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 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.