Rizzoli & Isles Season 6 Episode 16 Review: East Meets West
Jack Ori
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It's about time.
After spending nearly a year in cartoonish comic relief plots, Frankie gets a real storyline in Rizzoli & Isles Season 6 Episode 16.
Frankie may have met his romantic match, though he doesn't realize it because the girl is just so different. How exciting!
The case of the hour wasn't too bad either, and Jane got some endearing scenes with Vince. If only there wasn't this silly cold remedy subplot, "East Meets West" would have been a perfect episode.
This character-driven hour focused on the changing relationships between characters. The case was more or less a vehicle for some important conversations. The best interactions were between Jane and Vince during the stakeout.
Vince told Jane a funny story about a bizarre traffic stop and talked about how much he loved being a cop, while Jane worried obsessively about him retiring later. She didn't seem to be able to imagine life without him as her partner, nor could she imagine ever being ready to retire from the cop business.
You think your life is never going to change and then one day it just does.
Jane
Jane's fear of change has been a recurring theme lately, and these poignant scenes with Vince really drove the point home. After losing her home and her life to her crazed stalker, Jane has been feeling like she doesn't have a foundation.
The idea of Vince retiring is too much, and she's already worrying about Maura quitting and going to Maine.
Somehow she's going to have to learn how to deal with change. Obsessing over what might not be in the future is going to cause her to miss appreciating what she has in the present.
Frankie had a happier sort of change in his life.
So you can't talk about your case. Can you talk about yourself
Woman
After struggling to find someone to lend him an apartment for a stakeout, he hit pay dirt: a perfect apartment with a pretty, attentive woman who seemed genuinely interested in him. Instead of appreciating it for what it was, though, Frankie worried about it not working out because he and the woman didn't have a lot in common.
Frankie's talk with Vince was all sorts of sweet, and so was his return to the woman's apartment. Hopefully she sticks around for a while. Learning her name would be nice. So would seeing Frankie actually be in a relationship.
It'll be really fun to see this woman meet Angela if they make it that far!
It was ironic that Maura's poem was called "Opposite of Me" since Frankie was struggling to accept his new potential girlfriend being so opposite of him. I could have done without the silly illness subplot.
Jane: You don't have to use my mother's crazy home remedy just to be nice.
Maura: What is a lazy bone melody?
Angela's home remedies are one thing, but did we really need Kent to get into the act too? His understanding of poetry and Maura's inability to write it was enough of a minor subplot without all that nonsense.
As for the case itself, it was fairly interesting. For once the bad guy turned out to not be such a bad guy after all, just a mixed up kid who was trying to escape from a gang that he no longer had any interest in joining.
Frankie: What was the falling out about?
Gang Unit Cop: I dunno. He made a grab for power, insulted someone's girlfriend or took the last stick of gum. You know, the usual crap.
Nicky's falling out with the gang was because he refused to kill someone, not because he was trying to usurp power or any of the other traditional reasons for gang vendettas.
His aunt felt guilty because she just wanted to provide him with a better life. Neither one was really unsympathetic in the end.
It was pretty obvious the lawyer was phony, or at least sent by the people who were after Nicky, from the moment he walked in. Who else caught it?
So what did you think? Are you going to try the garlic in the ear or the snail goo method of curing a cold any time soon? What was your favorite conversation in "East Meets West"? Do you like Frankie's potential girlfriend? Weigh in below!
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Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on X.
