JESSE STONE: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION - Blu-ray (Brandman/TWS, Sony, 2005 - 2015) ViaVision

Television icon, Tom Selleck was to discover a Magnum P.I. afterlife as a perennial movie-of-the-week fav, resurrecting author, Robert B. Parker’s stalwart of tough justice, Jesse Stone. Thomas Magnum pretty much filled up Selleck’s professional resume, as well as his leisure, for nearly a decade, earning the actor the dubious distinction as the eighties’ raven-headed/mustached pin-up, hairy-chested heartthrob (ironic, in a decade populated by Nair-less studs and blonde-haired/blue-eyed hotties). But it also typecast Selleck as the ‘hunk du jour.’ In hindsight, this all but ruined his chances to branch out into a more meaningful movie career. Despite a few feeble attempts at becoming a bona fide ‘big screen’ box office draw, Selleck’s staying power would quickly fade into obscurity after Magnum’s cancellation in 1988. For some time thereafter, Selleck struggled to establish himself in the failed – ironically named ‘The Closer’ – that ‘closed out’ its brief and disastrous stint after only ten episodes.

In more recent years, Selleck has marked a successful return to television in another cop drama, Blue Bloods, debuting in 2010 and presently in its tenth season on CBS. Sandwiched right between Magnum and Bloods is Jesse Stone - Parker’s sad-eyed and solitary savior of the lost cause.  And Selleck, who basically rewrote the rules of his own public persona with this part, a character-driven tour de force, exercises his innate charisma and talents both in front of and behind the screen. Among Robert Parker’s final works, the Jesse Stone franchise and Selleck are, at least in hindsight, a perfect fit. The weathered, and paunchier Selleck, well past his prime as pure beefcake, is fearless and ready to play to the weaknesses (alcoholism and bull-headed stubbornness) and strengths (an unerring investment to take on the plight of the victimized and downtrodden) of the character as written. 

The prolific Parker, whose lifetime achievement fell just shy of his 70th novel - he died in 2010 while working on ‘Silent Night’ (later completed with a ghost writer’s aid) could count himself among the beloveds in the publishing world; a writer, whose ‘other major’ crime/fiction franchise – Spenser – was transformed into the popular TV series, Spenser: For Hire, costarring the late Robert Urich and Avery Brooks. Spenser and Stone share a common thread in Parker’s meticulous descriptions of Boston; unsurprising, as Parker, born in Springfield, Massachusetts, went to school and later taught at Boston’s prestigious Northeastern University.  Yet, it is the distinctions between Spenser and Stone that remain more noteworthy. While the requirements of a weekly TV series undoubtedly necessitated branching out from Parker’s authorship in the former, in order to meet the yearly quota of 25 episodes per season, the decision to keep Jesse Stone an ‘event’ movie-of-the-week, preserves Parker’s original intent. There are only 9 Jesse Stone novels, and only 9 installments in the TV franchise – all (except for Innocents Lost) directed by Robert Harmon. The franchise’s continuity extends to its supporting cast of reoccurring regulars, and also, to composer, Jeff Beal, who has scored all of these episodes in a sort of low-key musicalized melancholia, perfectly augmenting the title character’s wounded search for inner peace, often with mild humor, supplied by his probing psychiatrist, Dr. Dix (played to perfection by a craggy William Devane).  

Parker’s novel, Night Passage (1997) introduced us to Jesse Stone; the character, taking his final bow in Split Image (2010), completed shortly before the author’s death. From here, Michael Brandman assumed the writer’s mantle, with custodianship of Parker’s literary legacy later passed to Reed Farrel Coleman. It should also be noted that while the first eight books adapted into Stone movies were directly commissioned by CBS, the network rather unceremoniously dropped the franchise before its final chapter had been concluded; Lost in Paradise, made for, and, airing on the Hallmark Channel in 2015. As of 2018, rumors have abounded another Jesse Stone movie is in the works. At this point, however, they remain simply that – rumors.  To accommodate Selleck’s participation, certain concessions had to be made from the outset, the most obvious, advancing the character in years. Parker’s Jesse is a 35-year-old retired baseball player. Selleck was a 60-year-old veteran of television when the franchise launched. Otherwise, the writers have stayed fairly true to the character, if not the plots, of Parker’s prose. Jesse now lives reclusively in the fictional New England enclave of Paradise.  Incidentally, the series was shot in Lunenburg and Halifax, Nova Scotia – taking full advantage of these oft’ moodily photographed seaside landscapes. Despite this relocation, much of Parker’s prose has survived the transition from page to screen; Stone’s back story, as a former LAPD homicide detective, disgraced in his private battle with the bottle, and, the character’s understated ability to get under everyone’s skin, perfectly typified by Selleck, cribbing for inspiration from a small army of teleplay writers, including Tom Epperson, John Fasano, Michael Brandman, Ronni Kern, J.T. Allen, and even, Selleck himself, in collaboration with the others. 

Paradise, Massachusetts is loosely based on the real town of Marblehead where Parker spent many a quiet summer, inspired to write the first Jesse Stone novel. Incidentally, the sequential order of Parker’s books and the order in which they appear on TV do not coincide. For reasons we can only chalk up to ‘artistic license’, the book series began with 1997’s Night Passage, the second installment in the TV franchise (airing in 2006), with Stone Cold – the fourth novel in Parker’s arsenal, marking the ‘official’ debut of Jesse Stone on television in 2005. Sequentially, none of this ‘hurts’ the literary purist’s ability to enjoy Selleck’s Stone movies as their own entity, especially since the writers of the televised Jesse Stone have made it their utmost concern – nee passion – to remain faithful to Parker’s intent towards the character.

An accomplished novelist since 1971, Robert B. Parker, who began his career as a professor at Northeastern University, turned to writing full-time in 1979, swiftly to pen 5 works featuring his vigilante for hire, Spenser (originally inspired by his son, David). At the behest of actress, Helen Hunt, Parker then created Sunny Randall, his first female detective, with an option to transform this novel into a movie in 2000. Although that project was never to materialize, Parker’s publisher encouraged him to transform the novel into yet another sleuthing franchise. Just prior to Randall’s debut, Parker had become invested in Jesse Stone – the LAPD cop with a troubled past, whose retreat to the seemingly unremarkable New England hamlet of Paradise would prove to be anything but restful. Between 1997 and 2010, Parker wrote 9 Jesse Stone novels eventually transformed into the event programming movies of the week for CBS. Eager to diversify his writing portfolio, Parker also dabbled in the Western and children’s genres, achieving critical acclaim in each pantheon.

As is often the case, the perfection in Parker’s authorship, regrettably, did not extend into his personal life. He separated from his wife, Joan who continued to occupy a suite of rooms on the first-floor of a 3-story Victorian home they shared with their two sons, David and Daniel. The boys’ homosexual persuasion has since been credited to have inspired Parker’s sensitivity toward, and inclusivity of his fictional creations, at a time when such diversity was not always popular and certainly, not the norm.  Parker died unexpectedly of a massive heart attack at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2010, his Spenser franchise picked up by author, Ace Atkins thereafter. However, the legacy of Jesse Stone, whose popularity eclipsed Spenser’s, and was the focus of Parker’s final years of authorship, was yet to achieve its television notoriety. The literary franchise later fell to Parker’s long-time friend, Michael Brandman until 2014, when author, Reed Farrel Coleman agreed to carry on.

CBS’s commitment to Jesse Stone extended to 8 movies of the week between 2005 and 2012. Despite their enduring popularity, critical acclaim and an impressive share of the Nielsen viewing audience, the network lost interest thereafter, believing the franchise skewed toward an older audience whose image it was eager to shed. Thus, the last movie in the original run, 2015’s Lost In Paradise was produced for the Hallmark Channel, with an option extended for more of the same and a planned release of another movie in 2017. To date, this subsequent project has never materialized.  Owing to Tom Selleck’s participation in the series, the character was remade as more mature. Parker’s fictional hero is barely 35 when the franchise begins, a former minor league baseball shortstop, hailing from California whose stint with the LAPD is cut short due to his alcoholism. For the first 3 movies, Viola Davis played Jesse’s right-hand, Officer Molly Crane, a character replaced by Kathy Baker as Officer Rose Gammon. Despite these revisions, Parker was immensely pleased with the TV movie franchise.

Jesse’s move to Paradise is seen as a real come-down by all except him, particularly his estranged wife, Jen as Jesse struggles to come to terms with the folly of his own mistakes in life. As far as the TV franchise goes, the chronology is a tad muddled. Night Passage, the first novel detailing Jesse’s past life and how he came to Paradise in the first place, is actually the second movie in the series, resurrecting a love interest who actually died in the first movie, Stone Cold, premiering the year before. Owing to a conflict of interest, all the movies produced thus far, except 2011’s Innocents Lost (not based on a Parker novel) were directed by Robert Harmon, with Dick Lowry invisibly filling this gap to maintain the storytelling continuity. After 2009’s Thin Ice, Selleck and writer, Michael Brandman assumed the reins to take things in a new direction, forcing Jesse from his job and thus to become a sort of Spenser-ish crusader for the moral good, divorced from the law.

Chronologically, the television franchise begins with Stone Cold (2005), the plot involving a body discovered on Paradise’s craggy shoreline by Officer Luther Simpson (Kohl Sudduth), whom Jesse later nicknames ‘Suitcase’. The male murder victim was shot twice in the heart, soon to become the signature calling card in this serialized murder spree. Jesse adopts the victim’s dog, Reggie, while also taking on the unrelated case of Candace Pennington (Alexis Dziena), a high school junior mercilessly raped by 3 seniors – the lead perpetrator/football star, Bo Marino (Shawn Roberts) whose own attorney, Rita Fiore (Mimi Rogers) tempts Jesse with the promise of sexual favors should he decide to drop the case against her client. Jesse continues an affair with the much younger attorney, Abby Taylor (Polly Shannon) who is deeply empathetic to his struggles with the bottle. Now, a second victim, similarly executed, is discovered by Jesse in a parking lot, swiftly followed by a third. Only this time, an eyewitness (Joseph Rutten) fingers a Ford Explorer driving away from the scene of the crime, a vehicle eventually traced to Brianna (Jane Adams) and Andrew Lincoln (Reg Rogers), affluent middle-aged thrill-killers, selecting random people to murder while videotaping their crimes. Alas, although Jesse recognizes almost immediately the Lincolns are the killers, he is powerless to prevent them from murdering Abby. Realizing the Lincolns’ fetishism has skewed to a perverted fascination to destroy everyone in his life, Jesse sets a trap, encouraging Andrew to a rendezvous at an obscure parking lot, knowing he and Brianna will exploit this opportunity to go after Candace instead. Arriving at Candace’s home first, the couple find no one at home and a tape recorder playing the voices of Candace having a conversation with her mother. Jesse emerges from the shadows. Brianna’s attempt to murder him is thwarted, when Jesse instead kills her in self-defense while a cowering Andrew reasons, he will avoid a lengthy incarceration, owing to his ‘diminished capacity’.  

Owing to its ‘out of order’ chronology from the literary franchise, the TV incarnation of Stone Cold underwent several major revisions, sparing the character of Officer D'Angelo (Vito Rezza – murdered in the novel by the Lincolns) and choosing not to reconcile Jesse with his estranged wife, Jenn (heard only on the telephone and voiced by Sylvia Villagran). Also, Jesse’s relationship with Abby in the TV version is exclusive. Not so, in the novel, and the final shootout between Jesse and the Lincolns takes place inside a mall, not at Candace’s home. Stone Cold was a sizable ratings bonanza for CBS, the network almost immediately commissioning another installment to debut a year later. Night Passage (2006) provides Jesse Stone with an origin story, charting his decision to leave California for Paradise, interviewing for the job of police chief after corrupt town council chair, Hastings ‘Hasty’ Hathaway (Saul Rubinek) orchestrates the early retirement of the former chief, Lou Carson (Mike Starr) with a bribe. Hathaway believes Jesse’s own checkered past will make him an easily-manipulated pawn in his subsequent schemes. Befriending the modest police force, to include dispatcher, Molly Crane (Viola Davis) and officers Luther Simpson and Anthony D'Angelo, Jesse’s first call is on a domestic dispute involving Joe Genest (Stephen Baldwin), thug muscle for the Boston mafia. Genest’s estranged and terrified wife, Carole (Liisa Repo-Martell) has a restraining order. Joe taunts Jesse, inferring the order is powerless to prevent his future terrorization of his ex and his family. To this, Jesse humiliates Joe by kicking him in the groin and calmly threatening to personally do him harm should he ever come around Mrs. Genest again.

Shortly thereafter, town attorney, Abby Taylor (Polly Shannon), meets Jesse for the first time, chastising his assault of Genest, though otherwise to secretly admire and fast fall in love with him. Meanwhile, Genest murders Carson by forcing his car off a cliff, before attempting to bribe Hathaway for half of their money laundering profits.  Hathaway begrudgingly agrees, but is later informed by Jesse that Genest is having an affair with his wife, Cissy (Stephanie March). After Jesse learns of Carson’s murder from state homicide inspector, Captain Healy (Stephen McHattie) the vendetta between Genest and Jesse escalates. Jesse and Molly tail Genest to Hathaway's, observing as another money-laundering payoff is made. When Molly confides Hathaway forced Carson to resign, Jesse explains Genest killed Carson to silence him. Now, Jesse sets his trap. Genest arrives at the prearranged rendezvous on a remote dock. However, when Genest tries to murder Jesse, he instead is killed by Hasty in a fit of jealousy.  Hasty’s plan to also do away with Jesse is thwarted by Luther. Night Passage differs from Parker’s novel in several respects, though chiefly in softening Hasty’s complicity in Carson’s murder. In the book, Hasty is the puppet master pulling Genest’s strings rather than an unwitting accomplice to Genest’s greed after the fact. The TV version also condenses two characters - Lou Burke and Tom Carson, presumably for time constraints, and, omits several prominent characters from Parker’s book, to uncomplicate and streamline the story.

In Death in Paradise (2006), Jesse investigates the brutal murder of a teenage girl whose badly decomposed body is discovered floating face down at the lake. Luther unearths a high school ring bearing the initials ‘HR’. The murder, as well as his own past, haunts Jesse, who briefly takes refuge with the bottle, but then consults his psychiatrist, Dr. Dix (William Devane). Jesse visits Abby’s grave. Meanwhile, Healy unearths the drowned girl, barely fourteen-years of age, was plied with alcohol and muscle relaxers just prior to her death and was, in fact, pregnant. Jesse confides these findings to high school headmistress, Dr. Lilly Summers (Orla Brady), who identifies the ring’s owner, William Hooker Royce (Matt Barr), an all-American athlete at the school.  Hooker tells Jesse he briefly dated, Billie Bishop (Carolyn Fitzgibbon) and gave her the ring as a parting gesture. Dr. Summers reveals Billie was an A-student, whose life and academics began to spiral out of control, much to the chagrin of her estranged parents. In the meantime, Jesse must grapple with another domestic dispute, involving Jerry Snyder (Don Diehl) who has mercilessly pummeled his wife (Debra Christofferson). Eventually, Molly and Jesse convince Mrs. Snyder to leave her husband. Jesse learns Billie sought refuge inside a convent run by Sister Mary John (Kerri Smith). The investigation shifts to writer, Norman Shaw (Gary Basaraba) whose ties to the Boston mob make him a prime suspect, especially after Sister Mary John suggests Billie’s emergency contact given to her was Norman.

Jesse and Luther soon discover the focus of Norman’s latest book is Boston mobster, Leo Finn (Steven Flynn), who has a lethal compatriot in thug muscle, Lovey Norris (Brendan Kelly). Jesse and Luther respond to an armed robbery at the grocery store, finding Jerry Snyder taken his wife hostage after shooting Mr. Kim (Michael Hau), the owner. Jerry fires his weapon at Jesse, who shoots him dead, though not before a stray bullet strikes Luther in the head, putting him in a coma. Jesse plays a percentage to learn the true identity of Billie’s killer. Shaw suggests Billie’s death was Finn’s revenge killing for the book he is writing. But Finn reasons he knew Shaw was into molesting children and refused to partake of the book.  Shaw is arrested. A DNA sample proves Billie’s unborn child was his. However, this only proves Shaw is a pervert, not a killer. And, indeed, upon further speculation, Jesse finds Finn did set up Shaw to take the fall for Billie’s murder, committed by Lovely at his behest. In the resulting showdown, Finn takes a bullet from Lovely’s gun, meant for Jesse, who shoots the gunsel dead. Jesse visits Billie’s grave, then goes to the hospital where Luther remains in a coma.

In Sea Change (2007), Jesse is forced to grapple with several major changes in his life. His ex, Jenn, has decided to move on with a new relationship. Luther remains in a coma and Molly resigns from the force to start a family. Molly’s replacement, Rose Gammon is empathetic to Jesse who relies more on his camaraderie with Dr. Dix to get him through his addiction to alcohol. As Paradise seems to be incurring a slump in violent crimes, Jesse and Rose elect to reopen a cold case involving bank teller, Rebecca Lewis who was taken hostage during a robbery but later found dead and buried. Police at the time naturally assumed Rebecca was murdered by her hostage-takers. However, further excavation of the site discloses blood-stained clothes of the robber as well – if, no additional bones. When Jesse questions the bank’s security guard he learns the guard shot the robber – not Rebecca. Owing to his shady past, Hasty Hathaway is questioned by Jesse about the paltry $24,000 the bank claims was lost in the robbery. Hasty confirms, the heist netted nearer $2 million, the bulk funneled through the crime syndicate of one Gino Fish (William Sadler). Hasty wastes no time informing Gino that Jesse is on his case. In reply, Gino has one of his hitmen, Terrance Genest (James Preston Rogers) shadow Jesse.

Jesse visits Rebecca's sister, Leeann (Rebecca Pidgeon), who has moved to California to look after their ailing mother's hospice care, only to make the startling discovery Leeann is Rebecca Lewis. Under duress, Rebecca admits she and her sister plotted the robbery gone awry, with Leeann posing as the male robber in disguise. The guard mortally wounded Leeann. Rebecca drove her sister’s body to the prearranged site, changing Leeann into her clothes and buried her sister’s body, along with the clothes of the ‘male’ robber, before making off with the money to assume Leeann’s identity. When Leeann’s body was discovered, their mother suffered a horrendous stroke. Rebecca blames herself and has striven ever since to make amends by paying for her care. Jesse explains the situation to Gino who does not believe him. Nevertheless, Gino agrees to call off Terrance. But later that same evening, Jesse is attacked by Terrance inside his home. The men struggle and Jesse eventually kills Terrance before retiring with a drink in his hand to contemplate the future.

In Thin Ice (2009), Captain Healy is mercilessly attacked by an unknown assailant, but spared certain death by Jesse. At hospital, Healy confides he was spying on his own nephew, who may be having an affair with his saxophone instructor. Jesse’s investigation is stalemated by the town council who believe his liberal interpretation of the law requires some reeling in. The council is also upset over Jesse’s dismissal of Officer D'Angelo as his crooked approach to traffic violations brought in badly needed revenue. Under the radar, Jesse pursues Healy’s investigation on Healy’s behalf. Jesse pumps Gino Fish for answers. None are forthcoming. He also pays a call on Sister Mary John who suggests prostitution is to blame, and also provides Jesse with some contacts to investigate. Jesse shares these with Gino, who hints the second name on the list, Teddy Leaf (Fulvio Cecere) is the only one he need pursue. At this juncture, Jesse complicates his life by beginning a romance with Internal Affairs officer, Sidney Greenstreet (Leslie Hope) trading sex for info on Leaf. When Healy learns of this wrinkle, he begs Jesse to drop the case. Instead, Jesse sets a trap for Leaf who is framed on a weapons charge – a direct violation of his parole, and certain to keep him in prison for some time thereafter.

Jesse also becomes embroiled in a missing child’s investigation. The child’s mother, Elizabeth Blue (Camryn Manheim) believes the body eventually recovered was actually someone else’s baby, as Liz received a cryptic note afterward, claiming that her “child is loved”. While Jesse is empathetic towards Liz, he nevertheless believes the child is actually dead, as the letter could have been written by anyone at anytime as a very sick prank. Deputy Rose disagrees and with Luther’s aid, is led to Stephanie Morton (Jessica Hecht) who uncannily had a baby boy the same time Baby Blue vanished into thin air. It was Morton’s child who died. Morton kidnapped Elizabeth’s child as a substitute.  Armed with this knowledge, Rose and Luther confront Morton who confesses but also reveals that Baby Blue died two years ago after he wandered onto thin ice, broke through and was drowned. Suffering hypothermia, and utterly grief-stricken over this second loss, Morton sent Liz the note. As Jesse has not heeded the advice of the town council, he is suspended without pay. Learning what became of Baby Blue, Jesse swears Luther and Rose to silence until he can reveal the truth to Liz. The story concludes with Jesse traveling to New Mexico to deliver this heartbreaking truth.

In No Remorse (2010) an unnamed man is murdered as he attempts to get behind the wheel of his car inside a parking garage. We find Jesse fallen off the wagon. Rose asks Healy to look in on him. Owing to her kindness, the friendship between Jesse and Rose ripens into a quietly sincere and mutual affection.  Another murder at the same parking garage prompts Healy to invite Jesse to work on the case as a private consultant. Somewhat predictably, Jesse discovers the first victim has ties to Gino Fish. However, when questioned, Fish denies any prior knowledge, as does his private male secretary, Alan Garner (Todd Hofley). Another murder occurs shortly thereafter. Now, Fish admits to knowing the first victim, though not to have been in contact. Jesse asks Sister Mary John if Gino and Alan might be involved in the sexual recruitment of young women. Instead, Mary reveals they are gay and directs Jesse to Milly’s – a gay bar where the first victim was on the night of his murder.  Jesse suspects Alan may have murdered the first victim out of jealousy as he and Gino were something of an item. Alan then killed two other innocent people to obfuscate the homosexual angle of the first crime. But before Jesse can put the pieces together, he witnesses Alan killed in a hit and run and now assumes Gino is responsible, to keep his own homosexuality a secret from his crime syndicate.

Meanwhile, Jesse investigates several convenience store robberies. He also befriends Emily Bishop (Mae Whitman), whose sister’s murder case he solved some years ago. Emily, having dropped out of college, now works at a convenience store in town. Jesse shows Em’ surveillance videos of the man suspected in the robberies, but she fails to recognize him. Later, however, the man attacks Emily but is spared a similar fate when Jesse intervenes in his latest crime. Unlike the previous movies in the Jesse Stone franchise, No Remorse – the first not adapted from a Parker novel - takes on the coloring of a soap opera with some reoccurring characters adding padding to the plot. There is Cissy Hathaway, newly divorced, who again tries to lure Jesse into a casual sexual relationship. He is having none of it. We also discover Hasty, newly paroled and back in Paradise. He now runs a used car dealership Jesse suspects is mobbed up in its financing. Via Hasty’s spurious connections, Jesse learns the town council is on the verge of turning his suspension into a full dismissal, and worse, plotting to fire Luther and Rose as well. Our story ends with the fate of all three compatriots hanging in the balance as a public hearing gets underway.

2011’s Innocents Lost – the only movie directed by Dick Lowry - picks up the narrative with Jesse deposed as Paradise’s Chief of Police after succumbing to an alcoholic relapse. Councilman Carter Hanson (Jeremy Akerman), who never liked Jesse, puts forth his arrogant son-in-law, William Butler (Jeff Geddis) as a viable candidate for Stone’s replacement. Having stepped into Jesse’s shoes, though hardly able to fill them, Butler is met with mild adversity from Rose and Luther, each, loyal to Jesse’s memory in their own way. The real plot gets underway when Jesse is stirred to investigate two competing homicides on the fly. The first, involves a reformed addict, Cindy Van Alden (Eileen Boylan) whom Jesse suspects turned to a life of prostitution to supplement her addiction after being cast out of a nearby rehab clinic, ‘Tranquility’. The other homicide features an undisclosed victim of a robbery.  Attending Cindy’s funeral, after her SUV was discovered by Rose along a lonely stretch of windswept road just outside of Paradise, Jesse is encouraged – nee, bullied by Butler to stop his private interest in the case.

Turning to Gino Fish, whose spurious connections give up a viable lead, Stone comes in contact with Russian pimp, Valery Siminov (Val Ovtcharov) who likely became Cindy’s ‘handler’ after her expulsion from ‘Tranquility’. Luring Val to his rented hotel room under the pretext of procuring a hooker for the night, Jesse instead kicks this bottom feeder in the crotch, strips and bind him with duct tape to a wooden chair, forewarning Val to get out of town. Undaunted, Val elects to stalk Jesse at his home under the cover of a stormy night. Bad luck for Val. He has severely underestimated Jesse’s need to avenge Cindy’s suicide. After breaking into Jesse’s home, Val is shot dead by an unrepentant Jesse who, having anticipated his move, now casually leans into the blood-soaked and dying man to whisper, “I don’t think you’re going to make it” moments before Val exhales his last breath.

Innocents Lost marked a decided darker turn for the Jesse Stone franchise, further amplified in Benefit of the Doubt (2012). This one begins with a bang – literally. Seeming to have conquered Stone and taken over his territory, Chief Butler re-hires Officer Anthony DiAngelo. Butler and DiAngelo have been called out to investigate an anonymously reported fire on a remote cliffside. Brought to an isolated bend in the road roped off by a chain, Butler and DiAngelo’s cruiser is incinerated in a hellish explosion before either can escape. In the aftermath, a contrite Carter Hanson reinstates Jesse as Paradise’s Chief of Police; his first order of business, to unearth the killer of his beloved son-in-law and Officer DiAngelo. Jesse returns to the station house, only to discover Rose and Luther have since resigned in his absence. Rose has left her husband too, and, for parts unknown, while Luther has taken work as a fisherman, politely refusing Jesse’s request to come back to work for him.

Healy speculates on a motive for the crime while Dr. Dix continues to administer his own particular brand of caustic therapy to shake Jesse free of his self-doubt. Meanwhile, Thelma Gleffey (Gloria Reuben) a sales associate at Hasty Hathaway’s (Saul Rubenik) car dealership, reenters Jesse’s life as his romantic love interest. Again, Jesse taps Gino Fish for answers. From Fish, Jesse unearths a red herring; the prime suspect having already hanged himself in an apparent suicide. Certain he has been fed a deliberate detour, Jesse pumps Gino’s haughty and exclusive executive assistant, Amanda (Christine Tizzard) for clues.  From her, Jesse discovers Gino is not the kingpin of Paradise’s drug ring but, in fact, answers to a higher authority whose name and identity remain a mystery. Stifled in his investigation, Jesse inadvertently finds more answers after conducting a ‘not so’ routine traffic stop of Arthur Gallery (Robert Carradine) who has been tailing him around town. In the trunk of Gallery’s rented car, Jesse finds a sniper’s rifle with a scope and flashlight, but elects to let Gallery off with a mere warning – “Stop following me!”

Suspecting a deception very close to home, Jesse applies pressure to Hasty, who is ultimately exposed as Gino’s boss.  Confronting Hasty with a coded clue - 2AH10 – standing for the date and time of the next major drug drop-off, Hasty orders his people to move up, not only with the prearranged drop-off, but also, presumably, Jesse’s murder. Jesse tails Gallery to an abandoned shipyard where he boards a derelict vessel moored at the docks. Luring Jesse into the ship’s bowels, Gallery tries to assassinate Jesse with his rifle. Instead, Jesse ambushes Gallery, unloading his semiautomatic pistol. The sound of a motor boat revving up alerts Jesse to Hasty’s escape. Alas, he is too late to do anything, his only satisfaction now, knowing Hasty is on the run and will be hunted down on charges of drug distribution, money laundering and conspiracy to murder.  Jesse returns to the station, encountering Luther who has, presumably had enough of ‘the quiet life’ and ‘fishing’. He wants to come back to the force. In the penultimate moments, it is also inferred Rose is likely to have a similar change of heart.

The final chapter, thus far, in the Jesse Stone TV franchise is 2015’s Lost in Paradise – hailed by critics as the best of the collaborations, co-written by Michael Brandman and Tom Selleck. As some years have passed, we catch up with Jesse, accepting ‘unpaid consultant’ work with the Massachusetts State Police Homicide Unit. Jesse is working for Lt. Sydney Greenstreet who gives him several cold case murders to peruse. After some basic preliminary consideration, Jesse agrees to investigate one homicide in particular, based on a photograph taken at the crime scene of a forlorn dog standing next to the body of its former master. Jesse can relate, as his beloved retriever, Reggie, has recently died. Jesse’s first port of call is to rescue the dog from a shelter where, due to its inability to eat, it has been slated to be euphonized. Instead, Jesse takes the animal home with him.  Now, Jesse turns his attentions to the crime against, Mavis Davies - the ‘fourth’ victim in a series of brutal murders presumably perpetrated by the same killer, whose signature disembowelment leads Jesse to interview the already jailed ‘Boston Ripper’, Richard Steele (Luke Perry).  Alas, Steele only admits, with sadistic pride no less, to three killings, leaving Jesse to conclude he had absolutely nothing to do with this copycat. Next, Jesse interviews Mavis’ husband, Bruce (Al Sapienza), who is bitter over the scandalous exposure of his late wife’s secret hobby – hooking for pay as a high-priced call girl.

Jesse come across thirteen-year-old Jenny O’Neill (Mackenzie Foy), a delinquent, smoking marijuana in a park. Taking an interest in the girl’s welfare, Jesse assigns Luther to investigate Jenny’s home life. Jesse pays a house call on Jenny’s mother (Vickie Papavs), empathetic to a point, since she too is an alcoholic. Jesse can relate. So, he offers Mrs. O’Neill a chance to clean-up her act with Dr. Dix, sternly informing that if she so much as raises a hand to Jenny, he will have her arrested on charges of child abuse, and, put Jenny into foster care with the kindly Sister Mary John.  Now, Jesse turns his attentions to interviewing State Police Detective Dan Leary (Alex Carter), the arresting officer in the ‘Ripper’ case. Leary remains steadfast that Steele is Mavis’ killer. So, Jesse meets with the autopsy doctor, Evan (John Michael Higgins). But his interview only gets Jesse’s dander up. Evan is confrontational and uncooperative, leading Jesse to deduce the toxicology report, mysteriously vanished from the case file, was, in fact, scrubbed to conceal vital evidence.

Jesse pays Gino Fish another call. Fish makes the connection between Mavis and an ‘agency’ setting young girls up on ‘dates’.  The agency’s owner, June (Dawn Greenhalgh) denies her girls are involved in any ‘sanctioned’ hanky-panky, but also acknowledge what they do on their own time is their own affair.  From June, Jesse gets a lead on another call girl, Charlotte – a.k.a. Amelia Hope (Amelia Rose Blaire), who left shortly after Mavis’ murder and has since tried to re-establish herself as the proprietress of a seaside café under her real name. At first standoffish, Amelia softens to Jesse’s queries once she realizes he is out for justice for Mavis. Indeed, Mavis was Amelia’s best friend. She was also having a rather notorious tryst with a police officer with whom she was desperately in love. Armed with this knowledge, Jesse confides in Lt. Greenstreet. He now suspects Det. Leary was Mavis' lover, murdering her in the Ripper’s ‘style’ to conceal the affair. Greenstreet consults the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System and confirms Leary did arrest Mavis on prostitution charges while working vice – a fact, never disclosed as part of the ‘official’ report.

Realizing time is running out, Leary turns up at Amelia’s café, posing as Jesse’s friend and fellow officer. Moments before Leary’s arrival, Amelia received a cryptic message from Jesse, ordering her not to trust anyone. Thus, Amelia feebly attempts to stall Leary. She then tries – rather ineptly - to escape, and is brutalized by Leary, then, handcuffed. Mercifully, Jesse arrives in the nick of time. Leary holds the girl hostage at gunpoint. Only now, Amelia manages to disentangle herself from his grasp, long enough for Jesse to take dead aim and kill Leary with three shots to the chest and head. Comforting Amelia at the end of her ordeal, Jesse turns his attentions to Jenny O’Neill, whom he places under Sister Mary John’s care while Mrs. O’Neill enters rehab to get her life together. As the day draws to a close, Jesse, having bonded with Mavis’ dog, retreats to the craggy rocks overlooking the ocean near his home – master and mate, having found a new reason to move on.

The Jesse Stone franchise delivers an exceptionally high level of quality throughout its 9-picture run. For those unfamiliar or with shorter attention spans, it takes a little patience to get into the subdued magnificence of Selleck’s downtrodden every man with an axe to grind. But once aligned and committed to it, the results are richly rewarding. Jesse Stone is not an action figure, though he remains a man of action. Selleck’s Byronic quality is not immediately, or even outwardly apparent. Gradually, however, Selleck allows us to go behind this granite façade. Here is a man who has seen far too much of the ugly undercarriage of life, moreover, has lived some of it first-hand, and, suffered its backlash, reeling from his own vices, only to claw his way back from the brink of self-destruction.  The undisturbed rural rectitude of Lunenburg and Halifax are a perfect complement to Selleck’s inconspicuous acting, the reoccurring cohorts  – particularly, Kohl Sudduth – occasionally underused, though nevertheless, augmenting the series in meaningful ways. It is impossible to pick a ‘favorite’ episode. The series is so well-crafted, each episode dovetails into the next, to create one mammoth and supremely satisfying crime/drama. Composer, Jeff Beal creates an aural continuity, treating each new installment in the franchise as though it were its own big-budgeted/big screen Hollywood fare. This is artistry of a different, and oft’ overlooked kind. But it is essential to our appreciation of the work as a whole.

Jesse Stone: The Complete Collection arrives on Blu-ray from Aussie/indie label, ViaVision in a region free offering we wish we could champion. While Sony has provided the masters here, it must be noted video quality is not altogether consistent and quite often disappointing. Stone Cold is uniformly soft, with anemic contrast and slight color bleeding. Night Passage shows an uptick in overall image clarity but by no means is razor sharp. The wretched blue screen work at the outset looks incredibly dated, cartoony and flat. As the franchise matures, so do the video transfers. But none ever rise beyond a subtle uptick over mediocre. Innocents Lost contains some curious digital smearing. Color is the other grave issue across all these transfers. While the palette is occasionally bold, to favor reds, greens and blues, always highly stylized, flesh tones are waaaay too orange or copper-tinted to be believed. At other intervals, they adopt a piggy pink cast. Benefit of the Doubt and Lost in Paradise exhibit a far crisper and more refined image on the whole. Contrast here is also markedly improved. Could it be the video masters for the final three movies were ‘remastered’ before being dumped to disc? They did, in fact, arrive on Blu-ray nearly 2 years ago, also from ViaVision, in a collection then billed as 'Volume One' despite being the last 3 movies in the franchise. Throughout there are no age-related artifacts. There is some edge enhancement on the first 4 movies. It’s minimal but present. Grain also appears as clumpy and digitized rather than naturally occurring. Honestly, I expected more from Sony. The DTS 5.1 audio is consistently rendered, with dialogue front and center and very solid spatial separation for SFX and music cues in the side channels. Tragically, there are NO extras. This is a bare bones release. Despite the many digital anomalies here, we will give this one a modest thumbs up, and, to ViaVision, the only company to have seen the merits in this phenomenal franchise and present it in hi-def. But these transfers need some work. Sony…are you listening?

FILM RATING (out of 5 – 5 being the best)

Average grade - 4

VIDEO/AUDIO

Average grade - 3

EXTRAS

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