It used to be that the cases on Cold Case were strong enough to overcome the lack of character development. But now, it seems that the cases have gotten weaker and even a bit sloppy at times making it so the personal stuff has to do the heavy lifting. This is problematic for a show that has always been procedural first and (very little) character development a very distant second. Last week, things felt more balanced (I was even getting season one vibes), but this week things slipped back into that mode where I found myself more interested in those text pictures and how many times Lilly and Saccardo had been secretly "meeting like that" over the course of the last year. And while this was intriguing, it's not enough to carry an entire episode. It's weird because I was interested in what happened to Alex, but the story felt disjointed and forced (again). And maybe it's just me, but flashbacks drive me nuts when the person who's recalling what happened wasn't in the room for the events they're re-telling (see Laticia's first flashback).Last week, I hypothesized that Lil's stalker texts were either from her new nemesis Moe or her undercover "boyfriend" Saccardo. I went with Moe, but as it turns out, Saccardo is the stalker. Lil has to be breathing a sigh of relief after she traced that cell and it led back to him instead of Moe. I still don't know how I feel about this relationship. In some respects it demonstrates how far Lil has strayed from her former self (both good and bad) and in others, it shows her lighter side which may come in handy to balance out her new, darker one this season. Whatever the case, she seems happy and that's always a good thing.
No Vera this week (thanks to network/studio budget cuts, which I'm not going to complain about because the alternative would have been to cancel the show) and no surprise, but the humor was missing. Not having him on the show made me realize how much I enjoy his character. And then at the end, we saw Kat packing her things and relocating to another department thanks to PPD budget cuts. And I know what you're thinking: Is she gone for good? The short answer: No. Actress Tracie Thoms blogged about her pending hiatus this summer and explained that she would only be in 16 of the 22 episodes this season (along with two other cast members) and that the break would give her time to work on other projects. So, look for Kat to return at some point this season. Like Jeremy Ratchford (Vera), she will be missed.
Budget cuts aside, this was another mixed episode for me. It was good, but not great. Good enough to move CC to 3-0 this season, though. Screencap courtesy of RichE at Kathryn Morris UK.
7 comments:
I'm puzzled by the Lilly/Eddie stuff (yes I'm going to concentrate on that). From the way Lilly was reacting to the phone messages you'd think they'd not met the past year. Yet, Lilly does appear to say "we've got to stop meeting like this", suggesting they have met up recently. Did Eddie not use some similar methods before to let her know where to meet? It seemed contradictory, though clearly done for dramatic effect.
Also, if Eddie is so "deep undercover" then surely meeting up with a cop is a bad idea. If he's dealing with suspicious characters they might be keeping tabs on him.
The rest of the case was OK.
RichE.
Kathryn Morris UK
The episode was excellent, except for it coming on very late at 10:45pm. I love that Eddie's back
LII2
I've been thinking about that "we've got to stop meeting like this" comment and I'm wondering it was merely a reference to their relationship last fall? If so, you'd think they both would have been happier to see each other considering that he has been undercover for a year! I don't know. It was an odd comment.
Thanks for assuring us Kat was coming back. I was looking all over the web and couldn't find anything. I also noticed Vera's absence and thought it was odd they didn't explain it with at least a comment about him being in court or vacation or anything.
Thanks again!!
@ TVFan
Lilly and Eddie relationship last year was not exactly clandestine, though it wasn't as though they flaunted it in front of the other squad members.
I realise that this is a significant section of the Lilly/Eddie scene we didn't get to see :-o during which they could have discussed the whole "bridge" thing. However, the way Eddie dropped in the Moe reference, and the "we've got to stop meeting like this" line, made me think that they've met since Lilly went off the bridge.
@ Anon
Tracie not doing the full season has been widely talked about. Well widely within the Cold Case circles anyway, I'm surprised you didn't find anything. Certainly the discussions on Look Again and IMDb cover it.
I wonder if not mentioning Vera specifically allows them to use that excuse later in the season without making it a repetition. Isn't there a significant Vera story line coming up which they could also use?
RichE.
Kathryn Morris UK
I think Lilly meant, seeing him undercover; it can be dangerous. I think at the end, Eddie was shown inside of his apartment
LII2
The apartment that Lilly goes into at the end, with a key, and sees Eddie is the same one she broke into earlier. I assumed it was one Eddie is using as part of his undercover op otherwise Lilly would probably have known it was his before breaking in.
Of course there is the possibility that Lilly knew it was where Eddie was staying but wanted to surprise him. But everything in the lead up to then was done to make us think it was Moe stalking Lilly. She responded by getting the cop to put a wheelclamp (boot) on his car. She asked someone to trace the cellphone etc. etc.
Another thought: what was Lilly intending to do if it was Moe's place? Did she think the place was empty? She listened at the door but the lights were on.
Fortunately it turned out OK. A win-win-win situation ;-)
RichE.
Kathryn Morris UK
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