Rizzoli & Isles last week (July 14th) blew my mind. SPOILER ALERT (for the rest of the post). How could they kill off Susie? She was such an interesting character.
For those of you unfamiliar with Rizzoli & Isles, it follows a Boston Detective, Jane Rizzoli, and Medical Examiner, Maura Isles. Susie was a forensic scientist working under Maura. Although, Susie was a minor character she added another dimension to the show. She had an innocent joy for all scientific inquiry that is missing from other crime dramas (except maybe Abby in NCIS).
I can’t figure out if the actress who played Susie decided to leave the show or if the writers decided to kill her off. If she made the decision herself it seems odd that the episode she was killed off in seemed very thought out and scripted. It wasn’t quite a traditional two-parter, where the first episode ends in a cliff-hanger and the second (or third) episode resolves all of the remaining questions. I have watched many overt two part episodes with cliff-hangers that make you want to skip ahead in time to figure out what happens, this was the first subtle two-part episode I have seen done extremely well. All of the ingredients were there, intrigue (Susie was suspected of being dirty), emotional turmoil (a close friend and college was murdered), climax (Maura was suspended), a twist (the aspiring Politician did it) and a resolution (Susie is cleared and the murderer is caught). I can’t wait to see what the writers come up with next, hopefully without killing off any other characters. How will the remaining characters handle Susie’s death? Who will be coming in to replace her?