Kyra Sedgewick--The Closer's Greatest TV Character

I am not a regular TV watcher. I take in the news and movies and sometimes watch the History Channel and Discovery or the Food Channel. Sometime, by accident, I may happen to hit the wrong switch. Or I might just tune over to something different because I'm curious about a series title. Well that's what happened to me when I found "The Closer," and I'm now almost an addict to this show. Yep, I absolutely hate the commercials and the pauses they bring when something really exciting is just on the verge of happening. Thank heavens for the Mute button! The Closer has only been running for just less than two years, since June of 2005, but it's zoomed to the top in ratings and is slated for a third season run. Like the immensely popular series, "24 " there's somewhat of a thread of relationships and troubles that continues show after show, but each show is about an entirely new set of special crimes to solve. "The Closer," in case people aren't aware, is an hour-long detective show set in Los Angeles, and it focuses in on the crimes being investigated by this one LA. precinct headed by a woman. Kyra Sedgewick's Deputy Police Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson has been transferred from her Atlanta office to head up a special units division that tackles very high profile and sensitive cases. Well, here comes Miss Brenda, a pretty, southern drawling lady who talks like butter couldn't melt in her sweet little mouth. . . that is, until she gets riled up. And does she get riled up! Sedgewick does an absolutely brilliant job every week in portraying a quirky, very smart, cagey woman doing a difficult job with all sorts of obstacles.

Well, what's so special about this character? For one thing--Sedgewick's voice. I'm southern, born and reared in Memphis, TN and I have never heard an accent quite like that. It's fairly good, I must admit, but that isn't the point. I don't even care if it's the real deal-it's a great accent, full of gooey honey, drippin' with chahrm, and it just races out of her mouth a mile a minute. I haven't seen any Yankees on TV talk as fast and as clipped as Miss Brenda talks. It's almost hypnotic to hear her in action. She just hammers her poor victims and some of her cranky assiciates with some snappy little rejoinder like; "I've never seen a murder quite that tacky, Lt. Provenza."

She has run-ins with most of the people in the Department, including Provenza and Taylor, both of whom are determined to apply the breaks to this little pistol totin' babe. She threatens their style of doing things. She sasses them. And she can run circles around them in the intuition and clue-gathering department. In short, this character is really just another version of that always-loveable Columbo. Both have similar disheveled lives and little habits. While Columbo loves his cigars, Brenda is a sweet addict. Of course she works off all those calories by rushing around, helter-skelter, solving difficult crimes perpetrated by the cleverest of criminals. She actually talks the audience through her thought processes, unlike Columbo, who always is snooping around picking up clues that are never exposed until the end when he nabs his guy.

Another reason I believe that this woman is a cameo character is that she is always trying to get her personal life adjusted to her professional life. The two are hard to get in synch with one another. For one thing, she is now having a mild affair with one of the other detectives, and she doesn't want to get married, but he does. How will the writers solve this little mystery, I wonder? For another thing, she wears the most interesting outfits to work-sassy little skirts with some jacket that doesn't quite match, always something feminine but just a bit "off." if you know what I mean. One of the funniest episodes I ever saw was the one where her mother stops in to visit from Atlanta and Brenda is trying to keep secret her ongoing affair with the latest boyfriend. It is funny because it really IS southern, this petrified fear of what mommy's going to think, even if you're middle-aged! And she pulled it off like a trooper.

The Closer is not only witty and smart, in the galaxy of crime dramas, it is immensely funny. It's the way the characters react to Brenda and the way she handles them that brings another dimension to the show. The psychology in the show is very interesting. Kyra Sedgewick is a damn good actress. Her facial expressions go all over the place in terms of revealing complicated emotions. She is not so much funny because she means to be but because of the effect of what she says and does on not only her department cronies, but on the criminals she surprises and disarms with a few well-chosen words to get that final confession. In a time when TV is laden with angst and violent, dismal characters, Brenda's a welcome relief. Always wanting to do the right thing, but having the backbone and the spirit to get it done, it's refreshing to watch her. I guess Brenda's as close to a series hero as there is.