- Rizzoli pursues strangling deaths, suspense-fully reminiscent of the now long dead Boston Strangler, who a retired cop believes to be alive. Her new Boss, a childhood tease, is unbelieving. Clinically inclined Dr. Isles ruins a date.
- Tensions are high as the squad investigates a possible copycat of the legendary Boston Strangler...or could it be the Boston Strangler himself? Meanwhile, Jane butts heads with her new boss, Lt. Grant, who just happens to be from the same neighborhood where Jane grew up. And Maura gets into trouble with her habit of diagnosing everyone - including her date.—TNT Publicity
- Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles have a murder to solve when a body is dumped within their view while playing a softball game against the narcotics squad. The woman was strangled and when they find a second woman strangled the same way, they know they have a serial killer. To make matters worse, the women have the same names as two of the Boston Strangler's victims. Korsak thinks the Strangler may be out there and killing again. A retired detective who worked on the original case, Kenny Leahy, never believed they had the right man in the 1960s and gives Jane his personal file on the case. The squad gets a new Lieutenant in Joey Grant who Rizzoli has hated since primary school. The feeling is mutual. When Grant moves to make an arrest in the case however, Jane is the one who figures out exactly what is going on. Maura meanwhile goes out on a date but she can't help but diagnose the man.—garykmcd
- The Boston PD murder squad is divided whether to pursue the theory that ritualistic strangulations of two otherwise unrelated female with the names of convicted Boston Strangler Alvo's first victims is either the work of a copycat, or proof the wrong man was jailed. Jane claims her kid brother, Frankie Jr., whom mother Angela wants to join Frank Senior in the family plumbing firm, isn't ready for a promotion to detective, but really can't cope with the politically promoted new lieutenant Joey Grant, who takes charge to alleviate the concerns of the mayor and others about a renewed strangler phobia wrecking the city's reputation and tourism. Korsak helps Jane secretly consult the closed cases' archives and retired Detective Kenny Leahy, who has always focused on serial criminal Redmond Jones, just released after 40 years in jail and before the new stranglings. Grant recruits Jane's brother Frankie for his own "Boston Strangled" task force but hijacks the force to his own ends. The team senses and proves a set-up while the real culprit proves harder to handle.—KGF Vissers
- A woman watches the morning news in her bathrobe while flossing when suddenly someone comes up behind her and strangles her with her bathrobe sash.
The Homicide Department is playing the Narc Squad in softball. Maura watches from the stands in a super high-tech full-body wind resistant suit, offering Jane pointers despite the fact she's never played. A guy comes over and chats Maura up. Jane flies out, and Maura steps up to bat. She slams one near the outfield wall, and the department watches as a woman's body tumbles off a nearby overpass.
Maura examines the body and guesses she's been dead two hours. The guy from earlier observes and asks her out.
Jane's brother Frankie recovers a hubcap. When he assumes it's from the suspect's car, she says he'll never make Homicide if he keeps making assumptions.
Back at the station, Rizzoli consoles Korsak over being passed over for sergeant again, despite a perfect score.
Lt. Joey Grant (Donnie Whalberg) of Narco stops by, and Jane gives him a hard time. He asks to talk to her.
She's still bitter over him cheating off her in school and putting a duck in her locker. It crapped all over her math homework.
He gives her the bad news: he's their new lieutenant.
In the morgue, Korsak joins Rizzoli and Isles as they get ready for the autopsy. Jane's green partner Frost stops by but bails when the thought of cutting nearly makes him yack.
Rizzoli leaves when she remembers it's gnocchi night. She comes home to her family and mutt Jo Friday. Her mother has made a mess of the garbage disposal, and her father (Chazz Palminteri) and Frankie get on it. Her mother pulls Jane aside and tries to get Jane to tell Frankie to take over her dad's plumbing business instead of being a beat cop.
Jane is saved by a call to another crime scene.
They find the strangulation victim tucked serenely into bed with pantyhose tied neatly around her neck. Frankie shows up. He got switched to Jane's sector so he could learn from the best, he says.
They get the victim's names and realize that they're the same as the victims of the Boston Strangler. Korsak tells Jane how some cops don't believe DiSalvo--the guy who confessed and was killed in prison--was the right guy.
On her date, Maura proves an expert in all areas. Her date kisses her. She notices his skin is rough, and he has abnormal flexibility. She guesses he has flat feet and is near-sighted. Suddenly she's diagnosing him with Marfan syndrome and talking about his shortened life expectancy. He quickly excuses himself and leaves.
Rizzoli tells Lt. Grant some of the recent murders mirror old Boston Strangler murders. She thinks he's been locked up till now. Grant tells her to drop the Boston Strangler link and get on the murders.
A short time later, Rizzoli and Korsak head to Cold Cases and check out the DiSalvo files. Korsak recognizes the name of a cop in the files. Jane smuggles out files to take to Maura.
Korsak meets up with Kenny (Brian Dennehy), the old cop, in a bar. He tells them he thought DiSalvo didn't do it. But he's not feeling helpful.
Maura tells Frost she hasn't found any forensic evidence on either victim. When she goes to show him he ralphs into the sink. Korsak is calling him Barf Bag Kid. He's hoping repeated exposure will help him overcome it.
Maura gives Frost a scalpel and tries to guide him through opening up the body to look around. Jane drops by. Maura's consoling herself over her bad date by shoe-shopping online. Jane shows her the Strangler evidence, but Maura can't do anything with it because it wasn't stored properly.
Jane and Frost discuss the case. She ignores Frankie when he drops off pictures he took of people near each crime scene in the hopes that the killer might be in the crowd. Lt. Grant interrupts, irked that the newspapers are all over the story. To make matters worse, Grant is having her car towed from out front.
She races downstairs to save it but finds Kenny the old cop talking to the tow truck driver. He saved her car. He's holding a big accordion file. He asked around about her and decided she was worthy.
He asks if she's married and, if not, why not; and she says because any man she could love wouldn't want her doing the job and she loves it.
Upstairs, Jane and Frost go through Kenny's files and find a name: Redmond Jones. He's been locked up for rape until two days before the killings.
Frost and Rizzoli visit Redmond's mother, with Kenny. She's a foul-mouthed old racist who stalls them until Kenny grabs Redmond around back.
Jane has to break them up. They each take a shot, and Redmond ends up bleeding. She notices his empty garage and a picture of an old car that matches the hubcap Frankie found. Redmond claims it was recently stolen. He accuses Kenny of being the killer.
Back at the station, Jane looks at Frankie's photos and finds the same guy in them. They confirm Kenny was getting dialysis when the first victim was killed. They run the guy through facial recognition software and find his name is Sandy; he runs a website on ligature strangulation.
At his apartment, they find a shrine to strangling with pictures of corpses everywhere.
In interrogation, he claims to be a "death enthusiastic." They're interrupted when Korsak tells them they have a third victim.
At the scene, Maura says the victim has been dead an hour. She has the same name as a Strangler victim. Rizzoli thinks she sees blood on the scarf used to strangle her.
They get a call that Redmond's car has been found.
At the station, she parks illegally out front and looks at Redmond's car, which is out front because the evidence bays are full. She finds a piece of gauze with blood on it in the trunk and puts it in an evidence bag; the tow truck driver tows her car.
In the morgue, Maura tells Jane the blood on the scarf matches Redmond. She's excited to make an arrest, but Grant tells her the task force will handle it. To make matters worse, he's invited Frankie to be on the task force.
Jane goes upstairs to sulk while they hold a press conference downstairs. She thinks it's weird that one body was dropped in their laps and they got blood evidence out of nowhere. She wonders about the gauze and decides to check it out.
Maura chats up Kenny and notices he isn't well.
Following a hunch, Rizzoli reviews the cameras at the clinic Kenny went to. They show him going in and coming out five minutes later in disguise.
Maura asks Kenny how many appointments he's missed. She tells him he's showing signs of renal failure and she is going to call his doctor. He pulls a gun.
She tells him he's showing signs of obsessive disorder, identifying with the Boston Strangler.
Jane comes i to the morgue and sees him holding Maura hostage. He says Redmond was the real killer, and he just made sure he got caught.
Maura grabs a handy scalpel and stabs him in the leg while Jane goes for the baseball bat and knocks him down.
Later over drinks, Rizzoli proves how fast guys get scared away when they learn she's a cop. A guy comes over to chat her up but before he gets close she flashes her badge and he immediately turns and leaves.
Lt. Grant joins them. Jane's not exactly thrilled to see him. She makes a reference to him taking credit for a wrong arrest. He tells her he owes her a massive apology.
He joins them. He denies that he was cheating off her in class. "I was looking, but I wasn't looking at your paper," he says.
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