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Monday, December 26, 2011

Who's the Leak on The Closer, Part 2

With The Closer now ending its Winter 2011 season, and only six episodes left to go this coming Summer of 2012, it seems a good time to ask, what more have we learned about who's the leak on The Closer - who on Brenda Leigh Johnson's team, largely defined to include all significant police and FBI on the show, have been feeding Goldman information?

In September, I analyzed the situation and concluded - surprise, surprise - that there was no obvious suspect.  But that's a compliment to the show. I thought Pope was the most likely, though, with an outside, long insane shot that Fritz might want her out of the business so she's no longer in danger so often of getting killed.

Pope in this winter season has seemed a little better a human being, i.e., less likely to be the leak than I thought in September, when the recollection that he had refused to let Raydor stop investigating Brenda was still prominent in my mind.  Since then ... well, he's still a bit of knife-you-in-the-back superior, but a little more supportive, at least, until tonight, when he tried to shove the "Johnson rule" down Brenda's throat.

But does that make him the leak?   Not necessarily.

As for Fritz, he's been as loving and supportive as always, which means he's exactly where he was in September, an extreme long shot to be the leak.

And I feel exactly as I did about the rest of the team in September.  David and Taylor are not implausible suspects, for different reasons, but I just can't quite see them doing this to Brenda.  And the rest of the team seem totally out of the question.

So that leaves us, with, once again, Pope as the best suspect, more by the Sherlockian logic of when you clear away all the impossibilities, what's left, however implausible, is the answer.

But then there's this: could it be that the twist the Summer of 2012 will have in store for us is that there has been no leak, never was a leak, in the first place?  But how then did Goldman get the information?  I don't have an answer for that.  But when you clear away the impossible, maybe all that's left is indeed the answer.

See alsoThe Closer 7.2: Pope ... Who's The Leak on the Closer?

And  The Closer 6.1: The New Building ... The Closer 6.2: Fun Bumps ... The Closer 6.11: Andy Flynn

And from Season 5:  The Roots of Testimony on The Closer and Finding Killers vs. Hearts on The Closer and Brenda Leigh's Niece and Libby from Lost on The Closer and Tom Skerritt on The Closer and Det. Richard Tracy on The Closer and Pres. Laura Roslin vs. Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson  and The Closer Closes on a Fine Note for the Season




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11 comments:

synical said...

My guess as to who the leak is would have to be Flovenza - based on the lengths they would go to make a little more money on the side..

Anonymous said...

The IT guy is the leak. He is telling his weatherwoman sister everything that happens on the job and she's using it to move to a better news position.

Liz Kaplan said...

My Guess: there is no real leak/Brenda is the leak. If you recall, Goldman once mentioned to Brenda that she had even harassed one of his friends, Phillip Stroh. Stroh is the only criminal from whom Brenda was unable to get a confession (Power of Attorney episode), and has since been haunted by it (Eleysian Fields episode). She needs to close the case and finally get Stroh before the show ends. He is effectively her Moby Dick. Thus, I believe that they are using Goldman (I haven't figured out the details of how this might work) in order to eventually get Stroh, and maybe also Goldman. It seems heavily unlikely that Goldman is Stroh's current accomplice, but Stroh did use an accomplice before so not totally out of the question. It's clear the Stroh is a major reason why Goldman wants to bring Brenda down, and that is going to used against him in the long run. I would also suggest that Captain Raydor has had a hand in planning the whole thing with Brenda.

Paul Levinson said...

That's an astute analysis, and is what I was getting at in the last paragraph of my post - that maybe the ultimate twist is there is no leak.

To better test that hypothesis, we'd have to see every scene in which Brenda talked about the leak, and see if she gave anything away. My recollection is that she did not - which makes such a twist even more surprising - but definitely not impossible.

Whitney Joseph Ahn said...

He just used a wire, to hear

Carly Cady said...

It's pretty obvious from the cast of the new show that it's David -- the only regular character not returning aside from Pope. I doubt it's Brenda, since Fritz will make guest appearances -- but it's possible.

jtmontclair said...

I eliminate Buzz, Brenda Leigh, Goldman, Raydor, Taylor, and Pope as candidates for the leak; not subtle enough. Sanchez is too loyal and moral. Provenza is out, also too loyal. It cannot be Gabriel because it would look too much like revenge. Ditto for Flynn. So by the process of elimination it must be Lt. Tao. I'm not sure what his agenda is, but his character could believe that "the end justifies the means".

Anonymous said...

It's Gabriel, but not on purpose. I think he goes home and talks with his girlfriend and she's the leak. She's in law school and the looks she was giving while Brenda was doing her thing were kinda hateful. I think she works for Goldman.

Paul Levinson said...

That's a good guess, Anon - but the leak happened much earlier than we met Gabriel's girlfriend - so if she's the leak (via Gabriel) that's a little unfair to the viewers, since we could not have possiblly known about his girlfriend and her legal acumen last year.

Anonymous said...

It could be Gabriel's girlfriend.In the episode where Gabriel introduced her, he said they had been dating for a year and just now moved in together.

Anonymous said...

I'm re-watching the episodes leading up to the final 6, and I just finished Death Warrant. I still can't make sense of the final scene where Gavin has finished his depositions and addresses the squad. It makes me wonder if it's possible that HE'S the leak. That he let something slip to Goldman that he guessed had happened based on having met Brenda just to see how loyal the rest of the squad is to Brenda. (Stop laughing...just a theory.)

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