Cold CaseWitness Protection
Original Air Date: Feb 15, 2009
Amanda — TwoCents Reviewer
amanda@thetwocentscorp.com
Maybe it’s the fact that Cold Case looked a lot like “Without A Trace” tonight, maybe it’s just that the case was really complicated, or maybe it’s the fact that I have a two-week-old son and was juggling recapping with Being A Brand-New Mommy, but I thought this episode was hard to follow. Intriguing, and a somewhat refreshing departure from the norm, but a bit hard to follow nonetheless. However, your intrepid recapper refuses to be daunted by petty details such as complicated plots, so let’s dive right in, shall we?
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Cold Case
ReplyDeleteWitness Protection
Original Air Date: Feb 15, 2009
Amanda—TwoCents Reviewer
amanda@thetwocentscorp.com
Maybe it’s the fact that Cold Case looked a lot like “Without A Trace” tonight, maybe it’s just that the case was really complicated, or maybe it’s the fact that I have a two-week-old son and was juggling recapping with Being A Brand-New Mommy, but I thought this episode was hard to follow. Intriguing, and a somewhat refreshing departure from the norm, but a bit hard to follow nonetheless. However, your intrepid recapper refuses to be daunted by petty details such as complicated plots, so let’s dive right in, shall we?
This week’s case investigates the 2008 shooting death of Ben Feldman, a former accountant who suddenly found himself doing the books for mob boss Freddie Ghiaconni. After agreeing to testify against Ghiaconni, Ben, his wife, Leigh, and son, Jeff, were placed in Witness Protection, and now Jeff is missing and Leigh is desperate. The family’s agent, Tom Parker, recalls how difficult it was for the three of them to give up their old identities and start new lives, but, in an interview with Lilly, Leigh says that the family actually became closer after entering Witness Protection. She remembers going to one of Jeff’s cross-country meets, where they stupidly discussed being in Witness Protection, right there in the open. Sure enough, they were recognized by someone in the crowd: Vinny Buonaforte, Ghiaconni’s driver.
After learning that Vinny himself is in Witness Protection, the detectives interview him; he claims to have missed his bakery in Philly. A skeptical Vera doesn’t think anyone would risk life and limb for a mere pastry, but Vinny insists it’s the truth, and he was only at the cross-country meet because his daughter’s school was competing against Jeff’s. He hints that Tom was a bit too friendly with Leigh, and Tom eventually admits to sleeping with her. He recalls Ben confronting him about Vinny’s reappearance; Ben wanted to remove his family from Witness Protection and take care of them himself. Tom also lets slip that Leigh purchased a handgun, which the detectives learn is the same caliber as the murder weapon.
In an interview with Scotty and Lilly, Leigh admits to buying the gun for protection and claims to have left it in the Maryland apartment where they’d been hiding since Ben’s disappearance. She recalls a conversation with Ben where he confronted her with both the gun and the affair, not wanting to resort to using guns to protect his family, and offering her a second chance at their marriage. He then tells her he’s returning to Philadelphia and tells them to flee to Maryland if they don’t hear from him.
Meanwhile, the detectives get the break they need in the search for Jeff: he’s texted Vinny’s daughter, Tammy. Tammy is at first reluctant, but then Kat pulls out her badass routine, and Tammy finally talks: she and Jeff have been dreaming of traveling the world, and, in a clandestine meeting the night before, Jeff assured her that they still could; he was going to “fix things” with Ghiaconni. Alarmed, Stillman sends Scotty and Jeffries to Providence, where they find Jeff at the courthouse, seconds away from shooting Ghiaconni as he’s on his way in for the trial. Scotty corrals Jeff, and Jeffries, using a subtle bit of angst from his own experience, convinces Jeff that revenge is not the answer. Jeff reminisces then, telling the detectives that he and his father had argued, and Ben finally agreed to let him go travel the world if he wanted to. Ben, it seemed, realized that he couldn’t protect his son forever, and so returned to Philadelphia to get money for Jeff’s passport. Jeff, however, decided to stay with his family; he told Tammy about this, but, tragically, never had a chance to tell his dad.
Lilly finally confronts Vinny again, and after a song and dance where he claims not to have known Tammy’s plans, using his “aw, shucks, I’m just a suburban dad driving a minivan” routine, he proves Lilly’s contention that tigers don’t change their stripes. At his heart, he says, he’s a family man, and everything he did was for Tammy. After some bargaining with Lilly, he finally confesses to confronting Ben, demanding to know where Jeff and Tammy were. Ben said he let Jeff go and urged Vinny to do the same with his daughter; Vinny responded by shooting Ben mere moments before Tammy returned one of his frantic phone calls. The end montage, in its usual tying up of loose ends, reveals that Ghiaconni has been given a life sentence, and Jeff and Leigh “see” Ben.
With such a complicated case, you’d think there’d be no room for detective storylines, but you’d be wrong. This episode was jam-packed with them; too jam-packed, in my opinion. New roommates Vera and Jeffries, it seems, aren’t a match made in heaven, as evidenced by their bickering at the beginning of the episode, to which Lilly responds by suggesting couples counseling. We also have another appearance by ADA Curtis Bell, who helps them with the case in his usual bumblingly brilliant style. I’m not yet sure what purpose he serves, but at least he’s entertaining. Finally, in a fairly random scene that could have been fleshed out more, we have the (long-overdue) demise of Scankie. It seems Frankie has had a change of heart, or possibly a family-induced guilt trip, inspiring her to go back to her husband. I wish Scotty had had the backbone to end this unfortunate relationship himself, but it seems he’s getting a taste of his own medicine for the stunt he pulled in “Breaking News.” In any event, this ridiculous plot contrivance finally seems to be over, and not a moment too soon.
So that’s my two cents, which, in 2008, would have bought you…whatever two cents buys you in 2009, I’m guessing. I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Congrats on the new mommy thing! And kudos for doing a recap/review so soon after he arrived! You are my hero!
ReplyDeleteHey, thanks! I was fortunate that he slept long enough for me to write the recap right after the episode aired!
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