The Closer to Major Crimes: The Squad Continues

[andromeda331]

On ‎9‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 9:58 AM, raven said:

I really tried with Major Crimes because I liked Mary McDonnell as Sharon Raydor and I was glad to have the squad still on TV but I just couldn't with Rusty.  That character literally drove me off the show.  

I really tried to like Major Crimes too. I liked Sharon on the Closer and I loved squad. But I couldn't. I hated Rusty. No matter how hard I tried I can't stand him. I didn't like Sharon and Flynn together. They didn't really seem to fit together and didn't ever look or feel like a couple in love. I liked them both better on the Closer then Major Crimes. I didn't like Sanchez and being angry all the time. He was more fun and happier in The Closer. I loved Provenza finding love and marrying Patrice. I liked seeing more of the squad and their families. But I couldn't get past the changes and Rusty.  

[shapeshifter]

22 minutes ago, andromeda331 said:

I really tried to like Major Crimes too. I liked Sharon on the Closer and I loved squad. But I couldn't. I hated Rusty. No matter how hard I tried I can't stand him. I didn't like Sharon and Flynn together. They didn't really seem to fit together and didn't ever look or feel like a couple in love. I liked them both better on the Closer then Major Crimes. I didn't like Sanchez and being angry all the time. He was more fun and happier in The Closer. I loved Provenza finding love and marrying Patrice. I liked seeing more of the squad and their families. But I couldn't get past the changes and Rusty.  

I stuck with it through every episode. Towards the end (whenever they gave him the grownup haircut) Rusty became much more tolerable. I preferred Flynn and Provenza as the team of cranky old cops who could easily do comic relief. I didn't like Andy and Sharon together; having been alone since my own divorce 27 years ago, their relationship seemed contrived to me. Provenza and Patrice made more sense since Provenza was "the marrying kind," heh, but it required that I forget how they met. The angry Sanchez arc was more or less realistically done—sometimes less, but I did prefer it to his being portrayed as lecherous in some of the early episodes.

[andromeda331]

24 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

I stuck with it through every episode. Towards the end (whenever they gave him the grownup haircut) Rusty became much more tolerable. I preferred Flynn and Provenza as the team of cranky old cops who could easily do comic relief. I didn't like Andy and Sharon together; having been alone since my own divorce 27 years ago, their relationship seemed contrived to me. Provenza and Patrice made more sense since Provenza was "the marrying kind," heh, but it required that I forget how they met. The angry Sanchez arc was more or less realistically done—sometimes less, but I did prefer it to his being portrayed as lecherous in some of the early episodes.

I made it through five seasons before throwing in the towel. I wanted to like the show but I didn't. I don't really see Flynn in a relationship again he never seemed interested while I could see Provenza getting married again. Ignoring how they met made sense. They had chemistry and really seemed to work. Sharon I don't know if she'd ever want to remarry mostly I still don't understand her marriage, staying together so long with someone she didn't like and waiting so long to divorce. The Sharon in the Closer didn't seem like she'd put up with that kind crap. Sanchez seemed happier in the Closer. And yes Rusty. I tried ignoring him, muting him fast forward every time he was on and it just didn't work. After 5 seasons I realized I still didn't like it anymore then when it started.  

[Raja]

3 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

I made it through five seasons before throwing in the towel. I wanted to like the show but I didn't. I don't really see Flynn in a relationship again he never seemed interested while I could see Provenza getting married again. Ignoring how they met made sense. They had chemistry and really seemed to work. Sharon I don't know if she'd ever want to remarry mostly I still don't understand her marriage, staying together so long with someone she didn't like and waiting so long to divorce. The Sharon in the Closer didn't seem like she'd put up with that kind crap. Sanchez seemed happier in the Closer. And yes Rusty. I tried ignoring him, muting him fast forward every time he was on and it just didn't work. After 5 seasons I realized I still didn't like it anymore then when it started.  

Did she wait to divorce, or being a devout Catholic once divorced didn't have a reason to push for an annulment after the break up? But then we are getting into Catholic politics and theology that is part of the Major Crimes story, not The Closer's

 

In any case I just re watched the first Captain Raydor appearance and it seems to confirm my suspicions that LT Flynn knew her before she showed up to investigate Sergeant Gabriel. At least the screenplay didn't waste anytime having her introduced to LT Provenza and the squad on the scene as she took charge Chief Johnson style. She was pushing her authority of the federal mandate around just like Chief Johnson pushed her backing from Chief Pope around back when Commander Taylor and other LAPD brass were chocking on accepting Brenda Lee as "Chief" Johnson.

[PrincessPurrsALot]

This is the place to discuss the characters as their arcs continued in Major Crimes.  Spoilers for Major Crimes are allowed in this thread.  If you haven't finished MC, read at your own risk.

[Xeliou66]

I love both Major Crimes and The Closer, they were both great in their own way. One thing I really liked about Major Crimes is that the whole squad got a lot of focus and worked together to solve the cases while in The Closer all too often it was all Brenda and Gabriel, while the rest of the squad seemed like window dressing. I also preferred Sharon to Brenda, Brenda could be downright irritating with her extreme self centeredness and constant manipulations of people. And I loathed Gabriel, he really dragged The Closer down, to round out the squad I would take Sykes and Nolan over Gabriel and Daniels. 

I disliked Rusty and the focus he got on Major Crimes, he was irritating most of the time and I didn’t like how his storylines would take away from the squad’s screen time. I also didn’t like the Flynn/Raydor romance, they didn’t have much romantic chemistry and I don’t care for romance between the main characters, and I agree that Julio became overly serious and uptight a lot of the time, we didn’t see his sense of humor as much, I preferred it on The Closer where he was a mix of serious/reserved and laid back/humorous. I did like how we got more focus on the squads lives on Major Crimes, such as Provenza and Patrice, Julio getting the child he always wanted, Buzz finally catching the guy who killed his dad and uncle etc. 

I missed Pope on Major Crimes, Taylor and Mason were cool but Pope was very entertaining and funny, he added a lot to the show. The Closer was funnier overall, Major Crimes had some humor but The Closer was downright hilarious at times.

Overall I think I liked Major Crimes slightly better because the whole squad got more focus, but both shows were great.

[Raja]

Detective Sykes came on much like Sergeant Gabriel at the beginning both were placed in PHD/Major Crimes without the specialist skill set being recruited by commanding officers looking out for their future careers. I would say giving the political nature of many cases which dictated the Chief handled them meant that Sergeant Gabriel's  community organizer ties, as what everyone hoped would be a future LAPD Chief,  would come more into play then Sykes past as  an  Army  Afghanistan veteran and an undercover tracker surveillance expert.

While Captain Raydor's squad did not depend upon the Captain receiving a burst of inspiration from some random event like Dr. House or in this case Chief Johnson did Brenda Lee's home life did not drag the show like the boy wonder Rusty did.