- Borg.com: “Breathtaking. Gut-wrenching.  This week’s summer season finale of Major Crimes should underscore for any naysayers TNT’s decision last week to renew the series for a third season.  Major Crimes wrapped its eleventh episode of the second season this week with what may be the best dramatic episode of television this year.  Revealing the murders by a “poster boy” model of several innocent victims, the producers took us on a different path through the Major Crimes typical police turf to a place we didn’t really want to go.  Creepy and disturbing in the way Medium once revealed its violent crimes, the audience was left on the edge of their seats not for any grand climax but simply marveling at how each of the cast members aided in solving the crime.” Read the full review here.

- HuffingtonPostTV: “The build-up to the reveal of who was writing those menacing letters to Rusty all season — continues on “Major Crimes.” While not as controversial as the first season finale of “The Killing” not revealing Rosie Larsen’s killer, this lack of resolution still created some distress among fans. Plus, this was only the mid-season finale, so it’s not too surprising that they’d want to wait on that reveal.”
Read full review here.

- Zap2It- “The final sequence was heartbreaking, if frustratingly short. Rusty was taken out of school on his first day by a couple of officers, while Sharon was summonsed to Taylor’s office. As Rusty arrived, the squad acted as if they knew this might be the last time they’d see the kid, but it was the moment when he saw Sharon with the stack of letters in her hands that really won the hour.” Read full review here.

“There was plenty of skepticism when TNT opted to retain most of the cast from The Closer two years ago, folding those characters into a spin-off titled Major Crimes. The biggest problem was widespread doubt the producers could create another breakout character like Kyra Sedgwick’s Brenda Johnson, whose personality and charisma often elevated otherwise routine episodes and kept the audience’s attention in situations ranging from odd or silly to chaotic and powerful.

As Major Crimes wraps its second season 8 p.m. tonight on TNT, it seems the show has largely settled those doubts. Series creator James Duff slightly tweaked The Closer‘s formula in making the switch to Major Crimes, moving Mary McDonnell’s Capt. Sharon Raydor (introduced during the earlier show’s final episodes) to the forefront.

Major Crimes‘ first season focused on her promotion and battle to gain the trust of her comrades, the identical struggles Johnson endured during The Closer‘s formative period. Duff added another twist with the presence of teenager Rusty Beck (Graham Patrick Martin), also initially introduced in a strong late-era episode of The Closer. Beck was and is a witness in the Phillip Stroh case, but Raydor’s decision to bring Beck into her home proved both unexpected and intriguing. The growth of their relationship has been a key element throughout the show’s second season.

The program also added a new cast member in Nadine Velazquez, who portrays prickly DA Emma Rios. While Rios’ primary job is to prosecute the pending Stroh case, she often gets involved with the team’s other cases. She also frequently clashes with Raydor, because she views her ties to key witness Beck as detrimental to getting a conviction.

During its first season, Major Crimes was TNT’s No. 1 scripted drama in the ratings. The program’s performance improved in Season Two, and it did so well TNT increased its episode count from the original order of 15 it to 19.

Tonight’s season finale again forces Capt. Raydor to make heat-of-the-moment decisions that end in controversy. This time the squad’s after a psycho on a killing spree, with every victim earning more unwanted media attention. The way Raydor handles the situation will have a huge impact on both her future and that of the Major Crimes unit — but you’ll just have to tune in to see how.”"

Read the full article here.

‘MAJOR CRIMES Were you worried that just because The Closer is over that the Provenza/Flynn fun wouldn’t move over to Major Crimes? Never fear because GW Bailey (Provenza) told me on the set last week that an upcoming episode will give the twosome some time together: “It’s not exclusively about the two of us but it’s a situation that we get into and it actually isn’t our fault. We actually do a favor for someone we’re not even fond of, Emma (new regular Nadine Velazquez, playing an ADA), and it ends up a disaster and a mess and we’re in the middle of it…whoever’s closest to the flame is the one who gets burned. It’s a good episode.”

Bailey is also excited to work with guest star Tom Berenger, who’ll appear later this season as the long-absent husband of Sharon Raydor (Mary McDonnell). “Tom is an old friend of mine,” said Bailey. “We did a movie together almost 30 years ago – 29 years ago – called Rustler’s Rhapsody…when we saw each other on this we promised that we’d work together every 30 years.”’

6/7/13, 2pm PST, ETA:

- Channel Guide Magazine Review:
“Summer is here and so is the art of the deal on Major Crimes. Don’t forget to tune in Monday, June 10 (and set your DVRs), when Capt. Sharon Raydor (Mary McDonnell) and one of television’s best ensemble casts returns for a second season.

Seven million viewers watched Major Crimes last year, ranking Major Crimes as basic cable’s No. 1 new series of 2012. As their second season opens, Lt. Provenza (GW Bailey) continues to drop hints about retiring while Lt. Flynn (Tony Denison) commits to 10,000 steps a day to help his health.

Rusty (Graham Patrick Martin) has settled in nicely with Capt. Raydor, and so has the squad with the leadership change, but a new Deputy District Attorney — Emma Rios (Nadine Velazquez) — who’d rather win in court than make deals threatens to derail the status quo of the department.”

- WhopperJaw Season 2 Review:

Major Crimes returns to TNT for its second season on June 10. We were huge fans of The Closer (until its last season when the world came crashing down on Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) and Interim Chief of Police Will Pope (J.K. Simmons) exited to do State Farm commercials.  While the quirks of hard-nosed by-the-book Captain Raydor (Mary McDonnell) are nowhere near as endearing or colorful as those of her predecessor, she’s proving to be a slow burn, gradually gaining our appreciation as she makes the rules work to her advantage.

The first season of Major Crimes was better than the last season of The Closer.  It even had individual episodes that out-performed several episodes of the entire run of The Closer.  Since the production was working with pretty much the entire cast of The Closer sans the series lead, is that a commentary on Kyra Sedgwick’s Brenda Leigh Johnson?  Heck no, but the freshman year of Major Crimes convinced me that The Closer picked the right time to end a good thing.  Major Crimes is a good series in its own right that should be judged on its own merits.  Yes, it has its faults, including some clunky writing in its season finale.  Yet considering it was set up for failure from almost the beginning of the last season of The Closer, Major Crimes surpassed the typically lackluster performance of any season one effort.

Read the whole review here.

It’s rare when a spin-off series pulls its own weight, but Major Crimes is the exception. Picking up where the top-rated TNT drama The Closer left off, it continues in the fast-paced world of crime solving but this time with a different twist… it’s not just about closing cases anymore, it’s about making deals…

Read the whole review here