S05.E15: Gumshoe

[maraleia]

The squad is forced to join forces with an over-eager private investigator when a successful clothing designer is found poisoned and his wife reported missing. Jane notices Angela is spending too much money and asks Maura to teach her mom how to handle her finances.

[william0102]

So really what I'm supposed to get from that description is that in spite of Angela's experience running her husband's plumbing business, like she just said in the last episode, and how she did all those odd jobs to catch up on the taxes that Frank never paid and how she managed to feed and clothe her 3 kids on a plumber's (owner) salary, is that she doesn't know how to manage her money. Huh, I guess that's just confirmation that she doesn't pay rent to Maura or any of the bills.

Edited March 1, 2015 by william0102

[starri]

 

Jane notices Angela is spending too much money and asks Maura to teach her mom how to handle her finances.

I give up.  Maybe I'll watch when they return in the summer, but right now I have better uses for an hour a week than to watch their court-mandated Angela subplot.

[craziness]

Hmmmm, what will Maura's financial advice be? Inherit money from family, get a (I assume) high paying job, and then spend lots of money on shoes and build a guest house and let someone live there rent-free (supposedly). Don't get me wrong, I'd be happy to sit down and talk to Maura about any topic, except gross dead body stories. But from what I've seen on the show, she seems to have money because of family and a well-paying job. Maybe they'll start the episode with her making some comment about a great investment that she made.

[william0102]

See I could buy Maura giving financial advice, just on the fact that she has money, buys nice things and donates to charity. She's got to have some idea of finances to maintain her lifestyle and give to charity- or have a really good finance guy, I guess lol. I don't know why I try to make sense of this show since, as you pointed out, the plot dictates almost all of the characters' decisions.

[Scamp]

I wonder if they'll flashback to Maura's telling Jane to go do her "gumshoe thing" ("Don't Hate the Player" 2x5).  I doubt  it.  The script is by Ron McGee and this is his first for R&I.  

Edited March 4, 2015 by Scamp

[rainsmom]

I have ZERO problem with Maura's spending. She inherited her home and likely quite a bit of money; she is a DOCTOR (and brilliant enough to have gotten a lot of scholarship help); she has no children or other blood-sucking parasites taking her money; and we have never been told she lives on credit or mismanages her money. If she wants to buy things I consider frivolous, FINE. It's her money, and I vaguely recall statements about investments and her 401K in the past, so she's preparing for her later years.

 

Angela is clearly an idiot. Maura is not.

[Bastet]

Yeah, I had a real problem with Angela trying to equate Maura's spending habits with hers.  But, then, I have a real problem with Angela, period, lately.  And it's not even so much that she's consistently out of line -- it's that the show wants me to find it charming.

 

I only saw bits and pieces and then forgot to catch the late airing to fill in the blanks, so I'll have to watch the repeat next week.  But this batch of episodes hasn't been doing it for me.

[maraleia]

It's really sad how far this show has fallen as far as viewers are concerned. It's getting virtually no press and I blame the slip in the ratings on Angela being featured more and the Gayzzoli being stamped down.

Also, Idara Victor should've been made a series regular since she essentially replaced Lee Thompson Young.

[craziness]

Please please please please don't let that PI (Jankowski?) come back on the show. Ever!!!

[william0102]

As bad as all the Angela and Frankie crap was, the case was decent. The PI was super weird, but I didn't want him to get hurt. I think that was only because I remember him from a tv show on FOX years ago. Titus, I think.

 

Did anyone else want to punch Angela when she started taunting Maura about the closet? Way to prove that not only have you been freeloading in her guesthouse, but you snoop through Maura's house when she's not home. I guess Maura really is one of her kids now *rolls eyes*.

[Kelda Feegle]

Please please please please don't let that PI (Jankowski?) come back on the show. Ever!!!

I second this and add - never ever make him a love interest for Jane

[Texasmom1970]

Please please please please don't let that PI (Jankowski?) come back on the show. Ever!!![/quote

Agree 100%, he can disappear and please take Angela. She is taking away screen time from the characters and them working cases. So tired of hearing Lorraine Bracco scream her lines!

[Scamp]

I second this and add - never ever make him a love interest for Jane

It's frightening how many R&I "fans" on Facebook think any man has chemistry with Jane Rizzoli.  Yes, they even went for the p.i.  (Every week someone wants Casey--ugh--to return.)  

[Clanstarling]

I was surprised that Jane was taking that attitude with Angela, who is a grown ass woman who has taken care of her own finances for a long time (as pointed out by someone earlier in the forum). Her only splurge (iirc) was buying an expensive dinner for Jane and Maura. This could have been an interesting character piece - since Jane was clearly transferring her own previous issues with money on to her mother, and frankly, being just like her mother.

I've never been an Angela hater, though certainly agree that her character has become more annoying over time. I was hoping they'd play a few grace notes about aging, the way they have with Korsak. There have been opportunities to do that, and they seem to inch toward it, then back away into comedy filler.

But this episode has tipped the scales for me. Snooping in your landlady's closet is not cute or endearing (even if she is a quasi-daughter). Then taking the contents of that closet out to humiliate her is way beyond anything cute. Maura has buckets of money. So what if she buys stuff she doesn't really have any use for. She can afford it. That scene made me hate Angela, and I hated that it was written as her vindication, with no one smacking  her down for doing it.

[l star]

But this episode has tipped the scales for me. Snooping in your landlady's closet is not cute or endearing (even if she is a quasi-daughter). Then taking the contents of that closet out to humiliate her is way beyond anything cute. Maura has buckets of money. So what if she buys stuff she doesn't really have any use for. She can afford it. That scene made me hate Angela, and I hated that it was written as her vindication, with no one smacking  her down for doing it.

This. I originally thought the Rizzolis' dynamic with Maura was somewhat endearing. It isn't at all now.

 

I can understand why Maura was embarrassed by all the stuff. Stress shopping like that is a vice and I'm sure Maura likes to think of herself as having more self control and being more responsible than that, regardless of how much money she has. Plus Jane and Angela have both called her indulgence in expensive things some version of spoiled in the past so I'm not surprised she wasn't interested in getting into all that with them.

 

But Angela either honestly believed the two situations were equitable or she knew that laying all that stuff out would humiliate Maura to the point that she would cede the 'higher' ground to Angela. So she's either stupid or a crappy person, much less friend. And I hate that since Maura would NEVER look at it all and say 'yes, it's stupid, extravagant and overly indulgent but I have the bank account for that. Do you?', she really only had two possible in character reactions. She was either going to duck her head and agree that it's embarrassing and let Angela 'fix' it for her or she was going to turn and run and accept their bullshit. And everyone involved knew that.

 

Not to mention, there is no way Angela didn't know that Jane was actually behind Maura's questions. So instead of talking to her daughter and telling her to butt out of her life, she embarrasses the woman who let her live at her home and was only doing what her daughter asked. Angela sucks.

 

Question: Is Maura actually Angela's landlady or does Angela crash there while Maura pays the bills? I was never clear on that then Jane's comment that Angela would be 'out on the streets' if she lost all her money hit me out of left field. I will say that I've assumed for a while now that Angela's snooping and constant presence was officially her doing the housekeeping, laundry, and/or basic shopping for the house as her contribution.

It's frightening how many R&I "fans" on Facebook think any man has chemistry with Jane Rizzoli.  Yes, they even went for the p.i.  (Every week someone wants Casey--ugh--to return.)  

I hated the P.I. It's rare that I have that strong of a reaction to a guest character (especially on this show) but I didn't like anything about him.

 

As much as I disliked him, I would take Casey back though. At least he wasn't related to Jane or work with her. The one that I am desperately missing though is Jack. I thought he had great chemistry with Maura and her life is incredibly one-dimensional right now. I would love to see her rushing to make a date when work is calling or getting obsessive about how to be a girlfriend to a man with a child. Something not related to the Rizzolis, please.

She inherited her home and likely quite a bit of money;

Total agreement with all of your post but this part confused me. I knew she inherited money (a trust fund was hinted at I think?) but I had always assumed she bought her house.

Edited March 11, 2015 by l star

[Clanstarling]

But Angela either honestly believed the two situations were equitable or she knew that laying all that stuff out would humiliate Maura to the point that she would cede the 'higher' ground to Angela. So she's either stupid or a crappy person, much less friend. And I hate that since Maura would NEVER look at it all and say 'yes, it's stupid, extravagant and overly indulgent but I have the bank account for that. Do you?', she really only had two possible in character reactions. She was either going to duck her head and agree that it's embarrassing and let Angela 'fix' it for her or she was going to turn and run and accept their bullshit. And everyone involved knew that.

Exactly! Maura is way too polite to throw that back at Angela, no matter how much she deserved to be put in her place.

 

As for the landlady question - I was using it as a catchall term. Either Angela's paying rent, or Maura is "only" her generous benefactor (which makes this all the more egregious). I don't really know or remember.

 

I didn't hate the PI as an incidental character, but I was disturbed by the implication that Jane found him attractive.

Edited March 11, 2015 by clanstarling