7.20 Free Love

[Trublu]

FEELINGS DEVELOP BETWEEN RUSH AND FBI AGENT RYAN CAVANAUGH WHILE WORKING TOGETHER ON AN UNSOLVED FBI CASE OF A U.S. SOLDIER MURDERED AT WOODSTOCK BETWEEN TOURS IN VIETNAM, ON "COLD CASE," SUNDAY, APRIL 11

"Free Love" - Rush and FBI agent Ryan Cavanaugh discover their attraction for one another while investigating the 1969 murder of a GI at Woodstock, and Vera helps his married ex-girlfriend, Megan, after sentimental jewelry is stolen from her home, on COLD CASE, Sunday, April 11 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

SERIES REGULARS:

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

RECURRING CAST:

ADA Curtis Bell................... Jonathan LaPaglia
Diane Yates....................... Susanna Thompson
Ryan Cavanaugh..................... Johnny Messner

GUEST CAST:

David Quinn
(1968, 1969)..................... Richard W. Blake
Annabelle Bennet
(1968, 1969)......................... Christa B. Allen
Annabelle Bennet (2010).............. Mimi Kuzyk
Reuben Harris (1969)....... Darren Everett Criss
Reuben Harris (2010)............... James Sutorius
Al Wasserlauf (1969)..................... Brian Guest
Al Wasserlauf (2010)........................ Dale Dye
Megan Easton (2010)................. the one who's name we shall not say Aldrich
Roy Easton (2010)..................... Karl Makinen
Shelly Hewit (2010)...................... Ginifer King
Bruce Hurt (2010)...................... Dwight Hicks
Mike Keeley (2010)................ Michael Keeley
Detective Pierson (2010)............ James Hanlon
Hippie (1968)............................. Nick Josephs
Aide (2010).................................... Tré Moyé

WRITTEN BY: Elwood Reid, one of the series' co-executive producers, and Denise Thé (based on a story by Thé)

DIRECTED BY: Jeffrey Hunt

GENRE: DRAMA, CRIME, MYSTERY

RATING: To Be Announced

[Trublu]

CBS EYE ALERT!

Revised start times for tonight's CBS programs: 60 Minutes (7:11pm ET), Amazing Race (8:11pm ET), Undercover Boss (9:11pm ET) and Cold Case (10:11pm ET) due to CBS Sports live coverage of The Masters.

[Electrophile]

I voted "excellent" for this episode. I love any episode set in the late 60s, so maybe I'm a tad biased but I thought it worked well. I loved the twist of both the Congresswoman being an FBI Informant and the farmer having lied about his service in Vietnam. We saw something similar in "Honor", where the security guard (I forget his name) pretended to be a POW and Stillman, who actually served, called him out on it. There's nothing more cowardly in my opinion.

And I must disagree with Farmer Al about David being a coward. He saw horrors that no one should have to see, especially at that age. He didn't want to go back. He wanted to run away with Annabelle where there would be no war, no killing, no screaming. I can absolutely sympathize with that. My uncle served in Vietnam and steadfastly refuses to talk about what he saw, what he did. I don't blame him.

On to Ryan/Lilly......interesting pairing, I must say. I wonder if Lilly will take him up on his offer to join the Federal Cold Case squad. I think she loves being in Philly too much though. It was nice to see some tenderness from Yates, especially after the last two episodes where she came of more like a hardass than anything else. When she said there was nothing in Philly for her and Stillman looked at her, you could almost sense his answer on his face.....him.

[Kassandra]

Ok so i very muck enjoyed this episode. The acting was great

Although Veras girlfriend hasn't aged as gracefully as some... It was great to see Vera back at work even if he is on restricted duty. And with his high school sweet heart ( cant remeber her name) now free I think Vera is going to heal well.

Now to tackle Rush and FBI guy ( as my mom calls him) I think they could make a good couple and come on, that kiss is not the kind of kiss you give on a first date am I right! There is def. something brewing between them. And Lily was laughing so much with him it was great. Like when was the last time we heard her laugh that much... Im thinking back with Joseph. The blind date with the keys was a nice touch. And at the end I Don't think Lily took the Application!!!!!! YAY!!

The little clip of Scotty and his obsession with his moms attacker was a nice filler. And Kat and Bell Need to be together again, because I personally liked them together even though he is the social odd ball who is a clutz. They just seem to fit together. Loved the back case of Yates and Stillman with her mom and the hospital. You can just tell there is still something between them


Now with the case. It was pretty solid. Loved the music. I was mad at why he killed him but I guess it is something that many have strong opinions about. And myself am one of them.

All around great episode.

*** Anyone up for Live Chat Monday night same time it use to be? ***

~Kassandra

[madmax]

Episode was def something diff. I kinkda like diff style of it and fact we followed few different plots. But it didnt pop out for me in any way, i mean the case. And personally i think we had enought of soldier cases. Yes, i think it was a soldier case from begining to the end.

Ok, now the explanation why i hated the epi - Lilly/Ryan thing. In MY OPINION Lilly cheated. Yes, a kiss is for me considered cheating. And being after few beers is not an explanation for anything. Lilly's fiance cheated on her with Chris while intoxicated and Lil didnt forgive neither him nor her. So in my eyes Lil lost a lot! And from no one no matter what she will be a cheater. Come on, she talked about having a guy in narcotics just moments before kissing Ryan. That adds to the whole 'Lil's a cheater' for me. And i do not care if she was happy/smiling/laughing.

[Electrophile]

How do we know that her and Saccardo are still together? She could have just been saying that. There's been no mention of him until now, and certainly no mention of her being in a relationship with anyone until now.

I think she was talking about him more as a friend that she knows who's in narcotics or someone that she had a relationship with, not necessarily someone who she's still in a relationship with.

[The Reverend Bizarre]

How could Lilly have cheated when her and Eddie had already broken up? In episode 7x18 "The Last Drive In" Lilly made it clear that she HAD a boyfriend. Had - the past tense of has. So Lilly was NOT committed to Eddie when her and Ryan kissed.

Anyway, not sure what to think about this one. I sort of thought the break in side plot was a bit dumb, and it seemed (in my opinion) that the writers were like "Oh hey, Lilly and Ryan are going to investigate this case. Hmm, we need to have the other characters do something."

It was nice to see Nick back at work, although it doesn't look like he's calmed down on his interrogation methods.

As for the Ryan/Lilly thing, I'm going to say it; I thought that kiss was hot. Possibly the hottest one on that show. Those two have chemistry and it became clear when they were walking in the field.

Also noticed that Lilly tends to be a bit ambivalent...

Eddie: Hi, I'm Eddie.

Lilly: Hi, I don't like you!

*they make out*


Ryan: I'm Ryan

Lilly: I really don't like you.

*they make out*

anyway, it was nice to see Lilly happy.

[Kassandra]

I do believe that back in the first part of the 2 parter. The Last Drive-in...

Lily and Yates are at the bar and yates asks her whos the guy and lil says something about was the guy I belive. So in a way she implied that it might be over or that it was complicated. So in a way yes she was cheating on him but also I dont think they really ever were a couple because it was never really made officail. But thats just my opinion. But I do like her with him. Not Eddie.

[Electrophile]

Yeah, I didn't get the B-plot either. Seemed like an excuse to give everyone else airtime.

[toddsmitts]

This episode reminded me of the season opener "The Crossing", in that with all the stuff going on, the case was probably the least interesting aspect.

It just felt like so much of it had been done before; the anti-war hippie who's secretly an FBI informant ("Volunteers"), running away to Canada with your girl to keep from going back to Vietnam ("Revolution"), a soldier falling for the girl of his dream ("Shore Leave"). Even the song "Get Together" by the Youngbloods was the end song for "Volunteers" (I believe this is the first time I've seen an end song re-used for the middle of an episode. We've had songs from the middle of an episode used later as an end song, but never the other way around.)

Much more interesting is the other stuff going on. First, I wanna welcome back the one who's name we shall not say Aldrich as Megan Easton, not seen since the team solved her sister's death in season two's "Ravaged". After seeing Vera's heart get ripped out of his chest a couple of times, it would be nice to see her stick around.

I gotta admit though, now that I think about it, there's a certain irony in Vera coming down so hard on her cheating hubby, seeing as it was suggesting once or twice that Vera might not have been 100% faithful in his own marriage (see "The Badlands").

Of the two FBI agents who've been at the forefront of our stories the last two weeks, I gotta say I find Cavanaugh's emerging as the more likeable of the two. Granted, it's not surprising that Yates might have developed a chip on her shoulder having dealt with sexism in law enforcement in the years before Lilly and Kat, but she does have a forthrightness that doesn't always endear her to people. I'd always hoped to see Stillman get a love interest, someone close to his age who's maybe in a position of authority herself, but the notion of him hooking up with Yates doesn't really intrigue me.

What DOES intrigue me is this notion of Lilly joining the FBI. I'm still curious what they plan to do with this. If I had to guess how it will play out, I'd speculate that they'll have her stick with the FBI for the rest of the season, and IF there's a season 8 (knock on wood), they find some way to get her back to Philly. If not, then the show end with Lilly staying on as a Fed.

Obviously that arrangement wouldn't work on-screen for anything but a short-term thing unless you were willing to drop most (if not ALL) of the other cast members and keep the focus on Lilly (something I doubt would please fans), or have Lilly leave and keep the focus on the Philly detectives (which is equally dubious, since she's the one who's passionate about cold jobs).

That being said, this notion of Lilly working in some sort of "federal cold case unit" would be an interesting idea. Given the breadth of history, I've sometimes wondered what stories could be told if they weren't largely confined to Philly. You could have cases based around the riots in LA in '92 or Chicago in '68. It seems a little implausable to just have the FBI come in and work local cold jobs when they have no real jurisdiction (okay, a LOT implausible), but if one was willing to justify that somehow, or at least suspect disbelief, there'd be some great potential there. Maybe something like "The X-Files" but working cold jobs instead of chasing ghosts and aliens. ;D

-Quick note: Kat and Curtis back together again. Not really much to say on that, but it's a nice moment. Curtis is easily my favorite of the ADA's we've had on the show, and he's clearly the one who socializes with the squad the most (as we see in "The Crossing" and "Two Weddings"). Kite didn't really hang out with them much, aside from going to First Thursdays once, and Alex didn't even do that much. Nice to see Kat had the maturity to compromise regarding her daughter and her ex as well, even if it was just a passing reference.

-Al, our doer this week, was played by Dale Dye, a real-life decorated Vietnam vet and an officer in the USMC. Since the mid-eighties, he's been a technical advisor on TV shows and movies, even founding his own company, Warriors, Inc. As we see, he also regularly steps in front of the camera for supporting roles, usually playing, not surprisingly, military characters.

-Interesting scene having both Yates and Rush lie to the FBI about smacking Paul Shepard around. You don't see it on cops shows as much anymore, but not that long ago, it was routine to see someone like Andy Sipowicz smack perps around, presumably denying it later if asked about it. Interesting to see that lie shown on-screen for a change.

Who knows what next week will bring...?

Edited to add: Since some people brought it up while I was writing this, I really didn't see Lilly as "cheating" because we got no indication that she and Saccardo were an exclusive thing. It doesn't strike me as an especially great idea to get into a monogamous relationship with someone while they're working undercover anyway. I think they're both adult enough to understand that.

[The Reverend Bizarre]

I was under the impression that her and Eddie were over. Although Lilly didn't say it, Yates was able to pick up on the fact that Lilly was looking for something more, someone to settle down with. Eddie was not that person, and I think Lilly was realizing that.

[Kassandra]

I agree with Reverend. Eddie would always be gone but Ryan could be the type to settle down. Hint* he was engaged! could anyone see Lily settling down. ( I do)

Does anyone want to get together for live chat tomorrow night??

[Electrophile]

I think whether or not CC gets picked up for an 8th season will determine the Ryan/Lilly/FBI triangle.

[Trublu]

Apr 11, 2010 23:38:08 GMT -5 Electrophile said:

I think whether or not CC gets picked up for an 8th season will determine the Ryan/Lilly/FBI triangle.

I definitely agree. This episode was the perfect set-up for either a continuation of the series and a great cliffhanger, or the ending of the series.

If CC is cancelled, Lilly will have the option of going on to a brand new career and new relationship, if she so chooses. There is also the possibility of a big set up only to lead to the climax of "hey guess what, I'm staying!" By not showing us exactly what Lilly did with that file, the future is wide open. The shot was set up so that she could have easily put the file in her bag or left in on the desk, we didn't see either definitively. Instead, she shut down the computer, the camera panned behind a pole, and perhaps in an upcoming episode we'll be surprised by someone telling Lilly there's a job opening with her name on it.

If CC continues on, then this is the perfect setup for Lilly to be offered a job, and refuse it to stay with Philly PD. Then again, maybe she never filled out the form in the first place.

Overall, I liked the episode, but I agree that the side-plots were all fluff and no substance. I also didn't like the time that was spent on the girlfriend being an informant; it was rather detached and took away from the overall message that many of the soldiers in the Vietnam war didn't want to fight, or after one tour, didn't want to go back. I think this is much the same situation we're finding ourselves in present day, and I wish they had let the symmetry through more.

[eduardo]

IMHO: The worse episode ever made. This hurts me a lot because you all know I LOVE 60's cases but I just truly hated this one. Total disaster. Everything but the music was a complete disaster. The Lilly/Ryan thing was not a disaster but was just OK.

I had a little accident yesterday and I'm having some pain and can't type too much.
I'll try to post tomorrow all the reasons why I consider this the worse cold case episode ever

[boxman]

Well, hate to say it but I'm not getting into the last couple of episodes. I find both Yates and Cavanaugh very stoic and uninteresting, even when they're trying to open up their personal sides. In fact, I find much of the regular cast uninteresting lately too. I think a lot has changed in the show's writing style, and for me it's not for the better. It seems like the past few episodes have relied much more upon plotlines based on superficial cliche twists, and less on getting deeper into the cases. This topic of how the show has begun to focus more on the detective's personal lives has been discussed before, and this week I have to finally agree that the show seems more like a soap opera lately than how it was in previous seasons where there was more focus on the story surrounding the victim & doer. Like the double episode was simply a serial killer and several random victims he just originally met in passing. Tonight's episode was two military guys that simply met and had a disagreement. To me, it really feels like there's been no plot development at all to the circumstances that led up to the murder. In tonight's episode, oddly enough there never really was a whole bunch of suspects in this case, even when you had hundreds of thousands of people attending a concert festival nearby....

I think another big part of my dislike for the past few episodes is because the actors' dialog seems like it's written more in what I'd call a "theatrical style", rather than a natural speaking style. It all kinda sounds to me like a series of monologues, rather than normal conversation. And each monologue seems like it was written simply to reveal some cliched "twist" of some sort. Oh, there was an FBI informant. Oh, she's now a liberal senator. Oh, Cavanaugh's fiance died. Oh, Vera's ex-girlfriend's house got broken into. Oh, her husband is cheating. Oh, two soldiers are arguing duty to country versus the ethics of war. Oh, Yate's mom died. I dunno. Too much drama all over the place, and not enough meat where the story really needs to be centered on: Between the victim and doer, and what exactly was going on in their minds when the murder occurred.

I don't need to tell everyone here, but I think it's worth repeating that the traditional strength of this show has been its ability to build up to the final moments where you get all teary-eyed and have to ask yourself "Why did this person have to die?" or "Why did this person commit the murder?", and we all feel that gut-wrenching sadness for the victim. Other times, this show has been good at leading us to think about social norms in the past versus today; or to ponder some philosophical questions surrounding life and death. These moments can't happen if there isn't any deep examination of the doer's and victim's life during the episode, and its got all this distracting filler soap opera stuff that's not essential to the crime story.

I said weeks before that I think CBS has a powerful Sunday night line-up, especially with Undercover Boss leading right into Cold Case. The ratings have supported that view. But a huge problem now seems to be that CBS has got two reality-TV shows leading into a fictional drama. So for two hours, we hear conversational dialog between people. Then suddenly with Cold Case, we hear more of a "theatrical" style dialog. This needs to change. Unfortunately, the studios have taken out location shooting from the show's budget. These are the kinds of scenes that can be filmed where people are having a dialog and conversation like they do in real life--you know, like when two people are talking to each other while walking down a city sidewalk with two mocha choco lattes in hand, versus standing in some Hollywood set, or something to that effect.

I gave this episode (and the previous two) an "Okay".

[boxman]

Apr 12, 2010 0:57:41 GMT -5 eduardo said:

I had a little accident yesterday and I'm having some pain and can't type too much.

I hope you're feeling better tomorrow.

I'll try to post tomorrow all the reasons why I consider this the worse cold case episode ever

LOL.... I guess you're a Simpson's fan too? ;D
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worst_episode_ever

[openthebox]

Before anyone jumps in and says this is the Worst Show Ever (even though you're opinion is your own) I might point out that this season has made strives to distinguish itself. I think in an effort to get an 8th season.

And the title of this episode is Free Love. All cases and subplots revolved around this theme directly, inderectly, and at times ironically. Much like the themes of Catch 22. Love is not free by any stretch. But you have to give love to get love. Or lose it to know what you had.

This was a very original CC ep and at first it was a tad jarring. But there's something about it. It needs to be rewatched. I won't say it's the best EVAH, but it is definately a Season's Best.

[ninja1088]

Sorry, I truly couldn't enjoy this episode as much as others. As Tsmitths said, pretty much everything in this episode has been done before.
One thing they did get right was the doer's motive. We hear about the people who dodged the draft and marines who couldn't go back. But there were also many who were proud of their country (not a bad thing) and viewed it as your duty to go to war. So him viewing David as a coward isn't a strech.
The B storyline was even more unneeded. This is the CC unit, they don't investigate breakins,favors or not. More to the point, Rick was a jerk and a lousy husband,but as I'm sure many of us know, Vera was truly no better in his marriage to his wife.
Also, I know we want to see more of the dect. personal lives but when that takes priority over the case,nope. I couldn't get into this episode.
On

[tommyk]

Marvelous fun. Under the umbrella title "Free Love," against a fitting cold-case backdrop of Woodstock, we focus in on the romantic entanglements of four of our detectives. I knew when the episode ended that several members of this forum would loathe it; I thought it was supremely entertaining and richly satisfying. I'm so impressed how the showrunners have turned this season around in the last five or six episodes. Have to get to work, but will write more later.