Cold Case

I think this is one of the best (and saddest) episodes of Cold Case ever, though it is an old one (2004). I just happened to see it today for the first time. Abigail Mavity, the actress that played the young abused girl Rita, was phenomenal. I'm beginning to really despise people (including other kids) that abuse kids -- went to see "The Lovely Bones" recently and it was about all I could stand. That movie and this show also reminded me of a friend that was constantly picked on in junior high that I should have done something about, but was afraid to say anything. I will always regret that.

The team reopens a 1990 murder case when a new victim turns up at the same place with the same markings, suggesting the doer may have struck again.



Finally, "Cold Case" aired an episode dealing with teenagers, cliques and what it means to "fit" in. Rita (the victim) was tormented by three classmates who decided one day to invite her to a sleepover at the main bully's (Brandi) house. Rita wasn't the prettiest girl but she certainly was smart and compassionate, which are what really matters in the real world, smarts and kindness. Anyway, it turns out Brandi and her brother (forget his name) were frequently abused by their parents' and she become a cold-hearted person as such. Rita wanted to help Brandi but Brandi refused. Also, the third bully, Ariel, who was the most level-headed and seemingly innocent wanted to fit in so badly that she killed Rita, the one person who didn't "fit" in with the others but would make the best friend in the end. Overall a great episode that shouldn't be missed and makes you think. The ending was extremely sad, with the siblings being reunited and Scotty there to prevent their parents from coming in. They should have been arrested for what they did, but I guess the siblings let bygones be bygones. Then, you "see" Rita riding by her house with Lilly watching. Amazing ending sequence, amazing ending song.

Like one other reviewer, this is an episode I will never be able to watch again, because it was so spot-on and excellent and utterly sad. Perhaps the female viewers amongst us can empathize more than the guys. Young Rita Baxter was found dead in a swimming hole years ago. She had been at a sleepover at the house of a "friend" - who was no friend. Others have written down the plot synopsis, so I won't bother. Suffice it to say, the writers really hit the nail on the head this time. It was a trip down Memory Lane. I recalled my days in junior high school/high school and the tedium of the clique system.



Growing up in New York City, we had a bunch of crowds. I wasn't in the popular (cheerleader, good-looking, whatever) clique, I was in the Museum-and-Theatre crowd (drama majors, musicians and artists, intellectuals). I did not suffer as Rita Baxter did, but knew others - desperate for approval and popularity - who suffered mightily. This episode brought it all back.



I've seen a lot of cop-type shows, and I can usually predict the ending, but not this time. I was surprised, but not terribly so. Turns out the girl's death was more of an impulsive accident than pre-meditated, but very unfortunate.



Seeing how these formerly popular girls turned out as adults was satisfying as well. Sad, though, that the only diamond in the bunch, Rita, was dead. What a woman she would have turned out to be. How society really lost out when she died!



The last scene in the show just did me in. Tears just rolled down my face as I watched the phantom Rita cycle past Lilly Rush, smiling, barely a care in the world, only to vanish as the final credits came up. Very well done, very touching.



Maybe I can watch this episode again, but right now, it's too powerful and sad. All in all, an excellent episode, and time well spent watching.

I think the show pretty much showed that being either smart or popular is just away to escape from problems. The popular girl was escaping their parents problems of abuse while the smart girl escaping the bullying of the popular girl. The other girl wants to leave the society and does it throug booze because of the absurdity of it all. However, the prepatrator discovers that being smart is not enough and wants to be popular as well because Rita can't offer comfort and protection of being smart only annoyance. She is pulled by two worlds and has to choose. If she tries to leave, she is an outcast like that booze girl.



To her, the smart girl, the popular girl, and the booze girl are the same; both want to escape their circumstances and don't have the ability to love anyone because they have established a defense mechanism. Yet, love is what the eventual doctor wants and thinks by being popular right now while the smart girl says to wait until college where she can the popular one, weed out the bullies, and call the shots. So, its bully now or bully later. Look at the parents, they probably a victim of abuse of some kind. They can't change the world but only escape it.

This episode was one of my favorites in this whole show. It shows that sometimes even your best friends can turn against you. It starts out first when they find the girls body. They ask when this occured and why it did. Lily goes to every girl and parent that was at the sleepover. First she goes to Brandi the mean girl of the group. She really didnt like Rita so they tormented her at the sleepover. After Brandi and Tiffany kicked Ariel out of the group she and Rita walk home. Rita makes Ariel so mad about the girls being mean to her she pushes Rita off the cliff and hits her head on a rock. The case is solved and Ariel was arrested. Another great Cold Case episode.

It would of been like every episode of "Twin Peaks". This setting takes place on November 9, 1990. The same year "Twin Peaks" became the cult television show of 1990. This episode is interesting! The murder of Rita Baxter, a prep-school girl is similar to all the episodes of "Twin Peaks" and the prequel "Fire Walk With Me". Rita Baxter is the junior high school verson of Laura Palmer. I cannot believe that the clique of girls picked on her, lured her outside, and pushed her from the tree and killed her. It was Ariel Shuman that killed Rita. This episode deals with cliques. The music they play in the episode is from the mid/late 80's and early 90's alternative and modern rock.

This episode explain exactly why I love Cold case. The scene with the song "Toy soldiers" is awesome and made me almost cry! A loss of innocence, a little girl that have tried to do the right thing and died for something in which she believed... I loved also the final scene of the two brothers, when they finally met; there's a beautiful hug and far away they saw their parents and feared. Luckyly detective Scottie Valens went in front of the door and didn't get in there. The final appearance of the little girl riding her bike is awesome.

This episode is the one that litterally made me cry and actually hit home. From the opening of the episode when we just seen a little girl riding on her bike, my heart litteraly sank because I knew what was going to happen to her.



The whole episode is an examination on tresspasses against people so young as well as what makes people bullies. We then see all three of the perpretartors, who have all bullied or just involved in the game. Two of them came out ok in life but one has became an alcholoic and a doper. Probably the most sypahtetic and human of the three is the one that comes from a welthy family. It's true that she was the one most resposible for bullying the girl, you do dislike her but also feel like she could be forgiven;

we see from her family life that she was the real victum. Her parients are abusive greedy psychotics. They abuse both their daghter and her brother for no particular reason. Obviously the experences have emotional and psychologicaly scared her. Like most bullies shes unhappy and in need of a friend, but the tragedy is her real friend is the one she has made a victum of her bullying. We see from the older version of her when she has a very somber look she litterally regrets it, despite the sucess she has endured professionally it doesn't heal any of those scars still in her.



The little girl we litteraly get to know and love. She is someone that could litterally be friends with (in fact all or most of my friends were a lot like her, never looked like much physically but had a lot to offer.) she is smart, funny, and has great ambitions like all of us; which is what makes it all the more heartbreaking knowing those ambitions she has will never come true.



We discover the real bully and murderer is the one that seemed the most conciousious and level headed, which is the Nurse herself. She wanted popularity so badly by being friends with the wrong people, but this is an empty ambition which has made blind to what was really important. As usual you hate what the guilty has done to her, and the irony is in the end she got nothing.



In the end when Katherine saw the little girl at the end looking at her then fading, I actually cried. Like what Katherine feels most of the time in this cases, I couldn't help but want to save the girl before the crime was commited. Nothing can ever truely be gained from bulling another person, it only make people blinded to the people that really matter the most in life and the joy of true friendship.

This is one of those episodes, those rare episodes where you should record it, bring it into school and show all the kids in high school. It is unique and thought-provoking. This and 'Wannabe' from 'Without a Trace' are the kind of episodes that do more than talks and lectures do. They show you the truth so that the bitches and bullies will stop being exactly that. A truly heart rendering, tearjerker which will leave you staring at commercials long after the show has ended. Show this to all your kids-especially teens- to teach them a valuble, honest lesson. I recommend it to EVERYONE!

This episode was so wonderful, yet so sad. I recognized the voice of the girl the played Rita's "friend", but I couldn't remember her name. No matter, it was great either way. The ending is was set me off entirely. I was almost crying throughout the whole thing, but the end it was finally broke the dam. The little girl on her bike it just so heartbreaking because you wish that she were actually there. You know she's not, but you just find yourself wishing that solving the murder would have brought her back to life. Excellent show.

It is a really werid show. But it makes you stop and really kinda makes your mind wonder. And it makes you realize what goes on in the real world..It shows you how many cases go unsolved.How can people be that cruel and mean to others.i do not know why

One of my favourite episodes and one of the hardest to see because of its emotional content.

When you see a little girl in her school\'s class you know she's going to die and you think sure one of her classmates is the killer. The episode goes by and you feel pity for the girl. Her "girldfriends" think she doesn't fit because she's no popular and treat her in a cruel way. And...she's killed.



The investigation of Lilly Rush, Scotty Valens and the other detectives is very interesting and while they discover new clues to solve the case, you discover the worst side of human being.



This is a great episode with a superb final scene. The music sounds and while Lilly walks towards her car the little girl appears ridding her bike.... and you realise tears are falling from your eyes.