The Closer Review

I remember being completely captivated by Kyra Sedgwick's character during the series premiere of "The Closer" in 2005. I was vaguely familiar with Sedgwick's previous work (I mostly knew her as John Travolta's love interest in "Phenomenon"), and was completely blown away by her performance in "The Closer."

I love how Sedgwick has infused her character, Brenda Lee Johnson, with various idiosyncrasies that make her so human. The characteristics, including her addiction to sweets, her southern charm (well, as much charm as a cop in L.A. can have), her self-confidence issues and her ability to be a hard-ass when necessary, create a lot of depth and complexity in a character that could have easily become a static and generic "L.A. super-detective."

I remember when I watched the first episode, I was captivated throughout, but the end when Brenda "closes" and gets the confession was absolutely amazing. I like how you don't know what exactly is going on in Brenda's mind and how exactly the murder is going to be solved. I somewhat pride myself on the ability to figure out how murders are going to get solved in various shows. People get annoyed with me because I'll guess in the first five minutes that the twin brother is the murderer and I'll turn out to be right. However, "The Closer" continually keeps me guessing. I find it almost impossible to figure out how the show is going to end, which makes watching a lot more fun.

"The Closer," which recently began its 4th season, continues to impress me each season. Last summer, I was unfortunately unable to watch Season 3 because I was out of the country. When I got back, I watched the entire season in a weekend. It's just that good. Enjoy!