'Cold Case' Heats Up

OK, so the headline isn't completely accurate. After all, this season of Cold Case has been en fuego since the opening moment of the premiere episode, but things just keep getting hotter. Not only are the cases extremely strong, but we also have a brilliantly executed personal story line for Lilly -- something that this show has always been missing. I watch each episode this season with pure delight because every detail is thought out and fulfilled. Meanwhile, I'm crossing my fingers that the trend continues. Lilly has gotten herself into quite the mess. She didn't play her cards right with Joseph, and now he's out of the picture and things aren't going so well with Ray either. The question is; does she want to be with Joseph, but her feelings for Ray are in the way? Or, does she want to be with Ray, but his lack of any sort of commitment in the past holds her back? Either way, she shouldn't be with Joseph right now.


It's not fair to choose the "consolation prize" (Joseph's words, not mine) because he's the one who isn't packing up and moving to California. In fairness to Lil, she did go to the hospital to say goodbye to Ray before she knew he was leaving town, but she was definitely not OK when she found out about his plans. I think that long walk she went on after was filled with a lot of internal justification. She probably told herself that Ray isn't stable, he's leaving again, and the feelings she has for him are based on their shared history. I'm sure she convinced herself that he wasn't worth throwing away a perfectly good relationship and guy over, so she went back to Joseph. One problem, Joseph had her number. He knew what was going on, and he didn't want to be the one that she settled for because the guy that she truly has feelings for is leaving once again. I can't blame Joseph, and yet, my heart broke for Lilly in that scene outside of PPD headquarters (thanks to Kathryn Morris' AMAZING performance!!). Why does she always get dumped while she's at work? First Kite, now Joseph, and both times were so heart wrenching. Although, I'm not sure "I don't want to be alone" are the right words to say as the person who feels like he's been playing second fiddle to the guy you grew up with, is walking away and out of your life. This is what seals the idea for me that Lilly was settling for the one who's there. Well that, and the ridiculously hot kiss she shared with Ray. Speaking of which, is this the behavior of someone who decides that she really wants to be with someone else? Yeah, Joseph made the right decision. It's too bad our poor Lil is the one alone again (I know it's her fault, but like a parent with a child, I can't blame my fave characters).


So, I spent a lot of the episode trying to figure out why the hell the autistic- child- witnessing- a- murder- and- then- recalling- numbers story line was so familiar. It drove me crazy. I could remember that the child in my mind was recalling latitude and longitude, but that was all. Then, it occurred to me that he had the latitude and longitude from a navigational system in his dad's car, and it all came flooding back. It was an episode of The Closer. Remember how Brenda was suppose to take the kid to child services so he could be with his mom, but she refused because she was afraid that the mom would cause him to forget the information that she needed to solve her case? So, she hid him in her office and Chief Pope kept getting really annoyed and she kept telling the mother that she would help her get custody. Anyway, this episode of Cold Case was very similar, but different enough that I was able to enjoy it as a separate entity. I like the way this show doesn't use the usual television anvils. We understand that Scotty has a natural inclination toward this child because his former fiancee suffered from a mental illness without the show telling us so. He decided to educate himself on autism because he didn't want to act like, well, Vera. I went back and forth over who killed the Harrises, but I thought that the end result was best. Doug had been under a lot of emotional stress because of his parents' separation and constant fighting, so realizing that the only people that he loved were about to leave him, could push him to desperate measures. I was surprised that he wasn't more affected by his act, though. Other than not being with Ruby anymore, life seemed to go on for him. I would have thought that he would have been a mess, but I guess that would have made things a little obvious. No show is perfect, but Cold Case is damn close this season. Of course, using Coldplay's "In My Place" as the ending song didn't hurt.


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