Cold Case

Season 1 Episode 13

The Letter

Favorite
2
8.6
out of 10
User Rating
134 votes
6

EPISODE REVIEWS
By TV.com Users

Episode Summary

EDIT
The Letter
AIRED:
Rush and Valens re-open the case of a 25-year-old black woman, who was murdered in 1939, after the woman's granddaughter comes forward with new information. The woman was assumed to be a prostitute murdered by a client, but letters written by the victim indicate that she was afraid of a milkman.moreless
FAN RECAP

Fan Episode Reviews (6)

SUBMIT REVIEW

  • To hell with this episode. There was no real, true love there! What man would love a woman and wait until a mob came to watch her be beaten and raped, then kill her to save her from death at their hands? That is so damn, contemptably stupid for sure!moreless

    1.5
    By Marinelle1, Apr 20, 2011
    I am both a minority female and a mother who has been a crime victim. The whole scenario of an unwitting hatemonger falling in love with the object of his hatred is trite, yet feasible, but blasphemed herein. Never once was his timing "on Q" to "sail off happily ever after" with the woman he supposedly loved. Her Black-looking daughter seemed to be a problem and excuse for this as much as fear of his cohorts. I would say this about characters in these roles of any ethnicity, whether the same or a mixed couple. This insults love period. Their course was a rocky road that could have been smoothe over several times, while still depicting the racial tensions of the place and time. (I am an academic professional too.) Only for the reason that the granddaughter of the dead woman seeks and is willing to know the truth at her own financial expense, if need be, did I rate "The Letter" at 1.6. Also that stereotypical Black prostitutes and a rooming/boarding house owner who looked the other way are portrayed are loathsome racist media flaws by everyone connected with this episode and the network. Rhetorically, were they trying to reinvent and remake that damnable "Imitation of Life" with a romantic spin? "Cold Case" never kept my interest enflamed anyway. The Kathryn Morris character should marry the equally arrogant William Pearson character from "CSI" (good series) so I could be the first diagnosed case of a medical crisis borne of trying to change the channel or turn off the TV, then see on or both of them in syndication, some pre-series vehicle or on a commercial, having a relapse of some "pre-existing medical condition". Her cat-on-the-bad and his failure to ever deliver on the impending deafness-watch cinch my cyncisim about these repulsive overblown seekers of justice for crime victims.moreless

  • The dark side of our society

    8.5
    By karlmeszaros, Aug 22, 2008
    Lilly and the team reopen the case of Sadie Douglas, a lovely young black woman living in a house occupied by suspected prostitutes. The case was originally written off as a prostitute being murdered by a john. Since discrimination and segregation were alive and well in 1939, not much effort was made to solve the case. When Sadie's granddaughter comes to Lilly with a letter she found while going through her recently deceased mother's (Sadie's daughter) belongings, the team agrees to take a look.



    Cold Case has never been shy to put the underbelly of society before us and this episode is no exception. We see racial discrimination at it's worst, blacks discarded and treated almost as a subspecies, love that is hidden because inter-racial couples were targets for murder and the tragedy of a man whose racism won out over his love.



    I am left thinking about our society today and that in and of itself is a good thing. When television can serve this kind of purpose, it is not Newton N. Minow's 'vast wasteland', but a catalyst for positive change. Such episodes make us look inside ourselves to examine ourselves to see if there are not perhaps elements of racism or tendencies toward discrimination hidden deep inside. And, as any of us root these things out of our consciousness, society also benefits.



    This episode left me both grateful for the wonderful strides that have been made since 1939 and mindful that we have work left to do.moreless

  • Two things that struck me.

    8.8
    By froggysfriend, Aug 22, 2008
    There were two things that struck me about this show. The first was seeing Keke Palmer playing the younger self of one of the characters. Keke is an excellent actress - I saw her recently in Akeelah and the Bee and was impressed by her acting. This show (Cold case) is a few years old now, I doubt she would accept this kind of role today - now she is playing the lead, and playing it very well too.



    The other thing that surprised me was the ending. Jonesy seemed as though he really loved Sadie, until he saw how "black" her daughter was. It made me realize that these were very difficult times to live in. Difficult to be a black person and face that level of discrimination and difficult to be a white person because of the strength of feeling against blacks. What I mean by that is that even if you didn't share the hatreds that were being expressed, you couldn't escape the peer pressure of the time to conform to that way of thinking.



    In a better world (or time) Jonesy and Sadie would be able to get to know each other openly - and that would make for a much more healthy relationship.



    Overall I'm not sure if I enjoyed the show or not - it left me with some difficult feelings.moreless

  • The team investigates the cause, motive, and person (s) responsible for the death of a young woman in 1939 at the behest of her Granddaughter who came forward with new information that may have implications about who is responsible.moreless

    7.7
    By anorthview, May 02, 2008
    From beginning to end this episode was sad, it did have its moments of joy, but the overwhelming sentiment of that era was so tragic, and this episode makes no excuses for that time period, it just puts it all out there and shows us what we still need to fix about society. This is a tragic love story in several ways. Tragic because society forbid the love those two had, because while he did love her, and he was ahead of his time, he wasn't ready to love all of her, and tragic because she was separated from her true love and never got to see her true love again. While I don't understand why he was arrested at the end it was a strong episode that brought tears to my eyes, sadness to my heart, and anger to my lips.moreless

  • It was ok

    7.8
    By ferriswheel01, Feb 29, 2008
    I liked the scenes with Rush and Kite the best in this episode. I am new to the show so I don't know anything about future relationships but I am very intrigued by the thing that Rush and Kite seem to have. I was very intrigued by this episode. I found it amazing how they solved a case from a bunch of letters which eventually led to the granddaughter paying for an exumation. DNA of course helped but we won't give credit to modern day technology. Valens as per usual looked hot and I liked him making jokes about Rush and Kite. Is he jealous?moreless
See All Fan Reviews

Cast & Crew: STARS

Jeremy Ratchford

Jeremy Ratchford

Det. Nick Vera
Thom Barry

Thom Barry

Det. Will Jeffries
John Finn

John Finn

Lt. John Stillman
Kathryn Morris

Kathryn Morris

Det. Lilly Rush
Danny Pino

Danny Pino

Scotty Valens
See All Cast & Crew

Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

Dennis W. Hall

Dennis W. Hall

Clerk

Guest Star

Tom Knickerbocker

Tom Knickerbocker

Clive

Guest Star

Dan Desmond

Dan Desmond

Barnsley

Guest Star

Josh Hopkins

Josh Hopkins

ADA Jason Kite

Recurring Role

See All Cast & Crew

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

FILTER BY TYPE

See All Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

Cold Case Listings

Full Listings
Today
1:00am
The Runner
TNT
12:00pm
Knuckle Up
ION
1:00pm
Blackout
ION
2:00pm
8:03 AM
ION
3:00pm
Blood on the Tracks
ION
4:00pm
The Goodbye Room
ION
5:00pm
Shuffle, Ball Change
ION
6:00pm
A Dollar, a Dream
ION
7:00pm
Offender
ION
8:00pm
Stand Up and Holler
ION
9:00pm
Torn
ION
10:00pm
Cargo
ION
11:00pm
The Good Death
ION
12:00am
Stalker
ION
Saturday
1:00am
Thrill Kill
ION
2:00am
That Woman
ION
Sunday
No results found.

Forums: Cold Case

See All Posts

Season 1 Episodes

See All
Ep 23
Lover's Lane
Ep 22
The Plan
Ep 21
Maternal Instincts
Ep 20
Greed (a.k.a. Greed Is ...
Ep 19
Late Returns
Ep 18
Resolutions
Ep 17
The Lost Soul of Herman...
Ep 16
Volunteers
Ep 15
Disco Inferno
Ep 14
Boy in the Box
Ep 13
The Letter
Ep 12
Glued
Ep 11
Hubris
Ep 10
The Hitchhiker
Ep 9
Sherry Darlin'
Ep 8
Fly Away
Ep 7
A Time to Hate
Ep 6
Love Conquers Al
Ep 5
The Runner
Ep 4
Churchgoing People
Ep 3
Our Boy Is Back (a.k.a....
Ep 2
Gleen
Ep 1
Look Again

Contributors

Become a contributor
More
Less

Related Shows & Movies

TV.com Properties | Shows | Movies | Videos | News | Listings | Forums | People | Photos | Web Series | TV.com Blog
| Closed Captioning | Rating Guidelines | Mobile

CBS Entertainment | About TV.com | About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Ad Choice | Terms of Use