Without A Trace - General Discussion

[Dr.OO7]

3 hours ago, MarylandGirl said:

I think part of it with "The Source" is that she had been featured in a previous episode. I was watching "Snatch Back" the other day, which featured her some. The

I think that's exactly it. For the first time, it was like someone we knew had vanished.

I always wish they'd done an episode where one of the agents themself disappeared.

[MarylandGirl]

18 hours ago, Camille said:

I think that's exactly it. For the first time, it was like someone we knew had vanished.

I always wish they'd done an episode where one of the agents themself disappeared.

That would have been interesting, one of their own disappearing. I mean, they had cases where Sam, Viv, and Jack each disappeared at one point, but the viewers knew what was going on with them, for the most part (maybe I'm forgetting one where someone else disappeared, too). But one where an agent vanished and the viewers along with the other agents were in the dark would have been interesting.

[andromeda331]

Yeah, that would have been really good.

[MarylandGirl]

They need to do a WIthout a Trace movie with that as the plot (as long as it's not Elena that's missing...though I suppose that would mean a lot of screen time for Danny, so...hm...)

[Dr.OO7]

I noticed that Escape keeps skipping over the sixth episode of Season 2 and was wondering why. Then I saw that it was "Our Sons And Daughters", the one where it turned out that all the teenagers in a small town were participating in afterschool orgies.

It's too bad. I understand why, because of the graphic content, but it has some of the best acting in the show's history, from just about everyone. And even though it's not the first time a victim turned up dead, it's one of the more wrenching examples.

Edited August 18, 2019 by Camille

[MarylandGirl]

7 minutes ago, Camille said:

I noticed that Escape keeps skipping over the sixth episode of Season 2 and was wondering why. Then I saw that it was "Our Sons And Daughters", the one where it turned out that all the teenagers in a small town were participating in afterschool orgies.

I think there are a couple other ones they skip, too, or list a particular episode in the guide, then air a different one in its place. I forget which ones now.

[Dr.OO7]

"Fallout"

I'd forgotten how wrenching the end of this episode was.

[MarylandGirl]

7 hours ago, Camille said:

"Fallout"

I'd forgotten how wrenching the end of this episode was.

They've always been two of my favorite episodes of the series. And I assume you're referring to the final shots--subtle, yet very moving.

[Dr.OO7]

On 8/19/2019 at 7:18 PM, MarylandGirl said:

They've always been two of my favorite episodes of the series. And I assume you're referring to the final shots--subtle, yet very moving.

All of it. I like that bit in the first part where Martin is clearly eavesdropping on Jack and his supervisor and picking up on Samantha and Jack's prior relationship. I love both and Jack's reaction upon hearing that Samantha's been shot. I love how the "bad" guy--a complete stranger-- picks up on Samantha and Jack's prior relationship too. And that final bit where Martin looks at Samantha's ID and he--and the viewer--realize he's in love with her.

And again, I say, damn the writers for ruining it.

"Confidence"

Danny figuring out that the victim's fiancé was the killer and confronting him with every aspect of it was AWESOME. Particularly when he taunts him with the fact that the woman really did love him and was trying to reform from her con artist ways--"You blew it".

I love/hate all the constant aerial shots of New York City. Hate because it makes me dizzy, love becomes it drives home how hard it is to find one person in this huge metropolis.

Edited August 21, 2019 by Camille

[Dr.OO7]

On 8/15/2019 at 8:02 PM, MarylandGirl said:

Currently watching "Copycat," one of my favorites, but also a really disturbing one--much easier to watch knowing how it turns out.

No matter how many times I watch it, I can't stop biting my nails at the final scene when they're running around searching the cars, praying that they'll find the poor woman in time.

That bit where Jack confides in his wife about his mother's suicide is really sad. It gets even worse when she uses it against him in the custody battle. That's just vile.

I've always found it so eerie the way the missing person just fades away.

"A Tree Falls"

If you think about it, Martin losing it with the bad guy was foreshadowed from the previous episode, when he was upset over the death of the last victim. Then he's clearly upset over finding the first kid dead and by the time he finds the second one, it's the final straw.

What a good slew of episodes these past couple of days.

"Wannabe"

As someone who was relentlessly bullied and contemplated suicide, this one really struck me. Thank God they found the kid just in time.

"Life Rules"

This one made me laugh.

"Risen"

I like how Martin keeps Danny the side-eye everytime he mentions something about "anonymous" groups and Danny finally gets kind of annoyed and tells him, "Just ask me what you want to ask me."

I appreciate that he's one of the few alcoholic characters on TV who never had one of those typical "I'm tempted to fall off the wagon" scenes or storylines.

"Gung Ho"

The ending of this one killed me. How sad that this guy felt he had nothing to live for. And all poor Danny can do is hold back his girlfriend so that she doesn't get shot too.

Edited August 27, 2019 by Camille

[Dr.OO7]

Anyone else notice that a hell of a lot of the actors who guest-starred on Cold Case also did on this show?

[MarylandGirl]

On 8/29/2019 at 3:30 PM, Camille said:

Anyone else notice that a hell of a lot of the actors who guest-starred on Cold Case also did on this show?

Yep, I've noticed this, like the missing person on "Thou Shalt Not."

Edited August 31, 2019 by MarylandGirl
Was wrong about something.

[Dr.OO7]

The early morning repeats are going to skip from Season 3 to Season 5 (if they haven't already), likely to once again avoid being on the same schedule as the midday ones.

"Penitence"

Danny groaning while Martin ripped the blood pack off of him and sarcastically apologized for hurting him was hilarious. And vaguely homoerotic. 😀

It's a shame that not only did this guy turn up dead, the killer seemed to be such a nice guy until the final reveal.

Edited September 4, 2019 by Camille

[Dr.OO7]

Once again, Escape will be making a schedule change. As of September 30, the show will only air weekdays at 8.

[MarylandGirl]

Yeah, the reveal at the end in "Penitence" was tough. You wanted to believe he was a good guy...

And I always got a bit of a vibe from Danny and Martin.

[Dr.OO7]

On 9/24/2019 at 9:22 PM, MarylandGirl said:

And I always got a bit of a vibe from Danny and Martin.

A bit? 

It was off the charts half the time--if Samantha had been the one acting the way Danny did when Martin was shot, we would have all agreed she was still in love him.

Edited September 30, 2019 by Camille

[Dr.OO7]

Schedule update:

The bad news is that Escape has cut the repeats to 8AM weekdays, meaning that it will now take forever to get through a season.

The good news is that sure enough, it's back on Pop's schedule, Sunday mornings from 2--7AM.

[Dr.OO7]

Escape has struck again. It doesn't appear to be on the schedule anymore, but knowing them, by next week, it could be back.

It's still on Pop early Sunday mornings, though (3-7).

[Dr.OO7]

I rewatched "In The Dark" early this morning.

Samantha talking to Vivian on the phone while Martin's ON TOP OF HER--and presumably INSIDE of her too--is hilarious.

[scorpio1031]

All 7 seasons now on the Roku Channel

[Linderhill]

On 1/4/2020 at 9:47 PM, scorpio1031 said:

All 7 seasons now on the Roku Channel

good to know, thanks!

[Dr.OO7]

It's also airing on the Bounce Channel--476-- for FiOS customers. For some strange reason, the times are all over the place--3AM, 1PM, 2PM, etc. If you don't have Roku, just set your DVR and let it do the grunt work.

[Dowel Jones]

I'm watching this on Paramount Channel now.  They're putting up several at a time on Fridays, but they're time jumping all over the place.  What's interesting is the way the show treated law enforcement back then.  It was quite okay for the FBI to bully people, threaten them, assault them, and commit all manner of 4th Amendment violations, as long as they were confronting "the bad guys."

[diet7up]

All 7 seasons are also on HBO Max.   I’m about to start season 6.    I’m switching between binge watching this show and one of my other favorites (Southland).  

[Dr.OO7]

On 9/2/2020 at 5:12 PM, Dowel Jones said:

It was quite okay for the FBI to bully people, threaten them, assault them, and commit all manner of 4th Amendment violations, as long as they were confronting "the bad guys."

Standard procedure for cop shows.

[MCMLXXVII]

I was so happy to find this (and Cold Case) on HBO Max a couple weeks ago and have been binging. It was on Ion channel awhile back but then they switched to “all Criminal Minds, all the time”. After getting to early season 3, I realized why I stopped watching network TV- I just can’t with 24 episode seasons anymore, so I jumped ahead to when Martin got shot. So many recognizable guest stars- I think Steve and Harry from SATC guested a week from each other, heh. 

[Dr.OO7]

There's going to be a New Year's Day marathon on Channel 458 (for Verizon FiOS users in the NYC area). I think that's the Charge! channel. I don't know if this means that they'll be airing the show on a regular basis.

[Dr.OO7]

Following up to post that the Charge Channel is airing WAT weekdays from 12-3. Hopefully they'll be more consistent than their predecessors 

[GHScorpiosRule]

On 1/13/2023 at 11:20 AM, Dr.OO7 said:

Following up to post that the Charge Channel is airing WAT weekdays from 12-3. Hopefully they'll be more consistent than their predecessors 

And I can’t stand how it cuts to commercial when the characters or guest stars are talking! Yet, when it fades to black for a commercial (original airing), instead of placing commercials after that, we’ll get the scene that resumes! And then, two minutes later, cut to ANOTHER  commercial!

I’ve never watched anything on this channel before. Had this always been their practice of going to ads? If so, how galactically STOOPID.

Show-wise, Vivían is the only character I like.

[andromeda331]

3 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Show-wise, Vivían is the only character I like.

I love Vivian. She's the best.

[iRarelyWatchTV36]

This may seem pretty weird, and I honestly don't expect to find exactly what I'm looking for, but ...

While I wish I had the time to watch every single episode, does anyone know where I can find a list of Martin-centric - or eps with more of a focus on Martin - or at least eps with important bits of his backstory. 

Also hoping for some help on the Martin/Sam relationship timeline.

I know there are at least a few Martin-centric or focused episodes, from reading some ep descriptions, like S2's A Tree Falls and Shadows.
 

I think I have a general-ish timeline on the M/S from reading this thread and various things around the web, but need confirmation.  What I've picked up implies that Martin begins to realize his feelings about Sam in the latter half of S1, they have 'moments' throughout S2, "officially" get together at the end of S2, and then officially end in S3's The Bogie Man.

[Xeliou66]

I’m glad that this show is airing on Charge for 3 hours each weekday - it had been a long time since I had seen this show before I found it on Charge. It was a great show, I liked the format and cases a lot and how you never seemed to know what direction the case was going in and you didn’t know if the missing person was alive or dead until the end or what led to their vanishing. I liked how we got flashbacks into the missing peoples lives - it allowed the viewers to connect with the characters and be more interested in their fate. A lot of interesting stories. I happened to like all of the main characters as well, even though some of the personal subplots could annoy me - Jack’s marital problems and issues with his kids got old. But it was a strong show and I’m glad it’s being shown on a channel I get, it’s been enjoyable to watch it again. 

[andromeda331]

10 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

I’m glad that this show is airing on Charge for 3 hours each weekday - it had been a long time since I had seen this show before I found it on Charge. It was a great show, I liked the format and cases a lot and how you never seemed to know what direction the case was going in and you didn’t know if the missing person was alive or dead until the end or what led to their vanishing. I liked how we got flashbacks into the missing peoples lives - it allowed the viewers to connect with the characters and be more interested in their fate. A lot of interesting stories. I happened to like all of the main characters as well, even though some of the personal subplots could annoy me - Jack’s marital problems and issues with his kids got old. But it was a strong show and I’m glad it’s being shown on a channel I get, it’s been enjoyable to watch it again. 

Yeah, it's a really great show. I agree about getting tired of Jack's wife, girlfriends and kids. Or him and Sam. Or Sam and her baby daddy suddenly in love. But the rest of it was really great. So many great cases and twists.

[Xeliou66]

7 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

Yeah, it's a really great show. I agree about getting tired of Jack's wife, girlfriends and kids. Or him and Sam. Or Sam and her baby daddy suddenly in love. But the rest of it was really great. So many great cases and twists.

Yeah and now that you mention it it was really just Jack’s and Sam’s personal lives that got on my nerves, the others stories were generally fine and didn’t detract from the show but the stuff about Jack’s personal issues and Sam’s love life got old. 
But yeah it’s an awesome show - I love the cases and the twists they took, you could never tell which direction an episode was going in or if they would find the missing person alive or not.

[Xeliou66]

I’ve really been enjoying watching this show on Charge again - just saw a great episode, One and Only from season 5, this is a strong example of one of the great twisted cases they had - about a missing family court judge - they discover the judge had taken out evidence of a DVD in a rape case because the female accomplice of the 2 rapist scumbags was his old high school girlfriend and the judge felt guilty for not running away with her from their rough families when they were teens, and he wanted to help her, it turned out the girl was manipulating him to get out of trouble and they track down the judge in Connecticut where he has killed the girl after realizing she used him and ruined his life - great complex case where I could never tell where it was going - it was tragic that the judge ruined everything he had because of the guilt he felt over his old girlfriend becoming a criminal, he made a huge mistake in tampering with evidence and he realized that and wanted the girl to turn herself in and when she wouldn’t and was fleeing the country instead he killed her, realizing he ruined his life over someone who didn’t even care about him and didn’t care about doing the right thing. 
A twisted case where an upstanding person went off the rails because of guilt over not being able to help his girlfriend in the past. I loved how this show had cases like this where you could never tell where it was going and whether someone was good or bad - in the end the judge was sort of sympathetic in that he cared and wanted to do the right thing but he made huge mistakes and wound up becoming a killer. Great episode. 

[debraran]

I just found the show again on Charge network (I only have antenna but it works well) I watched The Fallout 911 episode. It was so well done and chilling and sad and the Hallelujah song at the end was very fitting.

I think this show and Cold Case were underrated and very good and I'm glad I can catch a lot of them again.

[andromeda331]

55 minutes ago, debraran said:

I just found the show again on Charge network (I only have antenna but it works well) I watched The Fallout 911 episode. It was so well done and chilling and sad and the Hallelujah song at the end was very fitting.

I think this show and Cold Case were underrated and very good and I'm glad I can catch a lot of them again.

They really were.