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The
Series:
Ashley: Can I be totally honest with you?
Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson : I'd love for you to try.
While most shows would have jumped the shark by the sixth
season, The Closer, TNT's hit
police procedural, keeps on going strong with no
signs of slowing down. In previous
seasons Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson has had to fight battles
within the
police force with other officers and even her own squad.
This year things are a bit different... she has
to deal with being drafted to apply for the position of Chief of Police
of the
LAPD.
Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) was brought to
LA by Assistant Police Chief Will Pope (J.K. Simmons) to lead up a new
special
murder investigation task force; Major Crimes charged with solving high
profile
murder cases quickly and with as little drama in the press as possible. Johnson was recruited because of her uncanny
ability to 'close' a case; obtaining confessions that ensure a
conviction.
When the current Chief of Police announces his retirement,
Pope is the leading candidate to replace him.
It's a job he's wanted his whole life, and now that he has his
chance he
doesn't want anything to blow it for him.
While working on a case, Brenda is tailed by her nemesis, Captain
Sharon Raydor (Mary McDonnell, Battlestar
Galactica) from Internal Affairs.
She's being grilled about her past association with Will Pope
(they had
an affair when they were both married and working in Washington DC)
and Brenda assumes it's Pope's background check. It
isn't.
It Brenda's background check. The
powers that be feel that a woman should be considered for Chief of
Police, and
Brenda is the most qualified woman in the department.
That doesn't sit well with Pope, who desperately wants the job, and
Fritz,
Brenda's FBI Officer husband is surprised and displeased that he finds
out
about it from a source other than his wife.
With the other women officers now kissing up to Brenda and Pope
not
wanting her to shine too brightly, Deputy Chief Johnson is has more
than enough
drama in her life, especially since she's not sure that she wants the
job in
the first place.
This was a good season, though I couldn't help feel that it
would have been more effective if they had postponed the larger plot
line until
the following season. They've announced
that season seven will be the last one for the series, and knowing that
took a
lot of the suspense out of the search for Chief of Police.
Aside from that misstep, this is another strong set of
shows. One of the standout episodes is
Off the Hook where a member of the Parole Board. Is
it a coincidence that the woman determined
whether crooks were released from jail or not, or is it the beginning
of a
string of killings of government officials?
Wanting quick results and to impress the mayor (who hires the
next Chief
of Police) Pope decides to take over the investigation himself, and
proceeds in
a totally different way than Brenda would, much to her irritation.
There's also a show made mainly for laughs once again, and
as in previous seasons it centers on detectives Sgt. Provenza, and Lt.
Flynn. This time the two officers are
returning from
transporting a criminal to another state when, against all
expectations, they pick
up a pair of hot flight attendants. They
take the women home and Provenza goes into the bathroom to pop a Viagra
when he
discovers a dead body in the bathtub.
The fact that his fingerprints are all over the crime scene, and
that
they he and his partner are the alibis for the prime suspects does
nothing to ingratiate
him with the chief. It was a funny show,
with a nice twist near the end.
The only real gripe I have against this season in the cover
art for the DVD case that is also used on the menus.
Kyra Sedgwick's image is airbrushed and
touched up so much that it's hard to recognize her.
The actress is in her mid-40's and looks
it. That's not an insult, she looks
great naturally. But she's a great
looking middle aged woman. She shouldn't
look like a 20-something ingénue, and that's look that they're
going for on the
cover. Ugh.
The DVD:
The
fifteen episodes that comprise the sixth season of The
Closer are presented on four DVDs. These
come in a single-width keepcase with
two 'pages' that hold all four discs.
This is housed in a slipcase. A
very nice compact set.
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:
As with the earlier season sets, this show comes with a nice
1.78:1 widescreen picture which 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 similar to what has appeared on the last
couple of sets. Unfortunately there are
still
no commentary tracks. There are a few
deleted scenes that accompany various episodes, a brief gag reel, and a
nice
featurette Kyra Sedgwick Open Up About
The Closer.
Final Thoughts:
The Closer is my
favorite detective show that's currently in production.
A police procedural that doesn't end when the
crook is captured, the ways that Deputy Chief Johnson drags confessions
out of
the perpetrators is both compelling and makes for some excellent drama. Highly Recommended.
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