As problematic as some of The Closer can be, I cannot begin to express how cathartic it has been for my mom since she started watching it with me.
At risk of doxxing myself, my mom worked at a non-profit organization here in our state for most of my life — and my mom was the first female CEO of the organization in its very long history. And despite all of the things she did during her tenure, she was constantly belittled, ignored, and put down by the men in her company. Older men with more experience who had been passed over for the promotion, younger men who had under half of her experience in the industry and believed they knew better, women who she thought would have had her back against the pushback she received. And like Brenda Leigh, she was also dealing with her ongoing divorce when she was promoted.
My mom and Brenda are alike in so many more ways — how they look, their stubbornness, their dedication to their work, their pride, their chronic messiness, their ability to inhale any and all chocolate in the vicinity somehow without being noticed. I look at her while we’re watching an episode and she’s just so absorbed, so excited, so happy to watch somebody like her not only fight the same battles but win the same wars. She cried during Fritz and Brenda’s wedding and Brenda’s dad reminds her so much of her own dad —rest his soul. She feels so seen by this show, and for our impromptu mother-daughter time, it’s more than I could ever have asked for.
