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Major Crimes (Spoilers) (1 Viewer)

Johnny Angell

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I’m surprised no one has ever started a thread for Major Crimes. It’s always been a well done (IMHO) police procedural. Now that the series has ended, does anyone have any thoughts about it.

I was surprised they killed of a major character with 4 episodes to go. I found it unnecessary. I found the death of Stroh to be anticlimactic. It lacked gravitas.

Still, it’s one of my favorites.
 

Dheiner

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I thought having Rusty kill Stroh was an awful way to end the series. I hated Rusty, almost from his first appearance, and his birth mom was even worse.
 

Steve...O

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The first 5 seasons were the best. This last season was a disappointment.

Ditto on Rusty. I told my wife early this season I was going to start rooting for Philip Stroh.

Not only did the show kill off Sharon Raydor in an unrealistic fashion, but they took Mary McDonnell’s name off the opening credits. Very odd and leads one to believe there may have been some hard feelings.
 

TonyD

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I thought having .......kill .......was an awful way to end the series. I hated Rusty, almost from his first appearance, and his birth mom was even worse.
Kind of a spoiler for someone who might start the series now after having come into this thread and read that it is recommended and is a good show?
 

Matt Hough

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Very disappointed in the last season. These long story arcs were not to my liking (even with the recaps each week, I'd forget clues and suspects and such, and the plots became a muddle). I much preferred the earlier seasons even though we had to endure first Rusty's angst with his wacko mother and later with his turbulent love life. But I had grown to love many of the regular characters we had watched for seven years on The Closer and six years with Major Crimes.

The killing off of Raydor was completely unnecessary and seemed like creator/showrunner James Duff did it out of petulance because the show was canceled (foolishly) by TNT. He's tried in interviews to justify his decision to do it, but it has never rung true to me.
 

NeilO

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I haven't read any interviews or articles about them ending the series.

This season was definitely a different object than all the other seasons with all multi-episode cases. I also didn't like Sharon dying by getting overexcited there. I was hoping that we might see Brenda make a cameo in the series finale. Overall, it was a compelling series.
 

Johnny Angell

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I had a fantasy that Raydor had faked her death so that she could pursue an unsuspecting Stroh. I knew it wouldn't happen and would be phony, but a guy can dream.

I also agree about the multi-episode story arcs. I didn't much care for them. The writers must have decided to go out in an artsy/fartsy bang.

I warmed up to Rusty as the series went on and enjoyed his growth as a person. Someone who got a second chance and took it.
 

Stan

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The first 5 seasons were the best. This last season was a disappointment.

Ditto on Rusty. I told my wife early this season I was going to start rooting for Philip Stroh.

Not only did the show kill off Sharon Raydor in an unrealistic fashion, but they took Mary McDonnell’s name off the opening credits. Very odd and leads one to believe there may have been some hard feelings.
Very much the same for me. This season started and just looked doomed from the beginning. Knowing it was ending, seemed like everybody involved was just going through the motions until it was over. It was very obvious they were going to kill off Sharon, haven't seen it yet.

Still have the last few episodes, un-watched, on the DVR. I'll get to them. Just a sad ending to a really decent show. Lots of ups and downs, way to much emphasis on Rusty. I wish they'd given Buzz more to do, rather than just play the video/cameraman nerd.

Totally different style of show, but compare it to "The Middle", ending this season. Of course it's a "Big 3" network show, yet it's bowing out nicely, the quality writing and acting is still there. This season of "Major Crimes" started and apparently ended poorly.

Mary McDonnell is a wonderful actress. Hope she comes back with another series or maybe returns to film.
 

Steve...O

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The other thing that bothered me about the direction Major Crimes took, starting last year, is that the Sanchez and Flynn characters were minimalized. Neither had much to do at all in S6. Some new younger characters were added that added absolutely nothing.

Julio was fun to watch when he got riled up and the Flynn/Provenza escapades were comedy gold at their best. When Sanchez was sent to anger management his character became boring.

I wish we could have seen more Fritz Howard also. Jon Tenney did a great job with that role.
 

Doug Wallen

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I also missed the Flynn/Provenza escapades. I also found it hard to believe that Flynn and Raydor could remain in the same department. Seemed a bit unbelievable that Andy could be a subordinate, not realistic. Rusty's love life never made much sense as he never was sure of what he wanted (reporter or student or in a relationship).

Since this was a case that involved Stroh, certainly seemed like a Brenda cameo was warranted. Fritz was still actively involved with Major Crimes and Brenda was rarely if ever mentioned once she left.

New girl - didn't really like her much. Neutered Sanchez was no fun at all to watch. This last season just seemed like a misfire. Oh well, one less show to find time for. Nothing on their (TNT) upcoming list of shows has caught my eye.
 

John Lee_275604

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I came first to The Closer and later to Major Crimes for 3 things
1 - innovative crimes and crime solving [that Sherlock/Perry Mason thing]
2 - cutting edge/modern insights on investigation and data gathering [Lt. Tau]
3 - the politics and jurisdictional wars of modern high profile urban crime

The wisecracking and character moments were nice, but I never got a lot of mileage out of the long-term character arcs and social commentary. I'm not much of a fan of the soap opera heuristic, and if I want narrative driven television, there are plenty of more serious shows doing a better job [Mad Men, Americans, Breaking Bad, GoT, Fargo, etc]
 

Johnny Angell

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As mentioned above, I also missed the Flynn’s/Provenza escapades. They were fun, particularly good in The Closer. As for a cameo from Brenda, the actress whose name I can’t spell, may have nixed that.
 

Jake Lipson

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they took Mary McDonnell’s name off the opening credits. Very odd and leads one to believe there may have been some hard feelings.

The show has always removed actors' names from the credits in episodes in which they did not appear, if there was an occasional one that a regular missed. Common practice. Since she did not appear in the final three episodes, there was nothing to credit her for.

I actually really liked the final season. Would I have killed off Sharon if I were the writer? No, but that doesn't mean it wasn't highly emotional storytelling.
 

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