This week it was Isles’ turn to be in danger. The episode, “The Beast in Me,” was the first of the season written by Karina Csolty, please have more by her next season, and was by far my favorite of the season. When Korsak saw the way this week’s victim was killed, he knew immediately it was no random killing, but the work of the Irish Mob.

Of all the Boston themed fiction this season has used in its plots, it was surprising to hear the name Whitey Bulger. Perhaps the Boston Irish mob’s most infamous gangster is listed on the FBI’s top ten most wanted list, at one point number two under only Osama Bin Laden. Patty Doyle, however is not a real person. Played by John Doman or better known as William Rawls on the Wire, Doman portrayed Irish mob enforcer, Patty Doyle, drawn out of hiding after the brutal murder of his son, Colin Doyle.

Colin Doyle, a brilliant hacker and identity thief, used his talents to track his father but in doing so linked himself to Patty Doyle, ultimately getting himself killed. Enter, Maura Isles. Upon an autopsy of Colin’s body, Isles, to her astonishment, discovers Colin Doyle is her half brother from her biological father’s side. Now, we’ve known Isles was adopted and had no prior knowledge of her biological parents. As anxious as we are to get to the bottom of this, so is Isles, tenfold.

Patty Doyle comes in to identify his son and it makes for an excellent scene, one that’s holding my attention better than any scene in the series thus far. Now, as incredulous as this situation is, and really it seems like the sole reason Isles’ character being adopted, the anticipation of how this is going to play out is worth the ridiculousness. Isles tries her damnedest to get Doyle a drink some water, say it with me, DNA sample. But Doyle’s no dummy, he knows her intentions. He proceeds to cut his palm and hands Isles the bloody tissue. Because nothing says sorry I missed every birthday and Christmas for your first 30 or so years like a bloody tissue. This simply confirms Doyle’s knowledge of Isles being his daughter and gives us insight that he gave her up to give her a life and protect her. It is important to gain sympathy for a man who has killed dozens of people on mob orders and using one of our main protagonists is the best way.

So, for the remainder of the episode, Rizzoli and company worry about keeping Isles safe, Doyle persuades Isles to use her homicide contacts to tip him off to his son’s murderer, and Rizzoli tries to convince Isles that maybe letting Doyle handle the situation isn’t the worst idea in the world. Isles’ altruistic nature forces her to want her half-brother’s killer brought to justice and they are able to get an identity of the killer. But before he is brought it, Doyle murders him, evidently. The force of the informant is unknown, but my money would be on Rizzoli. She would be devastated to lose her partner in crime. One episode left this season, but something is bound to happen between the two of them before long.

Related posts:

1. Rizzoli & Isles – Pilot
2. Rizzoli & Isles: the Next Bones?
3. Rizzoli & Isles: Boston Strangler Redux Review