I loved this week's The Closer. sumi, I agree with your assessment. I like how they are carrying threads through this season, like the house hunting and the budget concerns. I'm wondering if that I am reading too much into it or if they were referencing Evelyn Waugh's The Loved One. They used that term and then there was the reference to all of the plastic surgery on the dead girl.

New show - with Vincent Kartheiser AND Christina Hendricks.

Huh. And Zoe Bartlett -- Elisabeth Moss.

Mad Men! I've seen the pilot, and it's made of awesome -- sharp and funny and VK plays a great really hot smarmy little shit.

The period gender politics are a little on the nose, but pilots tend to hit that sort of thing harder than regular episodes, and for the most part it's very smartly done.

And Rich Sommer! Doesn't anyone care about Rich? Just me? All right then.

I like Holly Hunter. If the angel is like the ones in A Life Less Ordinary, that could be an intersting show.

Wouldn't it have been hilarious for them to actually cast Delroy Lindo for that role?

Re: The Closer

Okay, how much did we love that Brenda called Sgt Gabriel her favorite ? Clearly, she had to do what she did, and Capt. Taylor agreed with her, which goes to show you that Gabriel was clearly wrong. Technically, she could have just not pursued it, but if Capt Taylor found excessive force, that's pretty significant, though.

I feel like they're building to something (though maybe this was it) but in the last episode (?), Gabriel seemed very angry with Brenda investigating the community center priest and the former gang-banger turned politician. It'll be interesting to see what happens when he comes back from suspension. I'm also looking forward to more stuff with her and Taylor. They're awesome when they work together.

Also, KS was impressive in that final interrogation scene. How she went from sympathetic to disgusted back to sympathetic with a blink.

How she went from sympathetic to disgusted back to sympathetic with a blink.

oh, yeah, I loved that parting line, I know, I just don't care . beautiful

I feel like they're building to something (though maybe this was it) but in the last episode (?), Gabriel seemed very angry with Brenda investigating the community center priest and the former gang-banger turned politician.

episode before last. It's interesting that these situations keep cropping up where she is on the law and order side, but he is in more of a grey area. I mean, we all wanted to beat that guy, and no one was sad about it, but that doesn't make it any less wrong.

I mean, we all wanted to beat that guy, and no one was sad about it, but that doesn't make it any less wrong.

Also? Interesting timing with this episode. Earlier today, I was watching an old episode of Without a Trace about a teenaged boy who disappears and the headmaster at his school is the main suspect. The whole episode has the team taking liberties in an effort to find the kid. Danny does an illegal search and then they can't use the evidence. Jack completes ignores the suspect's request for legal counsel.

In the last act, Jack is in a car with the suspect and has a conversation with him that is very similar to Brenda's with this guy. The sympathetic ear, "understanding" why he'd do it, talk about the victim wanting it. On WaT, it ended with them actually finding the boy alive. (Though the fallout lasted another two seasons.)

I think that the area, in these cases, becomes even more grey because it's not just about putting some bad guy behind bars. It's about finding a victim while there's still a chance they're alive. I can see how it might be easier to compromise on right and wrong if you think you're saving someone's life. You're less concerned about the legal ramifications.

I'm looking forward to seeing how The Closer handles their fallout.

PS -- I can't figure out what annoys me more. Treat Williams's hair or the fact that the Dabney Coleman character is actually a ghost.

Sigh. I am cursed to miss the last bit of this episode. When I was resetting the time etc on my vcrs post electrical outage, I noticed that the Closer was running long. But did I remember to set the vcr to tape 10 minutes longer?

Of course not!

So, I taped the repeat -- which was only an hour long and watched Kyle XY (since I'd missed most of that in it's earlier run) and then switched and watched the end of The Closer. I fell asleep sometime after Brenda said what she said and woke up just as Gabriel left his badge on her desk. What did I miss?