'Cold' Tagging

PTR wants to extend a warm welcome back to Cold Case both in a literal way (the show's hasn't been on since the middle of January) and a more symbolic one since this episode was leaps and bounds above the fray this season.  And you know what's funny about it?  This outing didn't do anything spectacular or out of the ordinary; it simply told a compelling, well-written story and peppered it with some actual meaty personal bits.  And probably most importantly, the killer was 100% believable, made sense and the motive had nothing to do with the victim moving on and leaving the killer behind.  Thank you, writers, for returning CC back to its roots and giving us an intriguing, multi-dimensional hour that kept me guessing until the end.  As strong as this entire episode was, it was the final seconds that left my mouth agape and had me wanting to see what happens next.


I suppose the Moe story line had to come to an end at some point.  I mean, how long could we watch Lil watching Moe and borderline harassing him before it just got old (we were about to reach that threshold)?  But ending this leg of the story the way they did this week was a nice twist.  Just when we thought the episode was winding down (the ending musical montage was in full-swing), the shot changed to a lonely, dark street outside a familiar bar.  "Hey," I thought, "isn't that the bar we saw Moe at earlier in the hour?"  Cue a pan to a parked car; its occupant skewed by the darkness.  But wait, is that blood on the windshield??!!  It is!  It is blood on the windshield.  And that's Moe's lifeless body slumped over the steering wheel!!!  Moe's dead?!  Lil's problems are over!  Or, are they just beginning?

I have no idea who killed Moe, but I feel strongly that it wasn't Lil.  Remember how difficult it was for her to shoot and kill serial killer George Marks?  Remember how deeply it affected her after the fact? Plus, I don't think she wanted Moe dead -- she just wanted him to slip up so she could lock his butt in jail for the rest of his life.  Now, this doesn't mean that the glaring light of suspicion isn't going to shine brightly on her.  As Bell pointed out earlier in the episode (NICE foreshadowing!), Moe had filed complaints against her through the DA's office, so she was already in hot water.  And that was before he showed up dead.  Oh boy!

Meanwhile, Scotty learned some pretty painful details from another victim about his mother's attack.  Chances are, she was raped the night she was jumped in a parking lot.  That scene with Scotty and the latest victim was heart-wrenching.  You knew what Scotty was thinking: you could feel his anger, but even deeper than that, you could feel his pain.  You could sense how powerless he felt knowing that some man he can't catch violated his mother in the most inconceivable way.  Then at the end, it was almost hard to watch as Scotty's father reached out to touch his wife's hand and she pulled away.  It was the confirmation that Scotty didn't want.  He's going to be even more determined now to catch the SOB who did this to his mother.

As discussed above, the case was very well written.  I felt submerged into a world I know nothing about and I found myself completely engulfed in Carlos's story.  And Leon's death was so tragic and heartbreaking that it was difficult to watch.  "King Tut" was a plausible killer and the earlier encounter between him and Carlos with Tut's threat to ram the spray paint into Carlos's mouth the next time he caught him "bombing him" rang true in the final tragic scene.  Meanwhile, the Kat story line was a bit ho-hum (I can't decide whether she's making it into a bigger deal than it is or if she has a valid point), but overall, CC gave us a stellar hour that touched on all the strong points.  The show moves to 13-0 on the season.  Screen cap courtesy of RichE at Kathryn Morris UK.