IMHO: The Closer (5.04): "Walking Back the Cat"

This week, TNT's crime drama The Closer took a look at the disappearance of a gay man in a case that that had Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson working with her FBI Special Agent husband Fritz.

Generally, I'm not a fan of police procedurals, so I'm not very familiar with The Closer but if this episode is typical for the show, I'm pretty impressed by it all. Read below for the details, watch out for the SPOILERS:

The case begins when, as a favor to Fritz, Brenda looks into a missing persons case, trying to find Austin Blair, a man who disappeared a month ago. Unfortunately, there was no follow-up after the initial report filed by Austin's boyfriend, Travis. The police seemed to have presumed that Austin probably just ditched his boyfriend for a new trick because us 'mos are so flighty that way. They also seem to think Travis is trying to use the LAPD to learn the identity of his rival.

Checking with County Medical Examiner Dr. Morales, Austin's body is found and Morales quickly connects the date of Austin's disappearance to Hell-A, a Los Angeles circuit party. Morales gives them the "gay culture 101" explaining circuit parties and how Hell-A usually means a higher number of overdose deaths for Morales.

Jonathan Del Arco as Dr. Morales

Originally, I was going to ask if anyone knew about The Closer hinting that Morales may be gay, but according to an interview with Jonathan Del Arco (who plays Morales and is gay) Morales has always been written as gay and this episode was supposed to be a coming out of sorts.

I have to admit, I almost missed it but there's something about the way he said "gay culture 101" that set off my gaydar — it had the kind of impatience that comes when explaining a basic part of your culture, like when I have to explain that there's a difference between sushi and sashimi.

The police's dismissive attitude towards the relationship shows up again when they go to search Austin's home. In that scene, they show outright hostility toward Travis, not even bothering to tell him that Austin is dead until he presses them for information. Then they blatantly ignore his grief at the news.

While it looks likely Travis is involved in some crime or another, the scene reads like these officers wouldn't have treated Austin's girlfriend this coldly if she was in similarly suspicious circumstances.

While the police's treatment of Travis is appalling, Fritz cuts Brenda a reality check when Fritz reminds her of how bad things look for Travis and how much he looks like a murder suspect. That leads her to put Travis through a tough interview that gets him to reveal the name of the circuit party promoter who Austin worked for and that his job was to sell drugs at those parties.

If the scene at Austin's home was meant to leave us wondering how the police would treat Travis if he were Austin's girlfriend, Brenda's interrogation answered the question. Brenda stays focused on Travis' suspicious circumstances instead of implying that there's must be something illicit going on simply because they're gay.

She even shows some sympathy toward Travis, not dismissing his grief as an act.

Early into the episode, I was feeling mixed about how The Closer was tackling the gay aspects of this story. While police apathy towards gays is still a problem in reality, there was something that felt very retro about the enlightened out-of-town boss versus the stuck-in-their-ways veterans dynamic. (And how many times have we seen circuit parties as part of crime procedurals?)

However, the story quickly took on a more nuanced tone because there were moments in the case where it helped to consider Austin's sexual orientation. For example, at first I thought Dr. Morales was also going to make a homophobic crack when he learned that Brenda's missing person was gay, but that information helped him connect Austin's disappearance to Hell-A.

Barrett Foa as Travis

Key to making this episode work was Barrett Foa's performance as Travis. The "gay victim" story is a cliche of crime dramas where victimhood is used to force intolerant police (and the audience) to face their homophobia.

However, The Closer plays with that cliche by asking audience to acknowledge the grief of Austin's boyfriend. For the most part, the script leaves it up to Foa to communicate Travis' sense of loss and it's hard not to feel for Travis in the few scenes in which we see him.

Travis isn't a different kind of victim just because he's gay, though. By acknowledging that his circumstances would make him a suspect for Austin's murder and putting him through some necessarily tough moments, he's not a strawman argument for tolerance, but a character like any other.

What did you think? For those of you who are more familiar with The Closer were the homophobic attitudes of the officers true to their characters? How did the show handle the gay aspects of the case? What about Dr. Morales' "coming out" scene — was it too subtly handled?

And check out this interview with Jonathan!