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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