The Closer Season 4 Premiere

My beloved summer show has finally come back to me. And what a glorious reunion it was.

The greatest part about The Closer is that it always leaves me craving more. That's why it's so difficult to only have 13 episodes in a season- it's only around for 3 months before it's gone again. Luckily, for the past 2 years they have been doing 2-hour specials in December. Because they have so long to work on them, these episodes tend to be the best.

Anyways, Monday night's episode was great. Brenda had to find out whether a forest fire that killed 3 people was an act of arson. This provided an opportunity for the wonderfully creepy Billy Kroelig to return. Played by Jason O'Mara, Kroelig likes to soak young women in alcohol and set them on fire- and he's never been caught. He is the only murderer who has ever been able to get to Brenda. Whenever he's around, you can just see the tension in her body and the fear in her eyes. Perhaps it's because he's the only criminal who she hasn't been able to catch, the only one who might be smarter than our brilliant Chief Johnson. In the premiere, he didn't even start the fire (that was done by a firefighter played by Charmed's Leo Krause), but that was irrelevant. Maybe for the first time ever, I didn't care who had committed the murder. Kroelig absolutely gave me chills when he took Brenda to the place where the fire started and said that he could still smell the burning flesh.

As for the rest of the season, I hope to see some good storylines for the supporting characters, especially Chief Pope (J.K. Simmons), Sergeant Gabriel (Corey Reynolds), and Lieutenant Provenza (G.W. Bailey). Also, I can't wait to see Frances Sternhagen and Barry Corbin again. As Brenda's parents, Willie Ray and Clay Johnson, they are absolutely perfect. I think they're coming back for 4 episodes. Maybe Brenda and Fritz will finally move into their new house and/or get married...?