You know you’re having an epically shitty day when a cop getting killed isn’t even the worst part of it. Brenda is having a run of days like this lately, but this one? This takes the cake.
She probably thought having to go to court to defend herself against a multi-million dollar lawsuit was bad. She probably thought that being called to a crime scene in which a Sheriff’s deputy is the victim was worse. But then, then Brenda was almost murdered by a suspect who was improperly searched. Gabriel, Brenda’s usual knight in shining armor wasn’t around, so the duty fell to Buzz, who noticed the gun on the monitor and was able to get to Brenda in time. Unfortunately, no one could get to him before he turned the gun on himself, leaving yet another dead suspect in Brenda’s wake.
It’s obviously never good to have a suspect die in your custody, but I love the way this was handled on the show. It seemed as though the major conflict this would cause in the episode would be with Raydor. However, Raydor stuck by Brenda, and in a move she never would have made a year ago, stepped aside and gave Brenda the time she needed to solve the case.
Once that happened and the Sherrif’s deputy took responsibility on camera for not properly searching the suspect, it appeared that Brenda was in the clear. Sure, she was still almost murdered, but it could have been worse, right? Of course, things were about to get much, much worse.
Watching this episode, I was kind of shocked that Brenda seemed to win her case so quickly and with such little fanfare. Seeing as this storyline had been going on since last season, a summary judgement seemed a little anti-climactic. I’ve got to say, I didn’t expect the twist that came at the end of the episode.
While Brenda may have won the battle to keep her job, money and reputation, the war has only just begun. The Closer is in its seventh season, and in each season, Brenda has used iffy tactics to get her confessions and more than one suspect has ended up dead. As viewers, we’re so conditioned to this flagrant bending of the law to suit the narrative that it barely even registers anymore. I mean, honestly, could any case that Patrick Jane touches on The Mentalist actually end up with a successful conviction if it weren’t a TV show?
That’s why I love that The Closer is allowing Brenda’s chickens to come home to roost. She’s been playing the game with TV rules all along, but now the real world rules are coming in to bite her in the ass and potentially ruin her professionally. Once all of her cases are laid out in Federal Court, will Brenda be able to maintain her reputation as a hard-nosed, effective investigator? Or will she be seen as someone who is off the rails; who is willing to do anything for a confession. Anything to keep her reputation as a closer?
Clacked by Kona Gallagher 
on Sep 12, 2011 @ 22:01 EST5EDT
This feels very personal with Goldman, his denials notwithstanding. Could it be her open-case nemesis Phillip Stroh’s return, or even her first husband who so resented her work he caused allegations of misconduct with another officer in the Atlanta PD to be filed against her? Maybe Brenda put away a relative of Goldman’s somewhere along the line. None of these issues are new with Brenda, so why now? Baylor’s death was one of many, as Goldman points out, and not any more inflammatory than others (he was no innocent that got railroaded, gave no false confession coerced by Brenda.) I still think Goldman has planted a bug in the squad room which is where he’s getting the information, not a mole.