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Review: 'The Closer'

Verne Gay | Off Camera

July 14, 2008

Reason to watch Kyra Sedgwick (as always) and this is, after all, the fourth season premiere.

What it's about In an almost eerily prescient opening, L.A.'s Griffith Park is engulfed in a raging inferno, and the hellish flames illuminate Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson's deer-in-the-headlights face as the fire (and chaos) build. She's leading what's turned into a homicide investigation because arson is suspected and bodies - some burned far beyond recognition - have been found.

The opening seconds are important here because they're a motif for the rest of the season. TNT promises that the fourth will dive deeper into Brenda's personal life and that whatever nominal control she seems to have over it is but an illusion. The look of terror in these first seconds says it all. A couple of scenes later, she turns up at the house she and fiance/federal agent Fritz Howard (Jon Tenney) have rented and flips out because her cat has taken up a position in the window. The landlord - you see - forbids animals. Tip to fans: Don't forget that cat.

Meanwhile, on orders from Assistant Police Chief Will Pope (J.K. Simmons), Brenda has been told to let a reporter with the L.A. Times follow her investigation. That complicates matters because the guy decides to pursue his own investigation (you know these pesky newspaper types). As the case unfolds, an old nemesis-perp of Johnson's turns up - Billy Croelick (Jason O'Mara). Hard-core "Closer" fans will remember bad Billy from the first season - before O'Mara was famous - when he starred in an episode called "Fatal Attraction."

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Bottom line A waste of breath, space and newspaper ink to pass judgment on "The Closer," and in particular, the season opener ("Controlled Burn") because you've waited all year for tonight. But you'll be happy to know that every second - particularly every second with Sedgwick onscreen - is pretty much a joy. Sedgwick's Brenda Johnson was already a tightly strung ball of neuroses, but fires, impending marriage, unruly cats, rental houses, annoying reporters and a wackjob named Billy all conspire to make the neuroses even sharper. Poor Brenda - she's glorious in her misery.

The Closer

Tonight at 9 on TNT