- 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.

An except from the article:

“To soften Raydor’s all-business persona on “The Closer’”s last two seasons, “Major Crimes” makes her an unofficial foster parent to Rusty, a troubled teen former sex worker who lives with her while waiting to testify as the key witness to a brutal murder. In contrast to the prurient way sex worker characters are depicted in most procedurals, “Major Crimes” recognizes this boy’s humanity without erasing or pussyfooting around the truth of his traumatic past. Viewers get to know Rusty and the Captain alike as we watch her enroll him in the Catholic high school her children attended, set firm but caring boundaries, and slowly break through his angry defenses. Over the course of the first two seasons, Rusty’s distrust of Raydor morphs to grudging respect, appreciation, and—though he hasn’t admitted it yet—love.

He hasn’t admitted something else, too: during season two, Raydor becomes increasingly convinced Rusty is gay, and he either hasn’t allowed himself to realize it yet or he’s staying intentionally closeted. Refreshingly in a TV landscape that still traffics in homophobic stereotypes, she and the adults respond to this awareness without a moment’s hesitation or disdain, striving only to create a supportive environment in which he can peacefully embrace who he is.

Last week’s episode, featuring the murder of a transgender girl, was drawn with similar care. In a departure from the dismissive treatment of trans characters on most procedurals, Raydor and her team insisted on referring to the child with her preferred pronouns. The girl’s father respected his daughter’s right to self-define her gender identity and had planned to help her pay for hormone treatments; he argued bitterly with his wife whenever she referred to her “son” or dismissed “his choice” to “pretend” to be a girl. “Major Crimes” gave this trans child a dignity rarely allotted to crime show corpses.

This may not be Shakespeare, but for a procedural crime show “Major Crimes” has a lot going for it: humane storylines, compassionate characters, diverse performers and women who get the job done. With an average audience of seven million its first season, the series has become basic cable’s No. 1 new series of 2012. Five of the second season’s 21 episodes have yet to air—so go ahead, binge.”

Read the entire article here.

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

“I was among them, and it kind of threw me for a loop at first that they would even consider giving the lead to McDonnell’s character, who had been such a constant thorn in the side of nearly everyone on the show. Now I get it. The people behind “Major Crimes” went for the long con, and judging from their early renewal, it ultimately worked. The trick was subtly changing the character from the personification of an evil overseer to one who played it tough because she had to. You might not like Raydor’s methods as much as Brenda’s, but they too, get the job done.

“I was among them, and it kind of threw me for a loop at first that they would even consider giving the lead to McDonnell’s character, who had been such a constant thorn in the side of nearly everyone on the show. Now I get it. The people behind “Major Crimes” went for the long con, and judging from their early renewal, it ultimately worked. The trick was subtly changing the character from the personification of an evil overseer to one who played it tough because she had to. You might not like Raydor’s methods as much as Brenda’s, but they too, get the job done.

Interestingly, more than a few have rallied to McDonnell’s defense, pointing out how the character had subtle shades to it that had revealed themselves gradually, trusting the viewer to be patient and hang in there, for ultimately, the reward would be great- when it finally came. Well, friends and neighbors, they may have taken too long for some people’s tastes, but by God, they’ve finally got there, and most importantly, without compromising the hard edge that made some gravitate to Raydor in the first place.”

Read the whole review from TVEquals.com here.