The final season starts here…sort of. As was announced a long time ago, when Kyra Sedgewick leaves the show at the end of this episode, it will flip into a new show called Major Crimes. I’d like to say that Brenda Lee Johnson goes down swinging, but I’m really not sure how she could. There’s a lot of evidence stacked against her for a case of vigilante justice. She’s abused her power many times over as we’ve witnessed as viewers, and I’m not certain that she shouldn’t at least be stripped of her badge.

Tonight’s premiere opens with some flashback scenes. Johnson is on the stand, testifying in regards to a rape case she investigated. I’ve seen a good portion of this series, but apparently not enough to know if the flashbacks we see are from a previous episode. Given that some of the cases referenced at the end of last season concerning her vigilantism are from several seasons back, it’s likely that this slime ball rapist lawyer she’s pitted against has appeared on The Closer before.

Even though Sedgewich is leaving the show, I hope that her husband, Fritz, sticks around. He’s the FBI liaison to the LAPD on the show and meshes well with the rest of the cast.

Once thing I love about this show is that the writers display prominently how much bureaucracy there can be in law enforcement. In the movies you wave your gun around, shake down the bad guy, and nail him either in court or on the street. On The Closer you need to cross all of your T’s, dot all of your I’s, and make sure you have your evidence lined up ahead of time. Otherwise you can kiss your prosecution goodbye.

It’s not exactly realistic, but it certainly seems closer than most shows. Even with this admittance of realistic procedure, it’s still pretty damn satisfying to see the chief nail the bad guy…uh, metaphorically.