Sudden Death on 'The Closer'

By LillyKat
PTR Senior Staff Writer

So lightning can really strike twice.

Or three times.

Or six times.

Or eight times.

Or however many times the good folks over at The Closer want to employ Kevin Bacon to direct episodes.

The man is just too.darn.good.

Seriously.

We remember we were left speechless with last season’s "Blindsided." Well, last night, he did it again with “Sudden Death.”

And, once again, it’s left me with the feeling that he should direct every episode of The Closer. Something about how he gets amazingly deep, soulful, genuine and powerful performances out of the entire cast. At the very least, the Cold Case folks need to get in touch with him ASAP to breathe some life and passion back into the Lilly Rush character (not to mention the show on the whole).


The Case

This was actually a very simple case: Detective Sanchez’s kid brother is gunned down in yet another meaningless act of violence on the streets of a gang-infested East Los Angeles neighborhood.

BJ & Co. are given cart blanche to go after what everyone suspects is possible retaliation against Sanchez for his always aggressive pursuit of gang suspects.

And boy, don’t we wish that really was the motive.

Turns out baby bro’, walking along the street with his girlfriend, just wouldn’t show the underside of his baseball cap – yes, a ridiculously simple gesture – to a gang kid out hunting down members of a rival gang whom he swore Sanchez’s bro’ was a part of. Supposedly, if Sanchez’s bro really had been a member of the gang, the sign would’ve been on the underside of the cap.

Game. Set. Death.

The saddest part about this episode is the truth of it: kids get gunned down for even less than what we saw last night.


The Personal

This case was personal from the start. And Sanchez nearly lost the plot over it. But could you blame him? No.

I want to commend Raymond Cruz for one heck of a performance. His anger, rage, passion, desperation and sadness came off as amazingly tangible and ever-so real. I swear his intensity seemed to almost come through the screen.


The Director’s Touch

Kevin Bacon has a certain way with his shot set-ups that are so well-paced, and yet, it almost seems to leave one breathless at times. Better yet, he knows exactly when to dial it up, then dial it down. He moves seamlessly from fast paced to inter-personal confrontation to intensely still. It just keeps you gripped from one scene to the next.

So, whether its Sanchez running desperately down the street, isolated in slow motion, with hardly any sound, a blur on screen trying to get to the scene of the crime and get help; to him being absurdly (if not deranged-ly) calm emerging from the ER after his brother has died, thanking everyone for coming, making sure everyone got pizza, wanting to give his statement to BJ immediately; to his confrontation with Brenda in her office over his methods, his tactics and why he just cannot back off; to sobbing in the arms of Lieutenant Provenza over the blood-soaked baseball cap of his brother, pleading it was his fault his brother was shot given he was the one to give the cap to his bro’ a month ago as a gift … it all is beautifully melded together in sequence that is timed to perfection, balanced and exquisitely done, making for yet another brilliantly powerful hour of television.

Like we said, can Kevin just direct every episode? Of every PTR-fave show?


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.