(S03E06) So... what's wrong with Brenda? She's getting fevers, she's highly emotional and weepy, and she feels like she has a cold. It seemed like the writers were hinting to us that she's pregnant because of her weepiness, irritability and her apparent craving for mashed potatoes. But, what about the fevers? I went on to WebMD to try and figure it out and I'm stumped.

(S03E04) Wow. Just... wow. I had to keep reminding myself to breathe during this episode. I held my breath as Brenda and the Priority Homicide team looked for a kidnapper. And then I held it as Brenda, and then Sgt. Gabriel, interviewed the creepiest sex offender ever shown on television. And then again, as they found the kidnapped 8-year old they were looking for. Let's just say my brain didn't get a whole lot of oxygen tonight.

And let's talk about that sex offender for a second. Was he scary or what? I am going to have nightmares about that guy tonight. I kept muttering, "Oh my God" to myself as the guy said, "You see, everyone pretends kids don't want to have sex. But they do."

*Shiver*

(S03E03) Does anybody else really, really want cake? The scene near the end of this episode where the entire team was eating an angry bride's wedding cake made that cake look so damn good. Yeah, it was a good episode. But, what stuck with me was the cake.

I love when the writers pull out episodes like this one. Sure, there's a dead person and an investigation, but the entire episode still manages to be light-hearted. It all started with Lt. Provenza dropping a coffin down a flight of stairs, then proceeded to a fight between an angry bride and Brenda, and to the entire homicide team eating the bride's $30,000 catering (including that damn cake).

(S03E02) This was one of those great episodes that went seamlessly from comedy to drama, something The Closer does better than any other procedural on television. Think about it: CSI slips the comedy in throughout the investigation, but The Closer gets serious when it needs to.

The beginning of the episode was laugh-out-loud funny thanks to some great one-liners from Lt. Provenza (aren't you glad the budget cuts didn't get him?). When Pope's not around to bring the funny, Provenza can always step in. Some of the more memorables lines were:

(S02E14&15) I decided to sleep on it before writing this review, and I'm still confused as hell. This episode of The Closer required intense concentration. There were a lot of names -- Russian, Arabic, American -- thrown at us, as well as a lot of terrorist scenarios.

The story/investigation was so complicated that we only got to see hints of Dep. Chief Johnson's unusual personality. I enjoyed the little tidbits in the first hour that showed her restless at her house as she waited for the investigation to conclude about the shooting in her murder room. Like you would imagine, she attempted gardening, but appeared to have killed all the plants. And she tried to go for a jog but ended up at the pastry shop "that I hate!" down the street.

(S02E13) Well, I'm glad this season has come to an end. While I loved the first half, the second half just seemed to lose its steam. It's as though there were two teams of writers or something. The culmination of the season came tonight and it wasn't that great. Sure, we got to see more of Fritz and some of the minor characters got a few good lines in (Provenza's "Miss Scarlett to the rescue" line was great), but it was just like any one of the last 4-5 episodes. Nothing special. And the end? Well, although I didn't solve the case, I did see it coming with the Crown Royal bag and that's what the entire episode built up to, wasn't it?

(S02E11) Brenda's back! You probably thought she was getting her act together, thanks to the last few episodes. But, no. She's just as bumbling and unorganized as ever and it ends up with her backing her police vehicle into some guy's SUV. Brenda neglects to report the accident, as she was in a rush to get to a crime scene. Seems harmless, right? Wrong!

(S02E10) Uh-oh.

Chief Pope's divorce is getting ugly and Brenda's getting dragged into it. During a deposition where Brenda thinks she is testifying on Pope's character, his wife's attorney holds up a letter that Brenda wrote to him when they both worked in Atlanta and had an affair. Before she can kill the lawyer with her glare, Brenda's called away to a homicide.

This week's crime victim is the daughter of a former heavy hitter in the city. Gennifer spelled with a 'G' was a meth addict and all the doors were locked up tight. There's a suspiciously large hole in a mattress in the guest room. Brenda's still flustered from the deposition as she stumbles through the crime scene.

(S02E09) Brenda's wardrobe just keeps getting worse and worse, doesn't it? That black, strapless dress looked okay at first glance, but then the camera zooms out and we see a tule slip underneath. That has to be from somebody's prom in the '80s! And then she wore some horrible, polka dotted skirt with a grey, cowboy-looking jacket and hot pink shoes. To Brenda, clothes are an after thought. It's a wonderful little touch for her character.

*Sorry for the delayed review. I was visiting my adorable 5-week-old niece in Utah and my in-laws don't have TiVo (I know, I know. But what can you do? They're family!).

(S02E08) Wow. What a change of pace from the last few episodes. I was wondering whether The Closer was turning into a comedy... until this episode. Warning: Spoilers in the next paragraph.

(S02E07) Is it me, or is this show getting better and better? There was a lot of humor in this episode. From Det. Sanchez's knowledge of porn stars to Brenda's frustration with the inter-office romance to the master-of-the-obvious coroner, there were a lot of little quirks that made this episode particularly enjoyable.

(S02E06) The opening sequences of this show are getting awfully clever, aren't they? This time, it looks as though Brenda and Chief Pope are meeting at a hotel for an illicit affair. Given the sexual tension between the two, their past relationship in Atlanta, and Pope's recent advances toward Brenda, it's entirely plausible that the two are shacking up. Just not yet.

(S02E05)  I had a hard time with this episode. I never really understood what Brenda's motivation was to help Lt. Provenza and Det. Flynn cover up their major blunder. At the end, she makes it clear that she was protecting her own but it seemed awfully out of character for her. Or did it?

(S02E04)  This week we get back to work and Brenda's personal life is pushed to the back burner-- sort of. It's her 40th birthday and she's a little upset about the number and, as several detectives suggest, she's acting stranger than usual.

The case was awfully convoluted, wasn't it? There were a handful of suspects, each with a motive, that kept sending Brenda in circles to choose a top suspect. She really, really wanted the killer of a restaurant manager to be Dennis Dutton, a man she knows kills women but hasn't been able to prove it. The evidence keeps pointing her to the woman's husband, the owner of another restaurant... everyone but Dutton. It turns out Karen, the victim, slept with each of the men in her life to get things from them: a restaurant, a job, and a good review. Two of the men she slept with knew she was using them, but the naive reviewer thought she loved him. At a fancy lunch, Brenda gets the reviewer to admit he killed Karen. Dutton isn't guilty. This time. And to laugh in her face, he sent her a set of chef's knives, like the one used to kill Karen. Brenda uses one of the knives to cut the yummy-looking chocolate cake that her staff bought her for her birthday.

(S02E03) I loved the beginning of this episode. The editing and the dialogue made it look like we were starting off at another crime scene where a famous person died, but it turns out Brenda was out on a tour of stars' homes with her mama and her beau, Fritz. Great opening.

The show doesn't waste any time getting to the crime. Brenda's called away to a triple murder--an apparent gang shooting--leaving Fritz alone with her mother. The victims are teen-agers and one is the son of a friend of Det. Taylor. I found the monologue where Brenda was telling Det. Gabriel how to notify a family of a death to be riveting. That was very effective storytelling: cutting from Brenda's instructions to the interaction with Det. Gabriel and the parents of the murdered boy. Stirring line from Brenda: "You're about to become the main character in somebody's worst day ever." Remarkable.