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Closer: The Complete Fourth Season, The
Warner Bros. // Unrated // May 26, 2009
List Price: $39.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Series:
The fourth season of The Closer presents the show at the top of its game, firing on all cylinders. The writers are playing up the show's strengths (how Lt. Deputy Johnson gets a confession) while eliminating the things that didn't work well (the two-part episodes that were the low point in the previous seasons.) While the shows in this set are a bit darker than the previous years, there is still a nice mix of comedy, suspense, and a few twists that are truly unexpected. This is one of the better detective shows that are currently on the air.
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 want an outsider to lead the division, and Pope has selected Johnson because of her uncanny ability to 'close' a case; obtaining confessions that nearly ensure a conviction.
In the first two seasons Johnson has to win over her subordinates and her peers which she does with her razor-like intellect and creativity when it comes to getting suspects to talk. Season three dealt with real-world problems that police have to deal with, mainly budgetary concerns and a lack of overtime pay. These problems tie the episodes together nicely and give a just enough continuity to make the show enjoyable without being so intricate that missing one show would throw viewers off.
Season Four:
Assistant Police Chief Pope wants to get some good publicity for the LAPD, so (in a move that I can't see happening in reality) he allows a reporter to have open access to Priority Homicide. The first case he gets to observe is a wild fire in
As the season progresses, the reporter starts asking tough questions, like what is a 'priority homicide'? Are some murders more important than others? And why have the cases that Priority Homicide investigates always the deaths of white people or movie stars? This later moves from a minor irritant to a full scale problem.
Brenda faces other problems this season including handling one of her officers when his younger brother is killed in a drive-by shooting. Though he's ordered to stay home and not interfere with the investigation, still stays one step ahead of his other officers and Brenda follows a track of beaten gang members.
Then there's her personal life. Brenda and her hunky-yet-sensitive boy friend Fritz (Jon Tenny) are engaged, and when her parents come for a visit they, especially her father, keep dropping oh-so-subtle hints. "Ya know what I really like to do? Go to weddings."
Every season they have one episode that they play for laughs, and this one is no exception. "Dial "M" for Provenza" has the curmudgeonly Detective (G. W. Bailey, M*A*S*H) undercover posing as a hit man. He's able to get an older woman (wonderfully played by Jennifer Coolidge) to hire him to kill her husband, but when the money, video tapes, and all evidence is stolen along with Provenza's car, there's no case. What makes matters worse is that husband ends up getting murdered that evening...
While there were a lot of light moments in this season (Fritz's sister stands out as one of those) this series took a decidedly darker turn, especially at the beginning of the season. While murder is often gruesome, this time made some of the circumstances decidedly uncomfortable. A high school virgin is violently rapped by a jock while his friends laugh in the other room and a young psychopath puts his pet gerbils in the garbage disposal and turns it on for example. While these all occur off camera, it's still a bit more disturbing than the typical events in previous seasons.
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 fifteen episodes that comprise the fourth 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. The only gripe I have, the same with previous season sets, 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 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 five episodes, a brief gag reel, and a couple of featurettes. The first is To Catch a Lie where an FBI investigator talks about ways to spot a falsehood. In the second one, A Day in the Life of a Homicide Detective, a retired LAPD detective takes series co-star Corey Reynolds around to various locations in LA where murders were committed and talks about some of the cases he was able to solve.
Final Thoughts:
The Closer is still running strong through season four. If anything the writing is a bit tighter and the twists are more unexpected. (Who wasn't surprised at the revelation in "Power of Attorney"?) 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.
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