The Closer - Final Season

So we're two episodes into the final season of The Closer and so far the show is as high caliber as its ever been.  It looks like Brenda's moral retribution at the end of last season is going to be the focus of this season, and I'm guessing it could lead to her downfall at the LAPD, with her leaving at the end of the season to cap off the series.

The sudden death of the new Chief was a nice twist, since it looked like things were going to get shaken up in the department (though not for the better), but now we're back to the status quo, with Pope as acting chief and Commander Taylor continuing to be utterly useless.  I kinda miss how Taylor was in season 1 when he was actively working against Brenda, but now he's pretty much no good to anyone.  He's not even a good cop.  But seeing Pope turn on Brenda because he wants to keep his job was kinda sad.  He's always been there to protect her before, so seeing this development is kinda heartbreaking.

And Captain Raydor continues to be a thorn in Brenda's side, though this time its against her will.  Its funny that she kinda likes Brenda and doesn't want to press this investigation, but she's being commanded to by Pope and she's so like Brenda in her single-minded pursuit of her investigations that they are constantly clashing, even when Raydor is doing something she doesn't want to do.  And Brenda's moves to hold her off are always brilliant, as usual.

And was it just me, or was the rap song in the season opener insanely catchy?  lol.  I really liked all the slow-mo Brenda walks when it was playing.  Had a real gangsta vibe to it, like she's some bad ass walking into a fight.

Um... I'm not so sure about that.  Raydor turned in her report that she found nothing there, but Pope is looking for a scapegoat he can dump this on to keep his job, which is why he ordered her to go back and find some dirt.  He's actively trying to throw Brenda under the bus because it serves his best interest.  His predecessor was willing to let this matter slide, after all, but he feels the need to pursue it for selfish reasons.

And honestly, I'm not sure if Brenda could be found "morally" guilty, since the guy she dropped off did kill an old man and a little boy, and was responsible for getting his twin brother and two other marines getting killed.  Technically, she didn't do anything wrong with his release, even if she did give the killer of the marines a phone call to let his homies know that guy was coming home.

The thing about Brenda is that she has a very rigid sense of Justice, and she can't abide letting technicalities set the guilty free, which is why she was brought into the LAPD in the first place, because she gets convictions that stick.  Pope was the one who gave that guy immunity and basically let him walk on a double murder.  I think that's what he's worried about more than anything.

I hadn't heard about a spin off show.  Got any details?

Last night's episode was really funny.  It seems that every season there's always one episode where Provenza and Flynn fuck up and hilarity ensues.  Only this time they involved Buzz.  The part where Fitz popped out the police sketches of Provenza and Flynn had me rolling with laughter.  Also, everyone seeming to be fine with Commander Taylor making a fool of himself in front of the press was just classic.  "I can live with that."  lol.

This episode seemed like a real bottle ep, since we didn't get any real movement on the whole IE investigation into Brenda or see Pope maneuvering to keep his position.  This one was just straight up Provenza and Flynn being good police but horrible human beings, lol.  I really hope those two move into the spin off.

We also got to see Gabriel's penchant for conspiracy theories.  That was pretty interesting too, ha ha.

This episode was kinda meh.  It was cool seeing Taoub's relationship with his son, and his son being in awe of his dad when he sees him doing policework.  That was a nice touch for the show.  But the investigation this week was pretty uninteresting.  We did get the big "Raydor warns Brenda" scene at the end explaining how she's vulnerable to a civil action that could ruin her, which was an appropriate scene to end on.

But I don't really understand how the kid's dad got out of the interview room.  Those things are locked, aren't they?  Seemed like a poor plot device.

Hopefully next week's episode will be better.

I'm definitely leaning towards Pope for the mole.  I doubt anyone in the unit would screw over Brenda after all they've been through.  Pope seems to think that throwing Brenda under the bus would help secure him his spot as Chief of Police, so that's motivation.

This was a good episode though.  i loved it when Brenda used the Tyrell Gibson killing to psyche out the dickhead lawyer into confessing.  Great scene.

Damn.  Booger is totally obsessed with Brenda!  I was hoping the whole trial thing was done with, and then that final scene comes around.  Jeesh.  I guess the mole in the department let Booger know about all those other cases.  I'm guessing the mole is probably Commander Taylor since he has the most to gain if Brenda is out of the way and he was set to advance with the old Chief who died.  He's always kinda been an antagonist to Brenda as well.  Oh, and anyone else think Mark Pelegrino just steals every scene he's in?  Get this guy his own Boston Legal-esque show already!