Rizzoli & Isles Preview: The Summer Finale “Melt My Heart to Stone” [PHOTOS] 

Apparently time decided to speed up in a majorly annoying way because, all of a sudden, the summer finale for TNT’s Rizzoli & Isles is about to debut. While the cases the cop and the medical examiner investigated in this first part of season 3 have been somewhat interesting, I’ve mainly been paying attention to the personal lives of Jane Rizzoli and Dr. Maura Isles. My three favorite storylines that put some sizzle into this summer:

1) Rizzoli vs. Isles: I loved loved loved the way the second season ended and what it meant for season 3. Because Jane shot Maura’s bio dad, Paddy Doyle, the two started out the season on unfriendly terms. I wish the animosity had lasted a little bit longer, but I liked how the two had to work their way back to each other.

2) Maura meets her mom: First of all, Sharon Lawrence was perfectly cast as Maura’s biological mom. It’s a sad story. Hope never knew her child had lived so she never knew there was someone out there to be missed. Maura tracking down Hope was such a good thing for the character. It put her into this whole new situation and it ended up wreaking havoc with her emotions. She seemed more vulnerable than ever before. It was nice to see her not so perfectly put together. It was cool to see her life be so messy, for a change.

3) Jane’s ex comes back into the picture: I wanted to write off this whole story as one big cliché, but I fell for it anyway. Casey (Chris Vance) came back to town and didn’t let Jane know. It turns out he was seriously injured in Afghanistan and he didn’t want to be a burden to her. I originally thought I was into Jane and FBI Special Agent Gabriel Dean (Billy Burke) but now I’m rooting for Jane and Casey.

Honorable Mention: While I do love Lorraine Bracco, I’ve always felt that the show has tried too hard to fit her into the mix. This season, I really loved her presence. I wasn’t too happy with the Lydia story but who cares when there’s such a great chemistry that exists between Bracco and both Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander. I like how Angela’s basically treating Maura like another daughter.

The TNT Synopsis for the Summer Finale “Melt My Heart to Stone”: When a statue breaks open to reveal a dead woman inside, Jane and Maura must find the killer quickly as the body count begins to rise. Back at headquarters, a new homicide detective is named to the squad. Meanwhile, Dennis Rockmond (guest star Eddie Cibrian) returns to Boston after disappearing on Maura and tries to woo her back. Lydia goes into labor. Colin Egglesfield, Daniella Alonso and Alexandra Holden also guest-star.

Some things I’m wondering about the summer finale:

• What affect will Eddie Cibrian’s return have on Maura? I’m not quite sure about Dennis and Maura. I definitely want her to have a love interest but the jury’s still out.

• How big is the ending going to be? Are we going to be left with a cliffhanger? So much has already gone on this season (Jane’s kidnapping, Lydia’s pregnancy, Maura’s mom issue and her wanting to give up her kidney for her half sister). I cannot wait to see if the show goes out with a bang and we’re left wanting season 3 to continue pronto.

• Will Frankie be the new homicide detective?

• Will Tommy be the father of Lydia’s baby? It says Colin Egglesfield will be in the episode so he just might be the baby daddy. By the way, I love whenever Egglesfield is on the show. Can it be more? He’s my favorite of Jane’s brothers.

The Rizzoli & Isles summer finale airs tomorrow night at 9/8c on TNT.

More Photos from “Melt My Heart to Stone” [Photo Credit: Darren Michaels/TNT]