Female crime busters in charge for a bracing change

ANGIE Harmon (left) and Sasha Alexander of “Rizzoli and Isles”

Quite by fortuitous serendipity, we added to our list of regular viewing treats last Monday, when we chanced upon a replay telecast of “Rizzoli and Isles” on the Warner TV channel.

The unusual detective drama has been on the tube for some seasons now, but it’s flown under our viewing radar all this while, possibly because it’s been added to the Warner TV program schedule just this season.

In any case, late is definitely better in this happy happenstance, because “Rizzoli and Isles” is a different and “addicting” viewing treat.

What makes it special is the fact that its lead crime-busting characters are female.

Most of the time, women in cops-and-robbers series are limited to victim roles or doing “eye candy” duty, but in this show, the women are in charge.

At the same time, however, they don’t forget that they’re women, and are not about to grow hair on their chests and smoke cigars just to intimidate the wide range of crafty criminals they have to outwit from week to week.

The crime caper benefits greatly from the focused portrayals of Angie Harmon as detective Jane Rizzoli and Sasha Alexander as medical investigator Dr. Maura Isles.

They don’t just work well together, they’ve also become bosom buddies who help each other solve problems even in their personal lives—and loves.

Nothing cutesy and cheesy, you understand, because that silly stance would stick out like a sore thumb or raunchy middle finger—just two “sisters” helping each other make it in what is still a man’s world.

Another key plus point of the show is its deft and eventful scripting.

Just as you think the killer has been identified, a tiny bit of logical dissonance leads the crime busters to another less obvious suspect.

And then, after that “really guilty” person’s goose is about to be cooked, yet another heretofore hidden clue finally reveals—the real evil perpetrator!

Due to this penchant for lining up a series of “contradictory” surprises for viewers, watching “Rizzoli and Isles” is like reading an Agatha Christie yarn, where things are definitely not what they initially seem!

In the episode we viewed last week, a dog trainer appeared to have been poisoned by an irate neighbor, but it sequentially turned out that the real killer was the victim’s own “sweet and loving” daughter.

How the storytelling got from the neighbor, through a number of suspects, to the real murderer was quite an exciting and psychologically revealing trip, so we want more of the same, please! Which is why we’ll be watching the show regularly from here on in.