The Closer: Cherry Bombs

Alright, I’m a little late to jump on the bandwagon. I don’t know if The Closer has “jumped the shark yet,” but it was the next big thing a couple of years ago. If the recent episode entitled “Cherry Bomb” is any indicator of the television drama’s life cycle then it is still on the rise. I first encountered The Closer thanks to TNT’s unyielding marketing blitz which resulted in the bombardment of ads anytime I tuned in for an NBA game or for a Law & Order marathon. So, I decided to give it a whirl.

For those of you unfamiliar with the series, it stars Kevin Bacon’s main squeeze and a gifted thespian in her own right, Kyra Sedgwick. She’s Brenda Leigh Johnson, a tough-as-nails police investigator who specializes in extracting confessions from reluctant witnesses and suspects and, as such, has gained the nickname the Closer. She is a quirky offbeat character who brings her southern talking ways to the streets of L.A and often times has to battle the men that she works with for the respect and accolades she deserves. Brenda has been quoted as telling a suspect, “If I wanted to be called a bitch to my face, I’d still be married.” With one of the most diverse casts on TV, this drama is often gritty and thought provoking.

“Cherry Bomb” was a well-written and provocative episode. It opens with a teenage girl’s suicide and quickly reveals that she was raped a week earlier by a local police commander’s son, a little jerk named Darren. The victim had sought help from the police after the rape, but it fell on the deaf ears of Brenda’ nemesis and all around pain in the ass, Commander Taylor (Robert Gossett, first cousin to Lou Gossett, Jr.). In the panicking first few minutes of the show, Commander Taylor must swallow his pride and enlist Brenda’s help, who has to clean up the mess before the press get a wind of it.

What follows is Brenda’s attempt to make a case against Darren while keeping his policeman father at bay. She approaches the case craftily by investigating the suicide as if it was a murder after evidence suggests that this is a possibility. The plot becomes a bit circular, but it all seems to make sense in the end. This probably stems from the writers’ use of “stream of consciousness” – we figure out the crime along with Brenda. We get to observe her thought process as she gains new information and we soon see that a teenaged boy rapist and his father are no match for this seasoned investigator.

My only criticism of the episode was that certain parts were unrealistic, but I understand that as “the Closer,” Brenda breaks the rules. A lot of the tactics she uses would never fly in real life and would only past Constitutional muster under the current administration’s vacillating interpretations of the rule of law. But this isn’t real life, it’s TNT and Brenda kicks ass! One other thing I couldn’t help notice was Sedgwick’s adopted Southern drawl. She delivers a lot of her lines in a harsh, twangy whisper that annoyed me at times. Anyway, I’m partially sold on this series, and I’ll be tuning in next week to see who Brenda makes pee their pants next.