Rizzoli & Isles Summer Season Finale Recap: “Partners In Crime”

Serena Hope Hohenstein ‘17/ Emertainment Monthly Staff
The promos for this week’s episode of Rizzoli & Isles didn’t make it seem like there would be much of a cliffhanger, but oh no, there definitely was! And for fans of Jane (Angie Harmon) and Casey (Chris Vance), well, you’ll see what all the commotion is about soon.
The hour started out with a woman in a Jacuzzi with her dog barking next to her. Soon, a person clad in black pushes the radio into the pool and drowns the woman.
In the bullpen, Jane is just finishing up her paperwork getting ready to take two days off to spend with Casey. Maura (Sasha Alexander) arrives and shows Jane a letter from Paddy Doyle asking Maura to take in Paddy Sr. (Richard Herd),  who is being released from prison. Maura expresses that she wants to meet the man, but Jane thinks it’s an extremely bad idea. Before the conversation can continue, the team gets called regarding two murders. Maura, Jane, and Korsak (Bruce McGill) take the drowned victim, while Frankie (Jordan Bridges) and Frost (Lee Thompson Young) investigate the shooting death of a man.

The drowning victim is a woman named Rhonda Clark. She was a sociology professor at BCU. Then, Jane video-chats with Frost to get the info on the other murder victim. There were no security cameras and nothing was stolen, so it wasn’t a theft. Returning to the crime scene in front of her, Jane learns from Korsak that there were no complaints about the dog barking during the night, so the dog must have been familiar with the killer. The question on everybody’s mind then, is, where was the husband?
The interview with the husband doesn’t get very far. The team learns that the victim was about to receive tenure. The husband was also a sociology professor at the college and expresses that it didn’t matter to him that his wife was about to get tenure and he wasn’t. His alibi is that he was with his students at his office hours that often occur at night. The other fact that is discovered is that Rhonda’s office hours were at home, so tons of her students knew the dog. Dead. End.
Jane sends Frankie off to make his first announcement to a family member of a murder victim. Although dreading it, he realizes that he’s going to have to do it sometime. Frankie tells the wife and sister of the man’s death and then interviews them at the station. Once again, not much is learned. But they do find out that the murder victim had many people who would have wanted to kill him simply because he was a very rude man towards people he didn’t know.
In the lab, Maura tells Jane that the man was shot at close-range and the bullet is still in his skull. That may be able to tell them more about who killed him. Then the conversation regarding Maura’s grandpa resumes. Jane can’t understand why Maura wants to take care of her grandpa who wanted her dead before she was even born. Plus, he needs extra help because all of his health problems. They are interrupted again because Jane has a package waiting for her at the front desk of the station.

Guess who it is!!! It’s Casey!!! He’s come a day early to surprise Jane. They hug for a very long time, and eventually Casey kisses Jane. She pulls away because they’re in her workplace, but he continues to kiss her because he just doesn’t care. ADORABLE!!! After the commercial break, we see Casey making breakfast as Jane walks in wearing only underwear and Casey’s shirt. While Jane was still sleeping, Casey made breakfast, cleaned the fridge, and even did laundry. He tells her he did it so that she would feel loved. They kiss and cuddle and tell each other that they feel loved when all of a sudden Mrs. Rizzoli walks in the front door! The lovers aren’t too embarrassed while Mrs. R rambles on about being kicked out of Maura’s guest house due to her impending visiting grandfather. Through some negotiating, Mrs. Rizzoli eventually leaves, but not before she makes it clear that she does not approve of Jane and Casey being together. BUT the two clearly don’t care and continue to kiss!
Later that day in the lab, Jane explains to Maura her worry that she can’t be the settled down woman that she would need to be for Casey. The results on the bullet come back with traces of dog hair, but they are not the victim’s dog’s. Huh…interesting.
It’s time for Maura to go to the prison and she asks Jane to go with her. She obliges and the two cautiously head toward the prison. There, Paddy Sr. tells Maura that she should have never seen the light of day. He doesn’t want anything to do with Maura, but there’s nothing they can do now. At the house, Paddy Sr. insists that he wants out of the house and out of Maura’s life. The two have to get back to the case, but Maura doesn’t want to leave her grandfather alone, so Jane has an idea. She calls Casey asking if he could bring over his aid-dog, Elsie, to help. He does and they get along great! Later, Korsak tells Jane that he can pull a favor to get Paddy Sr. in an assisted living facility as soon as possible. That eases everybody’s minds.
While learning some more about the two professors, the team finds out that Rhonda kicked a student of her husband’s out of the PhD program. When they visit him, he confesses to smoking and selling weed. He even smoked with Rhonda in the hot tub during “Office Hours”. Unfortunately, he has an alibi.
After a long day, Jane rushes to meet Casey at the local diner. He has a big thing to tell Jane – he has reached the rank of Colonel. Jane is more than thrilled to hear this news, but there’s more. Casey has to make a decision of whether to stay for good, or go back out to Afghanistan. And the bit of info making the decision even harder? He’s in line to become a general.

The next morning, Jane and Maura talk while Jane is getting her grandfathers’ breakfast prepared. Maura confides in Jane that she thinks her grandfather is fascinating. Jane confides in Maura that she thinks Casey loves the Army more than her. Both women are in a state of extreme confusion.
Because no one else seems to be a suspect to the murder of the man, the team looks at the wife and sister again. They both have solid alibis. Shoot. But hope is not lost when they learn that the hair on the bullet matches the man’s sister’s dog. The team realizes that the murders were connected. It was a “Strangers on a Train” scenario: Two people who want someone killed, kill for the other person. It’s the perfect murder. Rhonda’s husband killed the man, and the man’s sister killed Rhonda. The only contact they ever made was at the dog park. For Rhonda’s husband, the motive was all about the tenure. They were both competing for the same spot, so when Rhonda got it, he was enraged. Enraged enough to kill so he would get the spot. And for Leslie, records indicated that her own brother had voted her off the board.
The team sets up the murderers and finds them at the dog park, discussing the murder and how close the team was getting. But there’s a surprise for the team. The woman at the park isn’t Leslie, it’s the victim’s wife. The wife and Leslie were very close, so the wife wanted to protect her from being booted out of the company. And with the confessions, the team arrests the two and the case is closed.
Together, Maura, Jane, and Korsak take Paddy Sr. to an assisted living facility in South Boston, his old stomping ground. He seems to be happy there which makes Maura feel at ease. She asks Jane about what’s going on with Casey. She tells her friend that Casey will reenlist and go back to Afghanistan unless……. Jane marries him. WHAT?!?! And that’s the end of the half-season. The resolution will either be very good or very bad for shippers of Jane and Casey.
Well, fans, can you wait ‘til the Winter to find out what Jane decides? I’ll tell you one thing, I’ll be right here with you to share the emotions. Until next time!