Posted: 07/12/2010
 

Rizzoli and Isles, Season Premiere On TNT July 12

(2010)

by Laura Tucker



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From the early description of Rizzoli and Isles, I was seeing a comparison to the Jerry O’Connell years of Crossing Jordan, yet what I wasn’t seeing is that these two leads are both female. Interestingly enough, looking into the background of the show, it was originally just supposed to be about the homicide detective, and later they decided to make the show about her as well as the forensic pathologist. They didn’t do much to change the make-up of the show after this, though, as all the characters are built around the detective.

It’s the homicide detective, Jane Rizzoli (Angie Harmon of Law & Order), is actually more reminiscent of the character of Dr. Jordan Cavanaugh, as she’s more gruff, rough and tumble. Jane is outside at the beginning of the premiere playing basketball with her brother and gets injured, with her mom telling her she’s told her not to play with with her brother. As if that makes sense for someone who’s out there chasing down murderers.

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Jane is sent to a murder scene and the evidence suggests it’s a guy she has a vendetta and past history with, The Surgeon. This is where it starts to reflect the background some of The Mentalist and the storyline of Red John. The Surgeon tried to kill Jane before, and she got him sent to prison, but this has all the markings of him, despite the fact he’s still in prison. She wonders if it’s either a protege or a copycat killer.

Believing that it’s The Surgeon’s protege, Jane fears for her life, knowing he could come back to finish the job on her that The Surgeon started and didn’t finish. She tries to just hole up at her house and do all this on her own, but none of her cop buddies, or her mom or brother, will leave her alone. She seeks some peace and quiet, as well as a little protection, at the home of the forensic pathologist on the case, Dr. Maura Isles (Sasha Alexander).

This series has a lot of promise, but it depends on how they develop the characters. Since they had it originally conceived one way, only following Rizzoli, now they have to develop the characters a little differently to surround both her and Isles, but in their first chance to develop the relationship between the two they had them bonding over their mutual crush on an FBI agent. That seems to detract from the intelligent story and relationship they could be developing here. I’d like them to take the relationship to a more intelligent and deeper place. We’ll see how TNT handles it in future episodes.

You can catch the premiere of Rizzoli & Isles on TNT July 12.

Laura Tucker is the webmaster of Reality Shack and its accompanying Reality Shack Blog, provides reviews at Viewpoints, and provides entertainment news pieces at Gather. She is also an Instructor and 2nd dan black belt in tae kwon do with South Elgin Martial Arts. Laura can be reached at LauraBelle@realityshack.com.



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