What A Surprise Last Night, Girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                           So much has been going on, darlings, what with Winter, and all the attendant social hoopla during it, I sort of let it slip my mind that the new season of "Rizzoli And Isles" was coming up.  When Monsieur emphatically mentioned it last evening, I knew he was right, and I determined to watch.

                            "Tears Of A Clown" had a formula for being one of the best episodes, but there were things hanging over it.  One of these was the decision Casey and Jane face--to marry or not--which was still not resolved, by the time the show ended.  I was most touched by Maura's tearful questioning of how she would go on without having best friend Jane around, and she was, indeed, echoing us fans of the show, who simply could not survive the loss of Angie Harmon as Jane.  So, either they will get married, but he will go off to Afghanistan, and Jane will be a war wife, or he will quit the Army, take up civilian life, and live here. It remains to be seen what is decided.

                                Lorraine was on hand, as Mama Angie, but, sadly, she hadn't much to do, which is a mistake; she is as important to the show as Jane and Maura.

                                  And there was something eerie about seeing Lee Thompson Young, as Detective Frost, in light of what we all know happened.  Not only that, but the way Thompson played the role in this episode showed a moroseness that was not there before.  In any other situation, this would be an actor trying to stretch his character, but in light of Thompson's suicide, one wonders if this was the beginning of his emotional disarray; it was  coming through, on screen.

                                     "Tears Of A Clown" had a great premise.  Back in 1988, the city was terrorized by a series of murders of young boys, by a man in a clown suit.  The Miller family owned a car wash in the area, which used clowns in advertising; the perp turned out to be their son, Brent, who had a history of peodphile behavior, and was responsible for the molestations and murders of the boys.  He dropped from sight. but molestations  followed, when he took up residency as a school teacher in Philadelphia.

                                           Now, a quarter century later, it seems Brent is back, as a boy is the victim of
an attempted kidnapping. Could Brent be back?  A good neighbor helps the boy escape, but, in a scuffle with the clown, falls onto the curb and hits his head, losing his life. So the clown faces a murder rap.

                                             Soon, another boy, Kevin, is abducted by a clown, and he is found, unharmed.
But Brent is found, with a bullet through his head that, at first, seems like suicide, but really is not.

                                                The perpetrator turns out to be Brent's own brother.  The siblings had been estranged for years, but when an unrecognizable Brent visits his brother's costume store, and calls Brent's son slugger, the brother recognizes the voice, and concocts the revenge scheme, fearful that Brent will hurt his son.   The brother is arrested, hauled off to prison, but it was an unsettling conclusion.

                                                   Much of the episode was unsettled; this was not a good start for a new season.  More dramatic definition and resolution is required, one yearns for the return of Hope, (Sharon Lawrence) and that the script writers have Frankie get his act together this season!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                     But, most of all, give Lorraine something to do!!!!!!!!! We LOVE her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                      Watch our for scary clowns, girls!  Especially if, as was learnt from "Camp Blood," they turn out to be beans n' franks lesbians!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                        Thank God the children here were spared that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!