Major Crimes Comes To An End

Major Crimes comes to an end next week - on TNT television, that is, not in our world, which is why Major Crimes is in italics and initial caps, and why its passing is an occasion for regret not jubilation.

It’s been an unlikely and really good series. Kyra Sedgwick was outstanding as the police head of her unit closer in The Closer . What were the chances that she could leave the show, be replaced by a character who started as her opponent, with the rest of the cast the same, and we get an equally impressive and different top-notch police show?

Mary McDonnell who replaced Sedgwick with her own power and charm equalized the odds, and the tightly plotted cases that followed were a treat for the intellect. In addition, evil masterminds like Stroh who strode across seasons tied the characters and episodes together.  G. W. Bailey’s Lt. Provenza and Tony Denison’s Lt. Flynn were even more impressive in the second series, and Raymond Cruz created a truly memorable character with his Detective then Sgt. Julio Sanchez, as did Michael Paul Chan as Det. Lt. Mike Tao.

They’ve been some real surprises in the past few hours and I don’t want to spoil any of that for you. So I’ll recommend Major Crimes for your viewing, and The Closer before that. Take your time, you’ll be in for a treat. And don’t miss the finale next Tuesday!

The New Knife in the O.J. Simpson Case: Reality and Fiction

In the amazing amalgam of reality and docudrama which is one of the hallmarks of our time, we have the just-concluded news conference in Los Angeles in which a police captain announced the recovery of a knife which may or may not have been the weapon in the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman in 1994.

Among the questions which immediately come to mind is why was the knife turned over to the LA Police Department now, having been in the possession of a retired police officer for many years?  Is it a coincidence that a superb docudrama, The People vs. O. J. Simpson, has been airing every week on the FX Channel?  Probably not - if someone had any conceivably relevant evidence to the case, and had been watching that docudrama, with spot-on brilliant acting of all the many major players in that case, keeping that evidence to yourself would be very difficult.   So, if the knife turns out to be the murder weapon - a designation which will depend upon whatever DNA is recoverable from the weapon - we can score one for docudrama for helping the cause of justice.   It would mean that sensationalism is not incompatible with the discovery of truth, and can indeed aid in that pursuit.

Some of the most important people in the story - notably defense attorneys Johnnie Cochran and Robert Kardashian - are no longer with us. But Kardashian's role in the trial in effect launched the bigger careers of his daughters, and other original players continue in this surreal admixture of fiction and reality.  Gil Garcetti, Los Angeles DA at the time of the murder and the subsequent trial, is currently consulting producer on TNT's series, Major Crimes (having previously served the same role in the parent of that series, The Closer).  His son Eric made an appearance as a fictional mayor of Los Angeles on Major Crimes, and is currently actually the mayor of Los Angeles.

O.J. was acquitted in the criminal trial, which means he can't be put back up on trial for the crime again, even if the DNA on the knife points to him as the killer of Nicole Simpson and Ron Brown. But if a friend or family member hid the knife, which turns out to be the murder weapon, that person could be charged for obstruction of justice, etc.  Meanwhile, O.J.'s in prison now anyway, for an unrelated crime, in Nevada - which some allege O. J. was set up for.   He was also found liable in a civil trial related to the murders, in which Daniel Petrocelli represented the family of Ron Goldman.   And one of Petrocelli's current clients is ... Donald Trump, whom Petrocelli is defending in a lawsuit against Trump University in California.

The O. J. Simpson case heralded the dawn of a new age in television - an age of extensive, continuing coverage of news on cable television.   Some of that edge has been taken up by social media.  But when news of the knife broke a few hours ago, we not only were transported back to 1994 and 1995, but to the roiling age of cable television.   Good to be back? Well, I like our current mix of social media and cable a little better, but it's good to see that cable still has some kick, and I'll stay tuned for more from Los Angeles - from both the current police, as well as the docudrama on television.

The Closer Opens into Major Crimes

A very smooth and satisfying segue last night as The Closer closed for good and Major Crimes opened for business.

The best part, for me, is that Gabriel is ok.  He won't be on Major Crimes not because anything bad happened to him, but because Brenda took him with her to her new position in the LA DA's office.

Which, of course, is good news about Brenda for us, too.  Contrary to a lot of what's been said or implied in cast interviews, Brenda could indeed come back for a guest appearance - just as Fritz in fact did last night in Major Crimes.

But the new show will significantly different in tone and storyline from the original, if only because Raydor is so different from Brenda.   The Captain speaks softly, is much of a team player than Brenda, but gets things done and has a heart of gold, too.  She doesn't have Brenda's sweet tooth, but seems every bit as good as Brenda in sweet talking.

The kid who was with Brenda when she shot Stroh - in self defense, and whom Brenda promised about finding his mother - will continue in Major Crimes, indeed under the same domestic roof as Raydor, who also promises to find his mother.  Rusty (the kid's name) looks to be a good addition to the mix.

Beyond that, the emphasis of the new show and remade unit will be not on getting not confessions but convictions.  We'll likely see more courtrooms than in The Closer, and of course more lawyers.

Law and Order: LA had a tough time of it.  I expect Major Crimes with its lighter touch to fare much better.

See also:  The Closer 7.2: Pope ... Who's The Leak on the Closer? ... Who's The Leak on The Closer, Part 2 ... Penultimate 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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The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

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Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ...

Penultimate Closer

And in the next-to-last ever Closer, we find out who the leak was: Gabriel's fiance.

The big advantage of this solution is that it explain how Gabriel - who we know was deeply disturbed about how Brenda Leigh left Terrell Baylor to die, but who we also know is loyal to her to the core - could have been the source of the leak.  He didn't know that he had leaked anything.  He expressed misgivings about the fate of Baylor to the woman Gabriel loved, and never imagined she would pass that and much more that Gabriel told her over to Goldman.

The one weakness in this otherwise fine and satisfying resolution to the central mystery of The Closer is that the fiance was a rabbit pulled out of a hat, first introduced just a few episodes ago.  This gave the viewers no chance to include her in the realm of suspects for the leak until very recently.  Had we seen her, even briefly, around the time Baylor met his end,  then her perfidy would have a thoroughly great - and fair -  twist.

But it was still effective, and the scenes with her and Gabriel, with Gabriel and Brenda, with Gabriel and the squad, were among the best in the series.  Predictably and powerfully, Sanchez is the only one who doesn't forgive him.  Provenza is the first to accept Gabriel's apology - Provenza has been there as far as talking too much to women in his life.   Flynn is the last to accept Gabriel's apology, but still holds Gabriel responsible, and suggests he put in for a transfer.

Gabriel attempts to resign outright, but Brenda won't have it.  So what will be Gabriel's fate?  He's apparently - based on the coming attractions - not in Major Crimes.  I hope he at least survives the final Closer, and puts in an appearance from time to time in its successor show.

See also:  The Closer 7.2: Pope ... Who's The Leak on the Closer? ... Who's The Leak on The Closer, Part 2

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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The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

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Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ...

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 also:  The 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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The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

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Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ...

Prime Suspect

Prime Suspect on NBC has been getting some excellent press - as has its star, Maria Bello as NYPD Det. Jane Timoney - and it's all deserved.   Timoney is a sassy, take-no-guff, courageous, bright, fearless police woman who may be the best police woman on television since ... well, Angie Dickinson as Police Woman.

And the supporting cast is stellar, too.  Kirk Acevedo (from Fringe) as Det. Calderon, Brian F. O'Byrne (from Brotherhood and Flashforward), Kenny Johnson (Lem from The Shield!) as Jane's love, and Aidan Quinn (Legends of the Fall) as Jane's boss all make memorable contributions to the series and every scene they're in.

Prime Suspect was a long running show over in England - the NBC series is a new adaptation - and said to have influenced The Closer, which also features a high-powered woman steering a course in a police department dominated by men.   But Brenda Leigh Johnson on The Closer, though tough enough, is no match for Jane Timoney, who mixes it up with the best of them, and gives chase to bad guys twice her size.  (We're going to Netflix the British series.)

It's also good to see Peter Berg involved in the production of another show after Friday Night Lights, and set so palpably in the streets of New York.   With Law and Order down to one series, and Blue Bloods a little too formulaic for my tastes, New York's primed for a new, hard-hitting cop show.

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

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Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ...

Who's the Leak on The Closer?

With The Closer ending its Summer 2011 run, and only a few episodes left for Brenda Leigh Johnson in the Winter finale, the question looms larger and more crucial than ever - who on the team, or close to the team, has been feeding Brenda's nemesis Goldman the information he wants to use to destroy her?

Episode 7.10 concluded with Goldman brandishing files of all of Brenda's cases - how did he get those, who pointed him in their direction?

Pope has been a quietly despicable character this season, and it wouldn't be surprising at all if he was knifing Brenda in the back - even more than he did when he directed Raydor to continue her investigation.

We know that Gabriel disagreed with some of Brenda Leigh's actions and directives, so it wouldn't be shocking if he was the leak.   That's logical.  But gut-wise, I just can't see him as the traitor.

Then there's Commander Taylor, who has been in competition with Brenda Leigh since the beginning,  and whose career hasn't exactly flourished in the past few years.

That's about it for obvious choices.  I guess I would go with Pope out of the above.

But what less obvious culprits?

Captain Raydor has been almost nothing but supportive of Brenda this season - but could she be playing some sort of double game, designed to get Brenda out of the picture?   Why would she do that?  To take over Brenda's job, or even become the new Chief?

Fritz of course loves Brenda.  Could he be seeking to get her out of the job that has almost killed her in two out of the last three episodes?   A long shot ... nah, I can't see Fritz doing that ... but he did say last night that Brenda is using up her nine lives.

As for Provenza, Flynn, Tao, Sanchez, and Buzz - I can't see any of them turning against Brenda, for any reason.

That's what's making this closing of The Closer so good - in addition to the excellent action scenes. My best guesses at this point are Pope, Raydor, and, as an extreme long shot, Fritz.

See you back here this Winter.

See also:  The Closer 7.2: Pope   ... and Who's the Leak on the Closer, Part 2

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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The Plot to Save Socrates



"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

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Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ...

The Closer 7.2: Pope

As The Closer slides smoothly into its 7th - and sadly, final - season, Will Pope is emerging as the most interesting character, to say the least.   First, in the wake of Delk's dropping dead last week, Pope is now the interim police chief.   This disavantages the hapless Taylor, and one might think it would be of great help it to Brenda Leigh, but -

Far from it being a lucky break for our heroine, Pope now being in charge may be a disaster for her, which she doesn't yet know yet quite see.  When Raydor tries to close the investigation into what happened at the end of last season, when Brenda set up a vile perp for his comeuppance, Pope insists that Raydor continue with her investigation, and forbids her from telling Brenda what's going on.

Pope, in other words, is turning out to be an out-and-out traitor, and only Fritz has an unblinded perspective on this.   It's rare to see a character have such a profound change in personality, but, then again, there were some elements of this in Pope vis-a-vis Brenda all along.  He certainly has the age-old motive of unrequited love.

Top this off with a good whodunit story, and The Closer is off and running with a great season - in fact, one that might well be among its best.

See also:  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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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

---

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Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ...

Lightman on Caprica, Fungus, and Sociopathic Markers: Lie to Me Returns

Well, he's not really on Caprica, but Lightman is in a mental institution in Episode 3.9, where he sees his deceased mother, played by Paula Malcomson, who played Amanda Graystone, on the late, lamented (certainly by me) Caprica. Lightman has deliberately put himself undercover in the fun house, on behalf of a father of his daughter's friend, and it seems the head shrink is for whatever reason drugging both the friend's father (Wayne) and now Lightman. But the cause of the madness is a fungus (medieval, in fact - ergot), supplied by Wayne's sister through muffins brought to Wayne by his unknowing daughter. Lightman cracks the case, and along the way we get some interesting Lightman family history.

No fungus in Episode 3.10 - we got a double billing tonight - but it did have Gina Ravera from The Closer and a search for "sociopathic markers" in a con man (George) so good at his craft that his face and voice are lie-revelation-proof.   Doesn't protect him from being murdered, and Lightman and crew turn to figuring out which or how many of his former wives (all swindled) did him in but- turns out George almost has the last laugh, because the ingenious con man isn't dead at all ...

I won't tell you exactly what happened, but this a better than usual, tip top episode of Lie to Me, pitting master lie-detector against master liar, and even two nice shots of that wall of famous lying faces in Lightman's office, which I don't recall seeing in Episode 3.9 in the first hour.  But hey, it did give me a chance to mention Caprica, that bygone world of elusive reality, an attractive asylum of sorts in itself, and that's no lie ...

See also my reviews of Lie to Me and Bill O'Reilly, Saddam Hussein, and Ben Reynolds in Lie to Me 2.6 and Lie to Me 2.7: The Redeeming of Loker and Lie to Me 2.8 in Afghanistan and Viva Lightman and Las Vegas in Lie to Me 2.9 ... Lie to Me 2.11: Double Feature ... Lie to Me 2.12:  The One Prevarication ... Lie to Me 2.13: The Whole Truth and Rep Joe Wilson ... Lie to Me 2.14: Paranoids Can Have Real Enemies ... Lie to Me 2.15: Melissa George and Shawn Ryan ... Lie to Me 2.16: Ria's Sister ... Lie to Me 2.17: 'Poling on the Campaign Trail' ... Lie to Me 2.18: Lightman on the Darkside ... Lie to Me 2.19: The Shield Reunion ... Lie to Me 2.20: Dr. Burns

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

The Closer 6.11: Andy Flynn

The Closer is back in business - with episode 6.11 - a story that starts off with what happens to Lt. Andy Flynn.

He's knifed after leaving an AAA meeting, and soon turns into a suspect as well as a victim.  Well, not a suspect in anyone's else eyes except Captain Raydor's, and she doesn't really believe it, either.   Not to mention she's about the nicest she's ever been to Brenda and her team.  But there's still an allegation that Flynn tampered with a witness, which is in some way tied to the attempt on his life, and has to be cleared.

Fortunately, Brenda's investigation both nabs the bad guy and clears Flynn.  And we're treated to the same unique, delightful mix of crime drama and humor that has always commended this series.  The humor is often directed against Brenda, and tonight I thought the best line came from the bad guy Brenda's interrogating, when he asks her, "Has anyone ever explained to you the concept of ineffective repetition?"  But, of course, that's precisely what usually gets the perp to confess, sooner or later, one way or another, as it does tonight.

At the end of last summer, Brenda learned she was not getting the Chief of Police job which she really didn't want.  Tonight, Fritz - and Raydor by her niceness - tell Brenda she may be in line for another executive position - Pope's Assistant Chief job.   If I recall what happened in the summer, Pope indicated he would probably leave after being passed over in an early round for the Chief of Police position.

Brenda's made it clear that she loves exactly what she's doing - Deputy Chief of the Major Crimes Division, with precisely the team of lovable, tough-detecting characters she now has.   But as Fritz points out, how would Brenda feel working for a Pope replacement that she couldn't wrap around her finger?

Interesting, fun times ahead on The Closer.

See also:  The Closer 6.1: The New Building ... The Closer 6.2: Fun Bumps

And from last season  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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The Plot to Save Socrates


"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

The Closer 6.2: Fun Bumps

A good who-done-it on The Closer 6.2 last night, with two likely suspects, each played by an actor with arrogant vibes (Titus Welliver of recent Lost and much more, D. W. Moffat of Friday Night Lights), but the real killer is a guy who seems perfectly nice and indeed works for Immigration (Department of Homeland Security).

The killer in fact comes this close to killing Brenda Leigh, which of course gets Fritz, who manages to kill the killer just in time, about as upset as we've seen him. Nothing keeps Brenda Leigh from closing a case, including shouts from her team to move back, out of the killer's gun range.

Captain Raydor (Mary McDonnell) was also back in the show, charmingly getting in Brenda's way as Raydor tags along for the evaluation she's doing. Brenda figures she's being evaluated as part of Pope's likely ascension to Chief of Police, but the ending has another little bombshell: Raydor's evaluating Brenda because Raydor thinks Brenda would make a good Chief, and she urges Brenda to submit an application.

Pope would likely go crazy were Brenda to get the job instead of him, and I'm thinking we might see Raydor herself end up in this top position. Whichever way this goes, there should be some fun bumps ahead.


3-min podcast review of The Closer

See also:  The Closer 6.1: The New Building

And from last season  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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                 Special Discount Coupons for Angie's List, Avis, Budget Car, eHarmony, eMusic, Mozy, Zazzle

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

The Closer 6.1: The New Building

The Closer was back for its 6th season tonight, sporting a new building, a surprise promotion at the end, but the same delightful mix of suspense and humor that has characterized the five seasons of The Closer preceding.

My favorite line, as it often does, came from Provenza. He says thank you, Dr. Sagan, as Tao displays his erudition about the stars in the sky. Some good guest stars in this episode as well, especially Currie Graham, whom we last saw as DA Balco in the short-lived but excellent Raising the Bar.

But the brightest star, as always, was Kyra Sedgwick, in fine form and Southern accent as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, this time applying her customarily razor sharp logic against the backdrop of a new building she and the team would rather not have been moved into.

And the surprise? Well, let's just say someone with the name of Pope deserves a lot more power...

And, on the subject of power, here's an article in The Christian Science Monitor today about the impact of The Closer on television - in which I'm quoted.


5-min podcast review of The Closer

See also 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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The Plot to Save Socrates


"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

The Closer Closes on a Fine Note for The Season

You gotta hand it to TNT - I do - they put on most of The Closer this past summer, but had the savvy to save the past three episodes for the television-dreary month of December. TNT probably did this in part to attract attention to its new series - Men of a Certain Age, which I haven't yet seen - but whatever the cable network's reasons, I think it was a good idea.

Last night's closer for season 5 - episode 5.15 - was a fine send-off, featuring a return of the notorious Captain Sharon Raydor, played by Mary McConnell, formerly President of humanity on Battlestar Galactica, and something of an arch-rival to Brenda Leigh. Throw into this volatile mix Chief Pope - who gets furious at Brenda based on a misunderstanding - and you get a good workout for all the characters.

My favorite scene was Pope screaming at Brenda, with the crew hearing it all in the room next door. Turns out he was angry because she hadn't told him about Fritz's job offer in Washington, which Pope thought might take Brenda away. But it turns out, further, that Brenda hasn't told Pope because she didn't know about the offer herself, which leads to some good, ultimately maybe happily after ever for Brenda Leigh, Fritz, and the kitten.

As for the case, it's a good test of Brenda Leigh's logic, as she sees through the trappings and boxes in the killer. This was a good season for The Closer, highlighted by Brenda Leigh's niece Charlie, played by Kyra Sedgwick's daughter Sosie Bacon, and Provenza's affair.

The snow's outside the window now. I'll look forward to the next season of The Closer when it's long since melted and the sun's up hot and high.

See also 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

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

The Roots of Testimony on The Closer

A delightful next to last episode (5.14) of Season 5 of The Closer tonight - the season resumed last week, after a pause since August - featuring Beau Bridges guest starring as Provenza's old partner, George, now Georgette.

Yes, unknown to Provenza, George had always felt like a woman, and after he left the LAPD, he underwent the necessary operation. To matters even more interesting, George had always liked women not men, and Georgette feels the same way, so Provenza has to accept that his former partner is now a lesbian.

Well, Provenza will survive - he always does - but what's at stake in the legal arena tonight is George's testimony in a cold case that's come back to the front burner. George had charmed the killer - a woman, whom he sweet talked - into confessing back then. Will the jury believe him->her now, when Georgette reiterates that testimony, on the stand as a woman not a man?

By the way, did you know that the words "testify" and "testimony" derive from the word "testicles" - as in, well, swearing on one's testicles? Brenda Leigh perhaps has this in mind, when she delivers the best line of the night, thinking the jury will have no problem with Georgette on the stand: "We need her testimony not her testicles," Brenda Leigh observes of Georgette.

Elegantly said, but can a jury be relied upon not to doubt Georgette's testimony, when she first provided it seven years earlier as George? Provenza's solution is to have Georgette masquerade as George, but she's unwilling to perjure herself on the stand.

Georgette does come through in a way that does not violate the law, and provides a perfect conclusion to a story only The Closer and its mix of humor and savvy could put on. You gotta give the show credit for having the balls to go with a story like this (sorry, I couldn't resist).

6-min podcast review of The Closer

See also 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

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

Finding Killers vs. Hearts on The Closer

A tender episode 5.11 of The Closer last night, with Sosie Bacon (real life daughter of Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon) once again playing a crucial role as Brenda's niece Charlie (spunky, compassionate ... a lot like Brenda). I'm hoping Charlie will become a permanent resident on the show.

Brenda comes upon a double shooting in a school yard, as she's driving Charlie. One of the boys is dead, the other wounded. Brenda asks Charlie to keep an eye on the wounded boy (Jake) in the hospital. He's about Charlie's age, the two strike up a conversation and the beginning of a relationship. Jake - well played by Philip Ettinger - tells Charlie he was "dumped" by his girlfriend. "Why?" Charlie asks - in a perfect tone of incredulity, which tells us and Jake that she likes him.

But Jake takes a turn for the worse - the shrapnel that hit him creates virulent infections - and it soon becomes clear that he won't live though the night. Brenda knows this from the doctor. Charlie, now at home, does not. Brenda needs to question Jake one more time to find the killer, and this again pitches her into a conflict between doing her job (finding the killer) and doing the right thing for someone she cares about. Charlie wants to come to the hospital to see Jake again, and Brenda says no.

She later explains to Charlie, after Jake has died, that she didn't know how much time Jake had left, and she needed that time uninterrupted, so she could ask her questions. Significantly, she doesn't lie to Charlie - she could have said that she didn't know Jake was that close to death.

And so Brenda's difficult tightrope walk between finding killers and finding her heart continues. With Charlie in the picture, the stakes are expanding beyond Fritz.



5-min podcast review of The Closer


See also 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

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

Brenda Leigh's Niece and Lost's Libby on The Closer

It was nice to meet another member of Brenda Leigh's extended family on The Closer last night. Her niece is having problems at home, so she's staying with her grandparents (Brenda's parents). But Brenda's mother has a better idea - the niece can stay for the summer with Brenda!

But lest we forget what kind of show this is and who Brenda is - a police detective show about someone brilliantly obsessed with solving and closing every case that comes her way - you know that Brenda is going to put her niece to some kind of good use in cracking a case...

Which, as fate would have it, is about a psychologist apparently murdered by the father of one his patients, a charming, schizophrenic young man. Well, the father has confessed. But his elocution in court does not match the evidence. Perhaps the son can shed some light on this? Brenda uses his attraction to her niece, whom Brenda sits in an adjoining, visible to the son, to put him at ease.

The psychologist's wife, played by Cynthia Watros, best-known as Libby from Lost, is also a psychologist and may also have a role in the murder. Interestingly, Libby on Lost was a clinical psychologist. Her story is one of the most compelling and inexplicable in Lost, and has yet to be resolved. She befriends Hurley on the island and the two fall in love. She's killed by Michael. But we also learn that she was in the same mental institution - as a patient - with Hurley, well before the crash.

How could this be? It's one of the inexplicable coincidences that I think provide the keys to understanding what is really going on in Lost. But so far, we've been given no clue as to how Libby could have been in that facility, and transformed from patient to healer. Surely all of Lost is more than Hurley's dream from that institution....

So it was good to see "Libby" again, with a different name but the same profession, on The Closer. Now, if only Brenda Leigh Johnson could use her investigative talent to figure out what really happened between Libby and Hurley on Lost...

See also Tom Skerritt on The Closer and Det. Richard Tracy on The Closer and Pres. Laura Roslin vs. Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson



5-min podcast review of The Closer and Lost

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

Tom Skerritt on The Closer

Tom Skerritt has long been one of my favorite on-the-edge actors - a brilliant, memorable character actor, not quite breaking through to be an outstanding lead actor, though he always had more than enough talent. Sort of like Mickey Rourke, before his flat-out break-out leading role in The Wrestler. Not that Skerritt and Rourke played similar roles, but they were both on the ledge and edge.

It was therefore really good to see Skerritt walk into the Detective Olin - Joey O - role in Monday night's The Closer. He's looking more and more like a lean Mark Twain, and Joey O will be one of his more memorable characters.

We've seen the story line many times before - a craggy police detective, obsessed in his retirement with bringing to justice a killer that he knows is a killer but got away. Except this time, that detective crosses paths with Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson. Her wonderful obsession with closing cases will lead her to wherever the facts take her, including Joey O. But in a nice new ironic twist to this story, Brenda Leigh is clearly beginning to work up an obsession of her own - regarding a serial killer that we saw not too long ago, who so far has gotten away with it, and in fact has flaunted it in Brenda's face.

Flynn is also good in this episode - he knows Joey O the best, from before - and Provenza's having one of his best years. The Closer continues to serve up sharp, intelligent television, with a nice mix not only of humor and serious story, but of new tales and ongoing, deeper threads.

See also Det. Richard Tracy on The Closer and Pres. Laura Roslin vs. Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson

5-min podcast review of The Closer

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

The Closer: Det. Richard Tracy

The Closer - like Bones - is a deft mix of detective story and comedy. This past Monday's episode - 5.6 - hit new comedic heights. Some scenes had me practically falling down laughing.

The main storyline, about the murder of an Internet matchmaker, was funny enough. But they threw in a detective impersonator...

Det. Richard Tracy at first fools Pope, Provenza, and Flynn, who are so happy with his being first on the scene (in the murder outside of our regular district) that they give him their cards. This opens the door for Tracy to conduct the investigation by impersonating Pope et al.

It takes Brenda, of course, to realize that Richard Tracy = Dick Tracy, a fictional character, but the story gets even funnier once Tracy is outed. He loudly complains that keeping him in custody is keeping him off the case, and in effect gives Provenza and Flynn a glimpse in the mirror of what a passionate detective might be. Fine performance by Andrew Daly (who used to be on MADtv) as Tracy.

I hope we see Tracy back (his character's real name is Jonathan Baird). The Closer is better than ever, introducing new characters like Capt. Sharon Raydor (Mary McDonnell) and now Det. Tracy in just about every other episode, in a frothy cool mix just right for the summer heat.



See also Tom Skerritt on The Closer and Pres. Laura Roslin vs. Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson


5-min podcast review of The Closer

President Laura Roslin vs. Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson on The Closer

Fine, taut episode of The Closer last night, with Mary McDonnell, fresh from her role as the late President Laura Roslin on Battlestar Galactica, right in the face of Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick), and the Deputy Chief of course giving it back as good or better than she gets.

The confrontation is about Capt. Sharon Raydor's (Mary McDonnell) investigation of Sgt. David Gabriel's shooting of an unarmed man. We the viewers saw the flash of fire that Gabriel was responding to, so we know he's telling the truth, but Raydor did not and does not. Brenda Leigh knows Gabriel is telling the truth, not because she saw anything, but because she believes in the Sgt., and her job is to get the proof.

But the best action was between Raydor and Johnson. Brenda already acquired a brilliantly evil nemesis last season in the character of the lawyer Stroh, and now she's acquired a tough, volatile opponent in Captain Raydor, who is unimpressed with Brenda Leigh's rank and drawl. But Raydor clearly does appreciate the Deputy Chief's intelligence and power, which should make for a good continuing story this season. It could be The Closer's equivalent of Kavanaugh vs. Mackey on The Shield, though so far Raydor doesn't seem quite as pathological as Kavanaugh, and Johnson is clearly a different kind of cop than Mackey, though both like to take authority into their own hands, to say the least.

Hey, it would be really wild now if Michelle Forbes walked into some role on The Closer...

See also The Closer Re-Opens Tonight ... Det. Dick Tracy on The Closer


5-min podcast review of The Closer

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

The Closer Re-Opens Tonight - Looking Back on Season 4

Hey, The Closer, one of my favorite off-beat detective series, opens Season 5 tonight on TNT, so I thought I'd do my part and provide a little retrospective on Season 4.

First, I would say that The Closer is probably the closest to Bones in its mix of serious detective work and comedy, and in further particular, with a lot of the humor coming from the lead woman (Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson in The Closer, Bones in Bones) and her interaction with her boyfriend/fiance/husband FBI guy (in The Closer) and not-yet-fully-expressed soul mate FBI guy in Bones (Booth). The supporting cast is also savvy and hilarious in both series. Otherwise, the two have little in common.

The past season of The Closer featured Lt. Provenza (close to retirement age, smartly played by G. W. Bailey) in an episode in which he goes undercover as a love-interest and you can believe it, a spectacular shoot-out on a roof which rivals something you would see on 24 or The Shield, and Brenda and FBI agent Fritzie finally getting married (Kyra Sedgwick and Jon Tenney are terrific together).

Brenda is an indefatigable closer - nothing, even Fritz's work, ever gets in the way of her closing a case. But in the best of episode of Season 4, and perhaps of the series, she and her team meet their nemesis in the form of a lawyer who, it turns out, not just defended his client but used his client to get out of Brenda's clutches for a series of sexual assaults culminating in murder that he, the lawyer, committed.

It will be fun to see what Brenda and her southern drawl does about that this season, maybe starting tonight....

See also President Laura Roslin vs. Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson on The Closer




5-min podcast review of The Closer

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!