Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost

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.

Although the Jesse Stone character was created by Robert B. Parker, and he wrote an entire series of books based on him, this particular story was penned by the star, Tom Selleck, along with Michael Brandon (one of the executive producers). As such, their collaboration has resulted in a most-excellent continuation of the Stone series. But Jesse is not reinstated as Chief of the town of Paradise as is stated in the IMDb movie description. Instead, he works solely on his own this time as he strives to solve two unassociated crimes, one which involves the death of a young friend of his. Unfortunately, Jesse is still struggling with personal issues including his interest in hard liquor. Although there may be several times during progression of the story that viewers may feel frustration over how things are going, everyone will come away from the film with an undeniable sense of satisfaction, and the ending, as always, will leave you yearning for additional future stories. Tom Selleck is an impressive, professional actor, and his exquisite portrayal of this role is part of what keeps people coming back for more.

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.

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.

The seventh film in the Jesse Stone series and not based on any book. Seems that's it, the adaptations are over. I thought it was a temporary diversion, but after the third straight film with no sign of going back, somewhat clear that it won't in the future as well. So only the characters from the book by Robert B. Parker was used to take the series forward with the original screenplays.

Jesse is preoccupied with new of him. He stopped talking to his ex- wife since the phone line he cut off. But it could be the reason a teen girl's death. I mean he's not responsible, but when she needed him the most he was unreachable. So he's kind of in guilt for her death and trying to find the real reason behind it. The police department closed the case with a simple statement, but Jesse knows there's something or someone to blame. Like usual, he goes after with the clues he got and also gets some help from his frenemy Mr Fish. Where it takes him and how he solves it comes in the last quarter.

In the opening credit, it was a different look, particularly the Jesse character was transformed into something new. When the rest of the film was in progress, there's nothing like that, just the old Jesse we all knew. He's trying to be close with Reggie, but it is not working. He's not in the force which is not looking good. Not just for him, but also for the film. Because he is a cop, a best one the paradise has ever seen, but his exit from the force was uninteresting the new development in the series. They are trying with the different things since it left the book, but not paying off with the success the series saw from the initial three films.

"What are you looking at?"

The director for this sequel has changed. This is the first time and I was not expecting that, because I thought that's the best thing about this series. I know the last couple of films were not up to the standards, but seems it's good that they wanted a fresh perspective, still, I don't think the new attempt worked out so well. I won't blame the director completely, first of all the story was pretty bad. This is surely the worst film in the series and it came in the time when the series needed a serious uplift. I don't know, from this position where it will head in the future.

It's not about the film is bad, but it does suit to be a part of the Jesse Stone franchise and that's the issue here. Because I felt it was out of the sync with the series. Those new characters, especially what they told us the dead girl Cindy was a close friend of Jesse is somewhat unacceptable. We have never seen her before and you can't just bring her in saying that's a very important person in Jesse's life. Because we know Jesse since he got to Paradise, so this girl is a mystery. Sorry, it did not work for me, maybe a prequel to that might do the fixing job all the damage done in this part. But I'm not confident about that would happen.

For the filmmakers, this installment is a bad dream. How could the writers did not think to include the flashbacks to cover up the flaws. I feel they should have sticked with the Robert B. Parker's book series. Other than the messed up story, as an individual film, it can be enjoyable. Many Jesse Stone fans upset with this one, though I hope the next one gets better. I'm saying that since last few films, but it is only going down and seems not recovering.

Like Selleck is the only reason this film still watchable. He was wonderful with a good supporting cast. So let's see what's going to happen to the film characters, looks some of the main ones useless here. With the wonderful characters, the makers are not developing the interesting story. I almost lost interest in this, but there are just a couple of films left, so I'm going to finish it off. I hope they can be what I'm expecting.

6/10