Post by TVFan on May 26, 2006 15:46:36 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.
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A Psychological 'Case'
Wow, there is a lot to say about last night's episode of Cold Case, and luckily, I have an entire edition to say it in because there was little else on over the weekend. I've always been a fan of Cold Case's "whydunit" approach (to quote star Kathryn Morris). It's something that separates this show from the crowded market of crime shows on television today. The show has backed away from that premise in the last couple of seasons, but it was back in full force last night! The show is at its best when it tackles the psychological depths of human nature. Because they're dealing with long unsolved cases, it's fascinating to delve into how someone commits a crime and how that affects them through the years. It had obviously taken a toll on John, last night's killer. Shortly after he began confessing, I started to believe that he must be dying of an illness. Otherwise, it didn't make any sense as to why he would come forward 26 years later after claiming another victim. This man learned that he was suffering from, and eventually dying from, MS 26 years ago, and never accepted his fate until he walked into that police office. He was so angry that the disease took away the belief that he would live forever that he wanted to take it away from others. He killed one young man right after he found out and he tried to kill another when the final stage of his disease began 26 years later. He had jumped off a 100-foot bridge into a raging river and lived to tell the tale, but a disease that took over his life years before was going to get the best of him, and he just couldn't handle that truth.
Lilly's interrogation scenes with John were well played. Kathryn Morris is so deserving of an Emmy and she doesn't even get nominated! It's such a shame. Between her performance last night and in "Saving Patrick Bubley" (the episode where the four brother had all been killed) earlier this season, she should be a shoe-in, but she won't even get the nomination again. She managed to bring Lilly to the brink of being too emotional, but never really taking her there (see above). We got that Lilly was finally talking about her experience with George and how it affected her deep down without her going off on an emotional diatribe that would have been out of character for her. Finding out that her encounter with George affected her in a more permanent way was nicely done and it provided some unforced closure that the show had neglected this season. It's funny because I would have thought that Lilly struggled more with the idea that she had killed George or the fact that he fed her all that crap about her being just like him or even just the fact that she was forced to relive a painful experience from her childhood through the ordeal, but it was the loss of something very valuable to her that seems to have affected her the most. It was the same thing that turned John into a killer - losing the belief that you can live forever by facing your own mortality. Both dealt with the realization in a destructive way: John wanted others to suffer the same loss and Lilly has gone from being an emotional basket case to getting involved in a seemingly dead-end live-in-the-moment relationship with a former flame. She was the perfect person to extract from John the location of the new victim.
My one complaint for this episode was the lack of the time issue. Here they were trying to get information from a killer on where his next victim is slowly suffocating to death, and yet, I never once felt that there was any sense of urgency or race to beat the clock. I expected to spend the episode on the edge of my seat, but that never happened. Every time one of the detectives mentioned the dwindling time, it was more of an afterthought than a focus. This episode was centered on one location - an interrogation room - and a small amount of time (instead of the usual days that go by in a single episode), so playing up the time factor would have enhanced the pacing for me. Earlier this season Law & Order: SVU did a similar episode where Olivia was on the phone with a little girl who claimed to be a kidnap victim. The episode also revolved around a single location (Olivia in an office on the speaker phone) and a small amount of time, but the time factor was played up much more heavily and I found myself on the edge of my seat in this case. Surprisingly, the lack of the time element didn't really hurt this episode, though. It was well done despite the slight misstep and the playing it up would only have enhanced it. Overall, this was an excellent episode and a stand-out for the season.
To see this review it its original format including screen caps from the episode, click over to Pass the Remote
If you have a review, be sure to send it to me at tvfan08@yahoo.com. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A Psychological 'Case'
Wow, there is a lot to say about last night's episode of Cold Case, and luckily, I have an entire edition to say it in because there was little else on over the weekend. I've always been a fan of Cold Case's "whydunit" approach (to quote star Kathryn Morris). It's something that separates this show from the crowded market of crime shows on television today. The show has backed away from that premise in the last couple of seasons, but it was back in full force last night! The show is at its best when it tackles the psychological depths of human nature. Because they're dealing with long unsolved cases, it's fascinating to delve into how someone commits a crime and how that affects them through the years. It had obviously taken a toll on John, last night's killer. Shortly after he began confessing, I started to believe that he must be dying of an illness. Otherwise, it didn't make any sense as to why he would come forward 26 years later after claiming another victim. This man learned that he was suffering from, and eventually dying from, MS 26 years ago, and never accepted his fate until he walked into that police office. He was so angry that the disease took away the belief that he would live forever that he wanted to take it away from others. He killed one young man right after he found out and he tried to kill another when the final stage of his disease began 26 years later. He had jumped off a 100-foot bridge into a raging river and lived to tell the tale, but a disease that took over his life years before was going to get the best of him, and he just couldn't handle that truth.
Lilly's interrogation scenes with John were well played. Kathryn Morris is so deserving of an Emmy and she doesn't even get nominated! It's such a shame. Between her performance last night and in "Saving Patrick Bubley" (the episode where the four brother had all been killed) earlier this season, she should be a shoe-in, but she won't even get the nomination again. She managed to bring Lilly to the brink of being too emotional, but never really taking her there (see above). We got that Lilly was finally talking about her experience with George and how it affected her deep down without her going off on an emotional diatribe that would have been out of character for her. Finding out that her encounter with George affected her in a more permanent way was nicely done and it provided some unforced closure that the show had neglected this season. It's funny because I would have thought that Lilly struggled more with the idea that she had killed George or the fact that he fed her all that crap about her being just like him or even just the fact that she was forced to relive a painful experience from her childhood through the ordeal, but it was the loss of something very valuable to her that seems to have affected her the most. It was the same thing that turned John into a killer - losing the belief that you can live forever by facing your own mortality. Both dealt with the realization in a destructive way: John wanted others to suffer the same loss and Lilly has gone from being an emotional basket case to getting involved in a seemingly dead-end live-in-the-moment relationship with a former flame. She was the perfect person to extract from John the location of the new victim.
My one complaint for this episode was the lack of the time issue. Here they were trying to get information from a killer on where his next victim is slowly suffocating to death, and yet, I never once felt that there was any sense of urgency or race to beat the clock. I expected to spend the episode on the edge of my seat, but that never happened. Every time one of the detectives mentioned the dwindling time, it was more of an afterthought than a focus. This episode was centered on one location - an interrogation room - and a small amount of time (instead of the usual days that go by in a single episode), so playing up the time factor would have enhanced the pacing for me. Earlier this season Law & Order: SVU did a similar episode where Olivia was on the phone with a little girl who claimed to be a kidnap victim. The episode also revolved around a single location (Olivia in an office on the speaker phone) and a small amount of time, but the time factor was played up much more heavily and I found myself on the edge of my seat in this case. Surprisingly, the lack of the time element didn't really hurt this episode, though. It was well done despite the slight misstep and the playing it up would only have enhanced it. Overall, this was an excellent episode and a stand-out for the season.
To see this review it its original format including screen caps from the episode, click over to Pass the Remote
