'Cold' Reality

Another year, another case, another person dead after they decided to leave someone behind.  Seriously, if you learn nothing else from Cold Case, please, please, please never leave for greener pastures without inviting along the neediest person in your life.  For I fear if you do, you will most certainly pay with your life.  And here I was worrying about CC tackling another military-centric case and once again ticking me off.  For once the military angle was well done, but unfortunately, the motive was tired and overly played-out this season.  It's even more unfortunate that after a long Christmas break here at PTR (partially induced by the lack of TV over the last few weeks and partially due to my own vacations), that this is the episode that will ring in the New Year here at PTR.  Yikes!  I hope it's not a harbinger for things to come.  Honestly, the rest of the episode was good.  The victim was very sympathetic and had me dreading his inevitable murder at the end.  Plus, I liked the development on the Lilly's alternate family front.  Yup, things were shaping up to make this one a solid episode and a promising start to 2010 until the final few minutes.


 I literally cringed when I saw the promo for this one and realized that it was another military episode.  CC doesn't have the best track record with these sorts of stories, so I was prepared for the worst.  To my surprise, the show tackled the subject well and didn't use its Hollywood soapbox to preach an obvious agenda either way.  I'm sure those with strong opinions on both sides will find fault, but overall, the episode seemed to skirt the political and focused on this one soldier's story and how his military experience affected his decisions after his deployment as he moved into a recruiting position.  I admired his drive to help the kids in his own bad neighborhood by providing them with a way out (again, putting politics aside, and simply showing Mike's work as one option).  He was dedicated, and he truly cared for the kids he recruited.  He took their deaths hard and even requested another deployment for himself so he could step off the sidelines and serve along side those he had recruited.  It was a nice tribute to the brave men and women who are fighting and have fought for this country and the honor and resolve they show everyday.  What didn't work was having Victoria kill Mike in the alley after she robbed the pawn shop.  It's not that she didn't make for a believable killer; it's that the writers got sloppy and once again used the motive du jour of this season: being left behind.  At least the killer was believable this time.

Lilly's story line with her surprise family has gotten weird.  Uncomfortable even.  Yet somehow, I like it.  She's weird about it at work, which isn't unusual for her.  She was really weird about meeting them in the first place.  Again, not that unusual for her, but it just seemed to drag on for far too many episodes (and four ruined pot roasts!).  And it all culminated in this week's awkward dinner that felt like something out of American Beauty until her step mother got around to the part about them all being family.  Surprisingly, Lilly didn't seem to object.  In fact, shock of all shocks, she even seemed to embrace it a bit.  Maybe it was just the idea of getting involved with these people that bothered her.  Hopefully, things will be a bit more smooth sailing from here on out, but knowing Lil, I doubt it.

Overall, a good episode that had an unfortunate resolution.  It was still good enough to garner another win, though.  CC moves to 11-0 on the season.  Screen cap courtesy of RichE at Kathryn Morris UK.