The Closer has rapidly established itself as a show with a constant quality level - I think I've not rated a single episode less than 8, and that's an *objective* 8, not a "fan's" 8 - if an episode of any given show does not deliver, I won't give it any mercy, no matter how much I may love the show as a whole. And I see a lot of high fan votes given most likely by people who are too enamored with their favorite show to rate it objectively. The only other cop/special agent shows operating at this level are (or were, as they have ended) Cracker (UK) and The Wire - forget your Law & Orders, Twin Peakses, X Fileses, CSIs, Shields, Boneses, Criminal Mindses, Numb3rses, NCISes, Mentalists, and hundreds of others.
What makes The Closer so special? The show usually combines the darkness of the crime world with laugh-out-loud comedy, and *never* fails. There have been "dark only" episodes - like season 1's episode 3, "The Big Picture", that hit the bullseye by defining Brenda's character with one devastating plot twist, and more recently, "The Round File", that I've previously reviewed - bust usually an episode combines both, just like The Wire did. And in both series the humor is very natural, coming from characters that feel like real people, not generic stereotypes with a new millennium "twist". A third show that uses a similar mix is NCIS, which I really like, but like I said, that won't prevent me from admitting that some episodes are quite generic. And the latest addition to this genre is of course The Mentalist and that is plagued by the same, and sometimes worse, problems as NCIS. No such problems in The Closer.
As this is the first part of a two-parter, it's *not* supposed to be a "fire on all cylinders" type episode, instead laying out the seeds that will pay off in the second part. Many a two-parter has made the mistake of the first part being impossible to outdo, kinda like The Empire Strikes Back is to Return of the Jedi. Not so here. The first part has some darkness in the beginning, but then swiftly focuses on comedy with better results than most sitcoms. Every joke, from the smallest to the biggest works, the highlight possibly being the Atlanta police station scene. There is also a brilliantly written and acted drama scene where Brenda's father tells her he knows she is lying. You really feel the sadness. Things brighten towards the end, but you know the second part may not end well... All in all, this feels more like a confident first half of a movie, as all first parts of two-parters should. You will want to see how the story ends.
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