Justice, But At What Cost?

First, I have to say I love the opening teaser for The Closer. It is always informative, sometimes funny, always brilliantly acted. This episode was no different. It was a "stereotypes of the sexes" type episode. It was immediately evident that the Administrative Director was biased against women by the women's reaction to him. Daniels' and Johnson's faces were very expressive at Mr. Pierce's balking. Hysterical women vs. Logical decision making men. The doctors vs. the over emotional mother, Brenda's case vs Taylor's case. Good cop (woman) vs. bad cop (man). Even the false lead was given because statistically, it's committed by women significantly more than men.

Taylor is back to his old tricks, doing whatever he can to get his way. I could feel myself getting physically angry and I could hear my husband (in my head) telling me it was alright, that they are probably friends in real life, but since it is fake, I shouldn't be getting so upset. My husband's realistic like that. But since I'm a television junkie, I don't know how much I agree with him.

The ending made me want to cry. I felt sorry because society is the loser in this. As Brenda said, "Before I let these doctors go, I want to apologize to the mother for the world we live in." Brenda's face when the police lawyer walks out is so... it's almost graphic. Daniels look so close to crying. What I love the most, though, is how their feminine vunerability is all but gone when they hear the shots at the very end. They are, after all, the L.A.P.D. This is such a great show!

NCIS (contains spoilers)

I just watched an episode from the first season that made me admire the writers. There is a secondary character, Gerald, who is in a few episodes very briefly. He was given a dry sense of humour, played very wryly by Pancho Demmings , the character was a natural, though overlooked, part of the cast... until episode 16, when a terrorist breaks into NCIS in a body bag and begins threatening his life if Duckey, the lead medical examiner, lied. Right before the first break, it looks as if the guy was going to shoot Gerald and suddenly, it was as if I were fearing for the life of someone I knew very well. When he did get shot, I started crying. My husband wondered what was wrong and despite how silly it was to cry about a fictional character, I still shed tears.

Bravo Donald Bellasario and writing staff.