A shark in the Shark Aquarium in Ocean Park, Hong Kong. I like this picture. It is a bit dark, but eerie once you know that the shadow is a shark!
The Closer is an American police drama starring Kyra Sedgwick, who plays a Deputy Chief of Police at the LAPD. Sedgwick plays Brenda Leigh Johnson, an ex-CIA interrogator. She is a southern belle and her easy going charm has surprised more than one criminal during an interrogation. She always gets the bad guys. She was put in charge of the Priority Homicide division of the LAPD.
She’s had to deal with conflict from Commander Taylor, chief of detectives, since she was promoted over him from the outside to her current position. Her team are seasoned veterans, some close to retiring like Lt Provenza, others like Sgt Gabriel just a few years into their police careers.
Her personal life wasn’t always as stable as it is right now. She’s currently engaged to an FBI Agent named Fritz Howard, who helps her from time to time on some cases. They’ve just sold Brenda’s bungalow and moved into a temporary space as they search for a new house to buy.
Brenda is a severe workaholic, to the sacrifice of her personal relationships. She tends to micro-manage her investigations and take a close look at details. She loves junk food and sweets but is currently trying to lay off them. She usually hides all types of junk food in drawers, purses, and other places. She is also known to be a “bit of a slob”, commenting that she does not often get around to housework every day in one episode, and in another, during a small argument between her and Fritz over where her mail was, Fritz comments that “if she looked at her mail daily instead of once a week, she would know where they keep it”.
The Closer is one of the best police dramas on television right now and is in its fourth season on TNT. Each summer sees 13 episodes. A feature length episode is shown over the holidays.
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As usual, this was an excellent episode. A criminal that the unit wasn’t able to convict resurfaces to help them out in a strange way. The crime ends up being committed by someone close to the emergency response teams.
Warning: Spoilers ahead.
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The California wildfires are raging out of control again. This is the backstory of this week’s episode.
Sgt Gabriel comes looking for Deputy Chief Johnson. He tells her that they have company outside. Chief Pope and Commander Taylor introduce her to Ricardo Ramos from the LA Times. He’s going to be trailing the Priority Homicide investigation.
A fire was set. It’s become a natural disaster. The incident commander isn’t happy to have the Chief around. The fire isn’t contained yet. Pope informs her that usually LAPD stays outside the fire scene.
Deputy Chief Johnson isn’t happy. There are multiple victims. A fire was started in the middle of the park.
They spot Bill Crolick in the crowd. He’s a pyromaniac who sets his girlfriends on fire. He enjoys the smell of burning flesh. He’s been charged twice. He was convicted once and put on death row, but released when it turned out that he was framed. In the other case, the main witness disappeared. He’s got a lawsuit against the LAPD that is pending to be settled. Chief Johnson has to explain to Ramos that he can’t run with the story.
Chief Johnson goes to the morgue with Provenza and Ramos. Ramos takes pictures. It turns out that a victim died from a blow to the head before the fire. She was drenched with accelerant and put on fire. She might be the epicenter of the fire. She wasn’t homeless.
Johnson comes home and brings Ramos with her. They are in a temporary house. They sold the bungalow. They have been here for 6 weeks. Brenda is stressed. The toilet is backed up and they can’t call the owner, because he said no pets and they have a cat. Brenda is all over the place. Fritzi suggests that she unpacks. He says that he will deal with the toilet.
Brenda senses some trouble between Daniels and Gabriel, but she can’t deal with it right now.
Tom Merrick, one of the firefighters injured in the fire, saw someone creepy, but he had a baseball cap on his head. He didn’t make out his face. There is more tension between Gabriel and Daniel. Ramos just eats it up.
Crolick arrives. He doesn’t mind talking, but only with the Deputy Chief. Crolick wants to go to the scene of the fire with Brenda. She says that it’s out of the question. They are making Crolick think that he controls the interview. It’s bait. They want him to go back to Griffith Park.
He makes a little speech. He thinks that they are looking for another dead body. The park burning was a mistake. A rat ran out of the frying pan and started the park fire. The killer picked an isolated spot, picked away the hay and made sure it didn’t start fire.
Crolick says that the lady was dead before the fire started. It turns out that Ramos interviewed Crolick. He partly sabotaged the investigation. Commander Taylor is pissed. Taylor calls Ramos’ editor.
Johnson has to slip on the dead woman’s skin in order to get prints off her. The victim is Linda Herald. She was arrested two years ago for stalking her ex. Last night her boss made a criminal complaint against Linda.
Pope tells Johnson that Ramos will hand over his notes and photos in exchange for catching up on the investigation.
Linda might have known the murderer. They find the murder weapon. Brenda catches Ramos up on the case.
Fritzi comes to the office with Kitty. He says that the owner is sending a plumber to repair the toilet. The cat will have to stay at the office. Fritzi decided that the cat will stay at the office until the owner knows about it. He says something about leaving it here and picking it up, which makes Brenda think about where Linda’s car is, which was used to carry the body from the murder scene to the park.
They stake out the place and find Tom Merrick, the helping firefighter, come by to pick it up. Merrick says that Linda’s death was accidental. He’s going to be charged with four counts of felony murder.
Crolick is waiting for Brenda at her place. He tells her that he settled his suit with the state and is taking his 4 million out of her jurisdiction. He leaves.
Fritzi comes in.
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