying that she absolutely hates wearing the cop uniform because it's so uncomfortable. I really liked the Maura/Nina scenes that we got in this episode.

Of course, with all of the Florida references, I was actually waiting for an appearance by – or at least a reference to - Frank Sr.

And finally, I’m not sure if it was intentional or not, but they had Frankie sitting in Frosts’s desk, and a good shot of the action figure on the desk – and it comes on the one year anniversary of Lee’s death. We miss you, LTY. Rest in peace.