Warner Bros. | 2008 | 690 mins. | Not Rated
Last July, when I reviewed The Closer: The Complete Third Season, I sung the series praises. The fourth season, finds that show even stronger; firing on all cylinders and exploring the professional and personal struggles of being a member of the L.A.P.D. The writers effectively spotlighted the series strengths (Brenda’s ability to get confessions from suspects) and did away with the two-part episodes that occasionally hindered the previous season. The fourth season also deals with some decidedly darker issues, while continuing to maintain a sense of humor that makes some of the more difficult moments easier to swallow.
For those of you unfamiliar with the show, Deputy Chief Brenda Lee Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick), who was brought from Atlanta to Los Angeles by Assistant Police Chief Will Pope (J.K. Simmons) to lead up a new special murder investigation task force; Priority Homicide. Pope selected Johnson because of her uncanny ability to ‘close’ a case by getting confessions others could only dream of. Johnson spent much of the first two seasons gaining the respect of her subordinates and colleagues.
As the fourth season begins, Brenda has the hard earned respect of her co-workers but she is faced with a whole new slate of problems. After a rash of bad publicity, Assistant Police Chief Will Pope decides the L.A.P.D. needs some good press. As a result, he decides to allow a reporter from LA Times named Ricardo Ramos (Stephen Martines), to shadow Brenda and her team. Unfortunately, he has an agenda of his own. The first case he gets to observe is a wildfire in Griffith Park, where five people have been found dead and brings Brenda face-to-face with an old nemesis. Evidence seems to suggest that one young woman was already dead before the fire started and the murderer was trying to incinerate the body when the flames became uncontrollable. The natural suspect is Bill Croelick (Jason O’Mara) a pyromaniac whom Brenda is very familiar with and was seen in the crowd observing the fire. But when Ramos finds Croelick and interviews him before the L.A.P.D. has a chance to question him, Brenda and her colleagues are none too pleased.
As the season moves on, Ramos continues to be a thorn in everyone’s side. Ramos begins to take Priority Homicide to task: he wants to know exactly what Priority Homicide is, what it does and what the division’s goals are. Even more troubling, the reporter questions why Priority Homicide always seems to investigate the deaths of only whites and movie stars. While these questions start out as a minor irritant, Ramos’ constant pushing results in a major overhaul of the division.
While all of the episodes during The Closer’s fourth season are strong from start to finish, of the entire slate, two deserve special mentions. In “Sudden Death,” a case becomes extremely personal, when Detective Julio Sanchez’ (Raymond Cruz) brother is shot and killed. Still grieving the death of his wife some six years earlier, Sanchez is utterly devastated. While trying to solve the case and keep her own emotions in check, Brenda finds herself having to keep an angry Sanchez from exacting his own kind of justice.
The Closer is very much an ensemble show. So, with the exception of Kyra Sedgwick and Jon Tenney (who plays her boyfriend F.B.I. agent Fritz Howard), the individual cops in the squad don’t get much of a chance to shine individually. “Sudden Death” is Cruz’ time to shine and he does a masterful job; though he doesn’t say much he lets his actions and the expressions on his face do the talking. Directed by Sedgwick’s husband Kevin Bacon and written by Hunt Baldwin & John Coveny, this is one of the best episodes of The Closer yet.
The other standout episode is “Time Bomb.” In of the most action packed episodes yet, when a teen bomber to be is discovered dead, the PHD becomes involved in the investigation of the bomber’s intent. Political pressure mounts to call the case closed after the victim’s apparent target is identified but Brenda soon interprets a mysterious clue that leads to a murderous conspiracy putting the squad in danger as it defuses the lethal situation. Everyone, including the much put-upon Provenza (G.W. Bailey) shows their mettle here.
As I said earlier, while there were a lot of light moments in this season (Fritz’s sister stands out as one of those) this series took a decidedly darker turn, especially at the beginning of the season. While murder is often gruesome, this time made some of the circumstances decidedly uncomfortable. A high school virgin is violently rapped by a jock while his friends laugh in the other room and a young psychopath puts his pet gerbils in the garbage disposal and turns it on. While these all occur off camera, it’s still a bit more disturbing than the typical events in previous seasons. On the whole though, these changes make for a stronger show.
Along with all the crime fighting, season four saw Brenda and Fritz plan and finally tie the knot; thrilling Brenda’s parents, the always funny Willie Ray (Frances Sternhagen) and Clay Johnson (Barry Corbin). If any of the producers are reading this, find a way to have Brenda’s parents around whenever possible; those two are great.
While the acting is fabulous across the board, it’s Kyra Sedgwick that makes The Closer really work. she manages to walk that fine line of being tough and professional yet feminine and vulnerable at the same time. It’s a meaty part, with her character having to come across as very competent yet also worried about the problems in her professional life. Not always relying solely on dialog, Sedgwick makes Brenda Johnson live through her actions; such as the way she eats Ding Dongs and the near sybaritic pleasure she gets from consuming them.
The series is presented in 1.78:1 widescreen which is anamorphically enhanced. The image looks very good. The colors were strong, the image was sharp and the detail was fine. The show was a tad dark in some places, and there is some grain but that is undoubtedly the way the creators intended it. On the digital side, there was a bit of aliasing present in the background, but that was minor.
The Closer: The Complete Fourth Season has special features that have been typical of prior season’s releases:
• Deleted Scenes that accompany five episodes.
• A brief Gag Reel.
• Featurette: “To Catch a Lie” An FBI investigator talks about ways to spot a falsehood.
• Featurette: “A Day in the Life of a Homicide Detective” A retired LAPD detective takes series co-star Corey Reynolds around to various locations in LA where murders were committed and talks about some of the cases he was able to solve.
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