Let me take a moment to applaud The Closer

[giandujakiss]

I've complained a lot about how television shows involving the criminal justice system tend to get the law wildly wrong - and not just wrong, but consistently wrong in a direction that makes it seem like it's a lot easier for criminals to get away than is actually the case. And it's galling, because it contributes to ideas in the public mind that defendants have too many rights, and we need to eternally restrict them.

A lot of the time, these stories play out by having the criminal sue, or threaten to sue, the police - thus creating a lot of drama over whether a good cop will end up getting fired or being bankrupted because of a frivolous lawsuit. Once again, the reality is, it's very very hard - often impossible - to sue the cops or other law enforcement people, but these shows make it look like the courts are eternally tilted in favor of criminals.

Which is why I'm so pleased about this ongoing storyline on The Closer.



The premise is, in the course of investigating a murder, Chief Will Pope prematurely granted blanket immunity for any crimes to a witness in exchange for his statement. Turned out the witness was a murderer, and he used his blanket immunity to confess. The cops were horrified.

The witness was also a gang member and the other members of his gang were upset that he had betrayed them. So when he asked to leave the police station, Brenda - with full awareness of what she was doing - drove him home and dropped him off in front of his house, knowing that his fellow gang members were waiting there to kill him.

They did.

His family sued, and for several episodes now, they've been drawing out the story of the lawsuit and the internal investigation it prompted.

I'm loving it. First, I don't know if legally, the family members really would be able to sue over this. But it's certainly plausible that they could, it's not obviously ridiculous the way a lot of TV cop lawsuits are.

Second, the show is sympathetic to Brenda - she's the heroine, after all - and certainly as a viewer you want her to be okay, but at the same time, the show is not shying away from the fact that she really did something wrong. The characters variously justify it on the ground that the guy was a killer and would certainly have killed again, but the show makes it clear that morally, if not legally, Brenda basically aided a murder. So the show isn't trying to persuade us that lawsuits are criminals' way of harassing the cops; the show is demonstrating that the plaintiffs have a legitimate complaint.

Anyway, it's really well done, and so different than what I usually see.

Comments

[anotherslashfan]

Did you watch Scott & Bailey? If not... They seem to know what they're doing. And the series is distressingly good.

[giandujakiss]

I've never even heard of that.

[anotherslashfan]

I've shared it on the comm we've both joined here at DW. Check it out ;)

It's a British 6-episode crime series, with three layered female main characters.

The way police work is shown was extremely refreshing.

The story arc is fascinating and very touching. Be aware that many bad things happen in this series, if you want any spoilery warnings, just ask me.

[anotherslashfan]

Here's an introductory picspam: Picspam: Introduction to Scott & Bailey.

I'm not so good at squeeful posts, but I watched the first ep and then couldn't stop watching. Everything is just so real and complicated and involving in this series. And even if it's dark often enough, it also has it's shiny moments.

[giandujakiss]

Oh, hey, that's awesome -thanks for the link! I may check it out!

[chaila]

Interesting! Especially because I had one brush with The Closer towards the beginning of Mary McDonnell's guesting and it was just awful on this point. IIRC (but I'm sure it's blown up in my mind beyond its proportions), there was a couple ep arc about how sometimes good righteous cops just have to beat people up to solve a case--I think the case at issue was the killing of a cop, just to make the whole thing morally nice and tidy--what obstructionists IA are, and how heroic Brenda was for obstructing them instead, and then it wrapped the whole thing in an American flag.

Whoops, possibly I was more bitter than I remembered...

[giandujakiss]

I don't remember that storyline - I love the show but I don't tend to rewatch the eps so the earlier episodes have sort of faded from memory. But yeah, that's definitely how IA investigations are typically portrayed on TV, and it's another aspect of this problem and it drives me nuts.

(Sidebar - there's a new show premiering soon - maybe it has already - where the heroine is a member of IA, much to her cop-family's consternation. I love it.)

The way things are now, though, it's .. complicated. Mary McDonnell is an antagonist, but she's not evil or irrational and she's actually very sympathetic in many ways. Also I love Mary McDonnell and her relationship with Brenda is amazing.

[chaila]

Yeah I hadn't ever seen the show before, and I vaguely recall saying something about it in my journal (or someone else's? somewhere anyway), and a couple people saying it wasn't that typical.

I've kind of been tempted by that antagonist relationship! So it's good to hear that the earlier eps aren't how the show usually is now.

[giandujakiss]

The show has really morphed a lot over time. In the first season, it was fish-out-of-water - Brenda was new and no one liked her or trusted her, and she formed a close relationship with Gideon, a young black police officer. It was this wonderful mentor relationship that I loved. Then suddenly Gideon's role is decreased and the main B plot becomes Brenda's romance with white guy - and as much as I like seeing older women get to have romances, it was such an obvious move and I was really disappointed. Also, they elevated the roles of two white cops on her squad, minimized Gideon's role, and got rid of a black female character.

Then they brought on Mary McDonnell. She's only a semi-regular but when she appears I find her electrifying and I love her relationship with Brenda.

I still want the Brenda-Gideon relationship back, though.

[amadi]

New show's already premiered, Against the Wall (IIRC) on Lifetime. Episodes are available on thevault. It's pretty good.

[giandujakiss]

Oh, thanks!