“The Closer” series finale: A fan’s reaction

After seven seasons, TNT’s drama The Closer comes to an end tonight, Aug. 13, airing its final episode at 9pm ET/PT (followed by the series premiere of the spinoff program Major Crimes). In a testament to just how strong a fanbase it has, The Closer recently broke the Guinness World Record  for “Most Contributions to a Greeting Card” — more than 17,000 fans have signed a digital greeting card expressing what the show has meant to them, and at a special Hollywood screening for some fans last week, a record-breaking total of hand-written contributions — now standing at 1,970 — were added to a 10-foot physical version of the greeting card.

That’s a lot of love for a show.

One of the people we know who has had the most love for The Closer here at Channel Guide is our photo editor and graphic artist Annabelle. We gave Annabelle a chance to review the series finale episode of The Closer and weigh in on it — and the series as a whole — from her fan’s perspective.

Note: Some of these answers may contain spoilers if you have not seen the series finale.

Channel Guide: What made you such a fan of The Closer all these years?
Annabelle:
The thing I liked about The Closer was it was extremely unpredictable. It kept you off-guard. With me, that was a real plus. I can almost always predict “who did it,” and with The Closer I could hardly ever guess the ending or the bad guy. There were times, and almost an entire season, where I was somewhat unsatisfied with a majority of their episodes, but that didn’t keep me from watching because of the depth of their characters and the backstory of each one of them. And then there were certain episodes which I kept on my DVR and watched them over and over again because I enjoyed them so much.

Channel Guide: Do you think the series finale was satisfying to you as a fan, both on a dramatic and an emotional level? Was it a good sendoff for Brenda (did it make sense for the storyline, and did it make sense as something her character would do)?
Annabelle: She is offered a job as the Chief of the DA Bureau of Investigations and she asks if she can bring someone from her team along (Detective Gabriel, who is actually the leak) and she accepts that position. The episode ends with her telling her team she’s accepting the job, but first she’s going to Atlanta. The series finale was extremely satisfying, and yes – both on a dramatic and an emotional level. They didn’t spend a lot of time on it and didn’t drag it out or have a big build up. It was worked well into the final episode because the DRAMA of the final episode was catching Phillip Stroh, and I think that was what the viewers wanted. The viewers already knew that was the last episode and that Major Crimes was the followup. In the last episode they also introduced a new DA who was more simpatico with Brenda (especially on the Phillip Stroh case) and she pitched her on a new job as Chief of the DA’s Bureau of Investigations. Brenda even asked her if she can bring along a member of her team – Gabriel (who turns out is sort of the leak). A perfect fit. Who knows, there might be an episode where Gabriel and Brenda contribute on Major Crimes.

Channel Guide: Speaking of Major Crimes, did The Closer finale set up that spinoff well? Will you be watching Major Crimes?
Annabelle: In the final episode, Brenda attacks Phillip Stroh in the elevator, and Capt. Raydor puts her on administrative leave pending an investigation. Brenda’s mentor (JK Simmons) is about to be appointed Chief, and there’s a not-so-subtle hint that Lt. Provenza or Capt. Raydor will be running the squad. Yes, I will watch Major Crimes mainly because of the character development from The Closer.

__________________

Photo: Karen Neal/TNT