reviewed by Charity Bishop
        

Everyone remembers Lt. Columbo with fondness. Whether he was chewing on the end of one of those rotten cigars, or pestering the suspect with "just one more question," he won his way into our hearts through his bumbling intelligence. The Closer is a highly successful attempt to recreate the same fondness for eccentric detectives in female form.

Brenda Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) is hardly the most popular woman in the building. An outsider brought to LA at the insistence of Asst. Police Chief Will Pope (J.K. Simmons) for the purpose of taking command of the Priority Murder Squad, her reputation is one of being a "closer." Too many recent cases have fallen apart due to police misconduct or incompetence, and her burden is to seal as many murder cases as possible in an airtight confession that the district attorney's office can use to sail to a smooth conviction. Both hated by her newfound rival Captain Taylor (Robert Gossett) and disliked by every single detective under her command, the eccentric, stylish blonde deputy chief has her work cut out for her, not only facing down a hostile work situation but solving a series of difficult and often high-profile homicides.

Fitted with a bad sense of direction that leads her to frequently become lost in the LA foothills, and a fetish for sugar-laced treats, Brenda slowly begins to win over her squad, made up of the youthful and ambitious Sgt. Gabriel (Corey Reynolds), who ultimately becomes her driver and all-around supporter despite a rough beginning, the coarse and often wry humored Det. Provenza (G.W. Bailey), and the other individuals who look to her for guidance as they solve their way through the enormous stack of case files on her cluttered desk. Also into the mix comes an old friend and flame in the form of FBI agent Fritz Howard (Jon Tenney), whose relationship with her causes friction with Pope, who also once carried a torch for Brenda.

While the cases do provide a decent backdrop, it is primarily the characters that rapidly win their way into your affections. Brenda makes attempts to appear bumbling and is in numerous ways cleverly eccentric, but never so much that it becomes clichd, or beyond the audience's ability to accept. Two episodes with her, and you'll have formed a lifelong adoration as you watch her fight donut cravings, come to accept the fact that she actually does love cats despite numerous protests to the alternative, and ultimately win over her entire squad -- just in time for a tooth and nails battle over whether or not she will be allowed to remain in command when old scars from the past return to haunt her work ethics. The supporting characters are just as colorful. You come to like some of them, and despise others, while ones you expected would never change come around, and others prove themselves just as scummy as you originally thought.

Because this aired on cable television, it is allowed to get away with more intense depictions of autopsies and language than its primetime national television counterparts. Language is rarely an enormous issue, but spattered throughout the fourteen episodes are various profanities, occasional uses of the word b**ch, and the rare term "bulls**t." Bodies are often displayed in gruesome fashion, found on the floor of bathrooms, hanging from flag poles, and rotting in back gardens. The pilot and finale contain a nude corpse lying facedown. Some of the details of the crimes are disconcerting -- the first episode reveals a lesbian sub-plot, "Batter Up" focuses on a homosexual couple in which one partner was murdered (some intimate but not explicit male-male professional photographs are displayed in evidence), and an aggressive gay man makes passes and sexual remarks to the officer who arrested him in "The Butler Did It." Other sexual references are present, along with several crimes that focus on forced prostitution ("The Big Picture"), pedophiles ("Flashpoint"), and statutory rape ("Good Housekeeping"). 

The most horrific episode is "Fantasy Date," in which an intruder attempts to rape Brenda, slamming her around the room and forcing her onto a bed before she stops him with a gun to his chest. It is revealed that the man believed she was a part of a sex game. Coworkers dig into her past hoping to unearth dirty secrets, revealing that she was once suspended for "sexual misconduct" (the allegations were false). Brenda has an intimate relationship with Fritz, and is shown making out with him in the front seat of his car in "You Are Here." There are some truly standout performances from all involved (enough to garner a slew of Emmy nominations) and equally impressive episodes ("Show Yourself" is particularly good, following the crimes of a local sniper), but the reality remains that it's Brenda who is the heart and soul of the series. Fifteen minutes with her, and you'll love her.