Ep. 5.18 Ghost of My Child *SEASON FINALE*

[cellogal]

I will freely admit to my expectations for this episode probably being way too high. I was expecting a true season finale, and, thanks to the writers' strike, etc. etc. etc. it really had no chance of being as awesome as previous finales. So I'll just pretend this was a mid-season episode, and for some odd reason, we won't get any new ones for a while.

That said, this case was pretty interesting. I had no idea what was going on, but I really don't try to play "Guess The Doer" while I watch these things. I was glad to have a happy ending for Priscilla and Max, because I honestly do think Priscilla deserved a second chance. I'm sad about baby Doe, though; hopefully the squad will return to solve that particular case next season.

Like so many of you have said, though, it just served as a Lilly Has Mommy Issues redux, without any real movement, progress, or growth on her part, just the same realizations we saw her reach in previous episodes with similar plots. I am slightly concerned that they may be running out of ideas, when there's so much ground left to explore. Scotty's still grieving over Elisa, but has he achieved "closure" with her? Has he accepted her suicide? We got a glimpse of that last week, but no real concrete answers. Same with Lilly and her mommy issues. Is she making progress, or not? We have no way of knowing. It's irritating.

Speaking of irritating, Saccardo still was. Not as bad as the first ep, obviously, and it helped that he was dressed like a normal person. Call me shallow, but it did affect my opinion of him. I see they're going the cliche "Pompous Jackass With A Heart Of Gold" route, which is fine, except they already did that with Scotty back in Season 1. I love Scotty, but I'm not sure we need another one, particularly when the Scotty we already have has so much character development potential yet to be explored.

All that said, I'm trying to keep an open mind.

[The Reverend Bizarre]

I went into this episode with low expectations. The episode for one thing didn't feel like a season finale at all. There was nothing gut wrenching, shocking, or noteworthy about it. Last year, when Stalker aired, we were all posting our theories on what would be happening to Lilly. Now? Well, umm...I guess her and Eddie maybe date or something? I dunno.

I'm also disappointed in the whole "Carrot in front of the Horse" formula they've been doing. In several episodes we're told that we'd learn something about Lilly, and guess what? Here's what I've learned about her from this season.

1. She still has nightmares about the shooting

And that's it!

As an episode I did give this one an excellent. It was intriguing to me, and the ending did make me happy.

Mostly though it got an excellent because of the music they used. For me the music can either make or break an episode.

[Naj]

I don't have much to add. I was disappointed with the overall finale although I didn't expect it to be fireworks as we've gotten in other seasons but still even prepared it was difficult to watch. Overall it was a Good episode.

I thought the last segment of the episode was pretty good - didn't care for the music but I did like this ep's underscore. The highlight was Lilly and Scotty bringing the boy to his mom at the end. Scardillo man - not sure of why he was around at the end -it did look odd but for some reason it didn't really bother me. I've found another outlet for what this series could have been for me in the BBC "Wire In The Blood". Wire In The Blood. I'd love to see an Alex Fielding/Lilly Rush team up to solve a murder in Season 6.

[myril]

I saw a ghost, a ghost of a first season ep - or close.

Yup, we had more or less all of it before. An addicted mother, a mother being misjudged by everybody and even more by Lilly, a dead baby, a victim that turns out to be not dead in the end but instead a John doe (though I think the latter was new). Oh yes, and as well Lilly's struggle with her own mother relationsship - she is dead, she should move on, shouldn't she. Not to forget, a guy with a bit of macho like attitude, poking his nose into things that are not really his business. Hey, are there no bad drug dealers to catch on the street, what does he hang around all day at homicide? Or takes the time to hunt down someone, Lilly was looking for, doing the tough cop show to get information. And like Collider I figured out the doer and even the motive when Scotty and Vera interviewed the counsellor, it was obvious.

So, shoulda think I didn't like this episode. But actually, I don't mind to have seen a ghost, so to speak. Maybe because my expectations concerning CC are low for some time now, can't be really disappointed anymore.

But I enjoyed this episode, probably because I had the feeling of rewatching a season one ep in some ways. No Zombie like Lilly, that has a good reason for me to like it already.

Yes, Lilly still shows the same grudge against her (now dead) mother and tends to transfer it on every addict and especially on every mother seemingly neglecting her kid. We've seen all of it before, the grudge, the doubts and even the change of her attitude at the end, kinda forgiving at least this mother though still not her own one. Boring, isn't it, will she never move on. Well, maybe not. I actually know people like this, showing the same reactions again and again, the same issues, and always giving you the same wrong (?) sense at some point, that they might have finally changed a bit, see things a little different. Not just some issue, like Lilly they have an issue with their parents based in childhood. Said it about the ep before, life is like that. With some things we move on so slow, it looks like we never get over it. But I never expected that they move on fast with Lilly's issues and make her a happy, balanced person. It's the darkness and the brooding that attracted me in the first place, and that nevertheless Lilly is a fighter, not giving up. She is an imperfect person. And I'm a mean person if it comes to fiction: I like to watch torn persons and don't really want their issues solved. Quite unlike in real life, where it bothers me a lot, if I can't help people to find a better balance or even peace with some stuff.

I liked the case, or more precise, Pricilla. Not a person you like on first sight. And despite knowing the doer and motive early, and being more or less sure about how it will turn out in the end, I didn't find the ep a bit boring in the second half of it. It was annoying to see, how everybody had turned Pricilla down, had seen her just as one of many addicts, even her parents didn't give her a chance, had given up on her. Found it even more cruel because I already guessed what had happened, and maybe that was partially intended. And it was a good performance by Nicholle Tom (hey, she had played the elder Sheffield daughter from the Nanny? some change - new the face but didn't know from where). There was that little beat in the end, when Max looked at her, where you could wonder, if he would remember anything and embrace her. Nicely stretched, enough to give you the time to think about a what if, what if he wouldn't, would haven been understandable, seeing from the little boys POW. Isn't it quite harsh to drag him out of the family he knows back to his mother, no matter how much she loves him and how wrong the whole thing was in the beginning? Well, of course he smiled at her, you can trust the tendency for happy ends. But on the other hand, this was no typical fairy tale happy end kind. Think you could get an idea, that the upcoming time wouldn't be easy for the 2 and there was still a dead baby, a John Doe, an unsolved Cold Case left in the end. So they didn't dwell on the box, that they could throw away, but on the box left with an unsolved murder. There is no real happy end - well and we will have a next season.

Oh, and then there was Eddie. The annoying guy. I liked him from the start perhaps because he entered as such a macho jerk. An interesting mix of Kite, Joseph and, okay, maybe even Scotty, so to speak. Since Kite for me the most interesting candidate for a relationsship situation for Lilly. Wonder if we're going to see him back in next season, with CC you never can be sure.

Not going for an excellent here, I enjoyed watching it, the ep nevertheless lacked a bit. Despite that I don't mind to revisit some issues, they could have taken things a subtle step further, right. Acting was great, writing was not bad.

And nope, not talking about this ep being no real season final, no dramatic nail-biting highlight. We all know, it would have been hard to be considering the unnormal situation, so why even talk about it. Ooops, now I mentioned it too. But hey, only want to show, I noticed, that this was this season's last episode. At least it worked for me as one that makes me keep my habit of watching CC next season too

[longislanditalian2]

Rewatching the episode again I caught something, at the end when Scotty is pulling up with Max in the back seat, Lilly isn't in the car with him. In fact it clearly shows she is not there when Scotty is taking off his seatbelt, we then see Lilly with Max right before he is reunited with his mother

[eduardodelroice]

Hi

1. Scotty and Lilly together in romance? NAH! That'd be so odd!
2. This case would have worked better if it had been from The Baby John Doe point of view, They would have solved 2 cases, John Doe and the junkie's son...
3. It was a good one but not like other season Finales; Lover's Lane wasn´t very strong but... come on
season 2 finale/Lilly kills someone on duty
season 3 finale/Lilly makes a mistake(first time)
Season 4 finale/Lilly is shot, we were so nervous!
I usually don't like season finales, not are my fav ones but they always make us nervous that something will happen, we know it will be all ok but we want to know how, But the problem with THE GHOST OF MY CHILD is that we didn't feel that emotion

4. It's true sometimes what LillyKat said, with some eps I feel CC is stuck in the same way (That's what I don't like about CSI Vegas and CSI Miami, I love CSI NY)... That's why I love wps like "Justice", when you have to change something But I still like it, but when I watch reruns from the first season, You can feel the difference, eps like "A time to hate", "Love Conquers All", "Churchgoing people", "THE PLAN".... I didn't love (but I did like) every single ep from season 1 but in those eps Things were so different in a better way. Maybe because it was a new show, I don't know...

Anyway, This season had the problem with the strike and it had some eps I loved, the only one I hated was THICK AS THIEVES(So complicated and boring)... Not as boring as 8 years(I felt asleep when I watched it) but...

I hope season 6 will be better...
=)

[eduardodelroice]

a last thing

I hope season 6 brings Lil's dad and Ray!!! I want Lil and Ray married!

and this is not the first time an unsolved case remains....
In "Cargo", there was an illegal inmigrant JANE DOE that her homicide remained unsolved, Scotty writes CLOSED on the victim's box but looks at that other box with the name DOE, J.

[riche]

May 6, 2008 19:50:34 GMT -5 longislanditalian2 said:

Rewatching the episode again I caught something, at the end when Scotty is pulling up with Max in the back seat, Lilly isn't in the car with him. In fact it clearly shows she is not there when Scotty is taking off his seatbelt, we then see Lilly with Max right before he is reunited with his mother

Lilly is there in the backseat, she's on the other side of the car.



From an aesthetic point of view they'd probably want Lilly on this side of the car and for her to get out of the car first and help the boy out. But they'd also want the boy looking out of the window on this side before the car stops.

What's more shocking is Danny/Scotty's driving. The car comes to quite a bumpy stop . If that's the care he takes of Lilly and a child in the backseat perhaps it will end all this "shipper" stuff

[KathrynFan]

i liked this episode, but i think that the road would of been a better season final,

[eurache]

CBS REPEAT - 9/21/08 - 9PM ET

[stillmanfan]

Glad Eddie wasn't as annoying but I still don't like him.

Seems like Eddie is everywhere, surprised John hasn't thrown him out.