For me, Cold Case has always been one of those shows I’llwatch two or three times a season, when Sunday-cocktail aftermath gravityhas pinned me to the couch, and not much else looks good on the tube. But thegimmick for last night’s fifth-season premiere — an episode featuring themusic of Nirvana — was enough to make me actively seek it out. (Also, beingtotally honest, I got a mental reminder to check in after seeing the hotnessthat is Danny Pino presenting at the Emmys.)
Sad to say, then, that the episode (titled "ThrillKill") was not only lazily written and un-suspenseful, but it treated itsmusical muse as an afterthought — except for, perhaps, the way the show’sstylist got inspired to turn star Kathryn Morris’ tresses into a post-grungemop. (Compare Morris’ coif, pictured at left, to Kurt Cobain’s, at right. Are Lily’s locks always so atrocious, or were they just a visualcue to some kind of post-traumatic distress following the shootout in theseason 4 finale? And could the whole "counseling’s not optional"subplot have been any more hackneyed? Ah, but I digress.) Anyway, for those of you who’ve got theepisode on your DVR, stop here… those of you who’ve watched, let’s discuss afterthe jump.
Okay, so the way the initial conviction of the teenageoutcasts hinged on Teddy’s confession to that overzealous cop: Wasn’t this supposedto be a flashback to 1994, not 1934? Where was the kid’s lawyer? Wasn’t anyoneelse supervising the interrogation? And how come that female police officernever told anyone about the tossed tape? What’s more, I couldn’t get past theridiculous dialog coming out of grown-up Dylan’s mouth whenever the copsswung by the prison to get his side of the story. I mean, instead of mutteringinanities like, "I’m the fire-breathing dragon from happily-ever-afterland," don’t you think he’d be more likely to ask why his case was beingreopened, whether new evidence had come to light, and if he had a snowball’schance of seeing his life sentence overturned? And to cap the trifecta ofcrappiness, how am I supposed to buy that little Jack’s dad (a hammy RaphaelSbarge) was so unhinged, he came unglued when the lights got dimmed in theinterrogation room, and yet, he hadn’t cracked once in the 13 years sincecommitting a triple-homicide? Nope, setting his perp-walk to "Come as YouAre" did not redeem this dud of a season opener. Am I the only one whofelt like an interesting premise got lost in the word processor?
That said, I liked the introduction of the term "fishtowntrash” early in the episode — and I plan to use it the next time I need to tossan insult at one of my unruly friends or coworkers. Let’s all try using it in asentence: "Shut your trap, fishtown trash!" Nice!
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i heart you michael slezak, i really really do
Liked this show at first, but the writers just dump too many cliches into a script. The dialogue doesn’t ring true and Kathryn Morris, who I loved in Season 1, seems to have digressed as a character. Love the two secondary detectives though.
Other than Reno911 (and Medium), I’ve had enough police procedurals to last me forever.
I agree, mediocre show, inconsistent episode. But what really bugged me last night was the obviousness of Kathryn Morris’ Botoxed lips. (Interesting that one of the ad blocks on this site is promoting some kind of “Lip Plumper”) They’re bordering on looking like some of the fifty- and sixty-somethings in Hollywood who can barely move their skull-like mouths. And Morris is what, like, 32? That’s just insane…
I’m not a regular watcher, but I too tuned in to see what they would do with the concept. I won’t be back.
Unfortunately, her hair is always a mess. (Someone on MAD TV does a great spoof of this character – messy hair and all. She’s better at Kathryn Morris than Kathryn Morris is.)
I think that this episode would have been better if you replaced Nirvana with Metallica and named Dylan after the kid from the “The Omen”. Then you could…oh, wait, that already happened.
Go rent the documentary “Paradise Lost”. The episode was decent, but the two documentaries are amazing.
Free the West Memphis Three,
The Nels
That is one of the first thoughts that came to me, too. “Wait a minute….this is based on The Memphis Three Case!” I agree, watch the documentaries about that case.
You know, I saw Ms Morris recently in Payback or Paycheck — that Ben Afflect movie where he does builds a time machine and then has his memory erased — anyway, her hair was crap in that too. I think she’s just got weird hair and a bad stylist.
As a Fishtown native, I would appreciate it if you would not go around insulting people as “fishtown trash”. Thanks!
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Dude you wanna know why her hair is awful? It’s because I cummed all in it and when she fell asleep I mixed honey in it and by morning it was a sticky mess and she could not wash it out. So…she keeps it in that messy sorry excuse of a bun. Best she could do with it…give her a break.
This is such a well done post, thanks for the great info. and I am so excited to read more