"Rizzoli & Isles" Review: “A New Day”

Sara Chaffee ’16 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

The anticipation for the season five premiere of Rizzoli & Isles was high. This was the first outing of new executive producer and show runner Jan Nash, after previous EP Janet Tamaro stepped down at the end of season four. Fans were curious about how Nash, whose previous credits include Without a Trace and Unforgettable, would impact America’s favorite crime solving duo. The premiere proved that fans have nothing to worry about, as Nash delivered one of the series’best episodes yet.
There was a lot that Nash accomplished in her debut. She brought fresh writing and camera movement to situations that had always seemed a little stale. She made the previously awkward coupling of Maura Isles (Sasha Alexander) and Frankie Rizzoli (Jordan Bridges) cute and actually shippable. And, in her most impressive feat, Nash was able to turn Rizzoli & Isles into an actual crime drama.
It was clear within one minute of the premiere just how different this season would be from previous years. The episode opens as usual with a crime being committed. However, the following scene depicts Detective Jane Rizzoli (Angie Harmon) creeping through a warehouse, gun in hand. Earlier episodes of the series had always followed the same format: a short opening scene of the crime taking place and then cutting to the female partners in an every day situation. These jumps had always made the beginning of episodes feel choppy. The beginning scenes of this episode flowed nicely, from Jane barging into a room and seeing herself holding a baby to her waking up from the nightmare, which then cuts to her and Maura discussing her new pregnancy. The quality of this teaser set up anticipation for the rest of the episode, which did not disappoint.

This week’s crime involved a woman’s murder and the kidnapping of her baby. For the first time in Rizzoli & Isles history, the crime was not easily solvable by the audience. At the beginning of the episode, the detectives interviewed the ex-husband of the woman and his girlfriend, both of whom are extremely cooperative and have alibis. The next suspect is a pedophile who lived near the park the woman was murdered in and had been hired to make a birthday video of the baby.
The audience is led to believe that this man could be the killer after the comments he makes about the baby as well as other children during his interrogation. But then in a twist that no Rizzoli & Isles viewer saw coming (because in all honesty the show has rarely had twists in its crime plots), Maura discovers that the killer was a woman. This leads Jane to discover the murderer is the girlfriend of the baby’s father. With 30 minutes left in the episode, the team searches for the baby, who was in the care of a homeless woman who had found him outside of a church’s soup kitchen.
This seems like the standard plot to a crime show, but to viewers of Rizzoli & Isles, it’s a new beginning. The show never really contained a captivating crime plot, with the exception of once or twice a season. Many viewers have remained loyal because Jane and Maura are such a rare example of both a strong female friendship and professional women in male-dominated fields. This relationship has always been written so strongly, that is has overshadowed the crime aspect of the crime drama. After this premiere full of interesting twists and an invigorating plot, it seems as though Nash was fully aware of that problem. And while the relationship between Jane and Maura will remain at the center of the show, viewers now have much more to look forward to on Tuesday nights.
Overall Episode Grade: A