Monday, April 05, 2010

FBI Makes its 'Case'

These past two weeks have reminded me why I love Cold Case and why it used to be my favorite show: because it is capable of stuff like this excellent two-parter!  I'm going to miss Yates and her no-nonsense/cut- to- the- chase style of crime solving. Plus, I just really LOVED the way she and Rush played off of each other. I'd love to see them team up in the future. But for now, we have the conclusion of an exciting and surprising serial sniper case that had Lilly and co. working with the FBI (led by Agent Cavanaugh) in a desperate race against the clock. It was an edge-of-your-seat thrill ride that certainly had its ups and downs. And if that wasn't enough, we finally got clarification on last week's most heated discussion in the comments section here at PTR.



The discussion centered around the real reason for Yates's involvement and obsession with the case. Long-time CC viewers argued that the girl at the drive-in couldn' have been Yates because it didn't work with the timeline for the break-up of Stillman's marriage that the show had given us back in season one. The observation was correct, but as it turns out, the writers took a few creative liberties with Stillman's past to make things work for this episode. I'm OK with it, but I understand where the purists are coming from. Having Yates be the girl at the drive-in explains so much, though. It was bugging me that the show had basically ignored Barry's murder. Then, we got the confirmation that Yates was the girl in the backseat and that tragic event is what set her off on a course that found her colliding with Lil and several unsolved sniper killings. Like Yates, I wanted to know why a teenager at a drive-in was brutally shot and killed. There seemed to be no connection other than the fact that Bill Shepard owned the place before he lost it. You've heard of the straw that broke the camel's back? Well, Barry not caring about the movie and haphazardly declaring that "nobody cares" was the straw. Paul could no longer contain all of the emotions he had bottled up since his father's suicide, so he killed Barry and then set out on a mission to kill everyone who had wronged his father by "not caring." Wow. Just wow.

Things took a more urgent turn when the gang discovered a new victim. This led to the realization that Paul was starting his killing spree anew -- shooting everyone who wronged him the same way he killed those who wronged his father. They rushed to figure out who Paul would target next, and then did their best to get to the potential victm before Paul did. They saved two, but unfortunately, were too late for Paul's cousin. Everything came to a head when they tracked down Paul in his basement and Yates had to decide what kind of cop she wanted to be: the kind that kills an unarmed murderer or the kind that slaps cuffs on him and lets the judicial system decide his fate. Thanks to Lil, she chose the latter. And also thanks to some quick thinking on Lilly's part, Paul's wife was removed safely from the situation. It was intense and I wasn't really sure which way Yates was going to go. I couldn't help but think that Yates could use someone like Lil to keep her in line. She certainly isn't listening to Cavanaugh.

Speaking of Cavanaugh, did I detect a hint of something between him and Lil? More on his part, but still, I think there might be something there. I guess we'll see next week.  CC very, very easily moves to 19-0 on the season.  Screen cap courtesy of RichE at Kathryn Morris UK.  And to see more caps from this episode, visit his all-inclusive Kathryn Morris site HERE.


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7 comments:

Naj said...

If you saw Bonnie Hunt show today with KM on it - you would be slightly spoiled as to this Cavanaugh guy. I couldn't believe how spoiler free I've been all season.

Yes, I was one that believed Yates was the gal in the car. It just seemed such a "give me" and propelled her reasons to resolve with abandon. Didn't she remind you of Lilly in the end there in the basement? It reminded me of Lilly and Moe. I'm going to miss Yates actually. It gave a spark to the episodes and I'm wondering if this could be how the cases could be presented when Cold Case has a season 8. I really liked the writing directing and pace of this last episode.

Lii2 said...

I liked how the motive for Paul killing his victims, mirrored Season 2's; Creatures of the night, in how they victims said something to trigger the killer to kill them.


Nice touch with having no usual opening credits scene. Although the storyline between Yates and Stillman was messed up, I still thought it was an excellent episode.


@Naj- You actually saw it on TV, it's not going to be shown here till tommorrow at 3am.

I'm excited for the next episode...

Naj said...

Yes, Bonnie Hunt was on today. KM's segment is up on Bonnie's site. I saw the show this morning, April 5. KM made a remark about season 8 for Cold Case.

Lii2 said...

@Naj-I saw it on Bonny's website. Why on earth the show is airing at 3am is beyond me. I'm glad I saw it today..

Naj said...

It was on at 9 am this morning here on NBC I think on the East coast.

Lii2 said...

I did notice that Jon Gries who played Bill Shepard also played Ben Linus's father on "Lost", both characters were bad fathers, just thought I would add it.



Paul seemed to be a different kind of killer, but what was odd is that he only shot one FBI agent and not any members of the squad.


The movie that was playing in the basement was by Warner Brothers which also connected to Cold Case as well.


@Naj- That's odd since I live on the east coast, at least I got to see it anyways...

RichE said...

Have I not commented on this one yet? Oh well.

A solid ending to the story.

There is a "goof" listed on IMDb for Cold Case about Stillman's daughter jumping in age by about 10 years in one of the earlier seasons. If true a possible change, though it was never explained fully, regarding Stillman's divorce is hardly unprecedented.

Still waiting for confirmation on the remaining episodes, after changes caused by the Oscar mess up.


RichE.
Kathryn Morris UK