Cold Case 8-12: No Laughing Matter

[IAlsoLoveRaymond]

Cold Case Soundtrack: “Saving Sammy” www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKKoK9Jvdqg

“I went back to the McCrae house later that night. They had all gone back to sleep so I looked through a window. The curtains were closed but not very heavy so I could still see a deep black end table next to the window. There was a picture on it of that Penny and Al’s daughter; the daughter that he didn’t want to have with me. I took a rock, threw it at the window, and stole the picture.

“I kept driving until I was back in Philly and about two blocks away from the bar. The place was deserted except for Sam until Al entered. That’s when I made the call. ‘Hello Sam? … Is Al there? … I just thought you would like to know we broke up tonight! He has a daughter! … It’s true; I saw them tonight! … Yeah, do you remember that guy Eddie! He’s the brother of the girl’s mother! Apparently she’s suing him too! … I’m telling you this because I’m on my way to the apartment to take back everything that’s mine, and you might want to protect what’s yours! …’

“I turned the phone off. I saw Sam and Al arguing through the front window of the bar right up until Sam left in a huff.

“My original plan was just that I intended to take some of Al’s outside and burn them while he watched. But then I saw him behind the bar. He had a bottle of Cuervo in one hand and he placed a shot glass on the counter and started pouring. With everything that was happening, he still found time to steal a drink from his friend’s work! I remember whispering to myself, ‘You’re a user through and through.’

“That’s when I saw two garbage cans under a streetlight near the bar. They looked like they were full. I put the truck in park and walked up to the streetlight. I placed the heavy garbage cans in front of the side exit.

“Then I went back to the truck and retrieved the kerosene and matches. Al’s back was turned to the window so he didn’t see me right away. I splashed the front door and the front of the building with the kerosene and stepped back off of the curb.

“Al finally turned around as I pulled the picture from my purse. ‘What the hell is that smell? … Cyndi! Where did you get that?’

“I struck a match and lit the picture on fire. Then I threw the picture at the door and quickly ran across the street. The picture slipped under the door, and the entire front quickly went up in flames.

“I watched Al struggle futilely against the side exit. He coughed and gasped for air shouting, ’DAMN IT … CYNDI! … LET ME … OUT YOU … YOU … PSYCHO BITCH! … CYNDI!’ I turned back to my truck. I got what I wanted; he knew it was me.”

Adele
“Set Fire To the Rain”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93dCIYaB4Os

Cyndi Watson was led through the station in handcuffs. The charge would be first degree murder and they would push for a life sentence.

In file storage, John Stillman removed everything from Albert Dent’s white file box and replaced it with the new documents. Then he placed the box back on the shelf.

At ‘Dick’s Sporting Goods’, Scotty explained the final moments leading up to Albert Dent’s death to Ken Prewitt.

Lilly took Sam to the door of Eddie and Penny McCrae’s home. Lilly explained to them what had happened the night of the fire. But Sam looked past the brother and sister to Jessica sprawled out on the living room floor. He handed Penny a personal check, and then sneered the ghost of Albert Dent who appeared in the far right corner of the room and then faded from view.

Jared Reese heard the loud alarm as the prison gates opened in Chester. He watched as two guards escorted his brother toward the exit. The brothers hugged briefly before getting into Jared’s car and driving away.

[IAlsoLoveRaymond]

Audio PowerPoint slides also available.

[IAlsoLoveRaymond]

AFTER THE SHOW

This episode accomplished two goals moving forward. The first of which was that it served as the start of the consequences for Scotty in regard to his getting revenge on Jimmy Mota for attacking his mother. The episode ultimately became about the fine line between what is deserved and what is excessive; how much revenge is too much? On the one hand, Al was a thief, a sponge, and a dead beat who barely even saw his kid. On the other hand, he acknowledges his past mistakes, and does not want to repeat them again. It is ultimately up to the reader to decide just how much of a bum this guy really was and just how much punishment he deserved. I should also note that this was an episode written about revenge, but it was not a writer's revenge episode (that's coming).

The second goal that this episode accomplished was a personal goal for me. I knew that one thing I wanted to do within the confines of Cold Case Virtual Season 8 was that I wanted to do a featured artist episode. More specifically, I wanted to do a featured female artist episode because I could not remember the original series ever doing this. They dedicated a number of episodes to single artists (Bruce Springsteen, John Melencamp, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles ... ), and I know they did all female artist episodes before. But I could not remember if they ever did an episode where they focused solely on one female artist. If they did, it was an artist from an older case where I would be less familiar with the music (feel free to correct me on this as I just don't remember).

I then had to decide on which artist to use. My first thought was to set a case in the 1980s and use Madonna, but I did not feel that she had any songs that would have worked at the end outside of "Live to Tell". Since this was already used at the end of season 1 episode 4: Churchgoing People, and I have a rule about not matching beginning or ending songs, she was out. I considered doing a Whitney Houston episode shortly after her death; I may still do this eventually, but I am still piecing together how that would look. In the end, I chose a modern case with Adele as the featured artist; I figured that an artist who set so many records practically out of the gate like her would eventually have received a Cold Case featured artist episode anyway had the series continued. It later occurred to me that this choice might be a bit of spoiler pointing to Cyndi as the killer, but I'll leave that up to the reader to decide.

The case itself was based in part on the one time in my life when I tried stand-up comedy. I did an open-mic contest at a local comedy club that was connected to a bowling alley. Do you know who goes to a comedy club that is part of a bowling alley? Bowlers: rowdy, beer-chugging, dirty-movie-obsessed bowlers. It was way raunchier then I was prepared for, and I fell flat on my face. I remember feeling very much like Mr. Prewitt in this episode; I don't mind swearing or dirty jokes, but I need it to serve a greater story. If that is all you can do, I don't respect your material. I seriously wish Showtime's "I'm Dying Up Here" had been around then; I would have been a lot more prepared. Another positive to come out of that series is that it showed me that combining stand-up comedy with the bluesy styllings of Adele was not as far fetched as I had once thought.

Regarding my beginning and end songs, I started with Adele's "Painting Pictures" because this is effectively what a comic does, they paint with words. This was a surprisingly hard song for me to find; it was one of the few times where I have had to venture outside of YouTube. I chose Adele's "Set Fire to the Rain" because it effectively spelled out how I wanted the end to look. When I first heard the song, I was immediately flooded with countless memories of "Cheaters" footage where the jilted lover sets fire to the prized possessions of their scumbag other half. It did not seem such a stretch that "rain" could refer to some type of chemical fire accelerent, and thus was born the premise of the episode.