We all know that Brenda is a selfish, childish character. We know that she’s brave on one hand and very weak on the other hand. She gives orders and the others oblige. She has a protection system that lets her do whatever she wants, because she has a husband who belongs to the FBI and gives her any info she needs at any moment, she has a team that doesn’t question her and above all, she has bosses that like and respect her. And this is my point here:
Brenda has two stars that rank her as a deputy chief because she slept with her boss and she’s still friends with him. I’m pretty sure that had it not been fot that specific contact, she would be stuck at plain detective or sergeant at most. But no, she’s a deputy chief.
And then, there’s Sharon. She finally got her star. But before that, she had to manage a team that didn’t like her and a boss (Taylor) that didn’t even respect her. In the first season of Major Crimes, Sharon had to deal with Taylor’s indifference at first and then even his interference in her cases. She had to hear his threats of firing her if the case went sideways because things weren’t going the way he liked. And then, season two arrived. The team already respected her, but Taylor still didn’t. Example: 2x10, when he tells her “chief Johnson would have found a way around this.” She didn’t need anyone to defend her, but the team did it anyway. And I won’t talk about his obsession with talking to the media and how that caused real annoyance to Sharon and the squad. That lasted until his death. In the end, Taylor accepted Sharon but didn’t really team up with her, unlike Brenda with Pope and the same Taylor.
Brenda had it all in her favor while Sharon had everything against her.
So the star Sharon received is worth a thousand stars Brenda ever got. And that’s because Sharon used her leadership, wisdom and intelligence to be respected and loved by those who surrounded her and worked with her every day. She EARNED her star in the purest possible way. She is a star herself.