The
Closer
Season
Three
Review
by Terry J. Aman
This season flew right on by, which is too bad, because while Daniels got a
little more attention, it came at the expense of Sanchez (who did have more to
do in “4 to 8,” which was the episode I connected with the least of the bunch).
And of course we almost never see much of Tao, but when we do it’s a beaut. I
don’t quite understand why Buzz and Tao weren’t able to switch back in the
training episode – good to see more Buzz this season, by the way – but at least
if it was for comic effect, it didn’t hurt the funding for the department.
This show is, of course, all about Brenda, and this season made a number of
serious demands on her. Naturally, since Brenda is more interesting when she is
under pressure – and is absolutely at the best of her worst in those situations
– it has never come back to bite her in the butt.
She instead sails forward at her Brenda best and lets the chaos in her wake
take care of itself. Pope needs her to completely reorganize her department?
She de facto delegates it to Gabriel, who comes up with an ingenious solution.
Her father is coming and she hasn’t told him about Fritz yet? He’s an old
softie anyway. She finds out something disturbing about Fritz? He’s already
taken care of it and is still way more perfect than she is, but dang it he can’t
stay mad at her. He forgives her, her parents are completely in her thrall and her
department stays more or less in the black, and it’s impossible to say whether
it’s because of her – that she is in fact her own worst critic and everything
just works out for the best – or, honestly, in spite of her.
That is, that everything worked out with her department because she’d
already surrounded herself with the best people and that’s in fact why
everything came together as well as it did. That she’d shown Fritz her most
flawed and vulnerable self so when she uncovered what was going on with him and
got mad and they had a fight, that he was halfway on the road to forgiving her,
even for being out of line. And that all of her deep-seated parent issues are
mostly in her head, and that they’ve both mellowed with age.
It was pointed out derisively in a recent TVGUIDE that the show was treating
menopause like it was the end of the world. But Brenda has been so driven all
of her life and now she’s built this relationship with someone who completely
gets her but at the same time isn’t being a complete doormat for her (I feel
Fritz has really stepped up backbone-wise this season) and can, in her heart of
hearts, see herself as … somebody’s mother … and her own body is taking
that decision away from her.
Naturally, there are so many options for her, and early-onset menopause is
hardly the worst thing that might happen to her, but honestly, I’m not privy to
the conversations she’s had with Fritz about starting a family, I don’t know
what kind of a deal-breaker this is for either of them and I don’t know what
Brenda’s self-image vis-à-vis motherhood is, exactly, so I was personally
reserving judgment. It seemed like most of that was being considered
off-camera, or it might be a significant storyline in Season Four, but
considering how little we ever see of her kitty – or Fritz, for that matter,
unless she needs something – one wonders how much we’d see any child that she
had.
Obviously this season felt like it needs to pull out a number of stops. We
opened with some of the most graphic imagery this show has explored since the
pilot episode. We had Gabriel completely lose it in “Ruby.” And the attack on
Brenda in “Manhunt,” we haven’t seen anything so graphic I don’t believe since “Fantasy
Date” in the first season. The attack was photographed beautifully and I think
Kyra Sedgwick did some of her finest work in that scene.
So … what was it building to? Well, the two-part finale was good but it seemed
more like a “Law & Order” episode – mostly because the situation was out of
Brenda’s hands. She had a handle on about half a case, chasing down the other
half while trying to deal with … honestly, could someone get these people an
accountant? Because both of them are pretty damned busy and never mind joint
checking and car insurance, I think they’ve got gnomes coming in to do their laundry.
Every time we see them they’re in the middle of some sort of
investigation, and the rest of their lives are falling completely apart.
Beyond that, Daniels would’ve been able to find the greenhouse on her first
go-round so that would’ve been a good place for her and Gabriel’s relationship
to be having some sort of public fraying or otherwise serving as some
distraction beyond people just mentioning it occasionally. Or really, for
something else to be going on – these people’s relationships are not the be-all
and end-all of what’s going on with them as characters.
That may be something to explore for S4. I have loved, loved, loved
Flynn and Provenza ever since their roadshow to Vegas, and I love that everyone
gets along so beautifully. But the fact is that while Brenda keeps everyone
around because they in fact are so wonderful, she does not
dismiss them when they screw up, even egregiously.
Maybe someone should seriously start having some sort of personal problem
that starts to affect their work. Honestly, even Capt. Taylor is more or less
an ally at this point. The most disruptive thing I’ve seen him do this season
is throw a press conference at her.
Summing up Season Three, the villains lacked some of the punch of the
serial killer who immolated his victims from the inside and the guy who kept
drowning wives he was finished with. Not that postal workers-turned-identity
thieves, child molesters and cattle prod-wielding S&M fans are fluffy
kittens. It just seems like we spent a lot more time with the fiscal bureaucracy
of the LAPD and Brenda’s family issues than we did with … honestly, when my
parents are in town I don’t take them to work with me, and that’s like half of
what Brenda does even when she’s been ordered to stay home.
Well then …maybe those issues aren’t all in her head after all.
What a great set of episodes. Once again, as fall is in the air, I find I’m
looking forward to the Christmas special and chomping at the bit for S4. Seriously,
if the format is a success for “Nip/Tuck,” TNT ought to explore reformatting “The
Closer” as a full-length season. Lovely work, everyone.
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