Shuffle, Ball Change

Season 4, Episode 17, Aired

Episode Summary

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9.2
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When a body is found in a dumpster, the team re-opens the 1984 case of a murdered teenage boy who wanted to become a dancer against his father's wishes.
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Fan Episode Reviews (14)

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  • a young dancer is found dead and the cold case is reopen to find his killer. but is the killer just around the corner.

    10
    "Perfect"
    By seaqueastdsv, Jan 08, 2011
    out of this season this is my favourite. it deals with two brothers one who wants to be a athlet and the other wants to be a dancer. but his father disappoves. the remains of the younger brother are found many years later. his father thought he run away because he told him he was not aloud to be a dancer. we see that he was in love with a young black dancer. they would dance together with the help of a dance teacher. the music in the episode is breath taking and helps makes this episode very touching and moving. at the end we see the other brother killed him. so his father now loses both sons.moreless

  • A gripping episode of talent and courage.

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By megarockexe, Oct 11, 2009
    I had a feeling this was going to be a good and memorable episode. A boy, Maurice works in a grocery store with his father and brother. Maurice discovers he likes dancing which his father and brother don't approve of. But Maurice finds a girlfriend there and attempts to dance in the class only to get kicked out for being so bad according to the instructor. However, the important part to the episode is that he didn't give up and got better getting lessons and eventually performs on stage. His father watched and changed his mind, convinced that his son had talent. The brother, still jealous of his talent confronts him in the store. He had faked a knee injury because he was afraid of competing with the Junior Olympic contestants. Maurice, unlike his brother, didn't let that stop him and he tries to control his rage but his brother won't listen and smashes him with a crutch. This had to be the most powerful scene in the episode. As Maurice is pleading for help, his brother breaks his ankle, then finally kills him with a blow to the head.

    This episode had really strong emotions and a great ending. These kind of episodes always bring me to tears, especially after an ending like that. He could have been a talented dancer but instead, the father has no one left.moreless

  • The body of a boy who went missing in 1984 is found in a dumpster, prompting the detectives to found out how he got there.

    8.8
    "Great"
    By luckydagangsta, Jun 19, 2008
    Maurice Hall was a worker in his dad's grocery store. His brother was a big time jock and the apple of their father's eye. Maurice wanted to become a dancer, much to his brother and father's dismay. He went missing in 1984 and his skeltons have just been discovered, badly beaten. Meanwhile, detectives in New Jersey think they found who kiled Jefferies wife in a hit and run.

    This storyline rang very true to me. I mean the events that took place in this story happen quite often. I just don't see how his body was in a dumpster for 20 years and never be found.

    This was quite a sad episode because for one the kid was so young and he was just on the verge of being able to live his dream. He finally got his father to respect him and he gets killed before he can live up to his true potential.

    With the slew of episodes in this season, it only shows that the writers have not lost their magic.moreless

  • What is it about this show?? I got goosebumps all over...

    10
    "Perfect"
    By diecaro, Jul 25, 2007
    "Cold Case" has a habit of making me cry at the end of each and every episode that I've seen so far. It's strange really... I haven't actually watched this show a lot, just from time to time when it's on tv. But all the episodes so far have been great and I really ended up with tears in my eyes. Is it the music? Or this heartbreaking feeling at the end when you know that the character mostly so likeable is gone? Well, I don't know.
    But I absolutely loved this episode! In addition to the show's usual emotionality, it had the most passionate form of art which I simply adore: dance. When those two youngsters were dancing together, it was a vision. I loved it like I love all the movies and series episodes about those who dream of being a dancer and try to fight for their dream. This eppy had a lot of those great scenes that I fell in love with in other dancing films such as the scenes when Maurice dances for Dr. Leroy right behind his father's back. And as usual the audition scene was great, too!
    Then there was all this great 80s music which is probably one more reason to love this show. The eppy also had music from Footloose which is one the best dancing films ever (let me just say: Kevin Bacon = yummy).
    Great episodes. I should really try to catch this show more often!moreless

  • This episode already had a gripping plot, but without Nathan Halliday it could not have been pulled off so well. Just goes to show what can be done with casting the right actors for the part. Cold Case is really good at that.moreless

    10
    "Perfect"
    By msp2rss, Apr 24, 2007
    I don't really watch Cold Case regularly - although I always enjoy it when I do turn in, but I don't think this episode can be topped. It made me want to tune in each week after, although I have yet to see an episode that can top this one. It really gripped my heart in it's portrayal of the innocence of the young boy who wanted to dance, but also wanted to please his father. Normally, it's the crime solving parts of the show that I enjoy most, but this episode actually caught up my emotions as well . . . and I'm not even emotional.moreless
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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • TRIVIA (1)

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  • QUOTES (7)

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    • Carlos: Dr. Leroy. The second abusive dad I never wanted.

    • Maurice: My mother taught me some things. She'd dance in the kitchen. I tried to keep up.

    • Scotty: (at the morgue) Always count on a warm atmosphere here. Lilly: (looking at the bodies) You ever wonder if they're not really dead and all of a sudden they're gonna... sit up? Scotty: That's not funny.

    • Scotty: Why didn't this girlfriend come up in the original investigation? Grant Hall: I couldn't talk about her. My dad would've lost it. Scotty: Cause Crystal was black? Grant Hall: No, coz she was a dancer.

    • Det. Vera: Looked up your record, Carlos. You've got a looong history for using your fists freely. Lilly: They got a word for that, sweetheart? Carlos: Passionate. Lilly: Homicidal.

    • Det. Vera: Maurice pissed you off hitting on your girlfriend and you told him to meet you the next day? Carlos: It was a duel. Mano a mano. Det. Vera: Like a catfight, right? Carlos: You think dancing is for weaklings? (getting up) When was the last time you carried your body weight on your toes while running, throwing a woman in the air and catching her, without breaking a sweat? Det. Vera: It's been a while.

    • Pat Hall: What's your problem? Det. Vera: I bet you were relieved when he didn't come home. Get twinkle toes out of the house. (Scotty chuckles.) Pat Hall: That kid had more frickin' talent in his little toe than you've got in your whole body.

  • NOTES (4)

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  • ALLUSIONS (2)

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    • The plot of this episode might be inspired by the 2000 movie Billy Elliot, in which the titular leading character is also a boy who wants to become a dancer against the wishes of his working-class father.

    • Flashdance When Dr. Leroy berates Maurice Hall in front of the dance class, he tells him, "This isn't the steel mill." This is a reference to the 1983 movie Flashdance, in which Jennifer Beals played a character who was a steelworker by day and dancer by night.

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