The Closer: Time Bomb

I like it when a television show manages to get your adrenaline flowing like a movie.  Monday’s episode of The Closer, entitled “Time Bomb,” definitely had a cinematic quality, though certain parts were predictable.  It was a highly entertaining episode, right from the beginning.

Brenda and her detectives discover the body of a young man named Darren Melman who appears to have been shot.  He has the letters EE tattooed on his forearm, and they also find the same symbol doodled on notebook paper at the scene.  When the coroner arrives, he realizes that the victim’s wounds are actually shrapnel rather than bullet fragments.  They call in the bomb squad, but not without a fight from Brenda, who tries to risk life and limb to collect evidence.  She has to be physically carried away before the bomb explodes, destroying Melman’s body and other evidence.

I appreciate the writer’s attempt to lighten the tension, but it was rather silly that Brenda would make such a fuss over having to leave her purse and Melman’s wallet at the scene.  Truthfully, I was more annoyed than amused by the entire sequence of events.  Sometimes it’s best to let a certain mood linger rather than disrupt it, and this slight deviation from the initial tenor of the episode didn’t work for me.  Maybe I’m still irked by Brenda’s accent.

Anyway, the episode picks up as the team expands their investigation, discovering that Melman purchased bomb-making materials from a local hardware store, which in turn leads them to a co-conspirator, a bonafide nutjob named John McFadden.  The plot thickens when Brenda sees that he also has the letters EE tattooed on his arm.  The two were planning a Columbine type of event, but on a much larger scale, hence the EE, which stands for “Evolution’s End.”  John plays cat and mouse with Brenda, giving cryptic clues about his and Melman’s intentions before succumbing to a prescription drug overdose.  Eventually Brenda discovers the true meaning of EE and a deadly third conspirator who was right under her nose the whole time.

The final scene is both thrilling and nerve-racking, if not a tad predictable.  The remaining suspect planned to detonate home-made explosives in a mall, and to shoot the victims as they fled the burning building.  Once the stage was set for a gunfight between the detectives and the suspect, I knew one of Brenda’s troops would be shot.  Sure enough, it is the valiant Detective Sanchez who takes a bullet intended for Provenza.  That was a bit cliché, but I enjoyed the episode because it reflected the times in which we live, from the DC sniper of a few years ago, to the tragic shooting at VA Tech.  ”Time Bomb” was a great mid-season finale that will leave viewers eagerly anticipating new episodes.  At the very least, you’ll want to see if Sanchez pulls through.  While not exactly along the lines of “Who shot JR?,” I thought it was pretty good.

For another opinion on this episode, check out Pipe Bomb Dreams by Elma Rahman.

 

All new episodes in January 2009 on TNT

Photographs courtesy of TNT