What I’m Watching: The Closer

The Closer: Season 6, Episode 9 “Last Woman Standing” (B+)

The duality of the plotlines in this episode is astounding. Just looking at the title is enough: comparing the victim’s one-woman show and Brenda being the only woman in the running for the position of chief. Interspersing the interview segments with the suspects and with Brenda being questioned has never been smoother and more effective, especially since Brenda had to take a step back from the case and let other people do some of the legwork. Any chance to see Mary McDonnell as Captain Raydor, and it’s fun to see her working on the same side as Pope to try and convince Brenda to shape up and clean herself and her personality up for her big meeting with the mayor. Moments like Captain Raydor’s confession about being proud of Brenda are hard to come by, and it paved the way for a truly great last scene with Brenda about to walk across the street. In terms of this week’s case, the gang certainly did a good job of investigating without Brenda’s leadership, further proving that Commander Taylor could be a good replacement for Brenda, who as the chief would likely have triple the involvement Will does with the day-to-day happenings of Major Crimes. On the guest star list as one of several blondes in this episode was Monica Keena, most well known as Rachel from Judd Apatow’s short-lived TV series “Undeclared” and more recently seen as Eric’s serial girlfriend Kristen on “Entourage.” Here she played a woman Brenda and Captain Raydor certainly couldn’t respect: a fiancée who knew her husband was cheating on her with many, many women and did nothing to stop it.