Selleck Retires Stone
At the end of "Jesse Stone: No Remorse" we watched Jesse arrive for the town council meeting to learn the outcome of his suspension as Chief of Paradise. We discover a little way into "Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost" hat he has been forced to retire and Councilman Carter Hanson has got his way so that his son-in-law, William Butler, is the new Chief of Paradise Police. But never fear that doesn't stop this 7th movie in the "Jesse Stone" series from being any different, we still have the continuing saga of Jesse's own personal issues, we still have those characters we have grown to love returning and of course we have a couple of crimes for Stone to get himself involved in even if he is officially no longer a lawman. Having said that the balance for me is slightly wrong in "Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost" and it seems to spend a bit too much time on Stone's own issues than the crimes but it is still entertaining.
Having been forced out and into early retirement by the Paradise town council Jesse (Tom Selleck - Monte Walsh) is struggling to deal with a new life. He is not the only own as Councilman Carter Hanson (Jeremy Akerman) has employed his son-in-law as the new Chief and both Rose (Kathy Baker) and Luther (Kohl Sudduth) are struggling to deal with a new boss. But despite no longer being a lawman Jesse finds himself involved in investigating two crimes as Captain Healy (Stephen McHattie) wants his help with a case in Boston and when Cindy Van Aldan (Eileen April Boylan) is found death in Paradise Jesse feels he personally has to find out what happened to her.
So by now the formula to these "Jesse Stone" movies are set and "Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost" is no different as whilst we have a crime early on the first part of the movie mainly focuses on Jesse's own issues, a catch up if you like. As such we discover quite quickly he has been forced to retire and is trying to come to terms with a new life, going jogging to create a "new me" as he puts it. And typically this also means we have him visiting Dr. Dix for his counselling sessions which you can see are rubbing off on Stone as he starts phrasing questions in a similar way to what Dr. Dix does. And yes we get the furthering of the storylines with other characters, especially when it comes to Rose and Luther who have to deal with a new Chief who is the complete opposite of Jesse.
But then we also have the two crimes, there is one in Boston which Healy asks Jesse to consult on which relies on his cop brain and then we have a death in Paradise of Cindy, a young girl that Jesse once helped with her alcohol addiction. It is this second crime which becomes the stronger of the two as Jesse had previously ripped his phone out in a moment of rage, Cindy hadn't been able to get in touch with him and so he feels a sense of guilt when he learns that she died on the road heading to his home. Of course not only does this miraculously bring Jesse in to contact with various characters such as Sister Mary and Gino Fish but we have the fact that Jesse is no longer a cop and so investigating things becomes difficult. And typically Jesse has to use his own form of justice when dealing with bad guys.
Now often I would find myself saying that well it's just a rehash of what had been done in an earlier movie, Jesse investigates crimes, deals with bad guys. But the thing about all the "Jesse Stone" movies is that whilst they pretty much all run to a formula and feel familiar the fact that the crimes help evolve Jesse as a character as well as those around him makes it feel fresh each time. The fact that Jesse's own battle with demons is constantly there also continue to evolve him as a character and his relationship with others. So in the end whilst you want Jesse to solve the crimes and bring justice you are really watching for the continuation of Jesse Stone the character.
What this all boils down to is that "Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost" has a few issues which also include what feels like a rather abrupt ending but it is still entertaining. If you have been hooked by the previous "Jesse Stone" movies then this is another good one which like before has a bit of an open ending.
Tags: Jesse Stone Movies
