'Case' Does Some Soul Searching

After a rude interruption by the NFL in our regularly scheduled Cold Case viewing (which was made even worse by the fact that our friends in Canada got to see the episode last week as scheduled), Lilly and co. were back to work this week. Of course, as previously discussed, the "co." in "Lilly and co." is a bit thin these days. I still haven't made up my mind about this Lilly/other family story line. I was all about it when it was strictly Lil and her father trying to find their way back to each other. I was somewhat onboard when he wanted her to meet his new family, but I'm just not sure about the teenage half-brother twist. I find myself scratching my head at this turn of events. It feels so far removed from what I thought Lilly's path would be (based on her beginning at the start of the show). Maybe I don't need to meet anymore of her family or maybe I want those I do meet to be a little closer to her age, I don't know. I will say, though, I thought her scenes with Finn were good and I liked the way the writers and Kathryn played it.

I'm going to sound like a broken record, but I once again had a hard time with the killer. It still feels like the show is trying to make the least likely person the guilty party, which is great for a surprise (although, that doesn't even work anymore because we know it's going to be the least likely suspect), but seriously short changes the story. This show used to be a wonderful psychological whydunnit. It delved into the very core of human nature. It was fascinating! Now, not so much. Instead of being wrapped up in the story, I'm concentrating on which random person killed the victim-of-the-week. This time, it was the goody-two-shoes church choir girl who dreamed of a music career outside the church walls. Even writing it here it seems unbelievable and that's exactly how it felt.

[rant] One of my long-standing pet peeves with Cold Case (and kinda Hollywood in general) is its tendency to always make those with strong faith and solid church ties into hypocrites. This week was no exception. There was the aforementioned church- choir- girl-turned-murderer and then there was Billy's minister father. This character, despite being a man of the church, was full of hatred. He hated the music his son wanted to play, he hated the fact that Billy wasn't like his brother, and he expressed both of these sentiments in full fury in the middle of the church the last time he saw his son. Furthermore, he was sleeping with a church member. Ugh! Could the show go any more out of its way to paint people of faith in a less flattering light?! MAJOR PET PEEVE. [/rant]

Overall, though, I did like this episode. I enjoyed the trip through the 70s soul music of Philadelphia, seeing Will get wrapped up in the case (even if I wasn't) and the music. It was a fun trip through time. If only the doer and the hypocrisy missteps hadn't occurred, then I would have probably loved this one. Still, good enough to move the show to 4-0 on the season. Screencap courtesy of RichE at Kathryn Morris UK.