Rizzoli & Isles: The Complete Sixth Season

TNT has announced that the seventh season will be the last for this popular series about ace Boston police detective Jane Rizzoli (Angie Harmon) and her buddy, chief medical examiner Maura Isles (Sasha Alexander). And while the penultimate sixth season is enjoyable enough, it also suggests that the series' combination of homicide investigations, family drama, and squad room relationships is running out of steam. The mysteries, which were never particularly clever to begin with, have grown ever more contrived, with this season's including the murder of a fisherman competing in a tournament, a corpse found in a scientific body farm, the killing of a “jeweler to the stars,” the death of a young man who was an online boyfriend to over 30 women, and a case in which the sole witness suffers from a medical condition that makes it impossible to recognize faces. Nor is the season particularly strengthened by a continuing thread in which Jane, her family, and friends are targeted by some mysterious assailant (at one point Maura is kidnapped and must be rescued). It not only remains unresolved at the close—in spite of the revelation of the villain's identity (and farfetched motivation)—but also serves as the basis for the obligatory cliffhanger, which involves a hastily-assembled wedding ceremony that is interrupted by a sniper. Other plot elements—involving Jane's mother (Lorraine Bracco) and brother (Jordan Bridges)—turn out to also be pretty predictable. Compiling all 18 episodes from the 2015-16 sixth season, extras include a behind-the-scenes featurette. A strong optional purchase. (F. Swietek)