Lonely Hearts

Season 4, Episode 9, Aired

Episode Summary

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8.6
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The team re-investigates the unsolved 1989 murder of a woman shot in an alley when the victim's video dating tape shows up in a dead man's apartment.
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Cast & Crew

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Fan Episode Reviews (8)

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  • Video dating service gone bad.

    8.7
    "Great"
    By okstategirl86, Dec 07, 2010
    This episode seemed to have all the right ingredients.. Great actors, original storyline, nice camera work.
    But for some reason, it just didnt come out too good. It left me with a blah feeling. I wanted to like it, i really did.. But it was just average. Which is fine. But compared to the series full of tear-jerking, eye-opening episodes Cold Case has produced, it just doesn't match up. Maybe it'll be different for you.. but i cannot see too many people putting this in their top 5 Cold Case episodes! I'm sure next week will be back to usual!moreless

  • Big women are desperate for love, they feel that no one will ever love them b/c they are bigger than other women. And when they find someone who gives them the slightest amt of attention, they're not letting him get away.moreless

    8.1
    "Great"
    By dreamer4ever88, Dec 07, 2010
    A lonely, big woman finds a handsome man who happens to be a con artist, through a dating service and falls "under his spell" Another woman, one of his ex's tells her what hes all about and she decides to join him in hurting other women rather than let him go. I particularly didn't like this b/c it makes women look very gullible in men's eyes. But on the other hand its good b/c maybe now other women today will see how some men can be and will not be so naive, and maybe even gain some confidence in themselves. :)moreless

  • What the reviewers don't know is that this episode is based on a real story about the killings of Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez. Truth is stranger than fiction.

    7.8
    "Good"
    By ariamaluum, Dec 07, 2010
    Unlike the 1989 where video was popular, this was 1949 and the newspaper was popular for lonely hearts column. The real life ones killed 17 women in New York and Michigan. When Martha Beck was captured, the press was making a joke of her weight (Martha weighed 200) including Walter Winchell. They said that she couldn't fit into the electric chair and had to sit on the arm rest (Both were executed). Martha was raped by her brother for being fat as a youngster and had a mother. Raymond was a character himself of how he became a gigglo. Born in Hawaii and grew up with an abusive father who believed he was too feminine looking. Moved to Spain, served as a spy for the British, and suffered a head trauma that was attributed to his tirades. I thought the Cold Case did a poor job of Ramon, overall but with the lady, it was a decent job. Cold Case made a good twist with "of a murderer looking for a murderer."moreless

  • A man shoots himself in the head while watching a dating service video of a woman who was shot in 1989, prompting the team to take a closer look into this inlikely romance.moreless

    9.7
    "Superb"
    By luckydagangsta, Dec 07, 2010
    Martha Puck was a lonely woman obsessed with romance novels. Her roomate convinces her to submit a tape to a dating service and when only one man's tape comes back, she's interested in seeing him.

    I thought that this was a very sad episode, just seeing all of the people put Martha down like that just because she wasn't "attractive". There are some people out there that aren't completely superifical. But everyone that saw this girl, just saw what she was like on the outside and thought there's no way a guy like Roman would want her.

    It was a pretty good episode. Although it didn't explain why Roman was watching her tape when he shot himself. Did he really love her? I think I'm going to go with that theory. It;s nice to think that Martha did actually get what she wanted in the end: someone to love her.moreless

  • Good Concept, not the best execution

    5.5
    "Mediocre"
    By TroyVang, Dec 07, 2010
    I greatly enjoyed this episode for about the first 20 minutes but then it kind of fell of a cliff for me.

    I really thought that the concept was solid. A conman preys on less attractive women and steals their money. But the twist of Martha joining Ramon to become a a serial killing duo was extremely dissapointing. I think there could have been a better way to do this story while still using the same finish. I would have liked to see that Ramon really did love Martha and that he changed his conning ways to be with her. Then, the former lover would have killed Martha, knowing what everything was all about.

    Also, I thought the actress playing Martha was really cartoony. This could've been a really solid character but she was a little over the top for me.moreless
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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • TRIVIA (2)

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  • QUOTES (10)

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    • Stillman: Any witnesses? Scotty: Crack addict. Claims she saw the first victim. Lilly: (reading the witness statement) Says she saw bells and bubbles. Scotty: Why did we bother to write that down?

    • Det. Vera: So I got an apartment last weekend. Scotty: No kidding? Det. Vera: Figured what the heck. Scotty: Ain't you gonna miss motel life? Det. Vera: There's only a certain kind of woman you can bring back to a motel room.

    • Stephanie: (sees Vera and Scotty step into her wedding dress store) I'm sorry, we don't do tuxes. Scotty: Neither do we.

    • Stephanie: (referring to Ramon) I was trying to protect Martha from people like that. Scotty: People like what? Stephanie: Users, scumbags, arrogant bastards... You know how you people can be.

    • Det. Vera: (to a kid who's shooting hoops right outside his apartment window at 6 a.m.) How 'bout you give it a rest, Andre? Andre: How 'bout you put some pants on? Det. Vera: I'm a cop, smartass. Andre: So whatcha gonna do, Holmes? Arrest me?

    • Eugenia: Poor Martha. I've been there. One day you're on vacation in Denial City – next day you're in a prison of your own stupidity.

    • Det. Jeffries: We're looking for a Cherry LeSure. Cherry: I'm out of breath from running over here. My girlfriends said there was a delicious scoop of chocolate in a suit looking for me.

    • Nick Vera: All first date talk is crap.

    • Lilly Rush: (reading Martha's diary) Last entry: "Today Ramon told me the reason he was drawn to me is because I look like his late mother. I never thought I could be so happy." Nick Vera: Now is that romantic, or creepy?

    • Stephanie Levine: I made Martha sign up for a dating service, "Love Juncture", so she could meet a real man. Scotty Valens: Real man, meaning... what? Stephanie Levine: As in not in one of her romance novels. She would read those things all day.

  • NOTES (4)

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    • International Air Dates: - Denmark: January 17, 2007 on TV3+ - Norway: March 21, 2007 on TVNorge - The Netherlands: April 28, 2007 on Net 5 - Czech Republic: June 22, 2007 on TV Nova

    • Martha's roommate's name was Stephanie Levine. This is probably a shout-out to Michael A. Levine, who's responsible for the music on Cold Case.

    • In the casting sides and the CBS press release, this episode's other victim's, Buella Stiffler's, last name was Martin. The witness to Buella's murder was named Cherry Washington instead of Cherry LeSure. It never came up in the dialogue, but the casting sides and the press release also reveal that Cherry went by the nickname "On Top" (as in "cherry on top").

    • Music Featured in This Episode:

  • ALLUSIONS (2)

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    • The Lonely Hearts Murders The characters Martha Puck and Ramon Delgado are based on Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez, a.k.a. "The Lonely Hearts Killers", who conned and killed women in the 1940's.

    • Ramon Delgado: We are Bonnie and Clyde. Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were the notorious Depression-era thieves and killers that crime writer Joseph Geringer described as "Romeo and Juliet in a getaway car". Their crime spree ended when they were both killed in a shootout with police.

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