Flashback Edition on the 'Case!' Plus FX to the 'Rescue' and Bell Gets in 'Shape' and 'InStyle'

Remember when Lilly and the gang used to eat on the job? Not only did it bring an extra dose of reality to the show (after all, I'm sure real detectives rarely have the time to stop and take a nice lunch), but it also led to some humorous scenes. There's the classic "fry scene" from season one's "Glued" (which we'll explore in a future Flashback Edition) and then there was this one pictured above from today's classic episode, "Fly Away." Lilly and Stillman had stopped to get a hotdog from a street vendor when Scotty walked up and told Lilly that A.D.A. Kite asked about her. She was a little caught off guard, but it became apparent that she was interested in knowing the details. Take a long, hard look at the picture because it is the only funny scene in this three-hanky affair. "Fly Away" is one of those rare episodes where absolutely everything just clicks: the case is so emotional without being over-the-top, Lilly carries the episode and we even learn a little bit more about her, the ending song strengthens the poignant closing scenes and the writing just blows you away. That last point shouldn't be a surprise, though, since the episode's writer, Veena Sud, is in my opinion, the show's best. Today, we're going to explore an episode that is still in my top 3 list of all-time best episodes of this series or any other - it's that good! As usual, all of the wonderful screencaps are from Kathryn Morris Online, which houses the most comprehensive Kathryn Morris photo gallery on the net, and Cold Case Source #1, a complete fan-run site on the hit crime show.


The case de jour involved the unsolved death of a 6-year old girl, Toya Miles, after she and her mother, Rosie, fell through an apartment window, landing on the road below. Lilly and co. reopen the case after Rosie wakes up from a 2-year coma, but she doesn't remember anything other than "bruises and butterflies." As Lil and Scotty dig deeper into the case, they learn that Rosie was on welfare and had gotten a DUI with Toya in the car. Child services assigned a case worker, Mr. Freely, to check on Rosie and Toya regularly. All of this becomes familiar territory for Lilly, who grew up in the child services system. This is the first time that we learn that her mother had a drinking problem, which meant meals were few and far between for the Rush children. Learning about Rosie's DUI doesn't land her in Lil's good graces, and things turn even worse when the team visits Rosie's old apartment. From the looks of things, it seems that she had a video camera trained on the one bedroom, and her former landlord does her no favors by suggesting that Rosie had men over a lot and made Toya sleep on the couch. With these new revelations, Lilly is done feeling any sorrow for Rosie. The entire story is far too close to her own and Rosie's behavior, too close to her own mother's. From that point on, Lilly is harsh and cold with Rosie, but she saves her best stuff for her interrogations.


Two of the interrogations are still among the series' best, and they are huge contributors to the overall quality of this episode. The first one takes place between Lilly and Rosie's absent father. Turns out, he set up an account with a lot of money in it for Rosie the day she woke up. The gang figures he felt guilty either for causing Toya's death and Rosie's coma or for possibly abusing Toya. They learned through people who knew Rosie and Toya that Rosie was concerned that someone was abusing her daughter. When Lil and Scotty revisit child services, they find that Rosie was abused as a child (complete with pictures of her bruises), but nothing on Toya. Lilly confronts Rosie's father in the interrogation room about what he did to Rosie. She challenges him to hit her saying, "Hit me. You like hitting girls, so hit me." The second interrogation contains one of the episode's chills-inducing moments as Lilly and Scotty take on Rosie's case worker, Mr. Freely, whom they learned from Rosie's videotape, was trying to sexually abuse Toya. Lilly is sick with rage as she tells Freely that he was "like God to these women." He tries to deny any wrong doing, but Lilly reminds him that she has a tape, so "back the hell off!" Enter the chills-inducing moment of the interrogation as Lilly tells Freely that all of the mothers of the daughters that he abused are standing on the other side of the interrogation room's window waiting to tell their stories. She walks over to the window and the camera pans to reveal that the room is empty. Freely finally comes clean, but says, "Like you care. Like anyone cares." He goes on to say that these women were all just trailer trash, so no one cares if he abused their daughters. Perhaps the saddest part of this story (I know, as if it hasn't been sad enough) comes with the revelation about how Toya died. When Rosie caught Freely trying to hurt Toya, she confronted him. He instantly threatened to report her by inventing things that she was doing wrong. He told her that he would be coming for Toya when she least expected it and to just wait for the knock on the door. That night, Rosie and Toya were in bed when Rosie heard the apartment door open and then footsteps coming toward her closed bedroom door. She began to panic, thinking it was Freely, so she got Toya out of bed and began to weigh her options. The best one seemed to be the window with the butterfly charms hanging in it. As the footsteps stopped outside the bedroom door, she panicked and jumped through the window with Toya in her arms. It wasn't Freely at the door, but rather a local pizza delivery boy who used to bring the leftovers to Rosie and Toya, and who just happened to be the one who made the charms hanging in the very window that took Toya's life.


Now, if you're not a bumbling mess by this point in the episode, then the closing scenes will definitely put you over the top. The ending song, the slow-paced version of DJ Sammy & Yanou featuring Do's cover of Brian Adams' "Heaven," poignantly sets the stage as Lilly painfully tells Rosie the truth and then gets her the help she needs. It was a spectacular moment of character growth as Lilly realized how wrong she had been and atoned for it. We then see Lilly walking past a line of little girls at PPD to give their statements about Mr. Freely. Later in the montage, we see Lilly at home watching home movies of herself as a child making snow angels with her mother. It's a contrast to what she told Scotty during an earlier rant about her mother saying, "Scotty, there were no good times." Clearly there were, and learning that she was too harsh on Rosie made her rethink her stance on her mother as well. 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.


QUICK CUTS

*FX is ordering another season of its controversial Rescue Me. The show, starring Denis Leary, is up 10 percent in the ratings this season. The 13-episode 4th season is expected to begin shooting early next year with episodes airing sometime in the spring or summer. You can catch new episodes of the show's 3rd season every Tuesday night on FX. In other show news, HBO plans to make the upcoming second season of its critically acclaimed Rome, its last. The network says that the show was originally planned as a miniseries, but changed to a regular series after the network saw the scripts and the production companies involved. The high cost and logistics of shooting overseas caused HBO to decide to end the show after two seasons. Filming on the second season is underway, and the network plans to roll it out January 7th, 2007.

*And finally, actress Kristen Bell is Shape magazine's August cover girl. The Veronica Mars star shares her secrets for keeping her rockin' body despite having little time to work out. She's also featured in this month's issue (July) of InStyle magazine. And don't forget that you can catch Kristen every Tuesday night on Veronica Mars on UPN. The 3rd season starts this September on the new CW network. To see more pictures from the magazines, click on over to GMMR (photos courtesy Kristen Bell Online).


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That's all for today. Be sure to tune in tomorrow for a look at two PTR favorite shows that may seem on opposite ends of the television spectrum, but actually have more in common than you think. Plus, another edition 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.