Rizzoli & Isles 7×13 – Ocean Frank – Series Finale Recap

Rizzoli & Isles 7×13 passed in a blur of chapter-closing and party-planning and desk-clearing and video message-recording, but it’s an episode that fans of the show will never forget. Read on for our recap of Rizzoli & Isles 7×13, a.k.a. the season and series finale, a.k.a. the last episode ever, a.k.a. “Ocean Frank.”

Floater! Manhole! Teeth! Statues!

Rizzoli & Isles 7×13 begins as many episodes before it have done – with Jane at Maura’s house or vice versa. While the premise isn’t unusual, the fact that Jane and Maura are about to leave for D.C. and Paris, respectively, gives the opening scene an emotional resonance.

Before anyone goes anywhere, though, Maura’s decided to put together a virtual memory book of crime scene photos from the cases she and Jane worked together over the years, and her humorous efforts prevent us (well, me, at least) from getting too sad too soon. It’s hard to cry while watching two people yell words like “sex party” and “Revolutionary War reenactment!” at a computer screen. Jane and Maura laugh at the memories, but the tone of the scene quickly becomes serious when Maura asks, “How many more of these experiences are we going to have?”

Just then, their phones buzz in tandem, and Jane astutely infers, “At least one more.” She and Maura proceed to answer the calls with one more “Rizzoli” “Isles” for the road as the opening credits roll for the final time.

Case closed

The murder of the week composes a very small part of Rizzoli & Isles 7×13. The case is simpler than usual to leave time for the aforementioned party-planning, desk-clearing, etc., so my recap will follow suit. In a nutshell, the victim’s name is Robert, and his cause of death is orthopedic decapitation (also known as “atlanto-occipital dislocation” – thanks, Maura!). Handcuffed to his bed, Robert may have been the victim of a sexcapade gone wrong.

Jane: “Can that happen in some weird sex game?”
Maura: “Can’t say.”
Jane: “Maura, just one little guess. Just a small surmise.”

Because her girlfriend asked so nicely, and because Rizzoli & Isles 7×13 is the last episode ever, Maura makes an exception just this once. She speculates that a large, blunt, flexible object lacking rough edges caused Robert’s injuries, so Jane and Korsak promptly begin a search for balloon animals and blimps. “I shouldn’t have said anything,” Maura sighs. (Turns out the object was a bumper, by the by.)

Outside, Frankie talks with neighbor Steve, a.k.a. that guy who played Tank on Switched at Birth. Steve tries to put him on the trail of a mysterious black truck, so he’s clearly involved here. Happily, nobody figures that out until after Angie Harmon seizes the opportunity to ad-lib the line “I’ll get my tassels” in preparation to visit a strip club connected to the case – and honestly, I’m kind of glad about that. (Incidentally, Robert caught his wife Wei in the process of running away with Steve, slipped while lunging for Steve, and hit his neck on the bumper of the getaway vehicle. Case closed!)

The leopard and the tortoise

Meanwhile, Angela is decorating the Robber for Korsak’s retirement party, which will also serve as a bon voyage party for Jane and Maura. (She’s keeping that part secret, but Jane and Maura know anyway, because Angela’s predictable like that.) When Jane drops by, her mother presents her with leopard-print luggage that “reminded [her] of [Jane].” Jane responds by clarifying, “Ma, I’m going to the FBI. I’m not going on safari.”

Later, Jane spots a similar gift down in Autopsy, but this one’s tortoise-themed. “Unless that’s Bass, you got a suitcase from Ma,” she guesses. Hey, nice reference to the pet we were introduced to in the pilot episode, who now lives at the zoo. Maura encourages Jane to view her gift on a deeper level, pointing out, “The leopard is incredibly intelligent and astoundingly strong. They are elusive, secretive, and beautiful.” Me-ow.

Jane: “I’m sorry you’re a turtle.”
Maura: “Tortoise. They’re known for their serenity and steadfastness, and they’ve become a symbol of wisdom.”
Jane: “Wow, I underestimated Ma. I just thought they were ugly.”

Raise your hand if you didn’t think we’d get one last turtle/tortoise misidentification in Rizzoli & Isles 7×13. Gotta love a good throwback.

Passing the mantle

So although Korsak has a month left on the job before he retires, his 15 unused sick days and two weeks’ vacation make his last day the same as Jane’s, much to Jane’s dismay. Everything’s ending too quickly for her, and she watches morosely as he packs up his desk. “I will give you $1,000 if you will stop packing,” she tells him. When he promptly does as she asks, she amends, “I’m lying, but it’s worth it to see you in the chair again.”

Over in the BRIC, Jane’s confronted by a wall of monitors all featuring the newly Skype-literate Angela laughing triumphantly. “I’m gonna be able to talk to you every day! And see you every day! And you know what? I could watch you teach!” Angela says giddily. Jane makes an A+ face in response before teaching her mom another new trick: pressing F10 to end the call.

Back in the squad room, Jane’s frown turns upside-down when she and Korsak place Frankie’s – excuse me, Frank’s – nameplate on Korsak’s old desk, officially passing the mantle. Frank’s so legit now with his adult name and proper desk and chair-spinning-induced dizziness. Two outta three ain’t bad.

In an emotional nod to dearly departed Detective Barry Frost (Lee Thompson Young), Jane places the Guardian Chogokin action figure on Frankie’s desk and tells him, “This should stay here. He’d probably be your partner by now, so he should be here to look after you.”

Good times

As the clock strikes eight, marking the end of Jane’s final BPD shift, Jane’s in Maura’s office (of course). “It’s really coming to an end,” Maura says. “We had some good times, though,” Jane responds. Cut to a flashback montage of Jane and Maura making pasta, singing in the car, walking along the edge of the Pacific, play-fighting in yoga class, taking mud baths, clinking beer bottles and wine glasses, and roaring off in the glamorous car Maura rented during their trip to Los Angeles.

Back in the present, Jane leaves to get dressed for the party. “I’ll be right behind you,” Maura tells her, then heads off for a final look at Autopsy before turning off the lights.

Upstairs, Jane insists that Korsak end his distinguished 32-year career properly. She hands him a walkie, and around the lump in his throat, he manages to say, “Victor 981, Ocean Frank.” In case you’re wondering what “Ocean Frank” means and why it’s the title of Rizzoli & Isles 7×13, it’s the Boston patrol car radio code for “logging off air” – kind of like “over and out.” The voice on the other end of the walkie, responds “Thank you for your service, Sergeant Korsak. Job well done.” Korsak and Jane share an emotional hug which, according to this tweet from Angie Harmon, didn’t require a lot of acting.

In which Kent is given a purpose

Kent would’ve been his usual irrelevant self in Rizzoli & Isles 7×13 but for the fact that the writers put him to work collecting video testimonials to screen at the party. In the process, he harasses Jane with a sock puppet and unwittingly captures a private conversation about Frankie and Nina’s engagement that ends up being shown all the party guests – but, hey, at least Frankie and Nina were looking for a way to break the news after Korsak stole their thunder with his retirement announcement last episode.

The sweet thing about the testimonials is that they also represented a way for the actors to say goodbye, as executive producer Jan Nash explained in a recent TV Guide interview:

We came up with this idea to …. [use] these goodbye videos as a way for the actors to articulate their feelings, obviously through the characters, but it’s their own feelings about what it’s been like to have done this for so long.

“This isn’t goodbye”

“I was so worried about being the newcomer, and from the first moment, you all treated me like you’d known me forever. And I hope we’ll be a part of each other’s lives forever because that’s a lot better than saying goodbye.” – Nina Holiday/Idara Victor

“It’s my gang. It’s my normal. I just don’t know if my lasagna will taste the same without everybody at the table.” – Angela Rizzoli/Lorraine Bracco

“I guess I’ve been doing this long enough to know you don’t always get to pick when life changes, so I know I have no choice but to embrace this, and I’m gonna make it the best version of a next step that I can. I’m gonna miss you. All of you.” – Vince Korsak/Bruce McGill

“I know this isn’t goodbye. I mean, we’re family, all of us. I’m sure gonna miss seeing you guys every day, but mainly I’m filled with a sense of gratitude.” – Frank(ie) Rizzoli/Jordan Bridges

“You’ve brought so much joy and laughter into my life, and for this I will be forever grateful. And maybe just this once, on the record, I am willing to speculate this: I’ll love you and I’ll never forget you.” – Maura Isles/Sasha Alexander

“I’m gonna miss you. Really, really miss you. And I love you. To have been here with all of you, I think I might be the luckiest person in the whole world.” – Jane Rizzoli/Angie Harmon

The next chapter

In the closing scene of Rizzoli & Isles 7×13, of Rizzoli & Isles season 7, and of Rizzoli & Isles the series, Maura is packing for Paris when Jane drops a bombshell: She’s coming along for the ride. Yup – inspired by Korsak, she dipped into her accrued vacation time and use Maura’s miles to buy a ticket. The key takeaway here is that Jane and Maura are vacationing together in the City of Love, people.

“We are going to have a whole month in France together!” Maura exclaims, clambering onto her bed next to Jane. (Let’s just note that the first and last episodes of this show featured the two lead characters next to each other in bed. But no homo, right?)

Rizzoli & Isles 7×13 ends with Jane and Maura bickering over what Jane packed for the trip, how Maura needs to change the itinerary, and why Jane found it necessary to purchase herself a first-class ticket, because they wouldn’t be Rizzoli and Isles if they didn’t squabble like a married couple.

Maura: “This is not how I pictured the next chapter starting.”
Jane: “Maybe that’s the beauty of it.”

And, hey, under the Parisian sky, at a table on the sidewalk outside a cafe, at the top of the Eiffel Tower, or (knowing Maura) on an underground tour of the city’s famous catacombs, maybe Rizzles will finally happen – for rizzle.