| “ | Where are Provenza and Flynn?! | ” |
— Brenda Leigh Johnson | ||
Brenda and the PHD go out of their way to covertly cover for Provenza and Flynn when a body is found in Provenza's garage which they do not report in order to go to a Dodgers game. In the meantime the corpse disappears and turns up undressed and cut open elsewhere.
The Victim[]
- Katherine "Kathy" Landis
- Former for-profit surrogate mother working as a heroin mule.
- Previous tenant in Lt. Louie Provenza's rental home.
- Neck broken.
- Body found in Provenza's garage but not reported by Flynn and Provenza in favor of getting to a Dodgers game.
- Body removed from the house, stripped and mutilated before their return before being found in a new location on a vacant property.
- Body cut open by her boyfriend Scott Campbell to remove drugs hidden inside of her.
- Had a stillbirth with her second surrogacy and was cut loose by sleazy attorney Alan Roth.
- Contacted Roth two weeks earlier for the Spenglers' address.
- Attempted to get the child she bore as a paid surrogate back from the Spengler family.
- Flipped out when she found out that Craig Spengler was taking her to the police as a drug mule and died in a struggle with him in his car. Charged with manslaughter by Brenda Leigh Johnson, who nonetheless threatens to charge him with murder and his wife with being an accessory if he fails to turn himself in within the five hour time limit she has given him. She understands he "was protecting his own".
The Suspects[]
- Scott Campbell
- Victim's boyfriend.
- Tracked her body using her cell phone's GPS.
- Removed her body from Provenza's garage and cut it open to remove drugs.
- Wanted for narcotics trafficking, conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to distribute and international drug trafficking.
- Falsely described by Fritz Howard as a very bad guy with serious ties to the Gulf Cartel as an excuse to take Campbell into FBI custody at Brenda Leigh Johnson's behest.
- Provenza predicts Campbell will most likely reveal his drug contacts to the FBI and be given a new identity as part of the Witness Protection Program in a few years time.
- Alan Roth
- Sleazy lawyer who brokered the Spenglers' surrogacy deal with Kathy Landis.
- Attempted to flee Brenda and Flynn.
- Violated interstate adoption laws with his actions.
- Cut Kathy loose three years before after her second surrogacy ended in a stillbirth.
- Contacted by Kathy two weeks before her death to find the Spenglers and the daughter she had given birth to for them. He fatefully gave her the address.
- Craig Spengler
- Father of Emma Spengler, the child Kathy Landis acted as a surrogate for.
- Still had a key to the house Kathy lived in while pregnant.
- Picked Kathy up at the airport and tried to pay her off and then to take her to the police so as not to lose Emma.
- Accidentally killed Kathy in a struggle while taking her to the police as a drug mule.
- Dumped her body in Provenza's garage.
- Pleads guilty to manslaughter.
Evidence[]
Closing the Case[]
Brenda's Story[]
Guest Cast[]
Daniel Roebuck as Alan Roth
Steven Flynn as Craig Spengler
Sarah Zimmerman as Ellen Spengler
Jeff Kober as Scott Campbell
Kenneth Davitian as Landis and Provenza's landlord
Locations[]
Episode Notes[]
This episode is the first in what has become an annual tradition on The Closer: the "Flynn and Provenza" episode. In these annual episodes, always written by Adam Belanoff, we follow the antics of Lt. Provenza and his hapless partner, Lt. Flynn, who is usually left to trail in his wake, or clean up his mess. Written to illustrate the partnerships developing within the PHD, the episodes quickly became welcome comedy relief, and firm fan favorites.
A Closer in-joke was born in this episode: the line of dialogue, "With me, with me, with me!" which Brenda or Pope use when rather urgently summoning an underling.
The baseball game that Provenza and Flynn were headed to was the Los Angeles Dodgers versus the San Francisco Giants. This is one of the oldest, and most intense, rivalries in professional baseball, dating back to the time when both teams played in New York, also now reflecting the rivalry between the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco.
At the beginning of the episode, Flynn and Provenza are headed for the game at Dodger Stadium and "sky box" seats. Dodger Stadium does not have sky boxes; the only private box in the stadium is the owner's and tickets for it cannot be purchased. The premium tickets at Dodger Stadium are called "Club Level" tickets because they are on the same level as the Stadium Club, owner's box, and press boxes. On the other hand, Flynn and Provenza both wear authentic, and expensive, Dodger jackets and hats.
Years later, in the Major Crimes episode “Turn Down”, also a Flynn and Provenza episode, they would face a similar situation of trying to get to a Dodger's game on time after finding a body and also ultimately not be successful, instead watching the game from Sharon Raydor's condo.
After it was removed from Provenza's garage, the body was moved to a site along Sepulveda Blvd. Taylor later complains Brenda cannot pronounce the name!
Sepulveda Blvd. is a major north-south street running nearly 30 miles from just south of LAX, where it runs under one of the airport's runways, through Westwood (and alongside the Federal Bldg. where Fritz works) and the Sepulveda pass, where the body was probably found, before ending at the San Fernando Valley. For much of its distance, it runs alongside the heavily traveled I-405 freeway, and serves as an alternative route between West LA and the Valley.
Flynn: A case of McCray Ridge 1997?
Brenda: Mmmm! My favorite Merlot. Though in a pinch I'll take Beringer Howell.
McCray Ridge Winery is located in the Healdsburg region of Sonoma, California. It is a "boutique" winery, known for its Two Moon Vineyard Merlot. Flynn would have a hard time finding 1997; its current release is 1999.
Beringer Vineyards is the oldest continuously working winery in the Napa Valley, located in the center of the St. Helena. It makes a large number of modestly priced wines, and a few premium wines, among them a Merlot made from grapes grown in the Howell Mountain region, considered one of the best grape-growing regions of the Napa Valley.
After removing the cables from the recording equipment in an interrogation room, Daniels shows them to Brenda and says, "Bless me, Reverend Mother, for I have sinned."
This alludes to scene from the 1965 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "The Sound of Music." Two nuns from the convent where Maria once live remove the distributor wires from the cars belonging to the Nazis so they are unable to follow the Von Trapp family. When the Reverend Mother confronts them, one delivers the line while showing her the wires.
Trivia[]
In this episode, the cast credits rise as Provenza and Flynn open and close the garage door, as if they were written on the door itself.