Season 7, Episode 13: Relative Matters - December 14, 2011

Disfunctional families. I didn't come from one. People don't believe that when I say it but to me it's true. I mean we were a family of three a mom, a dad and me...throw in a couple dogs, 4 cats, a parakeet, an aquarium full of fish, a hamster, frogs found on the golf course, a box turtle in the garden...we really were a perfect little sitcom family...I mean, I've been in therapy and even my shrink said, "wow, no disfunction in your youth" but as an adult...well, let's talk.

The Closer crew which feels like family after 7 years is a wonderful, loving, caring, funny, grieving, disfuntional family...in a good way! Truly! You put that many disparate folks together for 12-16 hours a day and you get to see quirks, foibles, pride, disdain, disgust, deep sadness and even deeper love. The family in Relative Matters was disfunctional with a capital D!!! Thefts, love and death. Psychopaths! And then there's the Johnson's and the Howard-Johnson's! Disfunction at it's best. Poor Brenda is facing the reality that her parents are aging and Daddy is not infallible and is suffering the indignity of cancer, of the thyroid. In 1966, my Mom had her part of her thyroid removed and in that era it was an incredibly difficult operation not as quick as Dr. Morales picking the shield of a thyroid out of the dead mans neck. My mom had a semicircular scar that was very prominent especially since she always tanned in the summer laying out or working in the yard in her Lily Pulitzer capri and midriff top, the scar tissue of the thyroid scar never tanned, so she always wore a smart little pearl choker, she never complained about the scar or how she had to hide it with jewels, because she was just happy to have successfully survived the surgery. Is that disfunction? I think not.

Brenda looked so thoughtful and sad standing in the murder room as Fritz and his companion agent played by D..B. Sweeny explained the case, I mis-matched her Irene suit jacket in taupe with a peanut brittle pair of Michael Kors pants, on purpose as thought she really didn't think too much about what she was pulling out of her closet that morning. Going to dinner the next night with Mama, in sparkly sequins; Daddy, sporting his steer head bolo tie and Fritz, looking dapper as ever, Brenda had pulled it together and wore a black and red tweed Irene suit that even the HD camera couldn't pick up the unique detail of the vintage fabric. Irene, the genius she was had this fabric woven especially for this suit, it was black wool with 1/8th inch squares cut out and the lining was red silk that to the naked eye shows through the black openings and makes a black and red pattern. Brilliant, wonder what disfunction Irene might have dealt with? Well, that's something to ponder.

Christmas episodes are always great fun to costume. Provenza with his gaudy JCPenney Christmas ties, Willie Ray in her eBay Christmas sweaters, bedazzled appliques and red and green Chanel earrings (remember she wears a green one on the right and a red one on the left...disfunction? No--creative! And of course Clay Johnson in his red and white Nordic Holiday sweater.

Disfunction, who cares, like any family, The Johnson's, The Closer Crew family and even my own family were full of love and memories, the happy times, the sad times; just the normal every day times. I miss it, I will miss this. I will embrace the next family, Major Crimes...whoever and whatever that may be.