6.05 Shore Leave

[TVFan]

RUSH AND THE TEAM INVESTIGATE THE 1951 CASE OF A YOUNG MARINE WHO WAS FOUND DEAD AFTER HE WENT AWOL ON HIS LAST NIGHT OF SHORE LEAVE, ON "COLD CASE," SUNDAY, OCT. 26

Lilly Rush: Kathryn Morris
Scotty Valens: Danny Pino
Lt. John Stillman: John Finn
Nick Vera: Jeremy Ratchford
Will Jeffries: Thom Barry
Kat Miller: Tracie Thoms
Jimmy Tully: Wilson Bethel
Max Heidhorn '51: Matthew Florida
Max Heidhorn '08: Luke Askew
Gene Karnow '51: Reid Collums
Gene Karnow '08: Richard Herd
Nora Lee '51: Rebecca Mozo
Nora '08: Maria Cellario
Hal Chaney '51: Rich McDonald
Hal Chaney '08: Charles Napier
Lenny Snow '51: Nicholas Braun
Ray Lisi '51: Adam Leiphart
Ray Lisi '08: Max Gail
Steve Tully: William Jones
Sue '08: Conny Van Dyke
ND Shore Patrol #1: Preston James Hillier

WRITTEN BY: Elwood Reid

DIRECTED BY: Alex Zakrzewski

[TVFan]

I'm going to go ahead and unlock this thread/poll before tonight's episode. Please refrain from posting/voting until after it has aired. If you would like to speculate about tonight's outing, please visit the Spoilers forum. Thank you.

[longislanditalian2]

First of all, I liked how Vera sought revenge on both Scotty and Vera; great humor all the way around. Mostly I think this was a Stillmancentric episode since he was in the service.

Anyone notice that Tully's box is next to Terrance Carter's ( 5x06) Wunderkind?

Very moving ending scene, with Stillman all decked out. I pretty much enjoyed this episode. Really felt as if I was there during 1951, well done by both the writers and director.

[Electrophile]

I really, really liked this episode. I loved that the flashbacks were in black and white, it helped to differentiate between then and now. I thought the ending was just amazing, especially with the interrogation his realization that he was wrong about Snow. The look on his face when Scotty is reading his acts of valor and seeing him almost seething with rage about it......great acting by Mr. Napier.

Another thing about the ending I liked was seeing Stillman in his uniform.....I don't think I've ever seen him in his dress uni before. I thought it was very fitting. Taps at the end was very apropos, I thought. I liked this particular rendtion of it, too.

The comical interplay between Vera, Jeffries and Scotty was nice....one of the few times I've busted out laughing during a Cold Case episode was tonight when Scotty turned around and had the "Ask me about erectile dysfunction" sign taped to his back.

I thought the idea of the relationship between Jimmy and Nora was a little far-fetched, what with them falling in love in a span of a few hours, and she gets pregnant and she gives him the necklace her mother wore on her wedding day....just a little cliched, but it was emotional which was the point.

[longislanditalian2]

That captain at the end, looked almost familiar to the one featured in the episode" The plan" I could have swarn it was him. It was a good thing that I watched it on widescreen, but I have to agree the whole pregnancy thing in a few hours, was a little farfetched for me as well.

[stonecold44]

I thought this episode was great. As the proud uncle of a Marine, this struck a deep chord with me. Everything Jimmy Tully stood for was so much in the "Semper Fi" mantra. He was likeable, loyal and still had a tough streak that we expect from our Marines.

A couple of notes on the guests this week: I will always remember Charles Napier as the band leader of the Good Old Boys, the Country/Western band from the Blues Brothers Movie. He's the guy that got his foot glued to the gas pedal of the motor hom. And Max Gail, well, he was on the police show Barney Miller. I can't remember his character name though. OOOPS.

As for other parts of this one, can someone explain why Nick did those pranks to Will and Scottie? I must have missed something last week.

[Gina]

I loved loved LOVED this episode, especially the Vera pranks.

"Ask me about ED" HA! PRICELESS! I am still laughing about that.

I really liked seeing Stillman all decked out as well, that was nice, and the ending was spectacular. I also liked the look on Cheney's face when he found our about Snow only being 15. Take that, jack@$$.

All in all, it was a very good episode. I gave it an excellent.

[longislanditalian2]

Oct 26, 2008 21:15:50 GMT -5 stonecold44 said:

As for other parts of this one, can someone explain why Nick did those pranks to Will and Scottie? I must have missed something last week.

During the episode " True Calling ( 6X02)- Scotty cut off Vera's tie while he had been sleeping, and one of them taped it on the door of one the interrogation room. Vera had suspected both of them but when he asked Lilly she said that she was no snitch.

[Electrophile]

Is it just me or did the actress who played the young Nora look like Winona Ryder?

[cellogal]

Another winner of an episode! This case pulled me in from the get-go, which I really wasn't expecting. Jimmy and Nora, although a wee bit cliche (and it's far-fetched to assume that they were Meant To Be, despite Nora's opinion to the contrary), were nonetheless adorable, and I really felt for Nora when he disappeared. The pregnancy storyline didn't quite work for me. It's true that babies automatically add an extra dose of drama, but sometimes that drama isn't necessary.

Anyhow, it was nice to see a Stillman-centric episode. Both John Finn and his character seem to bring an extra added dose of awesome to military cases, and I loved seeing it again. That final interview with Sgt. Chaney was spectacular on all fronts.

"Ask Me About Erectile Dysfunction?" Made of win and awesome. And the look in Vera's eyes when he went after Jeffries' tie was both hilarious and a bit disturbing! Prank wars rock. Let's hope they continue.

That ending montage was amazing. It could be me, and my personal experience with such, but military funerals make me bawl every single time, and this one was no exception. The song they played was amazingly beautiful (the prominent cello line sure didn't hurt!!!).

As always, a full recap/review from me will appear at www.TheTwoCents.com.

Another home run, Cold Case! Keep 'em coming.

[stonecold44]

Oct 26, 2008 21:23:42 GMT -5 longislanditalian2 said:

Oct 26, 2008 21:15:50 GMT -5 stonecold44 said:

As for other parts of this one, can someone explain why Nick did those pranks to Will and Scottie? I must have missed something last week.

During the episode " True Calling ( 6X02)- Scotty cut off Vera's tie while he had been sleeping, and one of them taped it on the door of one the interrogation room. Vera had suspected both of them but when he asked Lilly she said that she was no snitch.

Thanks. Of course that had to be the one I missed.

[longislanditalian2]

For all my bragging, I think this season is much better than last season by far. Last season for me almost had been thinking about not watching this show, but these past fives episodes kept me a loyal viewer.

The HDTV widescreen really came in handy for the extra stuff I usually watch for in this show, especially that humorous sign on Scotty's back. I knew when the camera panned down to display Jefferies tie, that this was very given sign that Vera wasn't letting this go.

The music montange in all classical music was outstanding and very moving, it's great to see them doing an episode that surrounds the Korean war, my granddad served in it and he's still very much alive. Although I think he worked in the mash unit, but this episode was far better than " Honor".

[socceroos]

I loved this episode from start to finish. I actually felt the romance between Jimmy and Nora was genuine, that includes her getting pregnent and giving him her mothers necklace.

LOVED IT BEST EPISODE

[boxman]

So far this season, the show has 4 out of 5 episodes containing scenes filmed outdoors here in Philly. I really like that! The opening scene where Lilly, Stillman and Jeffries retrieve the old navy records was filmed along the old Navy shipyard in South Philly. You can easily see the city's skyline in the background poking above an elevated portion of I-95.

It's also interesting to note that the civilian troublemaker in the bar was apparently wearing a black leather jacket, a nice continuation of the negative symbolism it has in the series.

---

I always go into these older episodes with a bit of skepticism, wondering why they would investigate such and old case, and wondering if the story would be plausible and believable. I was also skeptical at how the show would portray soldiers in our armed forces after that excruciatingly disappointing episode "The War at Home" two seasons ago.

I have to agree with Electrophile that the Tully-Nora relationship seemed a little far-fetched. I eventually passed it off during the episode because I felt the many flashback scenes were filmed and acted very well. To me, those flashback scenes really captured the "look and feel" of movies from that decade, and I liked how the scenes also felt slower and subdued in pace, typical of drama from that time. And of course, I enjoyed the flashback to the "hostess bar". It was actually a bit of a shock for me to see, and it worked to the show's favor by showing that a seedier "adult" world (that I didn't know about) also existed back then. I think that scene helped to erode the skepticism I had about this episode quite a bit. That "hostess bar" scene also helped plant into my head that even though I think of the 50s as "That 'Leave It To Beaver' Decade", an "adult" world did exist back then too, making the Tully-Nora encounter much more believable.

So as this episode concluded and the doer revealed, I thought to myself, "yeah, this is a very high 'Good' episode". It made sense to me at the end, and the little shot of the photos convinced me that seeing those pictures was enough to bother Chaney all those years and to finally admit his guilt to the detectives.

And then they had to put on that closing montage. WOW! I was totally shaking watching the funeral scenes and listening to the music! It's probably going to be an all-time best closing montage for me. So I definitely have to bump my vote to Excellent.

Oct 26, 2008 21:46:01 GMT -5 cellogal said:

"Ask Me About Erectile Dysfunction?" Made of win and awesome. And the look in Vera's eyes when he went after Jeffries' tie was both hilarious and a bit disturbing! Prank wars rock. Let's hope they continue.

Oh, by doing this, I think they just brought the "Captions" thread to a whole new level....

Oct 26, 2008 22:15:12 GMT -5 longislanditalian2 said:

...this episode was far better than " Honor".

Really? "Honor" is one of my all-time favorite episodes!

[Electrophile]

Yeah, I loved the episode Honor. One of the few episodes that had me crying at the end. My father was lucky enough to not get drafted into Vietnam, but many of his high school friends did end up there, some were POWs, some were MIAs, the rest KIAs. So whenever anyone mentions Vietnam around him, he gets very quiet and tells people to change the subject. So the era of Vietnam has always been one that intrigues me and so I was drawn to that episode from second 1.

[teledetective]

Aah, it is episodes like this that make me go "Cold Case is the best show I've watched ever".

Though I agree that the whole pregnancy bit was a little far-fecthed, but as boxman said that was pushed aside. In my case, though, it was more because of how nice the relationship was between Jimmy and Nora -- I blame that on my inner romantic, I'm sure.

I LOLed at the "ask me about erectile dysfunction" sign on Scotty -- Vera is just too funny when it comes to pranks.

I won't say any more on fear of repeating everything that was already said about this episode, but I give this one an "excellent".

[eurache]

Oct 26, 2008 21:35:08 GMT -5 Electrophile said:

Is it just me or did the actress who played the young Nora look like Winona Ryder?

Maybe a little?

[Collider]

This one gets a "good" from me, only narrowly missing out an "excellent" because I absolutely hated the Jimmy/Nora subplot.

90% of this was perfect for me, I loved the evolution of the gun theft and Tully's trying to clear Snow's name, and I absolutely LOVED the pacing this week - this is the first episode of the season I've actually felt the pacing was absolutely flawless, and didn't once find myself wondering what was going on with scene length. Also loved that we had a nice outright case-focussed episode this week; we've had a lot of wonderful Detective Moments for the last few weeks, and - while I love the frilly heck out of those moments - once in a while, it's nice to get back to the basics of simple case-solving.

That said, I loved the prank-wars, as everyone else mentioned... and on a much more serious note, I thought the final interview (Scotty/Stillman versus Chaney) was absolutely phenomenal. I cannot stress enough how much I loved that scene. By far the best interrogation we've had thus far this season... and we've had plenty of memorable ones already, so that's saying something. Also, Stillman in his uniform in the end montage? Made me sniffle more than anything else in the episode.

But the romantic subplot? Seriously. Notwithstanding the photo-booth scene and the fact that they've used practically the exact same scene before ("Hen House", anyone?), the romance simply didn't ring true for me in the least. Call me a cynic, but I'm automatically pre-disposed to dismiss as outright melodrama anything that tries to convince me a two-hour fling - especially one in which the lady apparently spent fifty years assuming her man had disappeared without a word - warrants "love of my life" status. Give them their moment of happiness, sure... but don't try and convince me that it's something timeless. It doesn't always have to be True Love; sometimes a fling is just a fling.

That aside, though, it was fabulous. I think the detectives work best when faced with a case that resonates with them on a personal level - and Stillman's passion for the military cases is an ongoing theme that it's always always always a joy to see. I just found it a shame they felt obligated to throw a romantic subplot in there to sour what was an otherwise beautifully-told story. And, yea, it was a VERY beautifully-told story. Almost every character was brilliantly likeable, and those you weren't supposed to like were the "love to hate them" sort (which is sometimes just as fulfilling), and - as I said before - the actual military-themed aspects (Chaney's desire to wash out Snow, the trail of the missing gun, &c &c) were handled fabulously. If they'd managed to drag that side of things out to cover the entire 43 minutes, I would have been ecstatic.

So, yea... from me, a "good" that should've been an "excellent".

[Naj]

I'm not one for this time era and especially the setting *plus when it opened with them boxing I shuttered* but there were some really good things in this episode. I was blown away by the closing - both song and montage! I liked Stillman's interrogation of Sgt Chaney. Oh I want to mention that the lead in to the case at the beginning didn't last long before the opening credits. I liked that very much for a change. I didn't buy the several hour romance. C'mone - it was just a one night stand. Gotta love the "erectile dysfunction" sign and Vera's reference to Scotty "LaBamba".

[riche]

Good episode. I felt it all worked well, though I do agree with the whole "love of my life" and pregnancy things being a little forced. Though one great night followed by nothing is always going to leave a "what if" and a rose-tinted view of things.

The stapling scene has, of course, been mentioned and it was great but I did notice one thing. Nick said "last week", referring to the time Will and Scotty cut his tie. 1 week felt too short to me. I'm not suggesting that each show equals a week, or that the tie cutting being from 3 episodes ago dictates a time span between them, but it didn't seem right. If Nick had said "a couple of weeks ago", giving a fair bit of wiggle-room, it would have sounded better.