Rizzoli & Isles 7×09 – 65 Hours – Recap

Although Rizzoli & Isles 7×09 began with the crime of the week as usual, there’s a twist: The robbery/homicide happened two years ago, and we already know whodunnit. Rather than being focused on hunting down the killer, this episode was dedicated to keeping him behind bars. Read on for our recap of Rizzoli & Isles 7×09, “65 Hours.”

“What do you mean, it’s gone?”

So it turns out the genius behind the robbery/homicide, Steve Banyan, was caught because he left his blood at the crime scene. Flash forward two years, and Jane and Korsak are preparing the evidence for his trial. The gemstones he stole are still missing, so they can’t prove motive, and they don’t have the murder weapon, so there goes means. But thank God for that blood, right?

“We’ve won cases with less than DNA on a cutting board – I’m just glad we have this,” Korsak says, thereby jinxing the entire case. Not five seconds later, Jane gets a call from the evidence warehouse. Sure enough, her next words are, “What do you mean, it’s gone?” The cutting board was secure in the BPD’s evidence room as recently as the previous week, but now it’s vanished. If Banyan’s lawyer finds out, the case will be dismissed and a criminal will walk free. And with that ominous notion, the stage is set for Rizzoli & Isles 7×09.

While Maura can’t find the cutting board itself, she does find the swab used to retrieve the DNA, along with photos of the board and lab documentation of the DNA test results. Jane declares these to be a hail-Mary that just might work, and she’s so keyed up that she doesn’t even wait around for Maura to explain the origins of the phrase “Hail Mary.”

As we’re only five minutes into Rizzoli & Isles 7×09, it’s hardly surprising that the hail-Mary doesn’t work. However, the judge grants Jane and the team 65 hours to track down the evidence. Keeping Banyan behind bars is already enough motivation for Jane, but if she needed any additional encouragement, the fact that the murdered couple’s daughter is sitting behind her in the courtroom ought to do it.

Never fear, Maura’s here

Armed with enough cartons of Chinese food to fuel them through the night, Jane, Korsak, Frankie, and Nina go through evidence room entry records and security camera footage. They realize that ironically, recent security and climate control enhancements may actually have introduced a vulnerability. One of the cameras is positioned at such an angle that it’s possible to see the entry code being entered on the keypad, which means anyone with remote access could find out the code and steal the evidence. Kent finds traces of a commercial insulation foam on the evidence box that contained the board, which leads Korsak and Jane to discover a secret tunnel into the maintenance room via a vent.

The crew that installed the climate control system was 50 people strong – but never fear, Maura’s here to help narrow down the search with news that hairs found in the tunnel suggest the thief is a Caucasian woman. Jane’s in full-on case mode, so she simply thanks Maura brusquely and turns to leave, but Maura stops her and suggests she take a 20-minute power nap. Jane says she doesn’t have 20 minutes – and nor, apparently, does her sleep-deprived mind have the capability to translate “20-minute power nap” into… oh, you know where I’m going with this.

Maura: “I’m serious. Sleep deprivation could cause cognitive dysfunction, memory problems, even hallucinations.”
Jane: “I’m fine. Just tell the octopus in the corner to stop waving at me.”

Maura laughs adorably, then even more adorably turns to look behind her.

A radioactive booger

After one of the four Caucasian women on the climate control crew sets off alarm bells in the BRIC for using a stolen identity, Korsak and Frankie pay the woman (Donna) a visit and find the charred cutting board in a fire pit in her backyard. So much for that slam-dunk conviction. Jane has a feeling that although Donna broke in to steal the evidence, she wasn’t the brains behind the operation, but her attempts to get Donna to give up the person who planned the theft prove fruitless.

Moreover, there’s no apparent connection between Banyan and Donna, but Donna’s wearing a ring with a rare stone in it. Why do we care? Well, this could connect her to robberies of rare stones like the red emeralds stolen in Rizzoli & Isles 7×09’s two-year-old crime of the week – and ultimately to Banyan’s accomplice. As Jane mulls all this over, she follows Maura into her office because Maura keeps a spare set of clothes there and Jane needs to change. Who will do the undressing remains to be seen, but first, Jane needs to make peace with the blouse Maura offers her.

Jane: “It looks like a radioactive booger.”
Maura: “This is citrine. It’s very fashionable.”
Jane: “It also has the added benefit of being visible from space.”
Maura: “You can’t see it from space. …I don’t think.”

Honestly, that conversation encapsulates their relationship in a nutshell, really.

A goldmine & a skylight

Meanwhile, Nina’s nationwide search for robberies involving rare stones uncovers a goldmine (ba-dum-chhhh) involving seven different cities and another double murder. In short, this case goes way beyond Boston, and time’s ticking. To figure out how Banyan and his mystery accomplice pulled off the thefts, Jane and Korsak return to the Boston victims’ house, where their tearful daughter lets them inside. It’s the night before court is due back in session, but Jane’s on a mission. “Did you see her face?” she asks Korsak. “We can’t leave until we find something that keeps that bastard in jail.”

Eventually, Jane spots some condensation that leads her to the skylight. One thing’s for sure: Moving a skylight is a two-person job, adding further weight to the idea that Banyan had an accomplice. After Kent arrives, he spots blood that suggests Banyan cut his hand on the skylight and bled on the cutting board. With two hours before court starts, he takes a sample for DNA testing.

Cut to the courtroom, where Korsak asks for another continuance. The judge denies his request and declares Banyan free to go. But not so fast! Turns out the blood on the skylight is new evidence that will put him away for life unless he gives up his partner. As Jane phrases it:

“We will get him with or without you, so you have only one choice, and that’s if you ever want to see the sun set again.”

…Needless to say, Banyan rolls on his partner and Jane makes a badass arrest.

Oh, &…

OK, so before we get to the formulaic yet heartwarming final scene of Rizzoli & Isles 7×09, here’s what you need to know about this episode’s awkward subplots:

• Frankie orders a magic kit to impress Nina because he’s five years old. Turns out Jane can do magic better than him because she can do everything better than him. Whomp whomp.
• Kent rescues a sick duck (and almost accidentally feeds it duck a l’orange). After it recovers and returns to the wild, Kent gets all emo, so Maura invites him to her office for wine. She thanks him for helping the duck through a hard time, but she’s really talking about herself and her recent medical issues. (What exactly has he done this season other than be really pushy about researching Maura’s medical condition behind her back and pressuring her to get surgery?) At least their conversation ends with Maura putting Kent firmly in his place, telling him “Don’t push it” when he refers to himself as “a very handsome chap.”
• Here’s a picture of actress Sasha Alexander with the duck, courtesy of Rizzoli & Isles 7×09 director Mark Strand. Its name is apparently Banana, because why not?

Fabulous Frankie, Jazzy Jane, &… Robot Maura?

As Rizzoli & Isles 7×09 winds down, Maura and a sleep-deprived Jane are at the Robber. While Maura doesn’t know the exact record for sleep deprivation, she does know the reason why the Guinness Book of Records no longer keeps sleep-deprivation statistics. When Jane admits that sometimes, she thinks Maura’s a robot, Maura responds, “No, but I can do the robot.” Spoiler alert: She can’t, but it’s adorable to watch her try. It’s even more adorable to find out that Jane was the one who taught her – although, as Jane is quick to point out, “Not like that.”

Next, Jane, Maura, and Angela watch Frankie (a.k.a. Fabulous Frankie) wow Nina with magic tricks that he learned from his sister (a.k.a. Jazzy Jane). When Nina asks how Jane learned the tricks, Jane cites her high school boyfriend, Johnny. I’m thinking it was actually her high school girlfriend Jenny, but Maura pipes up that she’s seen pictures of him. Either she’s covering for Jane, or Johnny is a throwback to a time when Jane was so far in the closet she was exchanging pleasantries with a faun named Mr. Tumnus. Regardless, Rizzoli & Isles 7×09 ends with Jane saying Johnny ultimately “did a disappearing act” (likely after realizing she was more into girls than him), and trying to steal the Bruins tickets that Frankie’s girlfriend bought for him while her own girlfriend looks on.