Wolflover007's Rizzoli and Isles Fan theories
What is this?
This is a place where i share different personal fan theories about the show rizzoli and isles.
What is a fan theory?
These are all taken from a article called, " What we talk about when we talk about fan theories."
It is a wonderful article that all should read. I cant link it but it is good. Bold is copied from the article. Normal is my thoughts on it.
It varies depending on who you ask but the best definition i found was this
A fan theory is a form of contemporary critical theory, in which the audience analyzes the text and creates a new interpretation that explains "what really happened," creating a separate narrative aside from or within the narrative.
What is not a fan theory or what is a weak fan theory?
A fan theory is not something that explains an intended interpretation of the narrative.
Basically anything that is supposed to have multiple interpretations (like the film Inception) or is non disputable in a canon is not a fan theory. Ex.) saying Jane is a cop or Maura is a doctor are not fan theories. These are facts. No maybes about it.
A fan theory does not what will happen. It is based on the text in its entirety.
For example you cant pick say the first season of a show and only focus on that. You also cant predict what happens after a series finale.
Example: Jane and Maura got tickets to paris in the final episode but i cant make a theory about their trip as nothing was hinted at and nothing canonical happens after that episode.
Linking two non-connected works is not a fan theory.
Good fan theories only focus on one fandom at a time. While crossovers are great fun they make bad fan theories unless a canonical crossover actually happened.
example.) There is a idea floating around that Caitilin (Kate) Todd (NCIS) survived her gunshot wound and became Maura isles (rizzoli and Isles)..
The problem is not only did Kate get shot in the head. The next 2 episodes focused on her killer and showed her funeral. Making it impossible for her to have survived.
Not everything is black and white, regarding what is and isn't a fan theory.
Its tricky to say what is or is not a theory. Do sequels undermine the theory by changing the cannon years or decades later? Are these spin offs or sequels even considered cannon or are they consider their own work entirely?
Think Law and order (the original one) vs its spin off Law and order: SVU
Any of the following are weak "theories":
"it was all a dream" or "the main character was dead the whole time" or some variation.
Like do i even have to explain this one. Some fandoms make it work but 99.999999% of them have no narrative to support it and its a weak argument at best.
Now what makes a GOOD fan theory.
A fan theory explains what did happened.
This is simple just like the trip with Jane and maura but the opposite. It explains what DID happen in the cannon. It also does not change any narrative in the cannon.
ex.) Maura saved Cailins life...is a fact but as to her reasoning as it is never stated explicitly that makes a theory.
The best fan theories often spring into existence due to plot holes or unanswered questions in the original creative work.
This one is easy. Fan theories ask a question that was not explained or explained well enough. See example above.
And finally and most importantly.
A fan theory has some kind of evidence for it.
A fan theory must have some kind of logical evidence (from the work itself) behind it. Saying a statement does not make it a theory. Theories must be well explained, logical and make another fan think..yes this could be true and heres why. They dont need to be proven or disproved but make other fans consider your theory. You cant just say something out of thing air.
Example: i cant suggest maura wants to fuck cailin but i can say that Maura has a very odd relationship with her sister due to some underlying thing.
Now with that being said heres the first theory. This has been eating at me for months and despite being a head cannon actually makes sense.
Maura and Cailin are FULL siblings not half or simply put Cailin is also Doyles daughter. Yes this is two differently worded ideas but they mean the same thing.
The theory explained:
After Maura's "death" Hope and paddy dont see eachother untill late 1993. During ths time paddy was a fugitive and hope was working in the war torn balticks. Sometime during the next year they conceived Cailin. In order to protect Cailin from the same fate Maura had, hope cuts off her ties with paddy after forming MEND. Paddy agrees to stay out of their lives so as to again protect his unborn daughter. After the war ends, Hope continues to do humanitarian work and travels all over wth cailin to different countries. Eventually hope forms a MEND clinic in london and raises cailin there for over ten years years. Unfortunately the past caught up to them when a infection (a bacterial infection from africa) starts to affect Cailins kidneys. Despite Hopes best efforts the disease caused permanent damage to the girls organs and within the span of 3 to 5 years Cailin develops end stage renal disease. Hope knows that the student will be dead within a few months to a year without a transplant. Hope gets tested and realizes that she isnt a match. She knows paddy might be a match and heads to the states. Sadly he isnt a match either and hope begins the search for any donor as traveling becomes harder on Cailins body. She decides to stay in boston and you know the rest...the show does the rest.
Evidence against:
Eyes and hair color:
Cailin is depicted as having Brown hair and brown eyes. This is a trait not shared by Paddy, Hope or Maura. Brown hair and eyes are dominant genes while all other colors are much rarer meaning it is unlikely Paddy or Hope have a brown eyed gene. While Mauras eyes are hazel (which consist of brown and green coloring) it is not the full brown that Cailin most likely has.
Maura's Hair is golden brown while hopes is clearly reddish. This is also much rarer than the brown found in most of the world. Paddy however has what is called, "Black greying" hair meaning it is still possible he passed that to his daughter just a lighter shade (ie. brown)
Mental disorder (lack of):
While it is very evident that Maura has some type of psychological disorder: most likely Autism (a theory for another day) Cailin does not appear to have such a disorder which considering the trauma Cailin went through she should have some type of anxiety disorder. Mental illness is complicated as not one single gene can cause it but the chances run higher in families with the disorder.
Evidence for:
Cailin's age:
Cailin is 19 years younger than Maura and while her exact birthday isnt know she was born sometime in 1995. That means she would have been conceived in 1994 a year after the tunnel of hope was built. This is also the year paddy was a fugitive and giving that hope saw him during those years it is very likely that she became pregnant again with his child.
Lack of a father shown:
Cailin's canonical father is never discussed or shown. It is unclear what happened to him or if he even existed. Hope may have said this to not bring up the fact that Paddy is Cailin's father.
Donation:
Arguably the strongest piece of evidence is the fact that Cailin got her kidney from Maura. Now let me give you a super quick lesson on kidney transplants.
In order to match up a donor to a receiver there are 3 test that both must go through.
Blood type test: Donors and recipients must have a compatible blood type or the body will reject the organ. While their blood types are unknown the 2 must have either the same or compatible types. Since Maura got a sample of blood from Doyle. He must have the same allele (letter, A, B,O, AB) that Maura and Cailin have. Hope's blood type is unknown however.
Tissue testing: The nest step is HLA (Tissue testing). This test looks for very specific genetic marker that are on the white blood cells. HLA is genetically passed on through parents to children. However there are multiple types of HLA's meaning a sibling may have none, some, or exact matches to the patient. There are curently 6 HLA's that affect kidney transplant.
For full siblings:
25% have no match (cant transplant)
50% have half match/partial match (they share some of the HLA's but not all of them). These people can still donate though extra steps are needed such as the recipient taking special drugs.
25% have a perfect match- all 6 match and the transplant is very likely to be successful.
Half siblings have much lower odds although it is still possible and parent-child matches are around 1% meaning that the odds of Maura being a half sibling and still able to donate her kidney are much smaller.
PRA: this test is only for the recipient of a organ donation. It determines the level of antibodies in your blood. The higher this number the harder it is to find a donor. This was never discussed so we will say cailin had a 25-30% PRA this means 25-30% of people couldn't donate to Cailin as her body would destroy that organ.
Waiting list:
Cailin most likely wasn't on the waiting list in the US for very long. This meant she would have lower priority as she was both an adult and just put on the list. Children usually get higher priority over adults though it depends on the hospital.
Crossmatching:
This final step involves testing the cells and serum of the two individuals to see if they react. A reaction means that the kidney transplant will fail as the organ will be destroyed. This step consist of 10 to 15 separate test and if even 1 test fails the transplant wont happen. This test is completed every month until the surgery and completed for several months after. If any test fails the organ will fail or is failing which will make the receiver very sick and possibly kill them.
Directed donation:
Despite Maura donating "anonymously" Cailin obviously knows that Maura's kidney was specifically directed to her. She even says it months later in a conversation. This directed donation happens almost exclusively with family members as the odds of a stranger having the exact same blood type, HLA match and crossmatch as a designated person is very rare. Anonymous donor organs go to anyone who matches though matches from strangers are rare. Directed ones dont. Directed donation is actually the most popular kind of living donation due to the high success rate among siblings (they have a 75% rate of Matching HLA's-some or all and a high likely hood of compatible blood type.)
The further you go away from full siblings the less and less chance you have of the match and the longer a person must wait for a transplant, which in turn makes them sicker and possibly kills them.
Time between arrival and transplant:
While it is not indicated how long it was before Cailin arrived in boston and got her surgery we can assume it was only a few months to a year as she started college in season 4 but didnt arrive on the show till season 3. The average wait time for being put on the list to a transplant is 5 years. The only way Cailin got is done so fast is if a full sibling did the transplant. That or she has luck unlike anyone else.
Other little things:
Maura and Cailin have a similar build though Maura appears more muscular than Cailin and slightly taller.
Name origin:
Both Cailin and Maura have irish/celtic names.
Cailin means "girl" while Maura means either: Of the sea, bitter or great.
Being tracked:
In the episode 4x02: Hope and Maura are both tracked by the FBI for money laundering. Cailin while not tracked is threatened by the FBI at her home and locks her bedroom door in fear.
The scrimshaw:
In 4x01 after seeing Maura spy on her she gives Maura a scrimshaw necklace Cailin most likely looked up the bridge and realized the same thing that Maura did an episode later that paddy was involved with hope after Maura's death and that he helped build not only MEND but the Tunnel as well. Realizing that she didnt deserve the necklace she gave it to Maura.
Well what do you think? My first fan theory so i tried to explain it the best i could.
Do you guys think I'm right or do you like the lucky cailin of the canonical show?
Next theory coming soon. If you guys have any theories or anything to add to this one put it in the reviews i love discussion.