g.w. bailey-related stories
Posted Aug 12th 2008 12:40AM by Brett Love
Filed under: The Closer, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S04E05) This was probably the most anticipated episode of The Closer ever, for me. I mentioned the episode in the early look at the season, and the idea of Provenza stepping into the spotlight and working undercover seemed like a can't miss. Add to that the dramatic conclusion to last week's "Live Wire" and we really seemed to have the makings of a great episode on our hands. Unfortunately, it didn't really work out that way. "Dial M For Provenza" certainly had it's moments, but overall, I'd call it hit and miss. I'll explain, after the jump..
Continue reading The Closer: Dial M For Provenza
Posted Dec 5th 2006 12:32PM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, TNT, The Closer
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S02E14&15) I decided to sleep on it before writing this review, and I'm still confused as hell. This episode of
The Closer required intense concentration. There were a lot of names -- Russian, Arabic, American -- thrown at us, as well as a lot of terrorist scenarios.
The story/investigation was so complicated that we only got to see hints of Dep. Chief Johnson's unusual personality. I enjoyed the little tidbits in the first hour that showed her restless at her house as she waited for the investigation to conclude about the shooting in her murder room. Like you would imagine, she attempted gardening, but appeared to have killed all the plants. And she tried to go for a jog but ended up at the pastry shop "that I
hate!" down the street.
Continue reading The Closer: Serving the King (Pt. 1 & 2)
Posted Sep 5th 2006 1:15AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, TNT, The Closer
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S02E13) Well, I'm glad this season has come to an end. While I loved the first half, the second half just seemed to lose its steam. It's as though there were two teams of writers or something. The culmination of the season came tonight and it wasn't that great. Sure, we got to see more of Fritz and some of the minor characters got a few good lines in (Provenza's "Miss Scarlett to the rescue" line was great), but it was just like any one of the last 4-5 episodes. Nothing special. And the end? Well, although I didn't solve the case, I did see it coming with the Crown Royal bag and that's what the entire episode built up to, wasn't it?
Continue reading The Closer: Overkill (season finale)
Posted Aug 29th 2006 1:36AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, TNT, The Closer
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S02E12) This episode opens with a sombre tone when a teen-age boy is found shot to death in front of his home, in a very nice neighborhood. The kid (Carl Neilson) doesn't have any gang affiliations but he is the star witness in a murder case and his testimony could free the man on death row for the murders of two convenience store owners. Detectives start their hunt for the man described by the kid as the real killer.
But hell with the case. We've got a bitch fight between Estelle (Chief Pope's soon-to-be ex-wife) and Brenda and it ain't pretty. Estelle barges into the investigation room and, with every single member of Brenda's team present, she yells at Brenda about her previous affair with Chief Pope and accuses her of having another affair with him. Yowza. So much for spending all of last season gaining the respect of her team.
Continue reading The Closer: No Good Deed
Posted Aug 15th 2006 7:35AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, TNT, The Closer
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S02E10) Uh-oh.
Chief Pope's divorce is getting ugly and Brenda's getting dragged into it. During a deposition where Brenda thinks she is testifying on Pope's character, his wife's attorney holds up a letter that Brenda wrote to him when they both worked in Atlanta and had an affair. Before she can kill the lawyer with her glare, Brenda's called away to a homicide.
This week's crime victim is the daughter of a former heavy hitter in the city. Gennifer spelled with a 'G' was a meth addict and all the doors were locked up tight. There's a suspiciously large hole in a mattress in the guest room. Brenda's still flustered from the deposition as she stumbles through the crime scene.
Continue reading The Closer: The Other Woman
Posted Aug 8th 2006 1:50AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, TNT, The Closer
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S02E09) Brenda's wardrobe just keeps getting worse and worse, doesn't it? That black, strapless dress looked okay at first glance, but then the camera zooms out and we see a tule slip underneath. That has to be from somebody's prom in the '80s! And then she wore some horrible, polka dotted skirt with a grey, cowboy-looking jacket and hot pink shoes. To Brenda, clothes are an after thought. It's a wonderful little touch for her character.
Continue reading The Closer: Heroic Measures
Posted Aug 3rd 2006 8:25AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, TNT, The Closer
*Sorry for the delayed review. I was visiting my adorable 5-week-old niece in Utah and my in-laws don't have TiVo (I know, I know. But what can you do? They're family!).(
S02E08) Wow. What a change of pace from the last few episodes. I was wondering whether
The Closer was turning into a comedy... until this episode. Warning: Spoilers in the next paragraph.
Continue reading The Closer: Critical Missing
Posted Jul 18th 2006 1:25AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, TNT, The Closer
(S02E06) The opening sequences of this show are getting awfully clever, aren't they? This time, it looks as though Brenda and Chief Pope are meeting at a hotel for an illicit affair. Given the sexual tension between the two, their past relationship in Atlanta, and Pope's recent advances toward Brenda, it's entirely plausible that the two are shacking up. Just not yet.
Continue reading The Closer: Out of Focus
Posted Jul 11th 2006 12:25PM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, TNT, The Closer
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S02E05) I had a hard time with this episode. I never really understood what Brenda's motivation was to help Lt. Provenza and Det. Flynn cover up their major blunder. At the end, she makes it clear that she was protecting her own but it seemed awfully out of character for her. Or did it?
Continue reading The Closer: To Protect & Serve
Posted Jun 27th 2006 7:42AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, TNT, The Closer
(S02E03) I loved the beginning of this episode. The editing and the dialogue made it look like we were starting off at another crime scene where a famous person died, but it turns out Brenda was out on a tour of stars' homes with her mama and her beau, Fritz. Great opening.
The show doesn't waste any time getting to the crime. Brenda's called away to a triple murder--an apparent gang shooting--leaving Fritz alone with her mother. The victims are teen-agers and one is the son of a friend of Det. Taylor. I found the monologue where Brenda was telling Det. Gabriel how to notify a family of a death to be riveting. That was very effective storytelling: cutting from Brenda's instructions to the interaction with Det. Gabriel and the parents of the murdered boy. Stirring line from Brenda: "You're about to become the main character in somebody's worst day ever." Remarkable.
Continue reading The Closer: Slippin'
Posted Jun 20th 2006 2:22AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, TNT, The Closer
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S02E02) I just adore the Brenda character. She is such a disaster in person, isn't she? Even though she rubs people the wrong way, she still manages to get them to talk. Remarkable. I love the irony that she is so socially retarded, yet she can totally read people when it comes to interrogating them about crimes.
The first half of this episode was more about the personal side of Brenda. She's all on edge about Fritz moving in and her mother coming to visit. Her mother, you probably noticed, delivers a similar sugary-sweet 'Thank You' to Brenda's, although Brenda's can mean a million different things. It was an unusual departure for the show and I expected the crime to remain in the background but, at about the 30-minute mark, the focus of the show changed to the crime at hand. Her mother disappears into the background-- only appearing in order to be hit on by Lt. Provenza-- and Fritz completely disappears until the very end when he's properly introduced to Brenda's mother. Bummer about the story shift, because I love the walking wreck that is Brenda's personal life.
Continue reading The Closer: Mom Duty
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