Elastica / “Connection“
10:14PM.
Watching this week’s episode of The Closer earlier tonight, it hit me: Holy shit! I forgot to write about The Closer in my summer TV post yesterday! How the hell did I manage that? I mean, this is a show I look forward to all week, like a shiny new present that TiVo generously gifts me with. (I blame it on the early senility, which is currently hand-in-hand with the hot flashes. At this rate, I’ll be shopping for dentures by this time next year.) So here goes:
The Closer (TNT, Monday @ 9PM)
I got hooked on this procedural fairly recently, when TNT aired an all-day marathon leading up to the third season premiere that night. I paid as much attention to the episodes as I could considering I was at work at the time, and decided I just had to watch more of this show. Kyra Sedgwick stars as L.A.-transplant Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, head of the LAPD’s Priority Homicide squad. Johnson leads her diverse squad in high-profile murder investigations. I particularly enjoy the fact that most of the cases never play out the way you expect them to. Rather than the stereotypical “surprise ending” that many TV shows are guilty of playing up (and often overselling), the stories simply end up heading in a direction which, while often unexpected, make perfect sense in the PH squad’s world. Sedgwick is brilliantly supported by one of the most diverse supporting casts on TV these days, including, among many others, J.K. Simmons as Brenda’s Chief and ex-lover Will Pope; Corey Reynolds as Sgt. Gabriel, admittedly her favorite team member; Raymond Cruz as the soft-spoken Det. Sanchez; and Jon Tenney as Fritz, Brenda’s fiance and an FBI agent. While the show tends to favor rather dark storylines, fitting for this drama, The Closer expertly manages the fine balancing act of working welcome — and much-needed — humor throughout, another testament to a crack writing team and incredibly talented actors who make you not only care but really root for them to catch the bad guys.
***
There. Now I can sleep tonight.
