As well as wrapping up some loose ends from the previous episode, Rizzoli & Isles 5×09 features a mummy and a stuffed panda. Read on for our recap of “It Takes A Village”:
Last week’s episode saw Jane and homeless teenager Tasha trapped in a building with a hitman who wanted them dead. Ultimately, Korsak showed up with guns blazing, leaving the two of them injured but alive and the hitman… well, not.
In Rizzoli & Isles 5×09, Jane wakes up in the hospital with Maura sitting faithfully at her bedside like a good girlfriend should. Her first instinct is to ask after Tasha. Maura gently tells her that while Tasha’s on the mend, Jane herself has some bruised organs – and she lost her baby. Before Jane can begin to process the news, Maura gets a call about a case. A mummified body has been discovered in the basement of a recently foreclosed-upon house. Jane urges her to go to the scene, but Maura takes her hand and insists on sticking around for a little while longer. Nothing gay there, folks.
After Maura eventually leaves, Jane’s mother shows up. In typical Angela fashion, she brings an enormous stuffed panda, a pack of cards, a sandwich – and a bombshell. She reveals that she had a miscarriage about a year before Jane was born, and encourages Jane to talk about how she’s feeling. Jane says she’s not ready, and Angela says she’ll know when it’s the right time.
The next person to drop by the hospital is Frankie. He’s terrible at small talk, so Jane asks him about the case.
The mystery of the mummy
According to Frankie, the mummified condition of the victim, Fran, was caused by the fact that she died four and a half years earlier and her body was preserved in a cool wine cellar. A special “maggot milkshake” whipped up by Maura reveals that the victim died after ingesting hemlock, although a test of the glass found beside the body doesn’t reveal any traces of the poisonous plant. Someone went to a lot of trouble to make Fran’s death look natural – but why did nobody notice she was missing?
It turns out that the victim worked remotely writing code for banks and had auto-pay set up for all her bills. Voicemails left by her stepfather revealed that she was estranged from her mother, who had since died. When the investigators dig deeper into the victim’s bills, an irregularity pops up: Her gardener got a pay raise six months after she died, and the change was authorized from Fran’s personal computer. The gardener admits that he knew she was dead, but claims he wasn’t the one who killed her.
On to suspect No. 2, a colleague of Fran’s. There’s rather incriminating video footage of him arguing with and threatening to kill her. When Korsak and Frankie bring him in, he explains that he had been working on a project with her. Amazingly, he also knew she was dead but failed to tell anyone because he didn’t want people to know he owed her money. Nice.
Money, money, money
Fran’s colleague mentions an inheritance of which the investigators were unaware. New girl Nina figures out that Fran had an offshore bank account in the Cayman Islands, then gets creative to find out how much is in it. If you need another reason not to use the same password on all your accounts, add “Nina Holiday checking your balance four years after your death” to the list.
Rizzoli & Isles 5×09 features two red herrings before detectives deduce that the actual killer was Fran’s stepfather, who wanted to get his hands on the inheritance. After killing Fran, he murdered his wife, whose death went unquestioned due to her battle with cancer. Korsak claims Cayman law dictates that there be proof of death before a case can be closed. Cut to the stepfather breaking into Fran’s house and planting “evidence” that she poisoned herself – and getting caught red-handed in the process.
A happy ending
Back at the hospital, Jane lugs the oversized stuffed panda to Tasha’s room. (Pretty sure she’s not meant to be lifting things, but oh well.) Tasha, a strong student despite her long-term homelessness, debates Maura on whether pandas are actually bears while Jane looks on incredulously.
Later, Jane speaks to Tasha’s new social worker and learns that the girl will likely be placed in a group home. After Jane brings this up to Tasha, the girl runs away and Jane blames herself. She finds Tasha in the hospital basement and promises she won’t let her be taken to a group home. Cut to Jane on the phone with the social worker, asking what it takes for a single woman to become a foster parent. Does she want to foster Tasha? Nope – she’s asking on behalf of Tasha’s nurse, with whom the girl has already developed a special rapport.
When Jane gets discharged and is free to go home, she ends up at Maura’s, of course. Maura helpfully stocks the spare bathroom with Jane’s favorite shampoo because they’re married. When there’s a knock at the door, Jane says the last thing she wants is her family hovering and feeling bad for her, but Angela, Frankie, and Korsak barrel in with beer and pizza, ready to watch the baseball game and treat Jane the same as always.
What did you think of Rizzoli & Isles 5×09?
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