The Series:
At the end of the second season of The Closer, I was a little
worried. They wrapped the show up with a rather odd two-part story
where Deputy Chief Johnson is nearly fired and has to work for the CIA
tracking down spies. I was afraid that the show had jumped the shark,
but that turns out not to be the case. This season serves up another
set of gripping and enjoyable shows and only falls in the two-part finale.
(Maybe they should stop doing those.)
Series background:
Brenda Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) has been brought to LA from Atlanta by
L.A. by Assistant Police Chief Will Pope (J.K. Simmons) to lead up a new
special murder investigation task force; Priority Homicide. In the
TV world as in real life, the LAPD has taken it on the chin by blowing
some high profile murder cases, and the bad publicity has lead to the creation
of this new unit. They wanted an outsider to be at the head, and
Pope has selected Johnson because of her uncanny ability to 'close' a case;
obtaining confessions that nearly ensure a conviction.
The problem is that everyone under her resents her because she's a female
and an outsider. Her abrasive personality, she's more concerned with
solving a crime than being nice, doesn't help the situation and neither
does the fact that she's very, very good at her job. This last bit
really galls Capt. Taylor (Robert Gossett), head of robbery and homicide.
He set up the unit Johnson is now heading under the assumption that he
would be leading it, and to add insult to injury, she out ranks him.
One of the strongest parts of the first two seasons of this show was
that there were overall story arcs that connected the shows. In the
first year Brenda had to win over of her squad, a group of officers who
did not want to be subordinate to a bitchy woman. The second season
illustrated how she managed to convince the rest of the LAPD, especially
Capt. Taylor, that her ability to close difficult cases wasn't just the
result of luck.
Season Three:
While Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson is not arguing with her subordinates
or peers this season, that doesn't mean that everything's rosy at the LAPD.
The biggest problem she faces in solving crimes this season isn't wily
criminals but budget cuts. With money being tight, everyone has to
make sacrifices and Brenda is ordered to either transfer one of her staff
to the counter-terrorism unit (which is getting sufficient funds from Washington)
or to make one of her officers take early retirement. The only one
who qualifies for the later is the curmudgeonly Detective Provenza (G.
W. Bailey, M*A*S*H). In addition, there is to be no overtime for
the investigators, something that won't be a problem as long as people
are only killing on Monday through Friday from 8-5.
While the friction between Johnson and Pope over budgetary issues isn't
as immediate and engaging as the problems she had in previous seasons,
it does provide for some comic moments. The scenes of the unsuspecting
Chief walking into a full squad room on, say, a Sunday afternoon are great,
especially since J.K. Simmons has such a wonderful ability to show the
frustration of being between a rock and a hard place in a restrained yet
realistic way. How do you tell a group of police NOT to work on a
high profile case because it's a weekend?
As in the previous seasons, this set of episodes has variety to different
styles and they all work well (with the exception of the season-ending
two-parter. More on that later.) There is are some installments
that are wonderful mysteries like The Round File, where an old man claims
to be a serial killer, and even gives the police the names of six people
he's poisoned, but won't reveal his own identity. In Manhunt a serial
killer who has been quiet for years starts leaving bodies on the beach....near
one of the most travels highways in the country with on one noticing him.
Some of the greatest episodes that this show has produced over the
past three years are the one that examine the gray area between 'good'
and 'bad'. In this set, Rudy is an emotionally riveting episode where
a 10-year-old girl never arrives home from school one afternoon and there's
evidence that she was in the van of a convicted sex offender. She's
still missing though, and he's not talking. Lt. Gabriel decides to
beat the location of the girl out of the suspect. While that is wrong
are the steps that others take in reaction to the beating, which turn out
to be more damaging to the suspect, worse even though they are not illegal?
Of course not all of the programs are serious; there are a couple of
light shows too. One of the best is Saving Face, where Provenza and
detective Flynn (Anthony Denison) are serving as pall bearers at a retired
officer's funeral. They manage to drop the coffin while coming down
a flight of stairs, the casket opens up, and the body of a dead prostitute
rolls out. To make matters worse, there's a wedding in the church
following the funeral. When the bride discovers that Deputy Chief
Johnson will not remove the dead bodies laying in front of the church until
she's done with her investigation, she attacks in full wedding attire.
They show also mixes up its format a bit for a two part story near the
end of the season; 'Till Death Do Us Part. Instead of following the
detectives as they go through their investigation, this story follows the
trial and shows the investigation and Johnson and others are on the witness
stand. What makes this episodes so intriguing is that Brenda isn't
really sure that she has the right person, and with the only evidence (and
flimsy evidence at that) not admissible in court do to a botched search
warrant this very public trial may blow up in her face.
The only real dud of a story in this season was the season finale.
This two parter has Brenda and her hunky-yet-sensitive boy friend Fritz
(Jon Tenny) traveling to her home in Atlanta chasing a criminal over the
Christmas holidays. When the perp, who is apprehended, announces
that he has a bomb before getting on the plane back, Brenda, Fritz, Provenza
and Flynn (don't ask how they got to Atlanta) all end up driving cross
country with Brenda's parents in their RV as she tries to pry a confession
out of the man. While I appreciate them trying something different,
this episode just didn't work. It was contrived and silly without
being funny or charming. The ending was particularly unsatisfying.
Well, I guess they're entitled to one bad story per season.
Like the previous seasons, this was a great set of shows. The
mysteries were all worth while and the interaction between the various
cast members really brought the show to life. The only real change
is that Brenda's personality has been tamed a bit. In the past she
didn't suffer fools gladly, and was likely to lash out at someone who could
help her if they weren't doing their job perfectly. They removed
that this year, and there's only really one time that her sharp tongue
came into play and that was aimed at a gang leader.
As I've come to expect from the show, the acting is superb across the
board. Kyra Sedgwick has won an armful of awards for her portrayal
of Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson, and she deserves all of them. As
I said of her performance in the first season, she manages to walk that
fine line of being hard and professional yet feminine and vulnerable also.
It's a meaty part, with her character having to come across as very competent
yet also worried about the problems in her professional life and she's
more than up to the task. Not always relying on dialog, Sedwick makes
Brenda Johnson live through her actions such as the way she eats Hostess
Ding Dongs and the near sybaritic pleasure she get from consuming them.
The rest of the ensemble cast is terrific too. J.K. Simmons deserves
special mention for an outstanding job. If you've ever seen him in
Oz, where he plays a vicious and sadistic white supremacist, you'll be
astounded at the job he does here. The contrast here can't be more
apparent. A consummate actor, he brings a lot of humor and warmth
to the show.
The DVD:
The fourteen episodes that comprise the third season of The Closer
are presented on four DVDs. These come in a pair of thinpak cases
which are housed in a slipcase. A very nice compact set, slightly
thicker than a single standard DVD case. The only gripe I have is
that Kyra Sedgwick's photo on the cover, as well as on the DVD menus, has
been heavily touched up to make her look like a blond bombshell.
That's too bad because that's not the role she plays in the show, and she
looks great naturally.
Audio:
This series comes with a DD 5.1 English soundtrack, which fits the show
well. The dialog is clear and the range is adequate. There
is some use of the soundstage, but since this is a dialog based show much
of the audio is firmly centered on the screen thought he surrounds are
employed at times. The only subtitles available are French and Spanish.
Inexplicably there are no English subtitles.
Video:
This show comes with a nice 1.78:1 widescreen picture, and unlike the
last season's DVD set, this one is anamorphically enhanced. The image
looked very good. The colors were strong, the image was sharp and
the detail was fine. The show was a tad dark in some places, and
there is some grain but that is undoubtedly the way the creators intended
it. On the digital side, there was a bit of aliasing present in the
background, but this was minor.
Extras:
The extras are a little slim this time around. Unfortunately there
are still no commentary tracks. There are a few deleted scenes that
accompany four episodes, a brief gag reel, and a short featurette; The
Art of Interrogation. This last bonus item features interviews with
really police interrogators and psychologists who talk about some of the
tricks of the trade that they use and the science of getting someone to
talk. These interviews are interspersed with clips from the show.
This comes on the first disc, but don't watch it until you've seen the
whole season. It has several spoilers and will ruin the end of more
than one episode.
Final Thoughts:
In its third season, The Closer is still running strong.
It is an excellent show with well thought out scripts, interesting stories,
developed characters, and some very funny moments. The ensemble cast
is stellar and the cases they investigate are engrossing. Fans who enjoyed
the first two seasons will want to watch this one two. Highly
Recommended.
Buy: