User Reviews

I'm new to watching "The Closer" and "Ruby" is by far the best episode I've seen so far. The acting is top notch, with special nods to Corey Reynolds, Kyra Sedgwich, and G. W. Bailey. Reynolds displayed all the fear, hurt, and then anger of a case like this and he was brilliant. Sedgwick was as intense as she has ever been since I've watched the show, and Bailey brought it all home in just a couple of scenes- his scene with "Buzz" when he ordered him to turn off the recording equipment was just great.

Normally, Bailey ("Lt. Provenza") is just around for laughs and the occasional sage advise, but this time he was as determined as "Sgt. Gabriel" (Reynolds) to bring that little girl home- by any means necessary. I guess all of the cops on the show were, but these three stepped it up a couple of notches.

Reynolds' acting in the scene where Ruby's body is found is very likely all of our reactions if were were in his shoes, and I think we all would have beaten the perp to a pulp if given the chance.

This episode had my heart pounding, then breaking, and then worried about what the future would hold for Gabriel and his relationship with "Chief Johnson".

Again, just a well written, terrifically acted episode from a show that I was lukewarm on at first, but am really starting to enjoy.

The lawsuit that impacts later in the series is fed by Gabriel and here he acts as judge and jury. It's rather interesting that he later sells his coworkers out but yet here acted so out of control. What made his actions so much better than what the others did?

Realism is the attraction of the show. This episode is one of the most intense. The way the system has to be circumvented to solve a case is appreciated by police friends who watch. Brenda's manipulative skills (perfectly performed by Kyra Sedgwick) make the Thin Blue Line a deep Gray. However in this episode the moral dilemma is off kilter. Everyone gets that this is an at -all-costs situation to save a missing child which Sgt. Gabriel (Corey Reynolds) acts on to the respect of his colleagues except for surprisingly Brenda, who is conflicted on the means used by Gabriel. She closes the case per usual even "I don't care," when the criminal ( played with menace by Heath Freeman) pleads where he should be jailed. At the end Gabriel is the one ultimately punished though having to turn in gun and badge to Brenda with a scolding in the process. She betrays her own whatever it takes attitude that was established from show one As a fan of the show, I'm conflicted in the rating. So gripping throughout yet going against its own grain by inexplicably showing a conscience that is misplaced.