Cold Case - General Discussion

[kathyk2]

6 hours ago, Bastet said:

I hardly ever watch the two-part finale because of the return of Christina, and hardly ever watch the Woodstock episode because it's stupid, but after I watched the two-parter with Susannah Thompson I figured I'd see the season (and show) out.

"Free Love" is still stupid, and I'm still glad we didn't get another season with Scotty having gotten away with murder and his inevitable role in the Lilly/Christina/baby story, but I had forgotten all about the finale also including Will solving a cold case (the teenager shot and dumped in the Badlands, whose mother sends him baked goods every year) that turned out to be that nasty commissioner's son as the (accidental) shooter.  That was a good story.  I love when Doherty says his son has turned his life around, is even a father now, and Will says good, then maybe he'll understand what he's put Althea Johnson through.

Going back to Susannah Thompson's FBI character, I like her, and I like her and Stillman together.  I could certainly do without them having had an affair (that destroyed his marriage, even though an earlier episode established Stillman's obsession with a case as what did it), but I love the discussion they have when she explains why she left, that having been with him would have been talked about as sleeping her way through PPD and every promotion she ever got would have been viewed with suspicion -- he says he never thought about that, and she says, "Men don't have to."  Amen, sister.

Also: I had no issues with Nick's high school girlfriend in her first episode, but she bugs the shit out of me in her second.  We'd have probably seen more of her in season eight, so another reason to be glad it didn't exist.

And now we get back to the main reason I'm glad it never happened, Christina.  I cannot stand her, as I've said many a time.  The nerve she has, doing that stupid hurt face and "So that's how it is?" when Scotty asks her what she wants (well, let's see, last time he saw you he was harboring your fugitive ass and then you split), and then asking Lilly to co-sign her rent.  The latter is doubly stupid, because why not ask her dad -- you know, the guy who abandoned her?  It's the almost literal least he could do.  And his wife shouldn't object, since she felt free to demand Lilly be part of the family, so that should extend to Christina, too.  Ugh; I liked the episodes with Lilly's mom, but not the ones with her dad.

I hated the Scotty storyline and would have loved seeing him in Jail. I'm not sure Chistina and Lily had the same dad. Their mom could have gotten pregnant while drunk. I liked the possibility of Lily joining the FBI. Cold Case wasn't the same once all the actors weren't working together.

[andromeda331]

3 hours ago, kathyk2 said:

I hated the Scotty storyline and would have loved seeing him in Jail. I'm not sure Chistina and Lily had the same dad. Their mom could have gotten pregnant while drunk. I liked the possibility of Lily joining the FBI. Cold Case wasn't the same once all the actors weren't working together.

I'm pretty sure they have the same dad. He tried to convince Lily to see Christina. 

[Percysowner]

13 hours ago, Bastet said:

And now we get back to the main reason I'm glad it never happened, Christina.  I cannot stand her, as I've said many a time.  The nerve she has, doing that stupid hurt face and "So that's how it is?" when Scotty asks her what she wants (well, let's see, last time he saw you he was harboring your fugitive ass and then you split), and then asking Lilly to co-sign her rent.  The latter is doubly stupid, because why not ask her dad -- you know, the guy who abandoned her?  It's the almost literal least he could do.  And his wife shouldn't object, since she felt free to demand Lilly be part of the family, so that should extend to Christina, too.  Ugh; I liked the episodes with Lilly's mom, but not the ones with her dad.

I too didn't like Christina, and I'm not sure we were supposed to. If there had been a season 8 she would have given the show a chance to show that Lily's father STILL was a bad dad, if he refused to help Christina. I always resented the whole notion that her dad should just be forgiven for abandoning the kids to their alcoholic mother who was unable to take care of them properly. Yes, he needed to save himself, but he could have at least tried to save them as well. Sadly, TV has a trope that bad dads must be forgiven by their daughters no matter how they behaved. See also Lily on How I Met Your Mother whose father was a gambling addict who had abandoned her at a race track who was never ever someone she could count on. When he came back all forgiving the show told us, via her husband, that she should forgive and forget. It ended with Lily letting her father provide childcare for their kids, because "he as changed". I would never trust him with my kids, no matter what the change, but as an official TV dad, that Lily, like our Lily had to not only forgive him, but absolve him because he suddenly decided that he wanted to be part of their lives.

[Bastet]

12 hours ago, Percysowner said:

I always resented the whole notion that her dad should just be forgiven for abandoning the kids to their alcoholic mother who was unable to take care of them properly.

This show had some issues with women, and that's one example -- Ellen is continually raked over the coals for her shitty parenting, but Paul (I had to look up his name, his story aggravates me so much I don't watch enough to commit it to memory) is never taken to task in a way that's proportional to the fact he opted not to parent his first two kids at all.  He abandoned them, left them with a woman he knew was incapable of properly raising them on her own, and never even sent any money to at least ease the financial burden (sending a bike one Christmas does not count). 

And I don't have a problem that Lilly is still seething with resentment towards her mother, just that she forgives her father so easily (and that I'm supposed to take it as charming for the second wife to dictate when and how Lilly will interact with the family he decided to stick around for).  As I've said before, Ellen did a lot wrong, but I will always cheer her on when Lilly snarks "Oh, I wondered who that drunk lady driving me to school was" in response to Ellen saying "I'm your mother" and Ellen comes right back with "Maybe you should have asked your father for a ride". 

Edited May 17 by Bastet

[kathyk2]

8 hours ago, Percysowner said:

I too didn't like Christina, and I'm not sure we were supposed to. If there had been a season 8 she would have given the show a chance to show that Lily's father STILL was a bad dad, if he refused to help Christina. I always resented the whole notion that her dad should just be forgiven for abandoning the kids to their alcoholic mother who was unable to take care of them properly. Yes, he needed to save himself, but he could have at least tried to save them as well. Sadly, TV has a trope that bad dads must be forgiven by their daughters no matter how they behaved. See also Lily on How I Met Your Mother whose father was a gambling addict who had abandoned her at a race track who was never ever someone she could count on. When he came back all forgiving the show told us, via her husband, that she should forgive and forget. It ended with Lily letting her father provide childcare for their kids, because "he as changed". I would never trust him with my kids, no matter what the change, but as an official TV dad, that Lily, like our Lily had to not only forgive him, but absolve him because he suddenly decided that he wanted to be part of their lives.

Sons are under pressure to forgive their fathers as well. Monk was expected to forgive his dad after walking out on him and his brother when they were children. Barney's father left him too.

[Percysowner]

3 hours ago, kathyk2 said:

Sons are under pressure to forgive their fathers as well. Monk was expected to forgive his dad after walking out on him and his brother when they were children. Barney's father left him too.

Point taken. There is a real trope of fathers must be forgiven as long as they weren't physically or sexually abusive and sometimes even physical abuse gets swept under the rug.

Admittedly I didn't watch Monk, so I was unaware and at least Barney didn't get browbeaten into having his father become his child's caretaker.

[andromeda331]

That's probably the trope I hate the most (well tied a character doing horrible things and/or treats people badly but no one ever calls them on it instead acting like their the best funniest etc. person ever) is being forced to forgive their father or mother for the crap they did in the past or present. Most of the time by their own friends and/or family. I'd cut the stepmother a little slack because I don't know what Paul told her but I doubt it's the truth. But Lilly should have turned to her and calmly explained that Paul abandoned her and her sister with an unstable alcoholic mother and they were often poor before announcing she would never forgive him and leave.

[Theli11]

On 5/17/2024 at 3:09 PM, kathyk2 said:

Sons are under pressure to forgive their fathers as well. Monk was expected to forgive his dad after walking out on him and his brother when they were children. Barney's father left him too.

I liked the way SVU handled it with Det. Amaro's father ("Padre Sandunguero" from Season 16) where he's being convinced by his mother and sister to just forget the abuse happened and help out his father. He refuses and is forced to testify against him to prove that his father has a history of abusing women, and it's implied that the ADA also had a father who abused him, and it causes him to lose the case. In the end he decides not to forgive him and I think it's really poignant and healthy. 

Amaro is played by Danny Pino. 

 

On 5/18/2024 at 4:24 AM, andromeda331 said:

That's probably the trope I hate the most (well tied a character doing horrible things and/or treats people badly but no one ever calls them on it instead acting like their the best funniest etc. person ever) is being forced to forgive their father or mother for the crap they did in the past or present. Most of the time by their own friends and/or family.

It's really a defiance of this trope. 

Edited May 21 by Theli11

[kathyk2]

TNT is running a Cold Case marathon on Friday and Saturday. The episodes will run overnight until early afternoon.

[andromeda331]

21 hours ago, kathyk2 said:

TNT is running a Cold Case marathon on Friday and Saturday. The episodes will run overnight until early afternoon.

Oh that's great!

[Tipperose]

This particular episode does not ring true in Maurice's hair style. In 1984 a 16 year old did not have a hair style like he was in a boy band in 2007. It would have been parted down the middle and cut in a feathered style. That swoop doo that he had looks like Zac Efron in High School Musical. 

[andromeda331]

The cast of 911 was on Celebrity Family Feud including Tracie Thoms who plays Karen they named a couple of her past credits but left off Cold Case. Very disappointed in Celebrity Family Feud.

[Bastet]

In a Deadline article about another project, it is stated the Cold Case reboot is not happening:

Quote

At CBS, Warner Bros. TV has had a string of comedy series from Lorre, the latest being the upcoming Young Sheldon spinoff Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage. Figuring a drama business template between the two companies has proven more challenging, with a Cold Case reboot the latest project that didn’t make it past the deal-making stage.

 

[andromeda331]

6 hours ago, Bastet said:

In a Deadline article about another project, it is stated the Cold Case reboot is not happening:

 

That stinks.

[Bastet]

1 hour ago, andromeda331 said:

That stinks.

I'm glad.  The one character from the original they planned on bringing back as a mentor to the new squad was one of the worst cops, Scotty, so I didn't have any faith in the proposed reboot doing any better than the original at declining to normalize, justify, or even celebrate police misconduct -- it was better than most (low bar), but a problem.  That he was still on the job in present day would have meant he indeed faced no consequences for arranging an extrajudicial execution (for a non-capital crime) as the final season seemed to set up.

[GHScorpiosRule]

14 hours ago, Bastet said:

In a Deadline article about another project, it is stated the Cold Case reboot is not happening

I'm glad this was scuttled. Not only for the reasons @Bastet stated about Scotty, but just in general-this was a good show for most of its run. I'm so sick and tired of all the reboots, continuation, etc. because it seems no one in Hollywood can come up with new and fresh ideas for shows. Hey, X was a great show, let's do a reboot!

[Theli11]

Was rewatching "Boy Crazy", I never realize how strange the kissing while lobotomized scene is but it felt very... RAW or real in a way.. Or just extremely emotional and not logical. This might have to be my favorite murder scene. So fucking complex and I don't know if I was gonna arrest Dom.. probably would cuz umm what the fuck?! But he did do it out of love and honestly it sounded like assisted suicide but that's not legal in PA and it's not his right to do that even though... I wouldn't have done anything different. Honestly if John wasn't Lieu, I don't think the Squad would arrest especially since the next episode without John these detectives decide to..... 

[kathyk2]

5 hours ago, Theli11 said:

Was rewatching "Boy Crazy", I never realize how strange the kissing while lobotomized scene is but it felt very... RAW or real in a way.. Or just extremely emotional and not logical. This might have to be my favorite murder scene. So fucking complex and I don't know if I was gonna arrest Dom.. probably would cuz umm what the fuck?! But he did do it out of love and honestly it sounded like assisted suicide but that's not legal in PA and it's not his right to do that even though... I wouldn't have done anything different. Honestly if John wasn't Lieu, I don't think the Squad would arrest especially since the next episode without John these detectives decide to..... 

That was a great episode. I think the arrests of older killers were done for show there was no way the DA would bring charges.  Cold Case was great at showing that issues we think are current have existed for a long time. 

[Theli11]

14 hours ago, kathyk2 said:

That was a great episode. I think the arrests of older killers were done for show there was no way the DA would bring charges.  Cold Case was great at showing that issues we think are current have existed for a long time. 

Well age wasn't entirely a factor her, Dom was about 60 years old so I think he could've been arrested on a murder charge. Same goes for the killer in "Hen House" who would've been like 80-ish and they had a whole team arrest him for that. Similarly for "Strange Fruit" the killers would all be old. With a confession and corroborating evidence and enough witnesses I think we can assume that all people arrested are going to be found guilty unless proven otherwise.. This show requires we suspend our beliefs for a little bit at least.

[Bastet]

29 minutes ago, Theli11 said:

With a confession and corroborating evidence and enough witnesses I think we can assume that all people arrested are going to be found guilty unless proven otherwise..

With their sloppy work (especially lack of Miranda warnings), most of these cases involve inadmissible evidence.  Once the suspects have legal representation, some won't wind up being charged, and for the rest there will be a shit ton of plea bargains.  It's one of the reasons I love the musical montages at the end -- they kick in right as I'm getting ready to yell at the TV all the reasons a case isn't going to hold up.

[Theli11]

Just watched Metamorphosis and god this one is a really good Season 7 episode. A lot of Season 7 has weaker victims who aren't as complex, developed or interesting as previous seasons which is one of my issues. I found Mia slightly better. The villain this episode was so damn good though, and the confession scene was so damn creepy it was incredible. The balance between the subplots and the case was good as well. And the scene where Lester "Gargantuan" almost strangle Scotty is so fucking scary. I don't generally like Season 7 episodes as much but this one was really good.


"Two Weddings" was also another fun one. 0 subplots this episode and Meredith Stein returns to write this episode. The framing of this episode is probably one of my favorites, of course they would try to solve a case during a wedding. Weird this episode didn't have Miller but had Bell... Either way this was a really fun one and the reveal that Melanie died with a temporary moment of clarity is heartbreaking. Two great back to back episodes and in my opinion the last of the really good episodes besides.. 1 more which is Flashover, which is still imo the best episode of the season.

(Season 7 only has the full cast in episodes 1, 2, 17 ("Flashover"), and 22, the finale)