Tuesday, February 24, 2009

'The Closer' Finally Says I Do ... Sigh

By LillyKat
PTR Senior Staff Writer


She did it.

In only the way BJ could.

Er, perhaps I should say in only the way The Closer folks could.

That is, they gave us a wedding ceremony between Brenda and Fritz that seemed as if it was being done in the supermarket - in the express lane, for the people with less than 10 items.

Yet, that was the genius of it.

When Fritz's sister started the ceremony, I couldn't help but think it was going to become one big melodramatic proclamation of BJ and Fritzy's love for one another.

Cue: "Let's do it."

Cut to: a mixture of photo collage snapshots to show us the fact the ceremony took place, everything went fine, and now let's get back to work.

Or at least to the reception.

Genius.

And was it not completely perfect to have both Brenda AND Fritz trying to squeeze in the wedding in between working a case?

And yet ... I must confess this "finale" is the first of The Closer's that didn't particularly wow me. I actually feel guilty for admitting this given the show rarely misfires for me. Perhaps it's because I've gotten so used to having humdingers that leave me breathless (we've had three in a row).

This one did not.

As such, I feel like last night was a mid-season episode. The "summer" finale shootout wielded far more of a punch, and our recent legendary episode, "Power of Attorney," gave us more of that cliffhanger/breathless episode on which to leave us die-hards wondering, hoping, waiting and anticipating the show's return in June.

And even yet to the yet ... this whole season was leading up to this moment between BJ and Fritzy, particularly as it pertains to the further development of both characters. And given I still credit The Closer as one of the best show's on television at being able to develop the personal side of its characters WITHOUT sacrificing the professional, it was almost as if they HAD to end the season this way. And if I look at the finale in the context of the individual characters, the show certainly gave us much to feel satisfied about - right up until the last confession of BJ to Fritz in the hallway (whereby she struggles with how much he unconditionally loves her, and that she only hopes she can equal it return now that they are married), to the resurrected breakdown between Detective Daniels and Sergeant Gabriel.

Soooo, I find it hard to knock the finale but feel I must confess it didn't wow me.

That said, I must also confess I didn't pay attention to the case.

Oops.

Call it BJ/Fritz wedding anxiety.

It was something about a woman married to an out of work war veteran. She took a job with three different stripper-escort agencies to make money for both of them, but then decided to get in cahoots with her hubby to rob said agencies on the days that she worked those agencies even though hubby wasn't supposed to really know she was working at those agencies.

Um, yeah. Okay. Again, not a humdinger by any stretch of the imagination.

And that's fine.

You know I will be back in June.

The Closer returns in June for its fifth season. If you missed any of this seasons ep, visit The Closer official Web site for the scoop on all-things BJ and Co.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I like the series, but didn't care for this episode.

The show’s (or BJ's) continual ignoring the law annoys me.

The police are allowed to lie to suspects to get them to confess and they do. But they can't lie to get them to give up their constitutional rights. The FBI tried that with Richard Jewel and the courts slapped them down for it.

Brenda did it with the first stripper she interviewed and she couldn’t arrest her now no matter what.

She may have done it with the stripper who was shot as well. It was hard to tell what BJ did.

Also, spousal privilege can’t be waved by one spouse to testify against another. In this case, the husband still couldn’t testify against the wife. Now I have heard that spousal privilege is being reduced by the courts and legislatures, so it may no longer in CA, but if it does it doesn’t work the way the show showed.

I also wonder about the coercing the attorney to violate attorney – client privilege. That seemed illegal as well.

Also, the first stripper was too dumb to believe. She asks the police to talk to her attorney for her and relies on them to pass on his advice? Please!

The case itself wasn’t particularly interesting.

All in all, a poor episode to go on Spring break with.