I love Cold Case, and have been rewatching the show many times, but some of the episodes, well seems like the writers din't have any new ideas... which one do yous guys think was bad, not so well written? I personally think that the episode 8 Years from season 3 was kind off crap, boring and without a good plot and storyline... any other episode to add to the worse list??
I'd like to include one more episode on my list: Stalker. Never have I seen such a confusing, uninspired, boring and poorly-written piece of crap episode such as that. It certainly didn't deserve to be a season finale and I felt it was only made to kill off Lilly's mom. The characters were not that interesting and rather odd/insane, the detectives acted like it was their first year on the squad, the snipers acted like idiots and what the hell was up with the whole popcorn thing? Oh, sure, episodes such as Kensington, The Dealer, Revolution and Blood on the Tracks are rather stupid/pointless, but at least they didn't come off as something we were supposed to care about or move the story along.
Sanity is like parachutes: just because you lost yours doesn't mean you can have mine.
I enjoyed most episodes but the majority of the Season 7 episodes were terrible. The one I have a huge problem with is the series finale "Shattered" which dealt with Lily's sister Christina getting kidnapped. The "cold case" was the second plot and it was hardly covered. The focus of the episode was Lily and Scotty searching for Christina. It was the worst series finale ever and a horrible way to end one of the best crime shows on TV!
It was an awful way to end the series. IMO,the writers were holding out hope the series would come back when all the signs were that it wasn't. Very foolish on their parts.
"Shattered" was not intended as a final-ever episode. As far as the cast and crew knew, the show was coming back.
The story, as I have read from various sources is this. Both "Cold Case" and "Without A Trace" were on the chopping block, as both are expensive shows. One would get axed and the other wouldn't. There was speculation it would be CC, since the show cost more because of music rights.
However, CC rated higher, so WAT was axed instead. So, as far as everyone at CC knew, they had got a reprieve. There were cost-cutting measures which the producers agreed to, to do the 7th season. Some were to film in a different location, some cast members didn't appear in every episode (there were eps where Jefferies, Vera and Kat did not appear), and other measures, which, as far as the producers knew, ensured the show's long time future.
But then, after Season 7, a demand was made to not have any music whatsoever in the show, because music rights went up, and were the major cost of the show. The producer argued that the music is an integral part of the show, and has to be included. The music was what made their show different from other police procedurals.
Kathryn Morris said in an interview that the music on the show is like "another character, and intergral part of the show".
No agreement could be reached, so the station pulled funding for the show, meaning it had to end. They could have done Season 8, and wrapped it up properly, but there would not have been music for it, meaning that the main "hook' of the show would be gone, and show would probably sink in the ratings and be axed anyway. At least this way, it went out with integrity.
Personally, I think they should have made Season 7 the last season anyway. The show was starting to tire, and I can't really see how the show could have gone a whole other season and stay interesting, music or not. I felt that they had done everything.
I would have liked to have seen a two-hour finale, after "Shattered", where the loose ends are tied up, and we find out if Lily joins the FBI (which they were teasing in the last few episodes) or stays in Philly solving cold cases. Then they could have the cast give a farewell. It's what the show deserved.
I can't say I'd seen a lot of what you talk about such as the "no music" for season 8. I'm not doubting you, I just hadn't seen it anywhere before.
In interviews Kathryn did prior to cancellation there was some hope and wish to continue beyond 7 but not much. Later talk about it changed to being about the fact that the 7 year contracts those involved have to sign had reached their ends. To get an 8th season would have involved a lot of effort to get everyone's signatures. Salaries would probably have to rise too. They would have needed audience figures that they just weren't getting to justify that.
I think they wrote the end such that in the unlikely event that they did get an 8th season they could continue. However, I also think that tying up all the loose ends is not very realistic. We spent just a few hours over the course of 7 years looking into a small aspect of the lives of this group of people. Their lives continue on.
What, you didn't love the hostage situation at Philly Homicide. It was an interesting twist that hadn't been done before.
I just wish that had happened at the start, and the whole episode is Lily, John, Vera and Jeffries being held hostage, while Scotty and Kat try to rescue them. It would have been one of the most compelling episodes ever, because the cops would be faced with a life-and-death situation.
Season 1: -The hitchhiker, didn't involve so much and didn't completely understand why blaine killed his cousin; -Our boy is back, serial killer comes out of nothing .Sherry darling': found it very stupid to kill the grandma for what? Money?
Late returns isn't certainly the best, but neither so bad as you hint
Season 2: -Yo adrian and kensington are in the top of the worst episodes. No rythym at all, no intriguing plots, stupid reasons (for kensington)..forgettable episodes
Season 3 -COlors, maybe because there would be some similar episodes in the next saisons, but the black and white plot was a little bit boring -8 years, nothing relevant happens until the last 5 minutes and killing a guy for escaping with a car, hmmm.. -One night, the theme didn't involve me so much -Joseph * I find season 3 better than 2 anyway
Season 4 -Sandhogs, boring plot -Knuckle up, same thing -Blood on the tracks, found it very unrealistic to kill the man because he wants to go to the police, there were other ways to face the problem
Season 5 Wunderkind or Bad reputation are not my favorites, but better than the other mentioned epsodes
Season 6 GLory days and Stealing home, same reason as Colors Shore Leave Wings Witness protection
Season 7 Forensics, Dead heat and almost paradise, replay of prevoius episodes Free Love, same thing but a little better One fall Shattered, because they don't focus on the murder at all only on christina and lilly's plot
Definitely, i'd say my top 3 is: Yo adrian, kensington and forensics
Blaine killed his cousin, because he reminded him of the success his cousin had had, and the failure that Blaine had become.
I liked "Sherry Darlin'" but that may be because they played "End Of The Innocence" by Don Henley at the end.
Agree with your assessments of both episodes in season 2
I liked the episode "Joseph" because it was something different (the suppoused victim wasn't really dead, Lily went against protocol, and broke all the rules to be with Joseph etc). There are aspects of the episode which don't work, but I think there were many worse episodes.
Liked "One Fall" because I am a professional wrestling fan, so I got a lot of the references.
Thank you very much, but what kind of success did Matt have that Blaine didn't? i remember he won at the casino but then? I wouldn't call that a success..
Good point about Joseph you convinced me
Of course when you are fan of a sport, art or something like that it's easier to enjoy an episode..as for me i'm a tennsi fan and i think i'd find Superstar worse if i hadn't..
My problem with One fall is that it's a climax of a series of sport-centred episodes where the victim is killed by someone who had been part of his " success" and now feels put aside (Iced, forensics..)..repetitive plots I think..
It was mentioned that Matt worked in a brokerage house, meaning he is probably a stockbroker, or working in the industry, which is still a good job.
Blaine was angry because Matt had made something of himself and succeeded, while Blaine would rather rely on hare-brained "get-rich-quick" schemes that didn't work.
It seemed that Matt started working hard to be successful (probably prompted by the Russian shopkeeper confronting him), whereas Blaine continued to cut corners and not put in the hard work to be really successful.
I really didn't like "The Key or "Disco Inferno". Yo Adrian was kinda boing too. Creatures of the Night annoyed Me, and I didn't really like Best Friends. World's End wasn't great, especially being that it was in season 5, which I thought was awesome. I also did not like Bombers. 8 Years wasn't good, but it wasn't the worst. I guess if I had to rate them, I would say 1. Creatures of the Night 2. Yo Andrian 3. The Key 4. Disco Inferno 5. Best Friends 6. Bombers 7. World's End 8. 8 years
Schadenfreude was a TERRIBLE mess. I love that it was based on Sam Sheppard but it was agonizing to watch. SOO boring and the victim was an indecisive bitch.
maybe not the worts, but i agree it was a bit..complicated..I don't get the killer they try to let us think she was a social climber but she'd never showed that..and the thing with timmy horan (trying to seduce him after refusing to do the same with mike) was unbelievable in my opinion..what do you think about that?
Not the worse, but a little weak..the main reason is the killer..i can't believe drugs can make you kill 3 people without a really strong motive (maybe the one was Della saying she'd take care of derek leaving dre sort of alone with his addiction..)..and i didn't like the final, showing the waitress at home with her abusive boyfriend..
I found Colors really disappointing. I was excited to see it because I'm fascinated by the Negro leagues period of baseball. I also heard that it had a black baseball player fall in love with a white woman and I love romances where the woman is white and the man isn't.
However, it didn't live up to expectation. The story was boring, the reveal of the killer and his motivation didn't make sense, and the fact that the girlfriend was really black seemed like both a copout and weird because she didn't look black at all. Or was it supposed to be a one drop rule kind of thing? Either way, I didn't like the episode.
Has anybody read the Mickey Rawlings baseball mysteries? The last book in the series, Hanging Curve, is also about a Negro Leagues star who is murdered. It's not perfect but I think it's better than Colors.