You know those episodes of your favorite shows that, save for the commercial breaks, make you completely lose track of time, force every fiber of your being to hang on every. last. word!, and cause you to curse the credits at the end because you're just so damn bummed that it's over? Well, this episode of Cold Case was one of those episodes. Just wow! This hour was like a cluster of everything that makes this show one of my faves -- EXTREMELY psychological, lots of Lilly, very emotional, dark, twisted, that eery silence when Lil and Scotty spotted the blinking yellow light, One Republic's "Come Home" as the ending song, and lots of Lilly (I know, but it's worth repeating). And it was all wrapped up in a ROADTRIP! package (and we all know what a success last season's Lilly/Scotty roadtrip episode was here at PTR). It goes without saying, but this was a much different roadtrip. This one was dark -- both literally and story-wise. NICE lighting scheme on this one with the half lit faces and "headlight" effect that would momentarily light either Lilly or Scotty. The scheme totally reinforced how "in the dark" they were on this case and how lost they were in John's half-truths.
There was a lot going on here this week. You had a suspect who kidnapped his victims and watched as they willed themselves to die after he took away the last shred of the thing they held onto -- the things that get us "out of bed in the morning." See, what made this one so good was the fact that the case wasn't the only psychological element (we knew who was responsible from the beginning, just didn't know the why), but the actual deaths were purely psychological as well. Brilliant! John never actually killed anyone; he just took away their will to live. And it started from a young age as we saw in his flashback at the end. Unlike the also very-psychological serial killer George Marks from season 2, this sicko didn't seem to have a traumatic event from his childhood that led to him being a sick b*stard. He just wasn't right in the head, which is why he was so fascinating.
John also had a keen ability to read people and he sized up Lilly right away. He rattled her. He made her ask herself the questions that have been keeping her up at night. He caused her to lose her cool once or twice. BUT, he didn't accomplish the goal he set out to accomplish when he first saw her standing over him at that police station in West Virginia. He wanted to break her. He wanted to make her realize that her life is nothing but an allusion. That the only thing she gets out of bed for is her job. He may have accomplished that last one, but he didn't count on her walking away from him with hope. Brenda survived because she didn't let John take away her will to live. She clung to the idea that the people she loved would find her, she kept track of the days with a church bell chime, and she put 
faith in herself that she was strong enough to make it through. We saw Lilly walk away at the end with hope because she knew John was wrong. All the stuff he tried to tell her she already knew -- it had been keeping her up at night. But, finding Brenda alive taught her something she didn't. It was an important lesson and it laid the groundwork for next week's introduction of the Bobby Cannavale character.Excellent performances from Kathryn Morris, Danny Pino and guest star Damon Herriman (John Smith). This was one of those episodes where every last detail mattered (Lilly being from Kensington, John not being able to sit in his cell in WV, etc.) and it served as a pivital outing for Lilly. I'm excited to see what comes from it. Overall, a "standing ovation" episode that easily moves CC to 15-0 on the season.
