Flashback Edition on the 'Case!' Plus Press Tour, a Grand Gesture for 'Everwood' and NBC Pilot Sneak Peeks

Perhaps the greatest Lilly-centric episode to come out of Cold Case was the ninth episode of the series. It was back when Lil often worked cases solo and was very often in every scene sans the flashbacks. Ahh... the good old days! No, out of fairness to the other actors and Kathryn Morris herself, who I can only imagine would have undoubtedly worn herself out if she had kept up the pace of the first season, I suppose the show's shift to a more ensemble feel was inevitable and necessary (as much as I may be against it). Today's Flashback Edition features an episode that was all about keeping Lilly front and center as a confessed killer began keeping his eye on her investigation. The beauty of "Sherry Darlin'" is the fact that it doesn't follow the usual stalker rules. In fact, I wouldn't call James Hogan (the brilliant Silas Weir Mitchell) a stalker at all, just someone who reached out, hoping a helping hand would grab his and keep him holding on. That other hand turned out to be Lilly, and the help that she gave him came in the form of a deeply emotional relationship for both of them. As usual, all of the screencaps in today's edition are from the wonderful fan-run sites Kathryn Morris Online and Cold Case Source #1.


The 1989 case gets started when an unknown caller rings the Philly police department and winds up with Lilly Rush on the other end. The caller tells her that there is a body of an elderly woman buried in the basement of a house. He gives the address, but Lilly wonders how the caller knows this sensitive information. He replies, "Because I'm the one who put her there." The caller hangs up and Lilly and co. are off and running, trying to track down the box on a murdered older woman named Crystal Hogan. After searching fruitlessly, the caller is back on the line and tells Lil that there's no box because she was listed as a missing person. Lilly tracks down the house that the caller named, and makes a chilling discovery - skeletal remains of an elderly lady buried under a concrete structure in the basement. It seems her caller was telling the truth, and Lilly has another cold case to solve. Through pounding the pavement, Lil learns that the caller is most likely the victim's grandson, James Hogan, who was charged with caring for the older woman when both of his parents died in a car accident. James lived with her and his girlfriend Sherry. Things take a dark turn when Lilly confronts James, who confirms his identity during the next phone call, about his former girlfriend. It seems that she's off-limits because James still carries a torch for her, despite the fact that she is married to a doctor and living on the wealthy Main Line. This is a problem because Sherry is a real piece of work. She grew up in foster homes, but managed to claw her way all the way up to the lifestyle of the rich and richer by using people and disposing of them when they were no longer useful. There's no doubt that she latched onto James because he had a steady cash flow from grandma, who continued to receive social security checks after her death - checks that Sherry signed for. Lil's past experience working in Question Documents comes into play as she picks up on the differences between the signatures.


Lilly begins to believe that Sherry killed Crystal for the checks, or Sherry manipulated James to do it. Either way, Lil begins to feel sorry for James and the unfortunate manipulative powers that Sherry held over him (and seems to continue to hold). One of the most powerful and moving scenes of the episode transpires as James' continued affection for Sherry culminates in his first face-to-face meeting with Lilly. After the detectives track his call to a local train station, they race to take him into custody. They search the station, but James seems to be gone. Lilly's cell phone suddenly rings, and she answers it to find James on the other end. He's angry about Lilly's continued assumptions about Sherry, so she concedes and pretends to believe his impassioned pleas about his former love. James tells her that she's lying, and he knows because he can see it all over her face. The detectives frantically search the pay phones at the station, but still no James. Later that evening, James' half-brother tells Lil that he saw James and got him to agree to meet with Lilly face-to-face at a less-crowded train station the next day. Lilly goes to the station and waits for James. He finally appears, and she explains that he needs to go with her down to PPD and give his statement. James says he'll go only if Lilly leaves Sherry out of the murder. Lilly says that she'll leave Sherry out as long as she's innocent, but James gets upset because he believes that certain facts will look bad for Sherry. Lilly wants to know why James is so hung up on this girl, and he explains that Sherry was his "girl" and she believed in him. When Lilly suggests that Sherry was using him since she never discussed marriage, James gets angry again. Lilly grows more impatient. She wants him to see Sherry for what she really is/was, so she keeps talking. Finally, she emotionally tells James, "And I'm your girl now." There was nothing more than compassion and an emotional connection behind the statement, but it was moving and it spoke to Lilly's character.


The final collection of scenes before the closing montage are still some of my favorites of the series. James, after realizing the truth about Sherry, holed himself up in his old house with a shotgun. Lilly convinces Stillman to let her go in and talk with James. When she gets inside, she gets James to move the gun away from his head and talk to her about what happened to his grandmother. James tells her that Sherry wanted him to smother his grandma with a pillow. He tried to do it, but couldn't. He walked away from her, and Sherry suddenly appeared and took the pillow out of his hands. She smothered Crystal without batting an eye. James helped conceal the body in the basement and kept the secret for 14 years, but decided that he couldn't live with himself anymore after he saw Crystal's concrete grave surrounded by party paraphernalia. Lilly takes James down to the basement where he calls himself a "disgrace" and insists that he isn't getting over things "like you're supposed to." James grows more upset and puts the gun back to his head. Lilly grows more desperate and attempts to talk him out of killing himself. It seems to work as James lowers the gun once again. Lilly tells him that he's taking charge of his life by coming forward and confessing to his role in Crystal's death. James wonders if that counts for anything, and a tearful Lilly tells him that that's up to him, but it counts to her. The scene ends with the beautifully poignant "End of the Innocence" by Don Henley and Bruce Hornsby as Lilly, with a changed look on her face, escorts James outside to police custody and later takes his statement. The final scene of the closing montage takes place at Crystal's funeral with a handcuffed James and a mournful Lilly attending. "Sherry Darlin'" is an emotional episode that explores a different type of human relationship - the type where one person's simple gesture can save another person from sinking further into the black abyss. 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. You check out other Cold Case Flashback Editions HERE.


QUICK CUTS

*PRESS TOUR DIARY: TVGude.com's Mike Ausiello brings us all the scoop from day 2 of the ABC presentation at the TCA Summer Press Tour. He learned that actress Patricia Wettig will not be returning to Fox's Prison Break next season. She is starring in the new ABC drama Brothers & Sisters along with Sally Field and Calista Flockhart. New comedy The Knights of Prosperity may undergo another name change (it would be the show's fourth), actress Anne Heche keeps the critics and television media rolling with some of her answers at the session for her new Northern Exposure-like drama Men in Trees and Ausiello gets to the bottom of the rumors behind actor Tom Skerritt's role on the aforementioned Brothers & Sisters. Click HERE to read today's entry to catch up on all the happenings at the Summer Press Tour.

*Project Ferris Wheel will take off tomorrow in support of the cancelled Everwood. Fans of the critically acclaimed show will erect a Ferris wheel in the parking lot of Robert Lewis Stevenson Elementary School in Burbank, California Friday from 1 p.m. until 6 p.m. The campaign is designed to grab the attention of the visiting media, in town for this week's TCA Summer Press Tour sessions. The cast, crew and executive producers Greg Berlanti and Rina Mimoun are invited to take part as well as network executives from WB, CW and UPN. Of course, the event is open to the public. For more on the event, dubbed "A Grand Gesture to Help Everwood," click HERE.

*And finally, NBC is teaming up with Netflix to hook viewers for its new fall line-up. The online movie rental company will begin renting out pilot episodes of NBC's new dramas Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and Kidnapped. Studio 60 centers around the behind-the-scenes happenings at a sketch comedy show. It stars Matthew Perry, Bradley Whitford, Amanda Peet, D.L. Hughley, Steven Webber and Timothy Busfield and it's from hitmaker Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing). Kidnapped is a serialized thriller about the kidnapping of a wealthy Upper East Side family's son and everyone is a suspect. It stars Timothy Hutton and Dana Delaney. Both pilots will be available through Netflix beginning August 5th.

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

That's all for today. I'm moving this weekend, so there won't be a new edition until next week. I'm hoping to have one up on Monday, but it all depends on my new internet service in my brand new city. I'm off on a new adventure, 10-hours and 4 states away, but Pass the Remote will continue as soon as I have internet again. So, be sure to check back next week for plenty of TV coverage and all the latest news! In the meantime, you can stay abreast of all the crazy antics at this year's TCA Summer Press Tour by checking out TVGuide.com's Ausiello Report. Today, he's visiting the sets of Grey's Anatomy and The Shield and he'll have all the scoop later today!


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.