Rizzoli and Isles Recap/Review: "Dance with the Devil"
Serena Hope Hohenstein ’17 / Emertainment Monthly Writer
Unlike most Rizzoli and Isles episodes, this one began with a flashback. The date is March 22nd, 1993 and a cloaked person opens a gas pipe in a house. Then, a mother and her son return home and realize the heat is off. She turns on the heat, and the house blows up.
In the present world, Jane is getting ready to testify against Paddy Doyle (Maura’s biological father). The boys tease her a bit about her outfit, then the scene changes, and we see Hope (Maura’s biological mother) visiting Maura at her house. The women make coffee and talk until the discussion turns to Paddy. There is a tension between them because Hope tells Maura of what Paddy was like when they met: kind hearted, loveable, and caring. Maura is obviously struggling with what she knows of Paddy, and what her mother knew, trying to decide on her own feelings for the man.
At the precinct, it is revealed to the audience that it was the Lieutenant’s family that died in the explosion twenty years prior. Afterwards, he relied on alcohol to suppress the pain, and the cops never found out who/what caused the fire.
The trial of Paddy Doyle is going smoothly until the number one witness against Paddy is killed right outside the court house. He was killed in an accident five minutes prior to being called to the stand. Because of this, the lawyer working for the state asks for a two day recess to regroup and reconfigure their case without a witness. The judge hesitatingly agrees, but on one condition: Paddy will be granted bail until the trial resumes. Jane and Maura are outraged, and so is pretty much everybody else.
The lawyer brings together Jane, Maura, Korsak, and Frost to reveal a secret that had been kept for many years. A recently departed member of the arson unit was dirty. He was the one who killed the Lieutenant’s family. He was never arrested though because he had evidence on Paddy. There was a deal made (evidence for immunity), but he was killed before he could ever give up the files. The team searches through boxes and boxes in the evidence locker, but nothing is found. Finally, they decide it would be best to see if he took any of his files home or hid them for safe keeping. Frost was close with his family, so he and Maura volunteer to check it out while Jane and Korsak keep hunting.
Indeed, the late arson detective did keep files at home, but his wife explains that they were broken into while they were on vacation. One of the only things left untouched was their car. Of course Maura and Frost know something’s up when they hear that news, so they begin to search. They don’t find anything right away, but know that when drugs and gangs are involved, items can be extremely hidden.
Later that night, Jane and Maura go out for some burgers, but when they go inside the restaurant, they spot Paddy and his friends. They decide to go somewhere else, but it’s just a little too late. Paddy spots them. He confronts Maura about the trial and the murders, but she will have none of it. The two friends leave, but only after Maura tells Paddy, “I wish Jane had killed you.”
At the house, Jane allows Hope to come inside. Apparently, Maura had specifically asked for Hope after her encounter with Paddy. It is clear that Maura is quite distraught about, well, everything, but won’t let her friends and family shower her with love. There is a very sweet moment when she finally lets down her guard and allows Jane and Hope to hug her and make her tea. It seems as though Hope and Maura are finally starting to get along.
The next day, Korsak and Frost are desperately trying to break Paddy’s code in his book. When they do, the team finds out something concerning. There was a big investigation back in the early ‘90’s surrounding Paddy and a Columbian drug dealer called Oso. Paddy was the Lieutenant’s C.I. Paddy wanted the Columbians out of his territory, so he set up the Lieutenant all for cheaper cocaine prices. He had initially meant to kill the Lieutenant, but killing his family worked the same way. The Lieutenant never worked another drug case, so he never figured out what Paddy and his gang were up to. In a huge moment of realization, the team says that the Lieutenant has a copy of Paddy’s book and has disappeared. He has cracked the code, too, and is off to kill Paddy.
The team rushes to the restaurant where they know Paddy will be. They get there to find a bloody fight between Paddy, the Lieutenant, and several of Paddy’s men. The Lieutenant is enraged and will not settle down. He is most certainly on a mission.
Korsak, Maura, Jane, Frost, and the Lieutenant return to the house to heal the wounded Lieutenant and decide how to proceed. Unfortunately, the Lieutenant is still fired up, so Maura, unbeknownst to him, injects him with a large dose of anesthetic. The rest of the team is shocked, but glad they don’t have to worry about the Lieutenant any more. Because they need to continue to work on the case, Maura calls Hope over to keep an eye on the Lieutenant and administer more anesthetic as needed.
Jane and Frost are working on taking the car apart when Jane notices a hollow space. In that hollow space are pipes and pictures from the explosion. They also find the late arson detective’s notes from the day of the fire. A witness saw a white male in the basement right before the explosion, and right after, running out with his white shirt on fire. Unfortunately, the witness died in 2005.
When looking into the white male described in the notes, Maura is persistent that the team look at pictures of Paddy the day of and the day after the explosion to see if there’s evidence of third degree burns. Sure enough there’s a picture of Paddy with burn gauze on his neck. Then Maura realizes that Hope had helped him cover it up. She knows this because Hope used the same type of gauze on her just a few days prior when she burned herself making coffee. Maura is extremely disappointed in her biological mother and demands that she testify against Paddy.
The trial is about to resume and most of the team is convened in the lobby, but they notice that the Lieutenant is missing. They’re worried because he can’t just be loose with Paddy in the building. They ask the guard if he has already come through, and he says yes. He even has his gun.
In a men’s bathroom in the courthouse, the Lieutenant once again confronts Paddy, except this time with a gun to the head. The team rushes in, and they urge their leader not to do anything stupid. They tell him that everything will all work out (they have the evidence now to convict Paddy). Ultimately, what gets the Lieutenant to let go of his gun is when Maura tells him that before he shoots, she needs to say some things to her father. She tells him that Hope is about to testify against him. That all he ever lived for was power and Hope. Now he’s lost both. And everyone who always seemed to have his back, didn’t anymore. The Lieutenant backs off and Korsak takes control of Paddy. The team walks out while the Lieutenant takes time to cool off the in bathroom, curling into a ball and crying.
There’s a very brief exchange between Paddy and Hope before entering the courtroom. No words are spoken, but it’s shown that the drama surrounding Paddy and Hope will finally be concluding.
What do you think? Will Paddy be put away for good? Will Hope still be a part of Maura’s life? And will we be seeing more of Calin? See you next week.