Brenda Leigh Johnson quotes from The Closer

Brenda

Would you preserve the wounds for me, doctor?

With a casting or the epidermis itself?

Brenda

Cut out the actual wound, please.

Would you like that for here or to go?

Brenda

What makes a child go bad, nature or nurture?

Tao

Unfortunately, chief, by the time we get involved it really doesn't matter.

So, to me it seems like the only way a murder case gets treated as a priority by the L.A.P.D. is if you're rich, white, or related to a cop.

Brenda

Can I read the articles about these murders?

Excuse me?

Brenda

Front-page articles that your paper wrote about these boys?

Well, that's still a work in progress...

Brenda

So, the only way a murder gets treated like a priority at your paper is if it happens to someone rich, or white, or related to a cop.

That's your response?

Brenda

No, it's a question. You can dodge it if you like. You certainly have the right to remain silent.

Brenda

If I hear one more mention of weddings or chapels, I swear I am going to kill someone.

Fritz

They're just excited. That's all.

Brenda

No, no, no. You don't understand my daddy. When he wants something he will not stop until he gets it. Trust me on this.

Fritz

So it runs in the family then.

Brenda

Ha. Ha.

Rachel was murdered trying to help someone else?

Pope

Yes, she was. And now, to finish up here, on behalf of the entire LAPD, allow me to say how sorry I am that you lied to us so much and that you knocked your wife around to such an extent that we considered you a suspect in her murder.

That's your apology?

Pope

[nods] Mm-hmm.

You people have no idea what I'm going through, do you. Excuse me. [exits Pope's office]

Brenda

I'd still like to arrest him.

Pope

Odds are, one day you will.

Brenda

Bless me father, for I have sinned.

How long has it been since your last confession?

Brenda

Well, I almost got one last night.

Brenda

This is ridiculous. You all had no right to haul me off of that crime scene like a sack of potatoes!

Flynn

(exasperated) Look, Chief, you get upset with us when we break the rules, you get upset with us when we follow the rules. Now, if you wanna beef us for getting you out of the middle of a bomb scene, be my guest!

Brenda

Lieutenant, what just happened?

Tao

The explosives on Mellman were unstable so they had to be BIP'd.

Brenda

Wha...?

Tao

BIP... Blown in place.

Brenda

So where's my victim?

Provenza

My guess is he's probably all over the ceiling.

Taylor

Two patrol officers from the Hollywood division wrote up a suicide last Sunday. Morales calls back from the morgue, says the guy was murdered.

Brenda

Hollywood Homicide detectives didn't follow up?

Taylor

Did you not hear the words "suicide" and "Sunday"?

Brenda

Cause of death?

Due to circumstances beyond my control, you'll have to tell me.

Maybe he choked to death on four triple burgers, extra cheese, six orders of fries and a Diet Coke.

Brenda

This receipt was made on Friday night. Oceanside?

Gabriel

That's just north of San Diego. Looks like he paid with a credit card.

Brenda

Sergeant Gabriel, you thinking what I'm thinking?

Gabriel

"Why the Diet Coke"?

We cut back where we can.

Gabriel

Mr. Stroh, I'm just curious. You defended Chris from molesting a 13 year old family member and you got the charges dismissed. And now, it looks like the same guy has murdered someone. How do you feel about that?

Well, first of all, doesn't look like Chris murdered this young lady to me. And if you're asking about his previous case, obviously the state couldn't prove its allegations. So if you have a problem with the legal system...

Brenda

No, no, no...I don't think the sergeant was talking about specifics, but about how you as a human being justify defending child molesters.

All right. Most criminals, they do their time, and when they get out of prison, they go about their lives anonymously. Sex offenders are registered until the day they die. They're branded, like animals. Now, if the state is going to punish them more harshly than other criminals, then it also assumes a special burden to prove their continuing threat to society. My job: to make sure the state demonstrates that threat. So, Sergeant, if your... charmingly phrased accusation really does have something to do with how defending suspected sex offenders makes me feel, the answer is: It gives purpose to my life.

Fritz

Didn't I tell you, honey? Claire's decided she's a psychic.

Brenda

Oh, really? Oh. I did not know that.

Actually, it's not a decision, it's a gift. I've had it since I was a child. [to Fritz] Remember that time I saved your life? I warned you not to step out of the treehouse?

Fritz

Yeah, because you pulled the ladder away.

Look, I don't wanna fight! Anyway, I prefer the word "intuitionist". People hear the word psychic and they think "wack job"!

Brenda

Claire may be a bit touched, but she seems perfectly harmless. She might enjoy coming to my work and seeing...

Fritz

What? No! No, no, no, no! I wouldn't let her anywhere near a murder case! Do you remember when the FBI sent 30 agents to drain that lake in Virginia looking for anthrax? That was her!!

So Chief Johnson, is it true that the young girl was still clutching her doll when you found her?

Brenda

Here's what I can confirm as being in the vicinity of the young girl: blood and brain matter.

Tao

Whether it was the driver or someone else, the kidnapper would have gotten rid of the car pretty quickly.

Brenda

Probably somewhere near the airport. Lt. Provenza! I really need that car, and you seem to be awfully frisky this afternoon.

Provenza

Well, yes I am! And Chief, this is perfect weather to organize a grid search for a town car. And I could really go for a nice long walk around LAX. It'd be good for me!

Pope

Ok, do we have a breathalyzer up here?