History Series / TheCloser

* KnightInSourArmor: Sharon Raydor. Provenza too.

---> '''Provenza:''' Call me that just once more, and [[{{Transgender}} Georgette]] won't be my ''only'' ex-partner [[ToThePain without a penis]].

** That's not the whole story. [[spoiler:The shopkeeper and his shop were under the gang's protection. Turell, the gang member who killed the shop keeper placed the blame on Reggie, a fellow gang member who went into the shop as Turell left. Turell subsequently gave Reggie's name to the police. Reggie tried to kill Turell in an act of revenge. The rest of the gang didn't get involved until Turell sold Reggie out in return for immunity. Reggie subsequently called the others and filled them on Turrell's numerous betrayals.]]

* IdiotBall: Don't try to run out of police headquarters. You '''will not make it'''. Especially since Priority Homicide specifically is located in the middle floors of a high-rise.

* DidNotThinkThisThrough: The wealthy parents of a perp in "Good Housekeeping" stand out. They helped their son flee to Mexico to avoid being tried as an adult for rape and murder of a teenage girl because Mexico would refuse to extradite a minor who faces a life sentence. The father tries to use this as leverage to get his son a favorable deal. This rapidly turns into an EpicFail because neither the father nor mother had considered that their actions -- elping their son flee the country and interfering with the authorities -- puts them in very serious legal trouble. Because the mother was using easily-traced bank accounts and checked into a luxury resort, the mother and son were easy to find. Their son also didn't realize that he did have the right to ask for consular assistance no matter what Brenda said. Nor that confessing to the rape and murder of a Mexican citizen in front of Mexican police officers, while ensuring that he'll not get extradited to the US, is not a particularly good idea. So, all three of them face prison with the son ending up far worse off had he simply stayed put and got a lawyer or simply kept his mouth shut.

* TakingTheBullet: Sanchez does this for Provenza.

* AbortedArc: Brenda's pursuit of a rapist who used his power as an attorney to stay out of jail was seemingly dropped after a few episodes. [[spoiler: Then {{Subverted}} [[ContinuityNod He's mentioned in the list Goldman gives at the end of the Season 7 summer finale of cases where Brenda has allegedly broken suspects civil rights,]] before eventually being brought back toward the end of the series. He finally gets caught (and shot) in the finale, albeit non-fatally. A running subplot through ''Series/MajorCrimes'' is the preparations for his trial.]]
** PlayedStraight with [[RichBitch Deniis]] [[KarmaHoudini Dutton]] who appears for two episodes before being completely forgotten. To wit, he first appears as a suspect in ''The Butler Did It'' for killing both his step-mother and later the family buttler before being cleared. He then returns in a Season 2 episode where again he is a suspect in a murder before, again, cleared; both times its brought up that he was suspected of murdering his ex-girlfriend and escaped prosecution [[note]] Its implied and more or else confirmed he ''did'' kill her.[[/note]] He's also implied to much smarter than anyone gives him credit for and shows a interest in Chief Johnson hinting that theywould clash againa and Brenda would nail him finally. [[WhateverHappenedToTheMouse He never appears again]].

* AndADietCoke: An obese victim in the episode "Junk in The Trunk" had a last meal that consists of four triple burgers with Extra Cheese, six orders of fries, and a diet coke.

* AsianAndNerdy: Lt. Tao. ''Dear God'', Lt. Tao. If he and [[Series/{{Mythbusters}} Grant Imahara]] stepped into a room, that room would explode. Or turn into a giant robot. Whatever. And that's before we learned in ''Series/MajorCrimes'' that Tao did med school for a while.

* AttemptedRape: In season 1's "Fantasy Date", Brenda goes alone at night to check something at a crime scene. She is attacked and nearly raped before she manages to draw her gun and force the would-be rapist to back off. Turns out he was responding to a sex ad and thought Brenda was playacting when she resisted.

* ConflictingLoyalty: The entire squad in the early seasons are torn between Taylor and Johnson in early episode. Poor Gabriel tends to be the lightning rod for this particular clash, however. Johnson even sympathetically acknowledges this in a season one episode where he was especially torn. Naturally, all their loyalties eventually switch to Brenda.

* DidNotThinkThisThrough: The wealthy parents of a perp in "Good Housekeeping" stand out. They helped their son flee to Mexico to avoid being tried as an adult for rape and murder of a teenage girl because Mexico would refuse to extradite a minor who faces a life sentence. The father tries to use this as leverage to get his son a favorable deal. This rapidly turns into an EpicFail because neither the father nor mother had considered that their actions--helping their son flee the country and interfering with the authorities--puts them in very serious legal trouble. Because the mother was using easily-traced bank accounts and checked into a luxury resort, the mother and son were easy to find. Their son also didn't realize that he did have the right to ask for consular assistance no matter what Brenda said. Nor that confessing to the rape and murder of a Mexican citizen in front of Mexican police officers, while ensuring that he'll not get extradited to the US, is not a particularly good idea. So, all three of them face prison with the son ending up far worse off had he simply stayed put and got a lawyer or simply kept his mouth shut.

** Buzz's real first name turns out to be 'Francis'.

* InconvenientlyVanishingExoneratingEvidence: Sgt Gabriel returns fire on a fleeing murderer but the gun isn't found and it appears he's shot an unarmed man. Brenda realizes that the shooter, the man's partner in the original murder, had been standing right by him and disappeared in the darkness after Gabriel returned fire.

* ItsAllAboutMe: Brenda says this word for word in "Forgive Us of Our Tresspasses".

** The season 5 finale gives Captain Raydor massive amounts of this in the central case.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Goldman, the lawyer prosecuting Brenda for every shady call she's made over the [[ContinuityNod course of the series.]] She, well, actually ''did do'' everything he's accusing her of. Similarly, Ricardo Ramos, a reporter who accused them of focusing on media-attracting/"important" people's deaths--which was, y'know, kind of true. Were both men dicks? Yeah. They also happen to be ''right.''

** Summed up in this little chat
--> '''Lawyer''': (To Pope about Brenda) Is she lying?
--> '''Pope''': You're her lawyer, of course she's lying.
* ManipulativeBitch: Brenda, Brenda, Brenda...we know you want to close the case, but sometimes you go just far enough to be almost too far.

* ObfuscatingStupidity: Brenda Johnson is a sweet, scatterbrained Southern eccentric -- until her suspect slips up and gives her what she wants. At which point said suspect remembers that Brenda Leigh Johnson is a CIA-trained interrogator.

* OutrankingYourJob: The Major Crimes Division consists of three lieutenants(Flynn, Provenza & Tao), two detectives(Sanchez and Daniels, who later transfers out) and one sergeant(Gabriel), with a deputy chief(Johnson) in charge. Ordinarily a police unit will be headed by a lieutenant or captain, with the rest of the squad being no higher ranked than sergeant. Lampshaded in the series premiere of ''Series/MajorCrimes'', when Provenza has been given command of the squad... for all of a week until Captain Raydor transfers in.

* PoliceBrutality: Sgt. Gabriel gets an admission outta a child molester by giving him a black eye. To cover it up, Taylor arranges for the suspect to be sent to central booking, and lets slip he's a child molester. The resulting beatdown is significantly worse than a black eye.

* RunForTheBorder: The murderer of an illegal immigrant's daughter flees to Mexico to escape prosecution. [[spoiler:Brenda's waives extradition in exchange for his confession. Subverted in that Brenda's investigation revealed that the victim had been born on the Mexican side of the border, so the ''Mexican'' police have grounds to arrest and prosecute the culprit for murdering one of their citizens. And Mexican jails are ''much'' worse than American, especially for a pretty-boy white American. And prisoners in general don't like people who hurt kids. She doesn't tell him this until he's finished, and there are two Mexican cops in the room. He desperately tries to get her to take him back, but it's too late.]]

* ScreamingWoman: Marie Morgan, the love interest of the victim, in "Tapped Out" kept on screaming so loudly that Flynn and Provenza had to wear ear plugs part of the time.

** There's also the calm, grounded, FBI Agent Fritz and his younger sister Claire who is a vegan spiritualist who has been a soap maker, a glass blower, a yoga instructor, and then a psychic.

* StereotypeReactionGag: In "Culture Shock," Provenza asks Tao to talk to some onlookers who apparently know only Chinese. Tao proceeds to address them in English, then dryly points out to Provenza that he's "fouth-generation American" and doesn't ''know'' any Chinese.
** He does know Japanese, but only because his wife is Japanese.

** Happens again in the Season 7 premiere with a music video being the source.

** Not to mention that she was trying to help Brenda get Pope's job.
** And in Season Seven, she is doing her best to ''stop'' investigating Brenda and her team, to the point of opening up the investigation by emphatically telling Brenda that she was being forced to investigate and, at numerous points in the investigation, trying to give strong hints to Brenda that she was being forced to continue the investigation against her will. Brenda is so insulted by the idea that she's being investigated at all that she just brushes Raydor off without thinking about the meaning of her words. [[spoiler:By the finale this appears to have changed somewhat, as Raydor is the first person Brenda looks to after she is cleared. Raydor's face is wreathed in smiles, and Brenda nods her thanks to Raydor before the scene ends.]]

** In Season Seven, they stumble into a robbery at a pawn shop. Before the even notice what's going on, the crooks get away with the gold and a guy gets shot.

*** She herself kept giving one to Fritz about the FBI (and the LAPD, as he keeps insisting that she remember) doing something similar when they set a dangerous drug dealer on a rap star in order to get him to do something incriminating. [[HypocriticalHumor And then she did the exact same thing]], only it turns out that the FBI/LAPD's actions didn't cause the crime, but her's did result in three people being badly beaten in an incident that involved shots being fired. Though in all fairness, one of those was the criminal and she did get to arrest a bunch of criminals including one that the FBI considered "untouchable."

** As of the seventh season (especially the finale) all of Brenda's enormous law mistakes [[RealityEnsues come back to bite her]].

* BelligerentSexualTension: So gloriously averted. Fritz and Brenda's relationship begins with ''liking each other and enjoying each others' company.'' It's a shocking concept for television, no? (The LesYay between Raydor and Brenda falls squarely into this trope, on the other hand, but the likelihood of that particular couple becoming canon is approximately zero.)

** That's not the whole the story. [[spoiler:The shopkeeper and his shop were under the gang's protection. Turell, the gang member who killed the shop keeper placed the blame on Reggie, a fellow gang member who went into the shop as Turell left. Turell subsequently gave Reggie's name to the police. Reggie tried to kill Turell in an act of revenge. The rest of the gang didn't get involved until Turell sold Reggie out in return for immunity. Reggie subsequently called the others and filled them on Turrell's numerous betrayals.]]

* [[FakeAmerican Fake Southern]]: Creator/KyraSedgwick is from New York. And not just from New York, but top-level Manhattan Socialite (her first cousin once removed Edie Sedgwick [[TheMuse inspired]] "[[Music/BobDylan Like a]] [[PrincessInRags Rolling Stone]]"). She's [[strike:about as]] ten times less Southern than Rudy Giuliani. On the other hand, her Southern accent isn't half bad.

** Poor poor Sanchez.

* VillainyFreeVillain: It seems that we are supposed to cheer for Brenda when she gets one over on [[InternalAffairs Captain Raydor]], but the Captain is a professional, zealous, by-the-book investigator who is doing exactly what her job description says she is supposed to do, which is to investigate misconduct within the LAPD. Given Brenda's[[ManipulativeBitch underhanded]] tactics, Raydor had good enough reason to track her every move.
** Not to mention that she was trying to get Brenda Pope's job.

** Det. Julio Sanchez gets this in Season 6 when the team finds out that his search for a child's missing, deported mother [[spoiler:was actually him searching for babysitters and schools, and that he hadn't called anywhere in Mexico to even start looking for the mother]].

** Brenda Leigh also gets this... well, all the time when someone finds out that she was circumventing procedures and throwing pre-existing investigations off track, but especially throughout Season Seven when she is facing the repercussions of blatantly setting up an untouchable murderer to be executed by his own gang in Season Six.

* DirectedByCastMember: Creator/KyraSedgwick's hubby Creator/KevinBacon has directed a few episodes.

* AbortedArc: Brenda's pursuit of a rapist who used his power as an attorney to stay out of jail was seemingly dropped after a few episodes. [[spoiler:[[ContinuityNod He's mentioned in the list Goldman gives at the end of the Season 7 summer finale of cases where Brenda has allegedly broken suspects civil rights,]] before eventually being brought back toward the end of the series.]]
** [[spoiler: He finally gets caught (and shot) in the finale, albeit non-fatally. A running subplot through ''Series/MajorCrimes'' is the preparations for his trial.]]

* ChekhovsGunman: ...and the other half have a person of interest of the lead suspects themselves revealing the same under interrogation, Amendment 5 be damned.

* ChekhovsGunman: ...and the other half have a person of interest of the lead suspects themselves revealing the same under interrogation, [[DoesntKnowWHenToShutUp Amendment 5 be damned]].

* ChekhovsGunman: ...and the other half have a person of interest of the lead suspects themselves revealing the same under interrogation.

* ChekohvsGunman: ...and the other half have a person of interest of the lead suspects themselves revealing the same.

* DidNotThinkThisThrough: The wealthy parents of a perp in "Good Housekeeping" stand out. They helped their son flee to Mexico to avoid being tried as an adult for rape and murder of a teenage girl because Mexico would refuse to extradite a minor who faces a life sentence. The father tries to use this as leverage to get his son a favorable deal. This rapidly turns into an EpicFail because neither the father nor mother had considered that their actions--helping their son flee the country and interfering with the authorities--puts them in very serious legal trouble. Because the mother was using easily-traced bank accounts and checked into a luxury resort, the mother and son were easy to find. Their son also didn't realize that he did have the right to ask for consular assistance no matter what Brenda said. Nor that that confessing to the rape and murder of a Mexican citizen in front of Mexican police officers, while ensuring that he'll not get extradited to the US, is not a particularly good idea. So, all three of them face prison with the son ending up far worse off had he simply stayed put and got a lawyer or simply kept his mouth shut.

* DidNotThinkThisThrough: The wealthy parents of a perp in "Good Housekeeping" stand out. They helped their son flee to Mexico to avoid being tried as an adult for rape and murder of a teenaged girl because Mexico would refuse to extradite someone who faces a life sentence. The father tries to use this as leverage to get his son a favorable deal. This turns into an EpicFail because neither the father nor mother had considered that their actions--helping their son flee the country and interfering with the authorities--make them criminally liable. Their son also didn't realize that the girl he killed was a Mexican citizen. Nor that that confessing to her rape and murder in front of Mexican police officers, while ensuring that he'll not get extradited to the US, is a particularly good idea. So, all three of them face prison with the son ending up far worse off had he simply stayed put and got a lawyer.

* DidNotThinkThisThrough: The wealthy parents of a perp in "Good Housekeeping" stand out. They helped their son flee to Mexico to avoid being tried as an adult for rape and murder of a teenaged girl because Mexico would refuse to extradite someone who faces a life sentence. The father tries to use this as leverage. This turns into an EpicFail because neither the father nor mother had considered that their actions--helping him flee the country and delaying the authorities--make them criminally liable. Their son also didn't realize that the girl he killed was a Mexican citizen and he had just confessed to her rape and murder in front of Mexican police officers. So, all three of them face prison with the son ending up far worse off.

* TheTheTitle

* DidNotThinkThisThrough: The wealthy parents of a perp in "Good Housekeeping" stand out. They helped their son flee to Mexico to avoid being tried as an adult for her rape and murder because Mexico would refuse to extradite someone who faces a life sentence. The father tries to use this as leverage. This turns into an EpicFail because neither the father nor mother had considered that their actions--helping him flee the country and delaying the authorities--make them criminally liable. Their son also didn't realize that the girl he killed was a Mexican citizen and he had just confessed to her rape and murder in front of Mexican police officers. So, all three of them face prison with the son ending up far worse off.

* VillainyFreeVillain: It seems that we are supposed to cheer for Brenda when she gets one over on [[InternalAffairs Captain Raydor]], but the Captain is a professional, zealous, by-the-book investigator who is doing exactly what her job description says she is supposed to do, which is to investigate misconduct within the LAPD.

* ThoseTwoGuys: Flynn and Provenza. If you think cop shows are immune to the PoliceAreUseless trope, just watch any episode where they get ADayInTheLimelight.

* DidNotThinkThisThrough: The wealthy parents of a perp in "Good Housekeeping" stand out. They helped their son flee to Mexico to avoid being tried as an adult for her rape and murder because Mexico would refuse to extradite someone who faces a life sentence. This turns into an EpicFail because neither the father nor mother had considered that their actions--helping him flee the country and delaying the authorities--make them criminally liable. Their son also didn't realize that the girl he killed was a Mexican citizen and he had just confessed to her rape and murder in front of Mexican police officers. So, all three of them face prison with the son ending up far worse off.

* DidNotThinkThisThrough: The wealthy parents of a perp in "Good Housekeeping" stand out. They helped their son, who had killed their housekeeper's daughter, flee to Mexico to avoid being tried as an adult for her rape and murder because Mexico would refuse to extradite someone who faces a life sentence. This turns into an EpicFail because neither the father nor mother had considered that their actions--helping him flee the country and interfering with the authorities--make them criminally liable. Their son also didn't realize that the girl he killed was a Mexican citizen and he had just confessed to her rape and murder in front of Mexican police officers. So, all three of them face prison with the son ending up far worse off.

* ThoseTwoGuys: Flynn and Provenza. If you think cop shows are immune to the PoliceAreUseless trope, they will set you straight on that misconception.

* ThoseTwoGuys: Flynn and Provenza.

* DidNotThinkThisThrough: The wealthy parents of a perp in "Good Housekeeping" stand out. They helped their son, who had killed their housekeeper's daughter, to Mexico to avoid being tried as an adult for her rape and murder because Mexico would refuse to extradite someone who faces a life sentence. This turns into an EpicFail because neither the father nor mother had considered that their actions--helping him flee the country and interfering with the authorities--make them criminally liable. Their son also didn't realize that the girl he killed was a Mexican citizen and he had just confessed to her rape and murder in front of Mexican police officers. So, all three of them face prison with the son ending up far worse off.