A Lost Stone
Things are too quiet in Paradise for Chief Jesse Stone (Tom Selleck - Killers) and with his beloved dog, Reggie, no longer with him it gives him far too much thinking time as well as drinking time. It is why after a visit to Dr. Dix (William Devane - Red Clover) Jesse heads in to Boston to work as a consultant on cold cases, which as Lt. Sydney Greenstreet (Leslie Hope - Never Back Down) is now Chief and Jesse and Sydney had a brief thing it is a little awkward. But Jesse gets stuck in to a case involving a murder of a prostitute which fits the pattern of a serial killer (Luke Perry) who, now in prison, categorically denies doing it. Back in Paradise Jesse also gets involved in the life of a young girl, Jenny (Mackenzie Foy), who he quickly discovers is having a difficult time at home.
It is hard to believe as I write this that it was back in 2012 when CBS chose to stop making any more "Jesse Stone" TV movies and in fairness I can't believe that it has taken me 2 years to get around to watching "Jesse Stone: Lost in Paradise", which was made by the Hallmark Channel in 2015. Now the most important thing to know is that there is no difference in style between the CBS made Jesse Stone movies and this Hallmark Channel version with a couple of new characters making it feel just the right amount of fresh but familiar which I hope means there will be more Jesse Stone movies to follow this one.
Another important thing is that with there having been a 3 year gap between the last CBS movie and "Jesse Stone: Lost in Paradise" the opening scenes do a fantastic job of not only reminding us of Paradise and Jesse Stone's situation but more importantly giving us an inclination of where he is emotionally. And as such whilst we learn that Reggie is dead and Hasty ended up caught by the FBI we get to see that with little to do in Paradise Jesse's mind and his loneliness is causing him issues which in turn sees him visiting Dr. Dix.
But beyond that what you get in "Jesse Stone: Lost in Paradise" is the beauty of Paradise with the formula and a couple of new characters. As such we have Jesse's restless nature seeing him tackle a cold case in Boston involving a copycat murder but also still maintaining a presence in Paradise by helping a teenage girl whose mother is an alcoholic, yes for "Twilight" fans the young girl is played by Mackenzie Foy who was Renesmee. But we have those fresh elements and have Lt. Sydney Greenstreet instead of Captain Healy whilst John Michael Higgins showing up as Evan, the medical examiner, is perfect as a returning character due to Higgins' dry delivery.
What this all boils down to is that "Jesse Stone: Lost in Paradise" is a triumphant return with not only the high standards of production still intact alongside the formula but there are some nice additions to make it feel fresh and capable of going on for a few more movies. Plus of course the actual crime which Jesse gets his teeth into is quite entertaining with a nice element of who did it which gives us a guest appearance from Luke Perry.
Tags: Jesse Stone Movies
