The Closer: Meet the new boss ...

As Brenda Leigh herself would say: Oh my ...

The new season of The Closer (technically, this is the sixth season, although it's only been five years; cable math is not like regular math) certainly got thing going with an aptly named episode The Big Bang. It wasn't the crime our favorite major case squad was looking into, though. It was the last two minutes, when everyone learned that Chief Pope wants to be the chief of the entire department. Hmmmm.

Of course the second episode did what The Closer always does: got better and more complicated and raised the stakes even higher, and then in those last two minutes, smacked us again with ah great twist. A California-earthquake-level twist: Maybe Brenda should be the chief of the entire department. Hmmmm, squared.

And then last night, the third episode, which involved a really terrible crime (quintessential Closer really, in that many lives were ruined, not just the victim's) and all kinds of Brenda issues: Brenda keeping the idea secret from Fritz (never a good idea), Brenda keeping the idea secret from Pope, and Brenda torturing herself with the thought of leaving behind her beloved squad. Not because her squad is beloved so much, but more because she knows nobody would care for it the way she does. Nobody except her well-trained Gabriel, of course, and he's not eligible.

So six seasons in and we really have to give the show's writers a giant shout out for coming up with this most welcome of twists: Brenda toying with the idea of betraying Pope, worrying about what the nefarious commander would do, wondering if she wants to continue to be Pope's Number 2 or make him her Number 2, agonizing over the idea of leaving behind crime solving and becoming a bureaucrat.

The strengths of this show from the day it arrived on TNT are its ability to mix the dark with the light, its ability to first create and then sustain a cast of characters who are believable in their lives and in their interactions, and a constant stream of plots that are both compelling and upsetting. Season Six is so far showing itself to be no exception.

How about you? Should Brenda become chief? Should she make Fritz head of Major Case? Would Pope and Taylor join forces to try and destroy her if she were chief? Would you still watch if Brenda were no longer on the streets, solving crimes and closing cases?