Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost

Fans of this serious deserve a medal for being the most patient fans on the planet. Most fans have had to resort to DVD supplements (or the Hallmark Channel) to even catch all the installments. Luckily places like Office Depot and big chain Grocery Stores carry most of the DVD's cheap. CBS hasn't been very helpful, the first two episodes were aired in reverse order and the latest two episodes (parts 6 and 7) put on a shelf for over a year while negotiating with Tom Selleck to do the TV series BLUE BLOODS. Part 6 ultimately aired with little fanfare in a terrible time slot and Part 7 finally found a decent home (and will be released on DVD August 2nd, probably). Even if you were able to catch all of them on TV the time period between films was pretty lengthy to remember some of the plot points in the continuing story line. The 6th film, SEA CHANGE, for example, the one that sat on the shelf and then given a bad time slot, brought back guest characters from all the previous episodes. Nifty idea if you watch all the DVD's in a month, but not spread out over 3 years. For the record in case you need to catch up, the story order of the DVD's (not the order they were aired or related to the book title order) are: 1. Night Passage 2. Stone Cold 3. Death in Paradise 4. Sea Change 5. Thin Ice 6. No Remorse 7. Innocents Lost. So are they worth it? Yes. They are character-driven moody dramas with just enough quirky moments to add some jokeless humor. Jesse Stone is a cop and a drunk who goes from being an LAPD robbery-homicide detective to police chief of a small town in Massachusetts. He solves all the cold cases (unsolved crimes), including the grisly ones that no one in town even knew existed, merely as a way to pass the boredom. This actually upsets the status quo of townsfolk that would rather leave their not-so-peaceful past buried. Story lines unexpectedly spill into sequel films making this a continuous story-line series.

It's hard to do justice to Jesse Stone watching it on commercial TV: so far I have held out for the DVDs but the ending of the excellent last episode was so suspenseful, I couldn't wait. The greatest strength of this series has always been the subtle characterizations - of course Jesse himself, but also Suitcase, Rose, Dix, Healy, Hasty, Hanson, D'Angelo and Doc Perkins - all brilliantly drawn and acted, without any need to go overboard. Yet, this time, I felt there was a bit too much dependence on past character development and a rehashing of a lot of their old lines (Hasty, for example, must always say "I'm very fond of you, Jesse"): I didn't find any of the new appearances were particularly engaging; with the possible exception of the wonderfully odious new Chief (sorry I didn't get his name), they seemed rather a grey lot - and the issue here is direction and screenplay, not acting.

The end was a bit too sudden for me and, yet again, we must wait for the next episode before a number of loose ends get resolved (including the main plot-line). Actually, my channel concluded so abruptly that there were no end credits and I didn't realize it was over. Robert Harmon builds atmosphere brilliantly, the screenplay is witty and taut (but rather less so this time) and some clever in-jokes with Jesse using Dr. Dix's "what do you think of that?" At times it teeters on the edge of sentimentality with Jesse almost weeping and Gino Fish becoming almost affectionate – on the edge, I say, but certainly not over it.

It's not the best episode but I hugely look forward to seeing it on DVD and may then be obliged to revise some of my first impressions.

The synopsis here is incorrect, by the way, when is says that Jesse is reinstated.

I missed the last Jesse Stone movie, but hope to see it when it is repeated. This may affect my knowledge of what is going on.

Jesse is no longer police chief of Paradise. He is now averaging two drinks a night, which seems fine to him. And while he had talked to ex-wife Jen every night since their divorce, he has not spoken to her in three weeks. This may be because he threw the phone and broke it, and he doesn't get cell phone reception where he lives. Also, he hasn't seen Dr. Dix in three weeks. But he gets a request to help the Massachusetts state homicide detectives once again. Soon after that, he is back in Dr. Dix's office trying to justify his continued drinking and deal with other problems.

The new chief is William Butler, who doesn't seem especially well-suited for this small town. He is nice enough as he takes over from acting chief Simpson (D'Angelo is gone), but he calls everyone "detective" even though Paradise is too small to have detectives. He makes Rose the dispatcher and has a conflict with Simpson over whether to give the town a positive image rather than telling the truth. And he certainly doesn't make a positive impression on Stone.

While driving to Stone's house, Rose finds Rutherford College student Cindy Van Aldan (Eileen Boylan) dead inside her car on the side of the road. Stone once arrested Cindy for drug use and made her spend the night in jail; we see their relationship through flashbacks. Officially, this appears to be a suicide, but Stone has doubts.

In Boston, Stone is asked to help with the case of Charles Morris, a black man who insists he is innocent of holding up a liquor store. Stone thinks Charles is the victim of racism. Stone, incidentally, has a light-skinned black girlfriend these days, Thelma, who is younger than some of his hats but has children in college.

Stone asks to be given a badge and official title by the state homicide department, but of course Stone is not known for following the rules. He uses his badge to look into Cindy's case. Cindy spent time at Tranquility, an expensive rehab facility which Sister Mary John says doesn't accomplish anything. Dr. Parkinson (Mark Blum), who just happens to live in Paradise and knows Stone is a potential patient, won't give out any more information than he has to.

Eventually, Stone manages to make progress on both his cases. But does he accomplish enough to get back on Paradise's police force and send William packing?

People who are new to Jesse Stone's character, and especially those who get bored easily, should probably skip the first few minutes. But the excitement level builds, at least for those interested in solving a mystery or two rather than gunfire and explosions. While there is some of that second type of excitement at the end, this movie is really for those who want to see Tom Selleck's talent playing a flawed but intelligent cop getting things done that others can't. These movies tend to spend more time looking closely at Stone's character than actually solving crimes. And that can be a good thing.

This movie lives up to the reputation the other Jesse Stone movies have established. It is not based on any of Robert Parker's books directly, but on the character. And there are plenty of other good performances.

I read that Chief Stone gets re-instated. I kept waiting for it to happen within the last half hour of the program. I suppose he might be re-instated by the next film. Reggie did a superb job of acting, as always. He has an impressive resume.

I'm glad some things haven't changed, the excellent music by Jeff Beal (I asked him if I could purchase his soundtrack and he sent it to me free via Amazon), William Devane is still the doc, the usual characters were there which is a treat.

The station didn't allow the end credits to roll. Felt like the show ended two minutes too soon. Don't rush the audience. This is why viewing via DVD is much more satisfying.

I hope the next movie will be done this year.

Involuntarily retired and struggling to adjust to his new life. Jesse tries to cope rather predictably by drinking too much and isolating himself more than usual. We see a vulnerability to him that hasn't been explored to this degree before and it's interesting. Innocents Lost (2011) is one of the better movies in the series in my opinion and the ending is top notch. The only downside are the use of flashbacks.

👍 The unpopular William Butler stirring things up as the new police chief was great. 👍 Plenty Jesse and Reggie scenes. 👍 Great ending. 👎 Not much of Suitcase in this one. 👎 Cast change. Jeff Geddis replaces Gary Levert in the role of William Butler. 👎 Saul Rubinek (Hasty) saying "I'm very fond of you, Jesse." Twice per movie now is just overkill.