The Closer – Hello Charlie

Take your daughter to work day works out a little differently if your parents are Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon. It turns out you end up with a recurring role on one of cable’s top shows. That nice little career development for Sosie Bacon made up half of the show this week. The other half revolved around the very twisted and confused murder of a snake-oil salesman. All that, and Willie Ray was back, complete with a disappointed look for Provenza and his new girlfriend.

Starting with the case, I really enjoyed the structure of the story. Tackling the case after the fact brought a new twist to the usual formula. It made sense that everyone just dropped the case after Clark (Bruce Davison) confessed. Just as much as it made sense that once Brenda knew he didn’t do it, she wasn’t going to let go. Brenda isn’t above bending the rules to get a confession, but a confession is always trumped by the truth.

The easy jump was to Clark covering for his son, and they did a good job selling that initially. I finally caught on during the interview when he said that Dr. Milano wasn’t talking. That was the tip that the kid stumbled in on a dead body. After that it was a short jump to the wife (Cynthia Watros). It was also interesting how everyone kept stressing, “It’s not my fault.” Everyone, that is, except Tao, who was sure that it was his fault.

Moving on to Charlie, I’m curious to see how other fans react to the addition. The clever bit is in Fritz’s deal with Willie Ray. They’ve only agreed to try it for a week, so there is an out if the dynamic just doesn’t work. So far, I like it. You have to assume that there is a bit of nepotism at work with Sosie Bacon getting the gig, but that’s okay. She did a nice job as Charlie, and I like the idea of seeing Brenda put her particular skills to work bringing Charlie back in line.

It certainly seems like she warmed to the idea rather quickly. She went from telling Fritz that there was no way they were doing it, to trying to get out of doing  it, to telling Willie Ray that she can handle it, all in about 18 hours. Fritz’s “trial run” justification is also a nice continuation of the baby story. I’m currently operating under the assumption that once Stroh is dealt with (which could put Charlie in jeopardy?), the path will be clear for Brenda and Fritz to have that baby. And season six will be a whole new deal.

All things considered, another solid entry. The addition of Charlie adds an interesting new wrinkle to things, and with the episodes counting down all of those hints at Stroh returning have to pay off soon. It should be exciting.

Clacked by Brett Love
on Aug 04, 2009 @ 16:00 EST5EDT