The Closer
By Marshall Fine
Rating:
Monday, July 14, 9PM, TNT
Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) and her squad of scrappy L.A. cops kick off their fourth season investigating a wildfire that may actually be a murder. But Johnson also has to handle a newspaper reporter who is given access to her squad - and she has to hide her cat from her landlord while dealing with a plumbing problem. What keeps this show fresh is writing that is never afraid to let characters rub each other the wrong way and watch the sparks fly. It's also about Sedgwick, as a detective with a soft heart but a keen sense of justice - and the ability to fool a suspect into giving it all up without meaning to. Her back-up team of actors is perfection, from J.K. Simmons as her boss to Jon Tenney as her FBI-agent boyfriend to a squad that includes Corey Reynolds, G.W.Bailey and Tony Denison. It's always entertainingly unpredictable.
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