'Cold' Flashback Edition! Plus Fox Premiere Dates and Choose Your 'Brother" Contestants

Welcome to another flashback edition of Pass the Remote! I'll be taking a look at some "classic" episodes of Cold Case all summer long just as I will with fellow PTR favorites Veronica Mars and Everwood (stay tuned for the premiere of that flashback edition in a couple of weeks). Today we're going back to the very first season with a tale that closely mirrors the real-life 1995 "Texas Cadet Murder" (more on that later). First, let's examine the episode that introduced us to Scotty Valens, showed us a more playful side to Lilly and in hindsight, taught us that A.D.A. Kite really is an "Ivy League jerk." The episode also boasted one of the best soundtracks to date with songs like REO Speedwagon's "Keep On Lovin' You," Men at Work's "Who Can it be Now?," Foreigner's "Urgent" and Styx's "The Best of Times." Now I ask you, what 80s episode would be complete without something from Styx? Anyway, all of the screencaps that you see in this edition are courtesy of the Cold Case Source #1 site, a comprehensive fan site with photo galleries, recaps and much more.


Today's flashback, "Love Conquers Al," takes us back to a time when Cold Case was still trying to decide whether it wanted to stick to its guns and be a more psychological "whydunnit" show or give into critical panning that said it suffered from too obvious killers. Now, it seems to employ both tactics, which causes the show to win some and lose some. Personally, I always enjoyed the "whydunnit" cases more than the "whodunnits" because it's fascinating to delve into why someone would take another human being's life versus just solving the crime. Besides, if you're dealing with old cases that didn't have the benefit of DNA and other modern investigative procedures, then it fits that the "who" may be easily solved now, but figuring out just why he/she did it is not as easy. Such was the case with the sixth episode of the series. I wouldn't call the killers, Bennett and Jane, "obvious" doers, but they certainly were near the top of my list. The story centers on a high school track star, Paige Pratt, who was chased and gunned down in 1981 after she had a fling with a rival high school's popular and attached Bennett Cahill. Her boyfriend at the time, Al, went to prison for her murder, but modern day DNA evidence cleared him and he was released, leaving Paige's murder unsolved. This is also the episode where Lilly gets a new partner because her old one took a less intensive job due to a chronic illness. Enter Scotty Valens, who appears to be a womanizer when we first meet him because he takes one too many personal calls during the investigation, leading Lilly to conclude that he has a "complicated social life." Scotty is, well, cold toward working the cold cases, but he seems to warm up to them toward the end of the episode. Even though the detectives initially believed that in-crowd wannabe Will Harrell killed Paige because he had a "bitch killer," as he termed his gun back in '81, it soon became apparent that the motive was a good old fashioned love triangle. Love birds Bennett and Jane conspired to kill Paige after Jane learned about Bennett's indiscretion with the track star. In order to erase what he did with Paige, Jane convinced him that he must kill her to make it like it never happened. The most shocking element to the case is the fact that neither Bennett nor Jane, who are married to other people now, seem to have any remorse over what they did. Jane tells the detectives, "I don't think you're hearing me. He loved me so much, he committed murder." That's one cold beyotch! The case is very similar to the real-life 1995 "Texas Cadet Murder" where, according to TV.com, a couple conspired to kill a teenager after a cheating incident:

Upset that her boyfriend David Graham had cheated on her with 16-year-old Adrianne Jones, Diane Zamora convinced David to kill Adrianne to prove his love for her. On December 4th, 1995, David lured Adrianne out of her home and into his car where he later attacked her (with Diane in the backseat). Adrianne ran for her life only for David to catch up and ruthlessly shoot her to death.

The fact that this case, and many others on Cold Case, is rooted in a factual story makes it even sicker. Just wow.


The case alone was interesting and engrossing, but what pushes this episode to that special "classic" status is some of the other, lighter happenings. Along with meeting Scotty for the first time, we also meet A.D.A. Kite, who Lilly refers to as an "Ivy League jerk." Of course, he's only a "jerk" because he has the hots for her, but our poor little naive Lil isn't aware. The two meet up in the hallway where she grills him about not getting the warrant she needs for her case, and he banters back about her cases not being as pressing as current ones. It's clear from this very first onscreen encounter that Kite certainly makes Lilly nervous and completely knocks her off her game, a rare moment in the collected detective's repertoire. It's an interesting scene because it shows that Lilly is not the hardass that she has pretended to be up until this moment. It's also a funny scene because it leads to a great exchange between Scotty and the off-kilter Lilly:

Scotty: Who's that charmer?
Lilly: A.D.A. Kite. He's above the law.
Scotty: He ain't above checking you out.

This was the moment when I thought, "This Scotty guy is OK." Speaking of Scotty and his aforementioned "complicated social life," another great scene transpired while the gang was sitting around making love notes supposedly from Paige to her best friend while Scotty's busy cell phone kept ringing. The scene had Jeffries writing the letters while Lilly did "the fancy folding" to make the letters more authentic. The funniest part of the entire scene was when Jeffries turned another love letter over to Lil for folding, and she determined that it didn't have enough loops in the writing. Later when Lil went to give the letters to Jane (as a tactic to trap her and Bennett), she told Jane that she "highlighted the good parts." The two scenes showed us a more playful side to a character that up until this case, had only shown her harder one. The episode also employed a very clever tactic during the final interrogation scenes with Jane and Bennett. While each of them was speaking, a video camera trained on their faces was seen in the foreground of the shot. Inside the camera's viewfinder, we saw a younger version of Jane, while in the background of the shot, we saw the modern day, older one. It was quite impressive, and probably the show's most effective gimmick to date. All of these seemingly minor scenes contributed to the episode's overall appeal, and helped secure its place in the Cold Case classic territory. If you would like to see the episode for yourself or take a second look, cable channel TNT reruns the older episodes every Tuesday night at 11 p.m. Can't wait for it to cycle around again? Then join the Cold Case DVD Campaign. Help the show land on DVD by letting Warner Bros. know how much you want to see it on store shelves. Click on over to ColdCaseDVDs.com to learn how to help. And be sure to tune in to Pass the Remote next Thursday for a look at another classic CC episode.


QUICK CUTS

*Fox is rolling out its Fall 2006 schedule early in an attempt to get a jump on the upcoming season's ratings race. Last year's big hit Prison Break will lead the pack with its August 21st premiere, followed by new intrigue show Vanished at 9 p.m. Bones will kick off its second season on August 30th, followed by new show Justice at 9 p.m. Look for runaway hit House to return September 5th and the network's Sunday line-up to return September 10th (sans King of the Hill, which will return at mid-season). Teen soap The O.C. won't be back until after Fox wraps its MLB coverage in November. To see all of Fox's premiere plans, click on over to The Futon Critic.

*CBS needs your help deciding which of the 20 contestants revealed during last night's Big Brother: All-Stars casting special should make it into the house this season. Of the 20 former Big Brother houseguests, only 12 will make the final cut. So, who gets to compete for the $500,000? That's up to you. The network is hosting an opportunity for viewers to play casting agents for the reality series through its official web site. You can click over there to read up on each of the contestants, including "why you should vote for me" text and video, and then vote for your favorites. The polls will close next Wednesday, June 28th at 11:59 p.m. (EST), and the 12 winning contestants will be announced on the season premiere July 6th on CBS. If you missed last night's casting special, the network will rerun it this Saturday, June 24th at 8 p.m.

*And finally, ABC is premiering its new summer competition show Master of Champions tonight (8 p.m.). According to the official press release, "Each week six competitors with some of the worlds most unique talents face off in this one-hour competition to determine who is the best of the best. Our studio audience will pare the contestants down to three, who will then face the Panel of Champions for the final selection of one as the next Master of Champions!" The Panel consists of baseball legend Steve Garvey and Olympic medalists Oksana Baiul and Jonny Moseley.

To get more of today's biggest TV news and headlines, visit the TV News section at PassTheRemote.Net.

That's all for today. Be sure to tune in tomorrow for that exclusive interview with a recording artist who has written and produced more than 250 songs for television and film to get his take on the relationship between a hit series and music, his experience with Don Henley and much, much more! Plus, another installment of Friday Fun: Summer Style and all the latest television news!



To get more television coverage, including the network's new fall schedules and a complete archive of the best of Pass the Remote with a photo gallery featuring pictures from the set of Veronica Mars, click on over to PassTheRemote.net.