Post by TVFan on May 26, 2006 13:43:00 GMT -5
As a way of getting things up and running in this forum and by request, I'm going to post my Pass The Remote reviews of each of this past season's episodes. These "reviews" are in their original form, so they were written the Monday after the episode aired and they are meant for a more mass audience unlike our well versed CC group here. 
If you have a review, be sure to send it to me at tvfan08@yahoo.com.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vera Looks to Adopt! Plus, Lilly Closes Another 'Case'
Anyway, things are better today and I'm back with your regularly scheduled edition with thoughts on this past Sunday's (better late than never) Cold Case. Now, you guys know that this show, along with Veronica Mars, can really not have a bad episode as far as I'm concerned (weaker ones, sure), so I might sound a little biased when I say that this episode was awesome! It really combined a lot of strong points and turned them into a fabulous outing. The case involving the 2001 murder of a popular local deli owner was gripping, all the characters had something to do, the Vera storyline was one of my all-time favorites, and the new girl was A-OK. Frank was one of those characters that is hard not to like. Sure, he turned a blind eye to his son's meltdown after losing his mother, but he tried to set it right, albeit a little too late. The case gave us plenty of viable suspects, so the resolution was both surprising and plausible. That "Stump" character was so despicable, especially when you thought he beat the poor dog, but he managed to have a few redeemable qualities. I like the way this show tends to make their characters, even those that are just guests, more dimensional and less flat like so many other crime shows. People aren't just good or bad, and Cold Case is the master at presenting the gray areas of human nature. Characters like the other night's Stump and Tommy are perfect examples. I found myself hating Tommy for what he did to King and his father, but at the same time, I wanted to hug him and make him better. I really felt bad for this kid. He had been through a lot with his mother and never really resolved all that grief that Lilly mentioned. It was just a very tragic case all around.
Writer Andrea Newman did a nice job of giving each of the detectives plenty to do without making it feel like a crowded house. This was especially impressive given the addition of the sixth detective, Kat Miller. You know I'm never going to be down with having six detectives on this show, but I do think that the show has done a much better job introducing her to us than they did with the "Josie chippy" Sutton character. They sort of shoved her down our throats, but things have been much more gradual with Kat. From what we saw the other night, Kat has a lot of potential. She might actually add something to the show like Elena Delgado on Without A Trace instead of just clogging up the time for the other detectives like we saw in the past. She's smart, sassy, tough, and she has some mystery thing to go to on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. And since I'm such a sucker, I'm dying to know what it is!
Scotty had the obvious connection to the case, but Lilly had a more subtle one. It seems both she and Tommy had lost parents, only Tommy's mother died and Lilly's father apparently walked out on his family, leaving Lilly with plenty of grief and hate toward her mother. You know, I kind of expected this was the case all along, but having it confirmed explains a lot about Lilly and her relationship trust issues. Her father walks out on her when she's a child, her fiance/love of her life sleeps with her sister, and ADA Kite (remember him?), the next significant man to enter her life and convince her to trust him, drops her like a hot cake the second she puts her job before him. No wonder this chick has so many issues! Because I love my Lilly, I really want to see her find someone nice and wonderful who teaches her that not all men are out to steal your trust and then run off with it while sleeping with your sister! Staying on the personal front, how sweet was the Vera-finds-a-baby storyline? I knew that big lug was a huge softie deep down! He really fell for that little baby, and the experience made him realize that adopting was a viable option. If you remember from last season, he and his wife weren't able to have children and it has caused a huge rift in their relationship. The ending shot with him filling out the adoption application really gave me some hope. I'm looking forward to watching this storyline develop. Overall, an excellent episode that managed to fire on all cylinders to produce a first rate outing.
To see this review it its original format, click over to Pass the Remote
If you have a review, be sure to send it to me at tvfan08@yahoo.com. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vera Looks to Adopt! Plus, Lilly Closes Another 'Case'
Anyway, things are better today and I'm back with your regularly scheduled edition with thoughts on this past Sunday's (better late than never) Cold Case. Now, you guys know that this show, along with Veronica Mars, can really not have a bad episode as far as I'm concerned (weaker ones, sure), so I might sound a little biased when I say that this episode was awesome! It really combined a lot of strong points and turned them into a fabulous outing. The case involving the 2001 murder of a popular local deli owner was gripping, all the characters had something to do, the Vera storyline was one of my all-time favorites, and the new girl was A-OK. Frank was one of those characters that is hard not to like. Sure, he turned a blind eye to his son's meltdown after losing his mother, but he tried to set it right, albeit a little too late. The case gave us plenty of viable suspects, so the resolution was both surprising and plausible. That "Stump" character was so despicable, especially when you thought he beat the poor dog, but he managed to have a few redeemable qualities. I like the way this show tends to make their characters, even those that are just guests, more dimensional and less flat like so many other crime shows. People aren't just good or bad, and Cold Case is the master at presenting the gray areas of human nature. Characters like the other night's Stump and Tommy are perfect examples. I found myself hating Tommy for what he did to King and his father, but at the same time, I wanted to hug him and make him better. I really felt bad for this kid. He had been through a lot with his mother and never really resolved all that grief that Lilly mentioned. It was just a very tragic case all around.
Writer Andrea Newman did a nice job of giving each of the detectives plenty to do without making it feel like a crowded house. This was especially impressive given the addition of the sixth detective, Kat Miller. You know I'm never going to be down with having six detectives on this show, but I do think that the show has done a much better job introducing her to us than they did with the "Josie chippy" Sutton character. They sort of shoved her down our throats, but things have been much more gradual with Kat. From what we saw the other night, Kat has a lot of potential. She might actually add something to the show like Elena Delgado on Without A Trace instead of just clogging up the time for the other detectives like we saw in the past. She's smart, sassy, tough, and she has some mystery thing to go to on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. And since I'm such a sucker, I'm dying to know what it is!
Scotty had the obvious connection to the case, but Lilly had a more subtle one. It seems both she and Tommy had lost parents, only Tommy's mother died and Lilly's father apparently walked out on his family, leaving Lilly with plenty of grief and hate toward her mother. You know, I kind of expected this was the case all along, but having it confirmed explains a lot about Lilly and her relationship trust issues. Her father walks out on her when she's a child, her fiance/love of her life sleeps with her sister, and ADA Kite (remember him?), the next significant man to enter her life and convince her to trust him, drops her like a hot cake the second she puts her job before him. No wonder this chick has so many issues! Because I love my Lilly, I really want to see her find someone nice and wonderful who teaches her that not all men are out to steal your trust and then run off with it while sleeping with your sister! Staying on the personal front, how sweet was the Vera-finds-a-baby storyline? I knew that big lug was a huge softie deep down! He really fell for that little baby, and the experience made him realize that adopting was a viable option. If you remember from last season, he and his wife weren't able to have children and it has caused a huge rift in their relationship. The ending shot with him filling out the adoption application really gave me some hope. I'm looking forward to watching this storyline develop. Overall, an excellent episode that managed to fire on all cylinders to produce a first rate outing.
To see this review it its original format, click over to Pass the Remote
