#rizzoli and isles: season 2

[aflawedfashion]

Maura & Jane | Rizzoli & Isles 2x03

[songsintheattic]

[yessikg]

[rizzoliandboxer]

You can now look through my B&W Jane/Rizzles screenshots by episode.

Episode 1 – See one, Do one, Teach one

Episode 2 – Boston Strangler Redux

Episode 3 – Sympathy for the devil

Episode 4 – She works hard for the money

Episode 5 – Money for nothing

Episode 6 – I kissed a girl

Episode 7 – Born to run

Episode 8 – I’m your boogie man

Episode 9 – The beast in me

Episode 10 – When the gun goes bang, bang, bang

Episode 1 – We Don’t Need Another Hero

Episode 2 – Living Proof

Episode 3 – Sailor Man

Episode 4 – Brown Eyed Girl

Episode 5 – Don’t Hate the Player  (In Progress)

Episode 6 – Rebel Without a Pause

Episode 7 – Bloodlines

Episode 8 – My Own Worst Enemy

Episode 9 – Gone Daddy Gone

Episode 10 – Remember Me

Episode 11 – Can I Get a Witness?

Episode 12 – He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother

Episode 13 – Seventeen Ain't So Sweet

Episode 14 – Don't Stop Dancing, Girl

Episode 15 – Burning Down the House

[143bc]

❤️ love Rizzles 🌹

[doomsday-dj]

Alright i'll bite...

Can u share your top 3 reasons why you chose Rizzles for your fanfics??

I don’t think I can stress enough how much I did not choose Rizzoli & Isles.

This is not like an “I didn’t choose the thug life, the thug life chose me” thing except it kind of is. I am Rizzles Tupac. But seriously if you go back to like July of last year, before I started watching this show, I had never even CONSIDERED writing fan fiction. I did not write for fun. I did not think about writing for fun. Writing was completely not on my radar.

I have what I call my kitchen shows which I put on when I’m making dinner or doing the dishes. The key with these shows is that they’re not supposed to be very good. I had tried to do it with Bosch but that show was actually too riveting so I put on Rizzoli & Isles one day in search of a dumber procedural.

And then suddenly I was fucking hooked? And secretly started writing fan fiction? I was like midway through the third season when I started AGVK. True story I took my wife out for a date night and after a couple of margaritas and a beer I was like “I have something to tell you, I’m embarrassed but I can’t keep it from you any longer” and she probably thought I committed a crime or was having an affair for a second.

ANYWAY. This show really snuck up on me. I truly cannot believe how much of my waking life is spent thinking about a fictional cop.

But I do want to answer your question so I will tell you the top three reasons why I’m STILL writing Rizzles fanfics:

1) there is just so much to work with and so little to get in the way of it. They spend all their time together and have barely any men in their lives and that’s just so good. Like I don’t think there’s another non-canon wlw ship where they’re more married. Supercorp is so popular but I’m watching that show right now and had to go through SO MANY EPISODES where they didn’t even interact. I think OUAT has them interacting plenty but there’s more forcing them into romances with men? Idk I haven’t watched it. But Rizzles is just…they’re each other’s entire world. It’s great.

2) we are so starved for butch representation on television that literal super model and girly girl ANGIE HARMON walking manishly is among the best I can get. I cannot believe how gayly she landed this character, it baffles me every time I watch.

3) They’re both just so hot. Sasha Alexander couldn’t be more my type. Every time they put her in a sheath dress and a pair of nude stilettos I practically fall to my knees.

Bonus 4th reason: the Rizzles fandom is small but so friendly and lovely and receptive. I have a couple Supercorp fics planned and I know that fandom is way way way bigger and I’m excited to see what kind of reception my writing might get over there but I know it’s not gonna be as cozy as this little community we have.

As always, I hope you were looking for an EXTREMELY in-depth answer! Thanks for the ask.

[blackbird-brewster]

Meta: Jemily Queerbaiting

With the huge influx of posts saying 'Jemily is gonna be canon', I really appreciated seeing this post because OP was completely correct. I didn't want to write an entire dissertation as a reply, so I'm making my own post with my personal opinion on this. (All sources are noted in footnotes)

Before I began this rant, for anyone who thinks this is anti-Jemily. It is not. I have shipped Jemily for 18 friggin years and that's never going to change. This post is specifically my thoughts about queer baiting.

First off, I need to note that the showrunners (and the cast members who use social media) KNOW what a huge queer following this show has and that's why we got pansexual Tara Lewis in S16 [1]. Which, in itself, was SOOOOOOO important!!! Our first canonically queer main in SIXTEEN seasons was a middle-aged Black woman!!! That's phenomenal. (The fact it was horrible rep, because they instantly ruined her relationships once her queerness served it's plot point is a whole other post entirely)

In my opinion, the 'big Jemily moment' Paget posted about on Twitter [2] (and AJ hinted at during a recent IG live) is simply queerbaiting to get people to watch S17. I know a lot of you are newer to the fandom and I love your enthusiasm, I really do, ship and let ship, but listen, let's be real, Jemily is not going to be made canon. The showrunners aren't going to suddenly say (after 17 seasons) 'Surprise, Jemily is endgame'. This show has never cared about queer rep and now that CBS/Paramount have already ticked their queer rep box with Tara, they won't be in any rush to add any other characters to it.

Please buckle in, I've got a lot of thoughts on this matter --

What is Queerbaiting?

If you aren't aware of what queerbaiting is, here's a good definition:

Historically, queerbaiting has carried two meanings: the first is an act of aggressive heterosexuality to shut down queer subtext on screen while still teasing and catering to the queer audience in advertising, public relations, and fan engagement strategies; the second is an existing homoerotic tension between two characters played up on screen while met with derision by the professionals behind the scenes. [3]

The Medium article quoted here is from 2017, a time when parasocial relationships were really starting to take over social media. In 2024, actors are now only a mention or tag away online, they have direct conversations with fans, and this process has allowed for an even deeper form of queerbaiting.

Oftentimes online, actors are asked directly about certain ships and while some ignore these questions (usually to avoid breaking their contracts or other repercussions), others (looking at you, Paget) choose to instead tease fans about queer ships. She's done this for years upon years and if I've learned anything in the past twenty-years of existing in fandom spaces it's this -- don't hold your breath. In it's original meaning, for something to be deemed as queerbaiting there had to be malicious, or at least, purposeful intent to string queer fans along by teasing them with suggestive content about the ship in question, while knowing this ship will never come to fruition in canon.

The thing to remember is, Paget and AJ aren't the only ones who know about Jemily shippers -- the network and showrunners are well aware of this ship too. When networks/showrunners figure out they have a strong sapphic fanbase, they love to use that to their advantage to get more viewers and higher ratings. Queerbaiting is a goldmine to keep fans watching long running shows, look at Rizzoli and Isles, Supergirl, and OUAT for examples of this.

Jemily and Queerbaiting:

Ever since Emily joined the BAU in S2 (2006), there have always been fans who ship JJ/Emily (shoutout to the old LJ forums!). Way before celebs were just a tweet away from fans, back when all our fics began with disclaimers so we wouldn't get sued by networks, we went to great lengths to keep our fanworks far removed from actors/showrunners attention.

As far as Jemily goes, this reply from Paget in a 2009 interview with TVGuide.com [4] (which has now been deleted from their site unfortunately, but there are quotes on Tumblr still [4.a]) confirmed some fans' worst fear -- the actors had found our fanworks online.

TVGuide.com: Of course, a band of fans want her to hook up with Hotch.

Brewster: I know! I didn't realize that fans make these videos on YouTube? A.J. Cook sent me a hilarious one that made it look like Prentiss and J.J. were having a secret lesbian affair. You know, when Hotch was blown up in the SUV, we shot this scene where he's in the hospital and I'm standing next to him, looking at his bleeding ear. Our director came in and said, "Paget, you're looking at Hotch like you're in love with him. It looks really weird." So now, every day, Thomas [Gibson] and I flutter our eyelids at each other.

This was the first time I recall anyone acknowledging Jemily shippers publicly and at the time (Jan 2009), the show was still in Season Four (just before CBS fired both AJ and Paget [5]). Paget genuinely said it's 'hilarious' that fans shipped JJ/Emily. Even now, I'll see people say 'We know Paget and AJ have seen Jemily fanvids, so they obviously ship it too' -- but those same people rarely acknowledge the full context of the original answer. Paget not only thought JJ/Emily were 'hilarious', but then she doubled down and turned her reply back to how she and Thomas liked to play up the chemistry between Emily/Hotch.

While no one can say for sure which video it was that AJ sent Paget, just knowing they were watching JJ/Emily fanvids sent a bit of a shockwave through the femslash side of the fandom. To some it felt like an invasion of privacy, fanworks are by fans for fans -- knowing the cast were poking around in fandom spaces added an extra layer of worry around what we fans were posting online. Fifteen years ago, it used to be quite taboo for actors to outwardly discuss shipping or other fanon for whatever show they were in, and we fans were usually comfortably removed from the actors altogether.

Of course, now it's the norm for fans and actors/showrunners to co-exist online and interact with one another. This connection has opened new ways for shows to queerbait their fans. Pretty much every show has some form of social media account now and there is no doubt that the people running those accounts keep up with the most popular ships and hashtags. Not to mention that actors are constantly barraged with questions about whether they ship their character with x,y,z, or whether they think a ship should be made canon, etc. These interactions only serve to benefit the shows themselves, because whether the conversation is for or against a certain ship, it's all just free publicity (Why do you think CM now has a TikTok account?)

Every time AJ or Paget say anything about Jemily, the queer side of the fandom loses their minds. But this has been going on for YEARS now and every single time, it turns out to be nothing but social media hype and queerbaiting. Remember this AJ post? [6] Or what about the notorious reply by Paget to a fan, where she talks about how she and AJ held hands under the table 'for the shippers' [7] I've seen this cycle over and over again, so perhaps I am cynical, but I'm not getting my hopes up that Jemily will ever seriously be canon.

It's widely known now, after both Kirsten [8] and Paget [9] have talked about it, that there was an early idea where Prentiss was supposed to be queer, but that was ultimately scraped before it ever made it on screen. For context, please remember, this show has been airing for nearly twenty years. It began in 2005, during the highly conservative Bush administration. Queer people didn't have rights in the US, we couldn't get married, we were rarely protected under discrimination laws, and we could even be fired for simply being queer (in some states). Diverse queer representation on screen was extremely limited to things like 'The L Word' and 'Queer as Folk' (both aired on Showtime, so they were behind a paywall. And as far as tLw goes, that show was extremely male-gaze focused and is horrible in nearly all regards if you try to rewatch it now). As far as prime time shows went, queer rep was even more rare. Which is why Emily wasn't queer from the get-go.

Yes, things have changed since 2006 in terms of queer rep on TV. We have a myriad of queer identities represented in TV and film nowadays, which is why I think it's so easy for newer fans to say 'lf she was supposed to be gay anyway, they should just make Emily queer in canon!' I know this is what fuels most fans' demands for Emily being confirmed queer, and I get it, I DO. I would be all for it! However, I do not, in one hundred years, actually believe that is going to happen after they already canonically queer confirmed Tara in S16. The fact we even got ONE queer character is ground-breaking for this show.

It's also worth noting, that in the time between Paget's departure in 2012 and her return in 2016, she became very active on Twitter. This was when more and more fans began asking her about Jemily and after Kirsten's AfterEllen interview, fans also pushed for Paget to address the possibility of Emily being gay. 'Pushed' is actually an understatement for some of the outright harassment she would receive. (AJ received some of this harassment too, but less so because she doesn't use social media ass often) Back then, neither of them replied to these things directly. Yet, no matter what either woman posted, the replies were full of Jemily stans begging for her acknowledgement. (Did you know 'stan' is literally a term coined for stalker fans?) I remember one time AJ's friend was missing and she posted info on her IG about it, you know what the replies were? People asking her about Jemily. It was genuinely sickening.

Within this context, it was no surprise to fans when Emily came back in S12 , she and JJ's friendship was seemingly erased. The two women were rarely on screen together in the late seasons, plus the writers saw fit to even give Emily not only one (Mark in London, but two, on-screen boyfriends for the first time in the entire series. I personally do not think these changes to Emily's character were coincidence, I saw the hellscape of what people would say to AJ and Paget online and I fully believe that upon Paget's return to the show, the showrunners purposely tried to distance JJ and Emily to dissuade the more abusive side of the fanbase.

Can I prove that, no. But it is the only reason I can think of as to why Emily S12+ seemingly didn't care about JJ anymore, despite their deep and meaningful friendship. I mean, they both CROSSED THE WORLD to go rescue each other in prior canon -- but when Emily comes back, they acted like they barely knew each other. This was even more prevalent in S16, when JJ's main storylines all revolved around Will, and Emily barely looked at JJ in the entirety of ten episodes. (Remember how Prentiss didn't even hug JJ after bomb, but she did go hug Luke?)

So, do Paget and AJ earnestly ship Jemily, or are they continuing the long tradition of queerbaiting us? Who fucking knows, not me. But based on the history of this fandom, I think I can make a safe bet. (Interestingly, if you search all of Paget's twitter for the word 'Jemily' [10] she only has 3 direct tweets mentioning the ship. I don't think it's a coincidence that two are within the past few months since they started filming S17 (the other one was a RT of Kirsten (who tagged something Jemily)

This is all to say --

Just because Paget and AJ have publicly talked about Jemily,, this doesn't mean it's ever going to happen on screen. And you know what, THAT'S OKAY!! There has been this constant outcry (after Tara became queer confirmed) of 'Do Emily next' or 'Why wasn't it Emily with a girlfriend!?' and 'Jemily needs to be canon in S17!' -- as if people believe their ships aren't worth anything unless they are canon.

That couldn't be further from the truth! Fandom is built on headcanons and fan interpretations and rare pairs and all types of shippers. Your ship does NOT need to be canon for you to enjoy it. I will ship Jemily forever, no matter what. I don't think there will be some magical queer plot in S17, at best, we might actually get to see Emily/JJ on screen together again and after the train wreck that was S16 -- I'll take whatever I can get.

And hey -- if I am completely wrong, if Erica Messer pulls a Korrasami out of her hat, I will be ecstatic. I will be happy to be proved wrong, but at the same time, I'm not going to lose sleep over it and I'm DEFINITELY not going to go hound the actors about it on social media.

Sources:

[1] 2022 Digital Spy article about the importance of Tara's coming out

[2] 04/18/24 Paget Tweet

[3] 2017 Queerbaiting article from medium.com

[4] 2009 Broken TVGuide link

[4.a] Tumblr quote from the above TVGuide Interview

[5] 2010 Kirsten interview screenrant.com

[6] 2019 AJ Instagram Post

[7] 2020 Paget video on Twitter (via @karasluthqr)

[8] 2015 Kirsten interview AfterEllen.com

[9] 2016 Paget Interview CriminalMindsFans.com

[10] @PagetPaget search 'Jemily'

[unexpected-character]

tbh if #Rizzoli and #Isles aired this century decade then perhaps they would have been together 2 seasons in or perhaps less. Missmaaam the opportunity. Let’s be real here, they were both fruity.

#rant

[galactic-pirates]

OMG I am dying this is too funny.

Watching Rizzoli and Isles for the first time. Reached season 6, episode 2.

Maura had Jane row a boat on a lake.

Maura goes again later with her new hire and tells him “if Jane asks you rowed”. Now Maura explained that Jane had to row not to frighten the fish.

BUT all I can think of lesbian and arm muscles and how much Maura maybe got Jane to row to enjoy the view 🤣

[sherlolly-siya]

Yk that season 2 episode 3 of Rizzoli and Isles? The one related to marines? Imagine Boston PD somehow had to share the investigation with NCIS .. with special agent Dinnozzo heading the investigation, comparing Boston to Baltimore, flirting with Jane until he meets their ME and the air's knocked out of his lungs 😭

p.s. they even had an Italian mechanic in that ep

[aflawedfashion]

Maura & Jane (& Angela) | Rizzoli & Isles 2x02

[songsintheattic]

i love u blooper reels

[performativezippers]

Ship asks…

What was your first ship and what fandom are they from?

What’s your favourite canon moment for Kacy?

Please and thank you 😊

My first ship that I accessed fandom about was Rizzoli and Isles. But I had incredibly strong angsty feelings about many couples before them, but I was Not Online in the ways where I knew I could do something about it.

Favorite canon moment for Kacy is so hard. Honestly obsessed with a lot of their scenes when broken up, especially Lucy's love confession and Kate's apology, and Lucy at the beeeeeeach!! But all of the episode where Kate goes undercover as a sailor early in season 2 is also CHEF'S KISS. There are so many!!

[ship ask list here]

[julieverne]

genuine question, how much of The Actual Show rizzoli and isles like, open to the idea of rizzles? Like I adore all of your fics, and I would watch *that* show, but how much of it is fanon vs queerbait vs subtext vs actual canon?

Season 1-4 it genuinely looks like they're headed for a Rizzles endgame. Season 5 is ok but they're taking a step back. Season 6 and 7 they're strangers that are sometimes in the same room. The showrunner changed then and only watched the first and last episodes of the preceding seasons - which were heavy on how much these two women loved and relied on each other, so I don't know why so much went wrong there.

Some of it's scripted, some of it's not. But it's not in the good-natured Xena way of 'oh they're together but the studio won't let us show that so we get around the censors' way. It's 'suburban housewives were our target audience but Sasha and Angie can't keep their hands off each other and now most of our audience is lesbians'.

There was a really great recap on AfterEllen but all the pictures have been taken down. But the genuine chemistry the actresses had in those first few seasons is worth watching. This is the ship that launched a hundred fics for me. In the first run people must have been watching and waiting for something to happen and it never did.

They didn't need to be endgame. They just needed to be something other than strangers in the last two seasons.

So it's a weird show; there's no series bible, no two seasons carry the same vibe, one season is straight-up slapstick. There's plot holes in the backstories and the pets get fridged. Watching Bones really highlights how seat-of-the-pants Rizzoli and Isles was.

But despite all that:

Totally Gratuitous, Totally Gay Touching

Righteous Ponytail of Justice

Sasha Alexander in every outfit

Angie Harmon not knowing what a tomboy is and just standing and sitting in the most homosexual of ways

Senior Criminalist Susie Chang is gold in every scene

Hurt/Comfort

All of the above are good reasons to watch the show, but the hurt/comfort is paramount. Terrible things happen to these women, and season 1-4 they generally end up alone at home together curled up on the couch comforting each other.

Quick warning: season 1 is darker and probably better in terms of plot and cohesion. I rank the show seasons 4, 2, 3, 1, 5, 6, 7.

And now, more evidence of the TGTGT:

I'm not going to try to convince someone to watch a 2010 show with no payoff in 2023 when we have better shows. But it has its place in the queer hall of fame for a reason.

And the show for its time did okay. They did have murdering lesbians, but they also had lesbians mums, and lesbian colleagues. They had a transgender judge that was treated with respect when they figured it out as part of their investigation. It hasn't aged poorly in that sense. The show had a lot of potential, and it flopped when they veered away from the subtext. But as a studio that was a risk they had to take - I doubt they had many male audiences and even now most shows still cater to that demographic. So for a show that really was about women - two women that were very close - to do so well, it had to do certain things. But the show had so much potential that never came to fruition.

One last thing - the books themselves are completely different. The characters share the same names and live in Boston, but that's about the end of the similarities. Tess Gerritsen herself seems very tickled and amused by the fact that this bizarre show exists and that she has a cult lesbian following because of it, and I love her for that and I love that for her. If you ever do watch season 7, she has a cameo in an episode which is precious.

[couldcarefewer]

yellowjackets season 2 except natalie springboards off her rizzoli & isles comment and keeps making increasingly gay media references with regards to her and misty. it culminates in a “who do you think we are, villanelle and eve?” while they’re at the cult compound together and lottie is like “uh, do you guys need a minute”

[classicsapphicships]

Time for another Intermission poll while the images for Season 2's bracket are being finalized! This one is for every ship (after round 1) that got over 43% of their individual polls. Some made it to later rounds than others, but every ship on the list came so close to winning.

Why 43% you ask? Well, that's what filled the poll without going over. 45% was half full and 40% was too many for the 10 slot limit. So 43% it is.

And as always,

FAQ, Please read before asking how these are classic