‘Rizzoli & Isles’ season 5 spoilers: Official take on Lee Thompson Young tribute episode

Much like “Glee” did following the death of Cory Monteith, “Rizzoli & Isles” has made the decision to not dive immediately into the death of one of their major cast members in Lee Thompson Young during their season premiere episode. Instead, they are going to allow the death of Young’s character Barry Frost to be written in at the end of the premiere, and then have the second episode serve as more of a heartfelt tribute.

TNT has offered up now some of the first details regarding this episode (airing on June 24), and what we can tell you now first and foremost is that the title is simply “Goodbye.” According to the network’s official synopsis, there will be a case in this episode to go along with the memorial:

“A woman walks into the station covered in blood, carrying a gun, and saying she killed someone. Unfortunately, the trauma of what she did caused her to forget who she is or who the victim is. The team tries to unravel this bizarre case as they deal with the loss of close friend and colleague, Det. Barry Frost.”

It feels unlikely that the two are related, as early reports suggest that the writers are writing the Frost character out via a car accident. It is rather eerie in a way that in a show that is all about murder most of the time, one of the most significant characters on the series is written out as a result of something that was never intended to happen.

This is going to be a very hard episode to watch for a number of different reasons, and with that in mind the only suggestion we can make is to have a handkerchief ready.