Cold Case

Saving Sammy

Season 4, Episode 5, Aired 10/22/06

Episode Summary

Lilly re-opens a 2003 case in which an autistic boy's parents were shot in their car when Joseph brings her information that the boy might have seen the killer.

9.3

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Cast & Crew

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John Finn

Lt. John Stillman
Jeremy Ratchford

Det. Nick Vera
Danny Pino

Scotty Valens

Fan Episode Reviews (8)

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When the detectives start to believe the autistic son of two people murdered in 2003 was there when it happened, the re-open the case, trying to get as many clues from the kid as possible.moreless

10

"Perfect"

By luckydagangsta, Sep 07, 2010 Report Abuse

Lisa and Steve Harris had two children, Ruby and Brent. Brent is an autistic child who needs special attention from a special school. But everything changes when Lisa and Steve are shot to death on the way to a drive thru.

It's sad because they were killed basically because they wanted to do what was best for their son. When most people with children like that would do nothing for them. It also was sad that Brent had all of this information in his head and no way of truly expressing it until 3 years later. The storyline was great, writing beautifully done, and the acting was superb. Definitely one of the finest episodes of this show!moreless

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the BEST cold case episode ever!

10

"Perfect"

By ValeOCGG, Aug 03, 2007 Report Abuse

9136... that's my badge number.. AMAZING!! simply amazing..

you get to learn a lot about autistic kids, and the story is so sad... it's the first time i've cried with cold case.. there's no word to express how good this episode is.. the music does its fair share, as always on CC. everything about this episode is just perfect, you get to see how scotty bonds with Brent and rebuilds the story from little pieces of specif thinks the boy says.. we also get to see lily's relationship with ray and how she ends up alone, cuz jospeh determinates that's what she wants..

anyway, the concept of saving sammy being the key to solve the whole story is just a BRILLIANT idea.. one of the best plotted episode EVER! and the acting of Cole Petersen is WOW!moreless

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Brilliant episode!

9.4

"Superb"

By Morpheus86, Jan 23, 2007 Report Abuse

Wow, just, wow...

From the beginning of the episode I fell in love with the family of Brent. The beautiful music they play in the first scene is really well chosen. Awesome cast, great performance by Cole Petersen, who played Brent. I think they really did great this time, by giving us a show in which every cast member excited the other by giving each other a brilliant performance. The storyline tells us about an autistic kid who lost both his parents by murder. The murderer, in everyones surprise, turns out to be his sisters boyfriend, who, throughout the entire episode shows love and kindness towards Brent. I really love the way they picked the killer this time. You just wouldn't expect it was him until they say it is. I think maybe the best thing about this episode is Cole Petersen's performance. The kid just lost both of his parents, and even though it doesn't looks like he feels anything about it on the outside, you can really tell his confusion and sadness. They really did good picking Cole for the part.
Big 9.4 out of 10 from me!moreless

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Great episode.

8.9

"Great"

By mp6nov, Oct 30, 2006 Report Abuse

I thought this was a great blend of personal story and episode mystery. I thought it was really poignant how Lilly admitted she didn't want to be alone. And how she told Ray that she had to stop running sometime, causing us to wonder what exactly she's running from. And the mystery was amazing. I feel that every episode has some element of twist to it, where the actual murderer is not always someone you think it's going to be. I also think they did a great job of showing what it's like for families of and people who associate with autistic children. I think it would be really really hard to have an autistic child, but the scenes with the family were loving and accepting of the issues that come with autism. I felt it was quite sad that the boyfriend, this guy who loved the family and stood up for the autistic little brother of his girlfriend at school turned out to be the killer. Quite sad really. But the episode was amazing!moreless

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This episode did a pretty good job of showing autistic kids

8.3

"Great"

By angelspinknose, Oct 25, 2006 Report Abuse

The story was very sad. A kid sees his parents getting killed by his sister's boyfriend was depressing. You could tell the kid was calmed by the boyfriend. They did do a bad job of aging the kids. I'm getting really tired of Lilly's bad love life. I wish they would stop showing the private lives of the main characters.

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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Trivia
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- The Harrises' home phone number, 215-555-0196, is only a digit off from Lilly's cell phone number, 215-555-0198, as revealed in the episode 1-9: Sherry, Darlin'. Edit
- Goof: During the scene in which Lilly visits Ray in the hospital, the brace on his wrist keeps switching hands. Edit
- Steve and Lisa Harris were murdered in November 2003. Since it was established in the episode that it was a Tuesday, their date of death is either 4th, 11th, 18th, or 25th of November, 2003. Edit
Notes
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- International Air Dates: - The Netherlands: March 31, 2007 on Net 5 - Denmark: November 29, 2006 on TV3+ - Norway: February 21, 2007 on TVNorge - Belgium: December 19, 2007 on KanaalTwee Edit
- In the casting sides and the CBS press release for this episode, the Harris' last name was Harding. Doug's last name was changed from Stansfield to Sommer. Additionally, Peter MacKenzie's character name was Harvey James, yet he was referred to as "Mr. Harvey" in the dialog. It's possible that the first and last names were switched so that his character name was James Harvey in the version that aired. Edit
- Music Featured in This Episode: - Calling All Angels by Train - Blurry by Puddle of Mudd - Someday by Nickelback - Love Pollution by Feeder - Wonderwall by Ryan Adams - In My Place by Coldplay Edit
Quotes
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- Lilly: I don't want to be alone! Joseph: Maybe you do. (walks away) Edit
- Lilly: No, Joseph, please don't go. Joseph: I'm not your consolation prize. Edit
- Vera: So what's the deal with this kid? He count cards or something? Miller: All we know is he can't show emotion. Stillman: Must be hard being a parent to a kid like that. Edit
Allusions
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