Ep. 3.21 The Hen House

[TVFan]

LILLY AND THE TEAM REOPEN THE 1945 CASE INVOLVING AN AMBITIOUS FEMALE JOURNALIST RECENTLY DEMOTED TO WRITING ADVICE COLUMNS AFTER HAVING EXTENSIVELY COVERED ELEANOR ROOSEVELT, ON "COLD CASE," SUNDAY, APRIL 30

David Von Ancken directed the episode that was written by Craig Turk.

Lilly Rush: Kathryn Morris
John Stillman: John Finn
Nick Vera: Jeremy Ratchford
Will Jeffries: Thom Barry
Scotty Valens: Danny Pino
Kat Miller: Tracie Thoms
Lo Kinney (1945): Michelle Harrison
Noah Pool (2006): Peter Graves
Noah Pool (1945): Todd Babcock
Birdie (2006): James Greene
Birdie (1945): Justin Scot
Helen (2006): K Callan
Helen (1945): Aran Cravey
David Pool (2006): Michael Cavanaugh
David Pool (1945): Garrett Ryan
Arthur Pool (1945): Rodney Eastman
Johanna Hoffman (2006): Eve Brenner
Johanna Hoffman (1945): Carolyn States
Tommy Gillis: Bob Pescovitz
McDuff (1945): Steve Vinovich
Newsboy (1945): Joey Pollari
Young Girl (1945): Ashley Farley



After you view this episode, be sure to vote for it above. Also, leave a post with your thoughts.

[eurache]

Episode thread now open, please make your vote and views

[boxman]

Sooo, I wonder if the writers are playing with us again?? Tonight, the editor of the paper calls Lo Kinney "sugar", then show her (and Noah) eating cotton candy later in the episode. Is this a reference to "Sukkerspinn", or in other words, our "Sugar" a.k.a. Ms. "Cotton Candy"?? ha ha ha...

---

Stillman has an old RCA Selectavision in his office. (See a photo here.) What does this symbolize? Heck, I couldn't figure it out!

---

The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, the city's two main papers, actually are in financial trouble as the fictional Philadelphia Sentinel is portrayed in the episode. Both papers have reduced their staff recently, but unlike the Sentinel, both are up for sale and may survive under new owners. Articles here.

---

Johanna Hoffman's flashback to her interview with Lo Kinney is filled with references to water, a rather well established symbol of change and uncertainty in this series. This flashback was a pivitol moment for this episode, revealing the true identity of Noah Pool.

It begins with a boiling tea kettle. Then the name "Noah Pool" is mentioned--Noah, as in the Biblical story of the deluge; and Pool, as obviously a body of water. (Duh!) Both women enjoy a cup of tea. What appears to be an old stovetop coffee percolator is also seen in the background of the scenes with Johanna. Immediately before Lo shows Johanna the pictures of the "false Noah", a box of Rain Drops Water Softener can be seen in the background on the kitchen sink.

I wonder what the digits "16504" on Johanna's arm refers to? Are they factually accurate to labor camp prisoners? Or do the numbers signify something else? As a zipcode, 16504 is in Erie, PA.... Again, a bit of a reach, but still a reference to a body of water....

If the name "Noah" is of the "good" person, then is "Anton" the name of a "bad" person?? "Noah" is a Biblical name--"Anton" as in "Anton LaVey" is "the founder and High Priest of the Church of Satan, and author of The Satanic Bible [and] is often known as [the] 'founder of Satanism.'" Creepy!! This twist makes me think of one of my favorite neo-noir movies, "Angel Heart", which has similar themes of duality in personalities.

---

Yes, again, the episode is rather intricately correct: there is a Lawndale train station, and it's in what would be suburban Philly back in the 40's. There's even a building with the word "MILL" painted on its side nearby, a good reference to the various milling businesses the city had back then. Amazing detail!

[ecooper516]

I would have voted for best of the season except I wanted to see more of the Lilly character and have more of the story presented through the detectives eyes instead of the victims characters.(as in the first two seasons)

[sonny]

I voted for 'Good.' What kept it from being excellent was for the same reason as ecooper; just not enough Lilly for me. Really excellent case however.

[Pixie]

Okay I just want to know:
- The Closing Song.
and Date of Crime....

[V]

boxman said:

Sooo, I wonder if the writers are playing with us again?? Tonight, the editor of the paper calls Lo Kinney "sugar", then show her (and Noah) eating cotton candy later in the episode. Is this a reference to "Sukkerspinn", or in other words, our "Sugar" a.k.a. Ms. "Cotton Candy"?? ha ha ha...

LOL, boxman!! Shoot, if that's the case, then I can venture to say that Kat's daughter was named after me!!! Not only does she call her "V" but her actual name is "Veronica."

I'm going to reserve voting for this episode until I watch it again. I was busy doing other stuff last night and didn't give it my full attention. Right now, my vote would be for "OK," but I really want to give it a "good."

[TVFan]

I voted for excellent because I base my ratings on the cases, but in order to get best of the season status (like Saving Patrick Bubley), there has to be significant Lilly time, and as others have mentioned, this ep was lacking. In fact, this episode had everything but Lilly. That's not to say that I didn't love her trip to New York or her airport parking deck interrogation, it's just that I would have liked to see her more during the hour. It doesn't even have to be personal stuff either, just more Lilly involvement on the case. I was a little confused as to whether she was the one serving desk duty or Will.

All of that aside, this episode was excellent and it rightfully joins the throngs of Frank's Best, Debut, Sanctuary and others as some of this season's excellent outings. The older cases (this one took place in 1945 pixie) are hit and miss for me. Some of them are excellent (like "Best Friends") and others are just so-so (like "Red Glare"). It all depends how well they tie it to the history and culture of the year and how relatable they make the victim. I had no idea that this case was going to tie into the Holocaust until we met "Noah." I thought something was "off" about him, but I had no idea that he was going to be a former Nazi guard at the prison camp where the real Noah died. How horrible that he got away and got to live a full life and Noah and his family died in that camp. I can't even imagine that family's horror when they found out that the man they had taken in, thinking they were protecting him from the Nazis over in Europe, was actually a Nazi himself, and indirectly responsible for their family members' deaths. Just wow. And then he kills Lo! He seemed so cold to me. When Lilly confronted him in that parking deck scene, he simply said that he was a better person than the things that he had done. It was like he was able to justify what he had done and then tell himself that he was a good person because of the justification. I just couldn't get over that!

It was so nice to have a murder with a believable and realistic motive. I know people kill people over the stupidest things in real life, but sometimes this show does a not-so-good job of making the actual motive and murder believable. Thankfully, this was not the case last night. "Noah" being outed for the Nazi that he was, was a strong motive, despite his feelings for Lo. I don't think he would have pushed her, though, had she not told him that she didn't love him. That was his cue to do what he felt he needed to do and it was justified in his mind because this woman didn't love him. She became instantly disposable to him.

A couple of quick notes. I LOVE how they always show us the extra sparkle in Lilly's eye when she works cases like Lo's. She likes these victims more than any others probably because she identifies with these women, and there are always subtle hints to this. I LOVED Stillman's talk with Will and then the little "treat" in their coffee. Stillman is the best boss ever! The flashbacks were AMAZING! I felt like I was watching an old movie. Everything from the sets to the costumes to the dialog to the harsh black and white tones were just so well done. Major kudos to everyone at CC who worked so hard on that because it didn't go unnoticed. I was transported to 1945 the second this ep started.

boxman - That is amazing about how accurate that train station was! I can't believe it. Thanks for sharing that tidbit with us!

Again, an excellent episode whose only drawback was its lack of Lilly.

[soccerulz]

I could not agree more with what you said TVFan.

Excellent episode - I LOVED the Jeffries/Stillman scene, it was so well done. As you said, the only thing this one really lacked was Lilly. (Haha, loved how she was the only one free to go to NY .

[TVFan]

I felt bad for her when everyone else bailed and she was left having to make the trip there and back by herself when it was already late, but it did give us another scene with her so I wasn't complaining!

BTW, I have some screencaps posted now at Pass the Remote. As always, you guys don't have to read any of it, I just wanted you to know that there are some caps if you're interested (BTW, you can click on them to make them bigger).

[Naj]

boxman,

Where do you get this symbology? It's interesting. Is there some kind of subtext the audience is missing. I know Mark Burnett does this with the Survivor series.

I liked the episode but it's no where near where it has to be to get back to Lilly being central to the stories. I loved the Jeffries side story and how he and Stillman had a drink in his office for his birthday. It was an endearing moment.

I, too, was happy Lilly had to make her trip alone. And wasn't it like late again working. It was dark out and all they do is hang around homicide. Kinda like what Jeffries was referring to--so on to his job he doesn't know anything else. They are all work addicts. I didn't catch how long Jeffries had to be on desk duty though. Wonder if this is a way to give others more screen time. I dislike that idea of bringing new ones in and making the others sit out.

The story was interesting and the Nazi twist got me. The guy lost his accent as he aged. But it was obviously a fake accent. I could almost see Xena playing Lo. Kinda looked like TXS. It was odd. I was a bit disappointed in I felt we would get really involved in Noah's storytelling as the main aspect but it didn't go that way.

As ecooper said the cases need to be from Lilly's eyes. All in all it was good.

They haven't had any exceptional episodes this year. It's been a downer of a season which fell coming out of the gate with a switcheroo focus on someone outside the detective group the core audience wasn't interested. Disruption replaced continuity from Season 2 which got sacrificed and made me wonder why should I even continue to watch. I wonder if that's hurt the ratings we've seen. People left it seems while they tried to pick up the mess. No Mind Hunters, The Woods, It's Raining Men, Wishing, Best Friends, Daniela, The Sleepover, Strange Fruit., Ravaged, Discretion. A Perfect Day and Start Up were good but where are the standouts of the season? And I suppose next season will be all about Kat. I don't care for what they've done with this series. They've wankejawed it. It's like someone wants this series to fail - something ain't clicking this season. So far season three has been a C- overall.

[sonny]

tvfan said:

I felt bad for her when everyone else bailed and she was left having to make the trip there and back by herself when it was already late, but it did give us another scene with her so I wasn't complaining!

I felt exactly the same TVFan. Everyone else with stuff to do apart from Lilly. Not that she probably minded but after that drunk dialling incident it must have been in the back of her head somewhere that she was going alone cos she didn't have anything else to do. That made me feel really sad for her. Now I know Lilly is tough and can look out for herself but for me the protectiveness instinct was there. New York, alone at night; I'm suprised Stillman didn't suggest they leave it til morning.

[eurache]

I agree with everyone b/c there wasn't enough of Lilly.

I did like the scene with Jeffries and Stillman, have a shot of booze and talking about retirement. But then they both said if they retired, they would not have anything to do. This job was their Life

[coldcasefan831]

pixie said:

Okay I just want to know:
- The Closing Song.
and Date of Crime....

the date was may 8th, 1945 and the closing song was "It Could Happen to You" by Jo Stafford.

Does anyone know what the opening song was though??

[ecooper516]

In my opinion, what is different this season from the previous two seasons is that the earlier seasons had the case being solved through the detectives eyes(notably Lilly's) and this season the case is explained and solved through the victim and related character eyes'.
Maybe the writers need to view REAL cold cases and make related stories.

[Disasterfreak]

This episode seemed pretty well rounded to me. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm absolutely in love with the underscore. It just keeps getting better and better. Or maybe I'm just a sucker for haunting piano music. I actually like it better than having a different song for every flashback, it distracts me less and gets me into the characters' mood more.

The flashbacks were really good too. Black and white, very convincing of post war years. Acting was good, wardrobe was good--overall, an era well portrayed.

Can't really comment about the case. I liked it, it seemed coherent, but I didn't connect with it as much as I should have, given the circumstances. They didn't give us enough time to process Anton was actually a nazi, and they didn't let him explain why he'd done the things he'd done either. That part seemed a little off to me. I can understand him killing Lo to keep her from outing him... but he should have done it a less conspicuous way. I mean, c'mon--if you push someone into the train tracks just as the train is going by, others are sure to find out!

As for the Lilly time, didn't really bother me. I don't mind it not being all about Lilly all the time, as long as when they DO focus on Lilly, it's good.

Poor Jeffries, stuck in desk duty. I loved that stolen moment with Stillman and booze, too. Writers are getting good at giving us a glimpse of these people through "stolen moments" like that. I was a little daunted because I didn't watch last ep, so it was weird seeing the aftermath of it. But that's no one's fault but my own.

[CC Fan]

I liked this episode... I thought it incorporated all of the detectives really well and had a great back story. Sometimes I criticize this show for being too predictable, but having Noah turn out to be the Nazi really surprised me. I also thought they had good actors and the flashbacks and the present day characters all looked really similar.

All in all it was a good episode. liked the bonding seen with the wine at the end.

[boxman]

I'm surprised that none of you ladies commented anything about the young Noah. Over at the imdb.com board, some of the women are talking about how *hot* he was. ha ha ha... I have to admit too, that I thought he was rather suave at first. This made it rather interesting for me to later watch how he seemed to fight with his inner-self to conceal his past. Sort of like Harry Angel in "Angel Heart", or even Gollum/Smeagol in "The Lord of the Rings".

v said:

LOL, boxman!! Shoot, if that's the case, then I can venture to say that Kat's daughter was named after me!!! Not only does she call her "V" but her actual name is "Veronica."

No kidding?? Gee, I didn't know her name was "Veronica" and I missed the part where Kat calls her daughter "V"! Can you point it out where it is? It will be fascinating for me to hear this!!!

naj said:

boxman, Where do you get this symbology? It's interesting. Is there some kind of subtext the audience is missing. I know Mark Burnett does this with the Survivor series.

That's funny, Naj, because I don't understand why there aren't more people writing about their observations. I'm glad you find it interesting. I think it just simply comes from looking for repetition, looking for patterns. Unfortunately, I also understand that some philosophers think this kind of thinking is rather foolish and primal... According to them, it's the kind of observation and induction that's associated with animal instincts and superstition, rather than logic and reason. ha ha ha. It doesn't always work, too, though. One of my theories regarded "black leather jackets". It's supposed to symbolize someone who sins, but the show has been confusing me because Kat would wear one in some episodes, then not at all, like in this episode. Sometimes, there's other things I notice, but its a bit wacko so it's not worth mentioning. ha ha ha...

They haven't had any exceptional episodes this year. It's been a downer of a season which fell coming out of the gate with a switcheroo focus on someone outside the detective group the core audience wasn't interested. ...where are the standouts of the season? And I suppose next season will be all about Kat. I don't care for what they've done with this series. They've wankejawed it. It's like someone wants this series to fail - something ain't clicking this season. So far season three has been a C- overall.

Wow, that's a strange comment for me to read. I just started watching this show from mid-Season Three and am rather intrigued and fascinated by the series. Maybe living in Philly helps??

sonny said:

...Now I know Lilly is tough and can look out for herself but for me the protectiveness instinct was there. New York, alone at night; I'm suprised Stillman didn't suggest they leave it til morning.

IMO, Manhattan is rather safe, even in the evenings so I wouldn't worry much. Definitely a far cry from Kensington, where she grew up. It made sense to me that she headed there in the evening--the morning traffic into the city is extremely heavy. Going there at night should be a breeze and was reasonable if Johanna was already expecting her... Plus, isn't this "First Thursdays"?? Lilly would probably want to get as much stuff done on Wednesday, rather than have a bunch of things to do on Thursday....

[Disasterfreak]

Boxman is right, Manhattan is pretty safe nowadays. It just has a bad reputation. When I was there in 2000 I found it a far cry from the last time I'd been there before, in '90. Mayors did a good job of 'cleaning up that durn town'.

V: ;D Wouldn't that be something? LOL. Unfortunately, as Boxman already knows, I don't buy all this symbolism. First of all because, as far as I know, there's no agreement on which symbol means what. Too farfetched that everything has a meaning. Sorry, Boxman .

About young Noah, I must admit I found him "interesting". Still... his face was much too soft and girly for me to find him particularly attractive. He did catch my eye though. Can't deny it.

[boxman]

disasterfreak said:

...Unfortunately, as Boxman already knows, I don't buy all this symbolism. First of all because, as far as I know, there's no agreement on which symbol means what. Too farfetched that everything has a meaning. Sorry, Boxman

Any idea why Stillman's office had that SelectaVision?
That was a weird one....