It's March 22nd 1993, or so say the words at the beginning of the episode, and we are watching Rizzoli & Isles again. A sinister shadow has appeared on a brick wall and oh look, the shadow resolves into a man. But we can't see his face. Dramatic. He's carrying a spanner, or a wrench, or whatever you call it in your own local dialect, and his boots are very big. Is he a plumber? Apparently not, because he moves a small bike out of the way and uses the spanner to undo a pipe which starts leaking visible gas (and hissing). Not-A-Plumber walks away whistling cheerfully, and we learn that he's in a garage? or possibly a basement, above which a woman is holding her toddler son and talking on the phone. She thinks it's weird that the heat is off in the house. I think it's weird that the cord of her phone stretches so far. She says 'I love you' to the person on the phone, who we can assume is her partner, and then a gloved hand turns a dial and the house explodes.
I'm not going to insert a witty caption here because the death of a small child is nothing to joke about.
We're back in the Present Day, because the handy blue words told us so, and treated to another aerial view of Boston. I'm sure they're running out of angles to shoot Boston from at this point. Ye gods! A shiny pair of pointy heels emerge from the lift (or elevator) followed by some legs, a pencil skirt and... hold on... it's Jane (Angie Harmon)! This is horrifying and unexpected. Frost (Lee Thompson Young) and Korsak (Bruce McGill) agree with me, pointing out that they can see Jane's knees. Hey yeah. We don't see her knees very often. I guess shorts aren't suitable cop-attire? Whatever. Jane says that it's her 'court outfit' which puzzles me, because surely you're allowed to wear trousers in court, right? I mean, the men don't wear skirts, do they? I sense this is something sexist that will bug me, so we move on.
A retired cop has been killed in Atlantic City, which depresses everyone. They're raising money for his family. The reason Jane is going to court is Paddy Doyle, again, and hopefully this episode will draw his neverending saga to a close... please? Although the constant reminders of him are certainly realistic, and it's better than emotional trauma one episode and mysterious memory loss the nest. Frost gives a speech which assures me that he should be a lawyer, not a cop, and exposition is delivered. Endless exposition. Finally the exposition ends, warranting more jokes about Jane's knees (as knees go, they're fairly attractive) and title credits roll.
I'm back, and I'm still annoying Zaffie!
It's the dreaded return of Hope (Sharon Lawrence). I might just be in a bad mood today, but for some reason I'm not remotely pleased to see her. She shows up on Maura's (Sasha Alexander) doorstep carrying two (why two?) bags of coffee (beans? Or something else? We shall never know...) and she and Maura proceed to have a chat about little-known coffee facts, thus proving that they are, in fact, related. Hope makes a joke about their similarities. Too soon? Yeah, too soon. Awkwardness follows, but they get over it, and have a close-to-sweet bonding moment where they admit they both think about what 'might have been'. They also both believe that somewhere underneath his mob boss personality, Paddy Doyle could be kind and sweet and smart. Ok then.
Abruptly, Maura burns herself on the coffee maker. After running the burn under cold water for too short a time to do any good (and I thought they were both doctors!) Hope bandages the wound. It doesn't make up for all the scraped knees and bruises (or, knowing Maura, paper cuts) that she missed for the past umpteen years, but it's a start. Neatly wrapping up some loose ends, they then go on to discuss Hope's organisation and how the FBI have moved on from stalking her and it. But wait! Hope refuses to discuss the money Paddy gave her to start MEND (which stands for something something something about helping people) and Maura says that he harmed innocent people to save innocent people.
Back at the precinct, where Jane is finding it awkward to sit on a table without flashing everybody. See, this is why I quit wearing skirts. She and Cavanaugh (Brian Goodman) talk to a lawyer who is excited to put Paddy Doyle away. Cavanaugh reminisces about something good Paddy did back in the day but says that even though he did one good thing, he's still a bad man. Jane rushes out to ask Korsak if he knew about Cavanaugh working with Paddy back in the day. Korsak did know, and he feels sad because thinking about those days makes him think about Linda and Christopher. Who might they be, you ask?
Witty captions about dead children are still not cool.
Why, they're Cavanaugh's wife and son... aka the woman and her toddler killed by Not-A-Plumber at the very beginning of the episode! Aha. Clues and stuff have started showing up. We're more-or-less ten minutes in, so we can assume this is going to be important. Cavanaugh suffered greatly, which is understandable and expected. Everyone was sad for him. Jane proceeds to check on Maura, who is "sick of being in the news".
Maura is doing yoga, and drinking from a waterbottle that I own. It's slightly disturbing how much she reminds me of my mother here. Jane joins her, but discovers another thing that her skirt limits is flexibility. She still manages the pose, but I'm willing to bet they got her a stunt skirt for that scene. Is that a thing? Whatever. A brief, light-hearted chat ensues, significant for two reasons. One, we're still feeling down about the little boy being blown up and we need a reminder that life is sometimes full of puppies and rainbows and fun conversations with your best friend. Two, going almost ten minutes without Jane and Maura having a conversation is a disaster. They mention Jane's irritating father, and how he's probably off gallivanting somewhere with his blond bimbo. How does Jane know the bimbo is blond?
"They're always blond."
Oh, so true. Enough of my hair racism. Jane's phone buzzes (it's not in her skirt because skirts have no pockets... downside no. 3) and she has to go to court. Maura spontaneously decides to go with her because Paddy is her father and she wants to see it through. Cut to the courtroom, and the lawyer asks Jane where she was. A cemetary. Cool. And what did she find there? A plastic bag with a blue ledger in it. Ok then. We have a brief flashback to Jane digging up the ledger out of baby Maura's fake grave, and oh man, is this going to be a clip-show? Please no. I don't think I could survive that. (For those who don't know, a clip-show is an episode of television comprised of about 50% clips from previous episodes. They are inevitably unbearably boring, and while a trip down memory lane can be nice, it's not nice when you're forced to watch it for forty completely dry minutes. Usually interspersed with a terrible attempt at an exciting subplot.)
Jane finishes up on the stand and we get a brief glimpse of Paddy Doyle (John Doman) sharing a look with Maura. Paddy's looking old. Outside the courtroom, now, and Korsak and Frost rush up. Apparently the chief witness in the case just died as someone T-boned his car with a semi-trailer. Ouch. We see the lawyer yelling at the judge for a while about this... I'm not sure why he thinks that will help. He asks for two days to regroup, but the judge, probably annoyed by all his yelling, tells him nope, that's not an option. I like this judge. She looks awesome. The lawyer on the side of the... government? not the Mob, anyway, doesn't have his next witness ready, so the judge grants bail to Paddy. Oh...kay then. That seems a bit... silly. Do they actually do that in real life? That's dumb.
Paddy grins his head off on TV while he is released, and Maura is filled with outrage. Down to the morgue we go, where the three victims of the T-boning crash are lying on the tables. Ouch, again. They're all bloody and dead and it's really quite depressing. I get distracted by wondering when Cavanaugh's family are going to be reintroduced and miss the short conversation that ensues between Jane and Maura. There's a moment of good sympathy for the US marshalls who were also killed in the crash, just doing their jobs, which I approve of. It's good to make it clear that being a cop isn't all shiny heels and pretty hair (I mean seriously, has no cop show writer ever actually tried to run into a firefight with heels and their hair blowing all over their face? Why would these fictional professionals make it so much harder on themselves? Argh).
Lawyer comes back, and BAM Cavanaugh's family are back in the plot. See, it turns out that the retired cop killed in Atlantic City (you know, the one I mentioned earlier?) was a dirty cop working for Paddy Doyle, and, while working for Paddy, he blew up Cavanaugh's wife and son. That makes him Not-A-Plumber! He said that he had very good evidence, and was going to give it to Lawyer in exchange for a clean slate - aka the retired cop couldn't be pursecuted once he gave up the evidence.
You made a deal with a bad guy? This horrifies me. I'm going to make my horrified face!
Unfortunately, the retiree in question was killed before he could hand over his 'solid evidence'. And they think Paddy killed him. Back to square one! Lawyer explains that he intends to seek the death penalty for Paddy, which Maura is unhappy about, but she still agrees to help. Help with what? Jane is confused. So am I. Luckily, Lawyer explains. He wants the gang to search for the evidence that Retiree supposedly had! He's sure it must be lying around somewhere, and has absolute confidence that the gang can find it in 36 hours. Annoying exposition delivered, Lawyer strolls off, presumbably to be unhelpful elsewhere.
New scene! Jane, Maura, Frost and Korsak are going through boxes and boxes of old files. Frost is annoyed that the precinct hasn't scanned all their old records yet. I would agree, but the chances of a system crash are probably higher than the chances of a fire. Maybe they should scan them and also keep the paper copies. Why isn't Frankie here helping? In fact, shouldn't there be more than four people working on this very important task? No, I'm sorry, only two people. Frost and Maura head off to talk to the wife of Retiree, and possibly investigate further while they are at his place.
Retiree's wife opens the door. She's cranky at first, because it's late, but happy when she realises it's Frost. She calls him Barold. That name still makes me gleeful. Frost and Maura wander in and start asking about files. The woman tells them that he kept some files in the garage, but someone broke in while they were on holiday. She also tells them about his old car, which he referred to as his 'nest egg'. Maura reveals it's hardly worth anything. Confusion? OR MAYBE NOT. They check in the car but find zip. Frost decides it would be a good idea to get a warrant so they can look deeper into the car. Maura's thinking like a drug dealer. She was helpful, but Frost sends her out to get food. He also reminds her to make sure Jane eats, because they know how she gets sometimes.
Hey Zaffie. Are you impressed by my awesomeness?
Yes, I am impressed. Frost is awesome, okay? I really like him. (But I still think he'd make a better lawyer than cop.) Meanwhile, Maura is taking Jane out to get some food. They walk into the restaurant (which I think is still the Dirty Robber or whatever it was called...) and BAM. Paddy Doyle is there, eating, drinking and being merry with his buddies. Maura is filled with rage. Jane encourages her to leave, but then Paddy spots them. Uh oh. Maura tells him that three more men are lying on her autopsy tables because of him. Paddy claims the crash had nothing to do with him, but he makes a lying face, so I don't believe him. Maura says she wishes Jane had killed him. Paddy looks hurt and shocked. It's called parenthood, dude. But Maura certainly told him where to put his eggs.
Back at Maura's house, and Hope is here. Maura is obsessively brushing non-existant pieces of lint from her clothing, so it's probably good that someone called Hope. Hope walks towards her looking motherly, which must be hard when your daughter is a) an adult and b) you never actually knew her as a child, but Maura makes a sad face and explains what she says to Paddy. She feels bad about it now (or maybe she feels bad that she doesn't feel bad) and Hope goes in for a hug but... Maura doesn't like to be hugged when she's very upset. That is so absolutely the opposite of me that I have trouble even comprehending it. Huh. I think hugs are the best thing ever invented. Apparently, Maura self-soothes by doing stuff with clothes, so Jane and Hope back out of the room anxiously.
In the kitchen, they discuss how it's strange for Hope to get to know her daughter as an adult. Hope used to imagine what Maura would be like if she hadn't died - and she says the real Maura is better than her imagination. Cute. I approve.
It's so cute that I can hardly bear it! I have to make this awkward strangled face just to cope!
Maura strolls in, and after a discussion about Girl Scout Cookies (why?) she lets Hope make her tea. Maura is still unhappy, and Hope wants to know what she can do. "Go back thirty-seven years and sleep with a different man?" Maura suggests. I say that to my mother sometimes. Funnily enough, she never seems to appreciate it. Maura still doesn't want a hug, but Hope and Jane insist. Group hug ensues! They're always fun so long as you're not the shortest person in the group who gets that inevitable elbow to the eye. (Hint: the shortest person in the group is always me. Always.)
Back at the BPD (and if you don't know that stands for Boston Police Department then you lose) and oh thank goodness, Jane has recovered her trousers and her dignity. Frost and Korsak want to know how Maura is doing. Jane says she'd be doing better if they could find the mysterious missing file that Retiree hid. Frost says that CSU has been taking apart the car but they've found nothing yet. No file. But wait, says Jane! Do they actually need a file? If Paddy Doyle paid Retiree to explode houses, then surely Paddy himself would keep a record of it! They decide to search through Paddy's records, only they're all in code. And no one has bothered to go through and decode all the records of a mob boss detailing his criminal activities? Okay then. Shoddy police work. Luckily, Korsak can translate, which he proceeds to do. Maura is concerned that Cavanaugh will be wondering why she's hanging around upstairs, instead of in the morgue. "Tell him you have menstrual cramps," Jane suggests. Korsak agrees that this is a surefire way to stop him asking any more questions.
I can face down tough guys wielding machine guns, but menstruation? Oh boy, I'm outta here.
Cavanaugh enters as soon as they mention him, naturally, and wants to know why Retiree's car is downstairs. No one is quite sure what to tell him, so he calls Korsak into his office. Oh, so Cavanaugh isn't in the loop? I totally didn't get that earlier. Huh. We see the door of the office close behind Korsak, and even though no time seems to pass we know it must have been at least thirty minutes, because Frost conveniently says that, "He's been in there a long time." Fortunately, Korsak emerges immediately. He seems to have explained the situation to Cavanaugh, who says it's a shame Retiree is dead because he would have liked to wrap his hands around his throat. Frost is trying to crack the code in Paddy Doyle's book. Seriously, why has no one done this yet? Also, what was Korsak translating earlier if the code is still uncracked? Argh. This episode is filling me with confusion. I'm over it already and we're barely halfway through.
Abruptly, Korsak cracks the code! (Again? Bah.) It's all about the cocaine Paddy was buying from a drug dealer - the same drug dealer who Paddy gave Cavanaugh information about in 1992. Korsak and Jane, with brilliant flashes of inspiration, deduce that Paddy must have intentionally given Cavanaugh information about the drug dealer so that he could get cheaper cocaine. When he wanted Cavanaugh to leave the case, he blew up the house, trying to kill Cavanaugh but getting his wife and son instead - which had the desired effect anyway, as Cavanaugh fell apart and never worked another drug case. Suddenly, the team realises that Cavanaugh has a copy of Paddy's book too, and he's just left. They think he's going to kill Paddy. They have to find him! Dun dun dun.
Back to the Dirty Robber, or whatever it's called, where Paddy is STILL having his celebration dinner. That's odd, because I could have sworn a whole day has passed since then. Cavanaugh storms up and punches Paddy Doyle in the face, so naturally a bunch of Paddy's friends/bodyguards/mob buddies take turns beating up Cavanaugh until the cavalry arrive in the form of Jane shouting "Police!" and pointing threatening fingers at people. Maura is furious with Paddy, and he looks slightly guilty as they drag a bleeding Cavanaugh away. Not guilty enough. Can't they arrest him for assault until they get more evidence about all his other crimes? You're allowed to hold people for twenty-four hours, right?
Yep, this looks like a great place for our bleeding boss to be.
Cavanaugh doesn't want to go to a hospital, so for some reason they all end up... at Maura's? That's... weird. There's no obvious reason why they would go straight here, so we'll just have to assume that they only built sets for Maura's house and Jane's apartment and were too lazy to take Cavanaugh anywhere that made more sense. Maura's going to set his nose and give him some stitches and then he's going home with Korsak, who is going to watch him and make sure he doesn't go after Paddy again. Or, y'know, they could try treating their boss like an actual adult and let him make his own decisions? No? Oh, well. He's understandably distraught about his family's death, and everybody gives him a comforting pep talk about how they're going to get Paddy the death penalty for arson. (For arson? Seriously? Is that a thing?). Cavanaugh refuses to be comforted, though, and intends to storm right back to Paddy before Maura drugs him. Uh, good thinking, Maura.
Maura calls Hope to keep Cavanaugh drugged in her apartment while they find a way to prosecute Paddy. I don't know about the rest of you, but kidnapping and drugging your boss seems like a worse idea than letting him try to kill somebody. I mean, they're clearly all going to be fired. Meanwhile, back at the precinct, everyone is investigating the car. Why? I don't know. You would think CSU could do this, since it's their actual jobs, but the team felt like pitching in and so they do, as opposed to working on something useful. As it turns out, CSU missed something huge, and Jane was the only person who could find it.
Seriously, what do we pay these people for?
Inside the giant thing that CSU missed, there are some bits and pieces from a furnace, which everyone promptly gets their oily fingerprints all over, and some crime scene photos from Cavanaugh's apartment. Back upstairs now, and they discuss the evidence in the crime scene photos that shows the heating system wasn't faulty, it was deliberately tampered with. All this really proves is that Retiree hid some evidence in his car, so it's kind of useless. Luckily, Frost comes running in with something he found "...stuffed way up in the exhaust pipe." Seriously? What did CSU even do with that car? Just have a good look from fifty metres away and then announce 'nope, nothing in here, that's for sure'? The thing from the exhaust pipe turns out to be Retiree's notes from the day of the fire. It turns out there was a witness who saw a white man running from the basement with his shirt on fire. But Retiree was black! We have proven something! Retiree is not Not-A-Plumber! (Although I am curious about why no one was checking his work on all this. Seriously? People are just allowed to investigate by themselves with so little help that they can bury witnesses etc? Shoddy.) Maura says that Not-A-Plumber would have suffered some pretty bad burns if his shirt was on fire. We had a burn at the beginning of the episode, too. Recurring theme? For a moment everyone is excited! But then Frost uses Google (or some police search engine) to discover that their witness is now dead.
Paddy Doyle had nine trusted lieutenants, Jane explains. One of them is probably Not-A-Plumber. They start searching through surveillance photos at the time to discover if any of them are burnt. Maura says they can rule one dude out because she saw no scars during his autopsy. Down to eight and Paddy. Naturally, photos from the day after the fire show Paddy with a bandage on his neck. Is anyone surprised by this? Yeah, me neither. But Maura gazes at the bandage on his neck and then at her own bandage (ha! knew that burn would come back) and says that the gauze is the same! She thinks Hope helped him! (Because obviously no one else would dare use the same gauze to patch up a man almost twenty years ago. It must be the same woman because she used the same gauze! Oh, these detectives and their logic never cease to astound me.)
Back at Maura's house, Maura confronts Hope with the photos of Paddy's burn. Instead of doing the sensible thing and saying that more than just one person has used that type of gauze to fix a burn in the past twenty years, Hope makes a silly guilty expression. Useless.
Your lying is shoddy, just like our police work.
Hope claims that she didn't know what Paddy did to get the burns. Maura tells her that Paddy murdered a twenty-five year old woman and a two-year old boy. She's furious that Hope didn't connect the dots and realise what Paddy had done. She tells Hope that she made a bargain with the devil, and now it's coming back to bite her in the butt. Hope has to testify.
It's the next day, at the court. Lawyer thanks the team for all their hard work. He wants Jane to wish him luck, but she just tells him not to screw it up this time. I agree. Lawyer is very useless and annoying. Jane's skirt is back, which turns out to be a problem as they suddenly realise that Cavanaugh found a way to get his gun through security and is already upstairs. The skirt sadly impedes her effort to run fast and reach him.
Upstairs in the court bathroom, Cavanaugh seems to prefer hitting Paddy in the face with his gun and making threatening remarks to actually killing him. Thank goodness all that testosterone is preventing him from committing murder before he's made some wisecracks and insulted Paddy a bit.
Everyone charges in to see Cavanaugh waving his gun around uselessly. Jane pleads with him not to do it, but Maura has a better idea. She tells Paddy how the love of his life is waiting downstairs to testify, and suddenly Cavanaugh realises that going through the pain of that is a much worse torture (seriously?). He lowers his gun and Korsak takes it off him. Paddy is escorted from the men's bathroom and led down the hallway where he sees Hope. He cries like a wuss as he walks past her, and back in the bathroom Cavanaugh is crying too.
Back at the Dirty Robber (or whatever) and Jane is commenting on the new menu and how silly it is.
Here at the Dirty Robber, you can eat plants straight from the pot!
A brief light-hearted end-of-episode conversation ensues, and the credits wrap things up. All done! See you next week!