“The Closer” season finale “An Ugly Game”: terrific portrayal of addiction.
“The Closer: An Ugly Game”
The 2010-2011 season finale of TNT’s “The Closer” can be added to the growing list of carefully written and beautifully produced portrayals of addiction. When a USC graduate with an MBA from UCLA is arrested on skid row with rock cocaine in his possession, but arrives at the station without the car keys originally found on him, Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) asks, “How does a college-educated investment broker end up on skid row?” Det. Lt. Provenza (G. W. Bailey) succinctly and accurately responds, “Addiction doesn’t discriminate.”
The addict, Trey Gavin (Riley Smith) appears contrite as he comes down, asking “Why did I do it again?….I tried so hard to straighten myself out…I let my parents down again,” all the while blaming the folks at the treatment center for being con artists and acting so badly towards him they made him want to leave. However, one of the detectives finds out the treatment center is “known for their tough love approach, but it’s not a con.” Indeed, as the plot unwinds, we slowly learn who the real con is.
While Brenda is being conned, Sgt. David Gabriel (Corey Reynolds) isn’t. On a hunch that it’s bigger than just a crack case, he goes over Brenda’s head and asks Assistant Chief Will Pope (J. K. Simmons) to look at everything closely (and keep the case in Major Crimes). “It’s the keys…I just don’t understand why he’d throw the keys away if he didn’t think it would get him in trouble.” Pope in turn calls in Brenda’s husband, FBI agent Fritz Howard (Jon Tenney), who is a recovering alcoholic.
After detectives find the car with a dead girl in the trunk, Brenda is skeptical that Trey could be involved. However, Sgt. Gabriel insists, “I have known junkies my entire life. They are all incredible liars. Do not believe this guy’s story.” Brenda responds, “I have questioned Trey…and he’s childish…but he’s not capable of stabbing a girl to death.”
This is where you find that the writer, Duppy Demetrius (who wrote several episodes of “24” along with a number of episodes of “The Closer”), knows a heck of a lot about addiction (even if I can find nothing else about this person online).
Fritz, who’s been watching the conversation between Gabriel and Brenda, asks Brenda, “Do you know that conversation you never want to have? We’ve put it off as long as we can.” He brings her aside and says, “I’m an alcoholic. That means I’m an addict.” Brenda insists, “I know everything about this stuff I want to know.” Fritz responds, “You think that, but you don’t.” He tells her she might be making a big mistake. “Look at me and tell me, am I a good guy? Do you think I’m a good guy?” “Of course.” “Two days before I got my second DUI….[I awoke from a stupor and] my gun is missing three bullets….I could have killed someone….I kept drinking [and] it took me getting another DUI before I asked for help…and I did that only because my career was on the line…..That’s how dangerous I was.” Brenda, confused, tells Fritz, “You’re making it sound like you’re some kind of monster, and you’re not a monster. You’re the most decent person I know.” “I’m both, honey. I’m sorry. But I’m both.”
Wow.
Brenda begins to see that she could have gotten it horribly wrong. Fritz explains why: “You’re used to siding with the victim. That’s how addicts see themselves when they’re using. Nothing, nothing is ever their fault.” Even when Brenda is able to pin the grisly murder on Trey, who looks like such a nice young man despite his addiction, he insists “It’s not my fault.”
In the last scene, Brenda tells Fritz, “I know you had another life before you stopped drinking.” “What do you want me to tell you?” “Everything I don’t want to hear.”
There were a number of wonderful lessons about addiction imparted in this episode. No one masters the art of the con like the addict. Addicts are capable of anything. Anyone, regardless of background or education, can become an addict (if they are predisposed). The drug of choice is irrelevant and alcohol can make the addict as much of a monster as crack cocaine. Addicts need a credible threat of losing something they cherish to inspire in them a need to get clean and sober. And when addicts get clean and sober, they can be the most decent people we know.
As one reviewer suggested, this looks like a great set-up for the show’s (unfortunately) final season. If Demetrius continues to do the writing, the final season of “The Closer” could continue to provide one of the greatest forums ever in educating the unaware public about addiction.