10 Years Later, Netflix’s 7-Part Crime Drama Just Keeps Getting Better With Age

A tried and true crime procedural staple is when a show pairs up two very different people to solve murders together each week. The X-Files did this with Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson), Castle did this with Castle (Nathan Fillion) and Beckett (Stana Katic), and currently, shows like High Potential and Wild Cards are doing this with their central partnerships of Morgan (Kaitlin Olson) and Karadec (Daniel Sunjata), and Max (Vanessa Morgan) and Ellis (Giacomo Gianniotti).

When two opposites are paired up to solve crimes together, the show is able to embrace their differences, often leading to the characters clashing in comedic ways. Best of all, each episode shows the two of them pairing up to use their individual skills as a team in order to find the killer when nobody else can. One of the best and most underrated procedurals that fits this niche is TNT’s Rizzoli & Isles, which ran for seven seasons and is now available to stream on Netflix.

What Is ‘Rizzoli & Isles’ About?

Based on Tess Gerritsen‘s series of crime novels of the same name, Rizzoli & Isles follows the crime-solving partnership between Detective Jane Rizzoli (Angie Harmon) and forensic pathologist Dr. Maura Isles (Sasha Alexander). The two are also best friends, and they have made their jobs their whole lives. Jane is a hardworking curmudgeon who is passionate about the work that she does and has no interest in finding a work-life balance that would give her time for anything other than her current focus on her job, her family, her friendship with Maura, and her dog. Maura, meanwhile, is a friendly optimist, but she doesn’t know how to connect with people, and often scares them off by talking too much about death or diagnosing them with rare conditions.

The series kicks off when Jane and Maura’s latest murder uses the signature of serial killer Charles Hoyt (Michael Massee), who previously abducted Jane and almost killed her. Hoyt is in prison, but this killer knew things that only someone close to him could have known. Jane is then forced to meet with Hoyt in order to question him about his possible protégée, which brings up some tough memories for her. Each episode sees Jane and Maura solving grisly and disturbing murders together alongside the rest of their team: Jane’s co-workers, Vince Korsak (Bruce Travis McGill) and Barry Frost (Lee Thompson Young). When she’s off the clock, Jane works very hard to make time for her family, which, at the start of the series, is made up of her parents, Angela (Lorraine Bracco) and Frank (Chazz Palminteri), and the older of her two younger brothers, Frankie (Jordan Bridges). Frankie became a police officer to follow in Jane’s footsteps, and although they don’t directly work together, they often cross paths on the job.

‘Rizzoli & Isles’ Is Still a Must-See Crime Procedural 10 Years Later

Like any great crime procedural, Rizzoli & Isles dedicates each episode to a different murder that Jane, Maura, and the rest of their time solve together. Where Rizzoli & Isles stands out, though, is through its heavy focus on character. Rizzoli & Isles certainly has some comedy in Jane and Maura’s “Odd Couple” dynamic and Jane’s sarcastic one-liners, but it primarily has a uniquely dark tone. Jane and Maura investigate some especially disturbing and horrifying homicides, and the show doesn’t shy away from the effects that these murders have on either the people who knew the victims, or on those who solve the murders. Rizzoli & Isles regularly examines the toll that Jane and Maura’s jobs take on them, both in everything that they have had to give up to commit to their jobs, and in the heavy and upsetting crimes that they face all the time.

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You’d be dog-gone crazy not to watch it, no bones about it.

Rizzoli & Isles is an intense, emotional series that is perfect for procedural fans who like shows with nuanced characters, twisty weekly cases, and a unique focus on the scientific side of murder investigations. Rizzoli & Isles also makes the perfect binge-watch, because alongside its weekly cases, it has a number of excellent and intense linear storylines. At the heart of the show, though, is Jane and Maura’s partnership. They really understand each other and are particularly in-sync, and it is this dynamic that makes Rizzoli & Isles impossible to stop watching after each episode concludes.