Tuesday 27 September 2005

What to say if you liked it

A Prime Suspect-ish US drama.

What to say if you disliked it

Yet another quirky American detective. “She’s not Miss Congeniality, but she is a closer.”

What was good about it?

• Kyra Sedgwick as Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson, the Southern belle who’s been made the head of the LAPD’s Priority Murder Squad. She faces the sort of revolt from her troops that DCI Jane Tennison had to conquer which, of course, she does by being very good at her job, mixing Columbo-like hopelessness and Dolly Parton-like sweetness with steely determination and no-nonsense discipline.

• Johnson dramatically binning the transfer requests from her rebellious team

• Sweet-toothed Johnson dithering over the box of donuts

• Johnson’s smart dialogue. “If I liked being called a bitch to my face, I’d still be married.”

What was bad about it?

• The rather sensationalist corpse she had to deal with in her first case – and the rather convoluted explanation for the crime, which we guessed within minutes anyway.

• Johnson’s over-complicated back story (CIA background, undergone an ethics inquiry at the Atlanta PD, rejected job with Homeland Security, now working for the ex-lover who rejected her)

• The pilot episode dragged with lots of scenes where little or nothing happened

• The title didn’t grab us because we didn’t know a closer is a cop with an ability to close cases with skillful interrogation.

• The weird speech patterns of the disgruntled captain who’d been usurped by the newcomer