"The Closer" Re-Opens

The third season of the The Closer started this week. Though it can sometimes feel a little too formulaic, this has always been a strong show, primarily due to the cast and their portrayal of characters that the writing team has developed quite fully within the limited boundaries of the show's format. My main complaint has been the tendency of the show to be a little gory with it's murder victims, and the new season premiere was no different. I didn't really think it was necessary to focus twice on the corpse of a twelve year old girl who had been stabbed multiple times. In fact, I think it probably could have been a more powerful scene had we not seen her at all, but instead focused more on the reactions of the detectives. We could have gotten as clear a feel for of the situation without having to see the details.

For an example of what I mean check out the final scene of Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven. When Eastwood's character kills Gene Hackman's at point blank range, the camera is from Hackman's point of view looking up the barrel of the gun at Eastwood. Before, during, and after the fatal shot we see nothing but Eastwood's face and it is a much more intense scene than it would have been if we had been forced to witness Hackman take the bullet.

In a different manner, Seinfeld did a similar thing by going out of their way to talk about TV-taboo topics in ways that would pass the censors and not lower themselves to the style of humor that makes Two and a Half Men unwatchable. They did such a good job with those situations that the scenes involved were actually funnier than they would have been it they had gone with the shock-approach.

I'll keep watching The Closer because it's a good show overall, I'll just have to close my eyes for the first few minutes of each episode. I guess there are some advantages to sticking to formula.