“Ruby” was all about the Brenda/Gabriel. I knew some major conflict was coming for Brenda and Gabriel – the conflict over Father Jack and Brenda’s arrest of Kenyan Richards a few weeks ago made it clear that these two had some major issues to work out – but it was still difficult to watch.
full review after the cut…
Woah. I need to watch “Ruby” at least one more time before I can even begin to write about it! What an awesome episode and what a major change in the relationships of our characters. The review will be up this weekend sometime.
Okay, speedy review to catch up in time for tonights new episode! After the cut…
I’m off on vacation! I’ll review 3.03 next week when I return.
The Case
I was interested in the case from the start because of the Provenza connection. Tying the murder to the L.A. riots gave it a rich backstory and made the case a lot more personal for the squad members, especially Flynn and Provenza who were on the squad when the riots took place.
Some of my favorite Closer cases are those where you can relate to the suspects. It allows the viewer to get that much more invested in the case. There were many shades of gray in this case. As ridiculously jerky as Gabriel was (Oh, believe me, I will so get to that.) I could see his point that Father Jack and Kenyan Richards were instrumental in helping gang members out of crime and, despite their involvement in the murder, punishing them could also hurt the city and the people they were trying to help.
Full review after the cut…
Ten minutes into The Closer’s season three premiere Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson is telling her boss Chief Pope that the way to get her to agree with him is for him to “stop being wrong.” Oh, Brenda, my love, it’s been a long cold six months without you. Please never leave us again.
Full review after the cut…
I and nine other fans had the chance to participate in a conference call with James Duff (The Closer’s creator) this evening. He answered some of our questions and talked about developing the show and what’s to come in season three.
Creating The Closer
Duff says his inspiration for Brenda Leigh Johnson (brought to life by the amazing Ms. Kyra Sedgwick) came from many sources. He says there is a lot of his own character in Brenda and also quite a bit of his mother and sister. He says his Mom “can tell if [he’s] lying across the room” and his sister is “very secretive about her private life” – both very Brendaish qualities.
Though Duff names a theme for each season (One was about being a woman authority figure in a male dominated world, Two was about partnerships, and Three will focus on families) and normally plans the beginning of each season far ahead, he doesn’t like to plan for the characters too far ahead. He prefers instead to let them develop organically. When characters do something surprising, Duff says he still wants it to be in character.
More after the cut including some spoilers for season 3…
Season 3 of The Closer starts on TNT Monday June 18th!
You’ll find weekly reviews here once the season starts.
Mammoth Reviews The Closer 