By LillyKat
PTR Senior Staff Writer
During our visit to the set of The Closer in June, the cast seemed awfully relieved to be done filming the episode “Cherry Bomb.”
Now I get why.
Kinda made you want to go punch something.
And take every teenage girl you know and say beware of
They aren’t interested in you, and you can and will do better.
The ep (which aired last night but of which was originally supposed to be the fourth episode of the season) squashed the two weeks worth of humorous, insta-classic Closer moments that have wrung in the fourth season. If anything, this episode reminded me of last season’s “Ruby” (which came in on this year’s PTR Best Episode Countdown List at #34) – poignant, powerful and tough to watch.
And why The Closer remains one of the most compelling dramas on television.
The Case
A highly political one involving the son (Darren Yates) of a commander in the LA County Sheriff’s Office (Mark Yates, played brilliantly by Daniel Baldwin) who sexually assaulted a girl a week prior to her ending up dead from an apparent suicide. Now, as we know, BJ doesn’t investigate suicides, but since Commander Taylor took his sweet time investigating the assault (worrying too much about his political correctness and too little about victim Michelle Clark), he asks BJ to consider whether she may have been murdered since he, himself, no longer has a case now that Michelle is dead.
Oh, if only it were that simple.
Turns out slimeball arsewipe Darren and his friends invented a game called “Cherry Pickin’” whereby each put up $50 to see who could sleep with the most virgins by the end of the school year. He who picks the most cherries wins the cash.
And the fame.
And WTF else.
Complete with “LookIt” Page (read: MySpace-esque homage) with each girl’s picture adorned with a little cherry graphic.
Ugh.
Apparently, Darren had to really work to get Michelle’s cherry. And beat her to a pulp in the process.
Double ugh.
The Clever
We know how sexual assault cases go, don’t we? Never get convictions. He said, she said. Can’t get the victims to press charges. That is, of course, until Brenda Leigh Johnson steps onto the case, and uses her murder investigation to get the sexual assault confession.
Freakin’ genius.
I swear, I was literally cheering for this at the end, especially when it became clear Michelle really did commit suicide, and thus, Darren could not be put away for murder.
The Compelling
The entire episode.
It’s rare to see Brenda shaken up by a case, but this one got to her and found her even more steadfastly determined to nail Darren. How about that scene in the medical examiners room, going over Michelle’s badly beaten and bruised body … the close-up shot of Brenda’s face as she’s shown the mutilated lower nether-regions of Michelle … absolutely dead still … just.freaking.gripping.
From that point forward, you knew she would somehow, some way get the confession – even if every conceivable odd was stacked against her.
And that is why I love BJ.
Whether it was going toe-to-toe with Mark Yates (Daniel Baldwin), searching out another victim to get a tear-jerking account of how she was assaulted, or having to settle only for the assault conviction, she got Michelle justice in the end.
When arguably no one else would – or could – have (save for Detective Lilly Rush, perhaps).
And I don’t know what was more infuriating – the boys and their game, or the fact these girls fell prey to the game.
The closing sequence, with another Cherry Pickin’ victim coming back to Brenda’s office to change her mind and press charges … classic.
The Homage
I had visions of The Accused whilst watching this ep. If you’ve never seen that film, you should. Beware it is incredibly difficult to watch, but Jodie Foster earns every bit of her Best Actress Oscar®.
When BJ arrests the group of Cherry Pickin’ friends, I had visions of Kelley McGillis’ character going after all of the idiotbot men who cheered on the sexual assault of Jodie Foster’s character.
And she got justice in the end, too.
Thank. God.
Wait, is this PPD?
The only comical thing – and it was to me and me alone – was the fact that the interview room in which Commander Taylor first interviews Michelle (after her assault) looked an awful lot like Lil’s territory on Cold Case. I don’t know … lighting … angles … where the door was positioned … I swear Lil’ was going to come through the door any second saying, “I got this.”
Well, we got it.
And this is likely to be a favorite episode on PTR’s list for next year.
New episodes air Mondays at 9 p.m. on TNT. You can also watch full episodes of the show anytime over on the show’s official Web site.
1 comment:
This was an excellent, compelling hour of television. I was glued to my set. There are no words to describe how freakin' brilliant Brenda's interrogations were in this one. It was nice to see her so affected by this case too. Terrific write-up (as usual). This ep will definitely find itself on the PTR faves list.
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