What I’m Watching: Rizzoli & Isles

Rizzoli & Isles: Season 1, Episode 7 “Born to Run” (B+)

This episode first gets props for clever use of its title, which is also the title of a famous season one installment of “Lost” featuring Kate. In this case, the subject of the Massachusetts Marathon (likely a more legal way of riffing on the Boston Marathon) makes for an entertaining and fast-paced forty-five minutes of tracking down a murderer without causing mass panic and accidentally engineering a stampede. I feel similarly about this episode as I have about most of the installments of this show so far – the way things proceed along and turn out is often somewhat cheesy, but these gals (and guys) make it work. Use of technology is commendable in this episode, as a Skype-like interface helps to get around the traffic nightmare that is the marathon perimeter. Fanny pack as a gun muffler is also an impressive device, and this episode was especially well-timed in terms of the revelation of who the killer was and just why she was after these runners. Rizzoli’s arrest of the third runner who didn’t get assassinated was a nice score for justice, and it’s good to see the whole team taking this matter so seriously and emphasizing right and wrong just as much as the letter of the law. A notable guest star was on hand this week, and that would be Balthazar Getty of season five “Alias” and “Brothers & Sisters” fame. He didn’t really have much to do here, but that’s because there were other fun spotlights, like on the eager, nervous Boy Scout and the very malcontent Rizzoli parentals, who proved to be quite entertaining.