Villainess Review: Alice Sands (Rizzoli & Isles)

Viewers just saw Annabeth Gish as Jennifer Dulos in Lifetime's true crime film, Gone Mom: The Disappearance of Jennifer Dulos, which is not Gish's first time in a Lifetime film--she appeared as the main protagonist in A Mother's Nightmare (which featured Grant Gustin, The Flash himself, playing Gish's son, and briefly returned in the sequel, A Father's Nightmare. In her amazing acting career, which includes (among other things) co-starring with Julia Roberts in Mystic Pizza, Gish has played her share of villainous roles, with the baddest one being Alice Sands, a recurring Big Bad who impacted the sixth season of Rizzoli & Isles, before officially appearing in the beginning of the show's seventh and final season.

As the show revealed, Alice Sands shared a past with Jane Rizzoli; born Alice McFadden, she came from a family of cops, as her father and two of her uncles were police officers. Alice joined the police academy and expected to excel due to her family history, but she was bested at every turn by Jane, and in response to this, Alice quit the academy. Alice turned heel afterwards and became a criminal, running an extensive drug operation, though she was eventually arrested and incarcerated for her criminal activities.

Alice blamed her entire misfortunes on Jane and masterminded an elaborate and fiendish plan to enact revenge against her perceived rival. The plan actually began during the sixth season with Alice ordering prison psychologist Joe Harris to enlist one of his patients, Lianne Sampson, to burn down Jane's house, with the arson being committed in episode 6.07, "A Bad Seed Grows." She later had Lianne killed in episode 6.12, "526," and she later enlisted a hacker to get into Jane's accounts and ruin her credit. Harris ended up killed later in the season, and it was in the season's penultimate episode, "Bomb Voyage," that Alice was revealed as the mastermind. The season finale, "A Shot in the Dark," saw Alice getting away with her cellmate/lover, Wendy Allen, which included Alice shooting and killing a state trooper in Maine, though she left Wendy behind and went to her business in New Brunswick.

Alice didn't actually appear until the seventh and final season opener, "Two Shots: Move Forward," which saw her fume over Jane's negative comments about her before facing Jane in a confrontation that saw Alice surrounded by a group of youths, with Alice giving a gun to one of them and ordering her to shoot Jane. Alice was finally arrested in the following episode, "Dangerous Curve Ahead," which featured an interrogation that saw Alice reveal her bitterness and jealousy of Jane:

"The thing about prison is, it gives you time to think: to examine your life. I finally understood that the path of my life would have been completely different if it weren't for you. You stole what should have been mine. I came from a family of cops. Everyone should have looked up to me, not some plumber's daughter."

During Alice's self-deluded rant, Jane stated that she remembered nothing about Alice, who ended up released due to lack of evidence. Alice went on TV afterwards and claimed that Jane was harassing her, but after evidence of her role in the state trooper's murder was uncovered, Alice was confronted by Jane at her deli hideout, where Alice held a gun to a teenage boy's head and threatened to kill him. As Jane attempted to get through to Alice and stated that they could still leave peacefully, the villainess uttered the following in response:

"Maybe, but I'll still win. Because after you kill me, everyone will think you're a dirty cop. 'Did Jane Rizzoli really kill that poor woman in cold blood?' You won't be so perfect then."

Alice then turned the gun on Jane, who shot Alice to death in self-defense. Alice was quite the twisted villainess, and Annabeth Gish played her very well. For one, Alice was immensely entitled, expecting to get ahead due to her family history, and then responding with petty finger-pointing when she didn't get her way. As her story shows, Alice's pettiness evolved into a demented obsession with destroying Jane, an obsession that destroyed her mentally, with her first quote revealing her entitlement and vengeful demeanor. Her final words before her death showed her obsession, showing that she was willing to die out of a hope that Jane would be portrayed as a villainess killing an innocent woman rather than what she was: a dedicated cop taking down a criminal and madwoman.

Gish truly delivered in her performance as Alice Sands; portraying her character's ruthless demeanor wonderfully, while doing an excellent job acting out Alice's mental instability. Her last scene with Angie Harmon's Jane Rizzoli was definitely thrilling, as we saw the depths of Alice's deranged personality one more time before her ultimate demise.

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Click here for Alice Sands' profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!