There was a great scene in 'The Closer' in the season finale last December, in which Mary McDonnell made a guest appearance as Captain Sharon Raydor. It was all about how much their two characters disliked each other.

From the TV Squad review, we wrote: "They may be on the same LAPD, but they are not sisters in blue. Pope would be wise not to keep throwing them together, although Commander Taylor and Johnson eventually worked out their differences and now are best buddies. Still, the scene with Mary McDonnell and Kyra Sedgwick explaining how they dislike each other was very good."

Well, Mary and Kyra will get a chance to rekindle that antipathy. In the upcoming season, Mary McDonnell is coming back to 'The Closer,'

McDonnell's part,in fact has been expanded. Raydor's Force Investigation Division will be featured in five episodes. That's five opportunities for Sharon to piss off Brenda, and vice versa.

And there's also Will Pope's angle in all this, which is always great because he's always had a soft spot for Brenda, but he has to be fair with Sharon, too. Talk about a balancing act. The reason all this works and plays so well is the performances by Kyra Sedgwick, Mary McDonnell and J.K. Simmons. The better the material, the better they perform. 'The Closer' returns for the sixth season in July.