Deputy Police Chief Brenda Johnson may have put in a year already with
the Los Angeles police department, but that doesn't mean the transplanted
Southerner fits in yet.
In the second season of the TNT drama The Closer, Brenda is less
a fish out of water, but she's still not completely at home with her brash
colleagues--some of whom resent her potent mixture of brains and beauty.
All 15 episodes from the 2006-2007 are included in this four-disc box set.
And aside from a couple episodes where viewers are able to correctly guess
the ending about 20 minutes into the show, the cases are taut, provocative,
and highly watchable.
Much of the show's success is due to Kyra Sedgwick (The Woodsman, Something
to Talk About), an actress who seemed poised for movie stardom before
she took time off to raise a family with husband Kevin Bacon. As bull-headed
as she is soft-hearted, Brenda has a wry sense of humor and delivers her
punch lines with a gentle drawl. But don't mistake gentility for gullibility:
Cross her and you've made an enemy for life.
Even when she's stuck in sitcom-like situations--such as trying to hide
from her mother that she's living with her boyfriend--Brenda brings believability
to her situation.
From the first episode (dealing with the investigation of a brutally murdered
police officer) to the last (Brenda's attempt to bring down a terrorist
organization), Sedgwick is riveting; no wonder, then, that the Golden Globes
honored her in 2007 as best actress in a TV drama.
Rounding out the cast are J.K. Simmons (the Spider-Man franchise)
as Assistant Chief Will Pope, Jon Tenney (Fools Rush In) as her
boyfriend Fritz, and Anthony John Denison (Wild Things) as hard-nosed
Detective Andy Flynn. |