The final season of The Closer ended (to no one's surprise) with serious unresolved issues for Deputy Chief Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick). Johnson had been hit with several lawsuits, as a number of suspects had died while in her custody or shortly after being released. Captain Raydor (Mary McDonnell) was also investigating a leak within the department.
The first episode of the new season opens with a dramatic crime scene. Captain Raydor bursts onto the scene, asking many questions, taking notes, and taking charge of the situation. The crime itself is the shooting death of a high school principal while he was driving his car. It is soon established that there was a similar shooting involving a car of the same make, in the same location, and with the same type of weapon. Suspicious!
Creator: James Duff
Stars: Kyra Sedgwick, J.K. Simmons, Corey Reynolds
The principal's wife tells the LAPD investigators that she had begged her husband to stop changing jobs: he would take positions at schools in underprivileged neighborhoods and try to improve them. The team catches a break when the wife tells them that her husband recorded many of his conversations with other faculty members, troubled students, and parents.
Listening to the recorded conversations, they discover that the principal's last conversation was a very heated one with the school's coach. The principal's goal seemed entirely noble: he was trying to improve the school and its students by raising their academic standards. He wanted to implement changes for the athletes: as long as they maintained a C average, they could continue playing on the sports teams.
Although this goal was positive and not too difficult to achieve, the coach accused the principal, during their conversation, of not truly caring about the students, since he didn't care if the less academically inclined students dropped out, which would cause the average grades to rise. The coach then becomes the LAPD's prime suspect and is brought in for questioning. He insists on his innocence, but Deputy Chief Johnson is convinced of his guilt from the start. She just wants more evidence before she can pressure him into a confession. Meanwhile, Captain Raydor meets with the deputy chief and tells him she wants to resign, feeling rejected by the Homicide Division. He begs her to stay and even offers her the commander position if she does. She says she'll stay a little longer, but she has another tempting job offer and wants to leave soon.
The police department obtains a search warrant and forcibly enters the coach's house, searching for the murder weapon. They find no weapons, but they do find three students living with him. They immediately assume the worst: that the coach was taking advantage of these marginalized teenagers, whose parents were in jail or too busy and neglectful. They thought he was giving them a place to live and also abusing them.
While this series has glorified and showcased Chief Johnson in all her glory as a relentless interrogator, this episode demonstrated that her method is not infallible and that she makes mistakes. Her strength has been her ability to read people, but in this episode, and especially in this case, it's shown that she can be gravely wrong, and in a very delicate and unfortunate situation. She seems to always assume the worst. The truth is, there are horrible and sad circumstances for young people in impoverished neighborhoods and low-income families. Parents may be too busy trying to make ends meet, or they simply don't care and neglect their children.
The truth of the crime turns out to be ironic and tragic, showing that Johnson made a serious error in judgment. This season will be the last, with Mary McDonnell taking on the lead role in a spin-off series. In The Closer, Chief Johnson was the undisputed protagonist, and while she was never portrayed as a perfect boss, the continued deconstruction of the series' heroine indicates that the end is indeed near.
Comments
Post a Comment