Torn

Season 4, Episode 21, Aired

Episode Summary

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8.4
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The team re-investigates their oldest cold case yet, the 1919 murder of a young woman who was a passionate advocate for women's right to vote.
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Fan Episode Reviews (10)

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  • - 911, what is your emergency? - My dead granny's attic is a mess, I can't find anyt... - Say no more, ma'am. The Cold Case Squad is on its way!moreless

    1.0
    "Abysmal"
    By IgnatzNiemand, Jan 25, 2011
    In the real world:
    A young lady enters the police station, goes right to the detectives and says:
    - You know, my grandma just died and she was always curious to know who killed his aunt.
    - You mean, somebody killed your grandmother's aunt?
    - Yep. In 1919.
    - In 1919?????
    - Yes.
    - Lady, you realize we are in 2007, right?
    - Yes.
    - And that all the people involved in the murder is dead?
    - Yes.
    - And you know that dead people can't go to jail.
    - Yes.
    - And, even more, they can't be sentenced to death, haw haw.
    - Yes, I know.
    - And you still want us to solve your great great aunt murder?
    - Yes. My granny always wanted to know who killed her aunt and I think it's a great way to honor her memory if I solve the mistery.
    - Lady, we are working here. Get a private detective or a shrink. Don't use taxpayers' money for your personal issues.

    In this episode
    A young lady enters the police station, goes right to the detectives and says:
    - You know, my grandma just died and she was always curious to know who killed his aunt.
    - You mean, somebody killed your grandmother's aunt?
    - Yep. In 1919.
    - Holy cow, Batman, this is a really cold case!
    - You're right, Girl Wonder, we have a chilling mistery. To the bat-tubes!

    Please!
    And there are episodes of Scooby Doo where Shaggy and the gang get it harder to find the clues, here all the evidence is in plain sight! Do you need Homicide Detectives to tidy up your granny's attic?

    In this episode we are supposed to believe that in the social pages of a 1919 newspaper there is a photo depicting a maid with a black eye. A maid! The whole episode is about the low role of women in 1919 society and we are supposed to believe that a lower class woman would appear in the social pages. And clearly showing a black eye. Yeah, right.

    And the rest of the "clues" are as absurd as this. But the cherry in the top of this clumsy cake is when Scotty looks in the bookshelf and says "Look at this! A phonograph record! And it says 'I killed my daughter - by Mommy Richest'" (well, it's not the actual quote, but it was close).
    C'mon! Are we supposed to believe that in almost 100 years NOBODY saw that phonograph record?

    I can't see the point of the episode. If it was a feminist statement is a lame one (it reminded me the Virginia Slims commercials of the 70s).
    Character development? Zilch. The closest thing to this was when they say that Kat is the second female detective and she makes a gesture as saying "finally they noticed that single moms are women!"

    I can't understand why this episode. Really.moreless

  • I LOVE THIS EPISODE I HAVE IT TAPED SO I CAN WATCH IT TIME AND TIME AGAIN. THE FURTHER COLD CASE GOES BACK THE BETTER I LIKE IT.

    8.0
    "Great"
    By boney3, Oct 14, 2009
    I can't figure out how Francis Stone is Emma Stone's great great aunt. Francis would have to emma's grandmother's aunt, but in the show Francis didn't have any brothers.I have this show taped and i watch it over and over again. I really do love this episode. The further cold case goes back the better I like it. It just bugs me because I can't figure out how they got this great great aunt when Francis didn't have any brothers. I love Alice Harris the way they taped the interview with her. It would have been nice if they did tell what happen to fillipa and who found Francis.moreless

  • In this vapid, unrealistic episode, the team investigates the death of a woman who was fighting for the right to vote in 1919.

    2.0
    "Terrible"
    By TedsMom, Oct 22, 2008
    The show should stick to the investigative aspects of a mystery, rather then delving into politics in an inept way. The resolution of this case is so unrealistic, it is laughable. I assumed that they were going to make it so that the older lady who had been 7 years old in 1919 had been an eyewitness to the murder. That would have made sense. Whoever wrote this was obviously pushing their own agenda and was more interested in that than in writing a decent episode. It is like viewing the women's movement through the eyes of a twelve-year-old girl. For one thing, a false dichotomy is set up between enjoying being a wife & mother, and wanting to participate in politics or the wider world. The character Frances screams at her mother that the mother's life is not enough and is empty and meaningless. Fortunately, back here in the real world, a woman can enjoy the right to vote and to participate in politics, without having to feel like motherhood is evil. When they show Nancy Pelosi on TV at the end, as if that symbolizes something, the agenda is made clear. If Pelosi is the best example they can come up with of a successful female politician, then the women's political movement certainly has failed!moreless

  • A woman goes to Lilly asking for her to solve great-great aunt's murder in 1919.

    5.3
    "Mediocre"
    By luckydagangsta, Jun 19, 2008
    Francis Stone was a wealthy young woman who at first is happy to play the role of housewife. Until she meets Alice, leader of the Philadelphia suffragette movement. When she starts fighting for woman's right to vote, enemies begin to pile up. In 1919, she was thrown off the top of the stairs.

    I tried to like this episode. I really did. Normally I enjoy the episodes that take place in the past, the farther back the better. I especially enjoyed seeing how things were so different, but this episode was just too unrealistic to bear.

    I mean, all Cold Case episodes rely on people's stories and in the end the murderer or the witness to the murder's confession. Some of the other Cold Case episodes that are based this far back in the past I'd believe, but this one just takes the cake. All of the pieces to the puzzle was the woman's home to begin with, all she had to do was go through the stuff. She basically got the detectives on the job to clean up the house for her.moreless

  • I like the story and the class structure in detail. Alcohol can make you rich and poor. Women have changed or have they? Meredith Baxter feels worthless without a man. I like the portion about a working woman with a child.moreless

    8.6
    "Great"
    By ariamaluum, Apr 12, 2007
    I like the story though there is some public announcement dialogue particular with that 95 year old woman "about woman having it hard then then now and why they should vote." Really, you still got a little defensive about your mom and the murder victim being lovers. Tried to go backhand compliment with the bad man your mom chose and prefered her. Ah, Please. With that aside, it was a good story. I thought it was convenient that a record confessing the murder was found in good condition. Also to record a disk confessing murder, you would have to speak loudly and get somebody to record it. I wish they would shown how the mother did that. Telling portion was Meredith Baxter Birney character drinking when those suffragetes were against booze. You look a great women in history, they needed a man solidify their place in history or be dismissed as lesbians, bisexuals, or some unnatural sex fiend, celibate or promiscuous.moreless
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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • TRIVIA (5)

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    • Goof: In this episode, the Stone family is worried in June 1919 about the suffragettes because they believe that if women are allowed to vote, Prohibition will pass (the family is wealthy because they own a brewery). However, in reality, Prohibition (the 18th Amendment) was ratified in January 1919, five months before the flashback events in this episode take place.

    • Goof: In the teaser, when the 1919 detective is entering Frances's death in the ledger, the header reads: "Bureau of Police, Department of Public Saety" (instead of "Safety").

    • Goof: When Elizabeth and Francis are fighting on the stairs, Elizabeth is at first seen wearing a shawl. During their fight as the camera pans back and forth, the shawl disappears.

    • Francis Stone died on June 23, 1919.

    • This is the oldest case yet -- 88 years -- topping the previous oldest case from episode 3-19: Beautiful Little Fool by 11 years.

  • QUOTES (7)

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    • Lilly: (picking up her mother from a holding cell) Get up, mom! Ellen: Lilly? Uh, wha, what you doin' here? Lilly: I could ask you the same thing... but I won't. Ellen: Thank you for coming. Now go away! I don't want you to see me like this. Lilly: Like it would be a first.

    • Francis: Why should men have the right to vote and we shouldn't? Elizabeth Stone: Because politics is a dirty business full of dirty men. Francis: And we need to keep our hands clean, is that it? Elizabeth Stone: We have a responsibility to remain above the fray.

    • Janice Warner: If women today knew what women back then had to go through, they wouldn't take the vote for granted.

    • Francis: (to her mother) Why do you try to hide how smart you are? It's like you're ashamed of it.

    • Alice B. Harris: (to Elizabeth Stone) We're not ladies, lady. We're suffragettes.

    • Francis: I don't know if I even want to run a house or have children. Lawrence: Francis! What kind of talk is that? Francis: I was accepted at Vassar, you know. Lawrence: But you've already found a husband. Francis: Is that all you think college is for?

    • Lilly Rush: (to Emma Stone) You're our coldest job yet. Nick Vera: A record-breaker. Kat Miller: So... what are we waiting for? Lilly Rush: Let's break out the icepicks.

  • NOTES (2)

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  • ALLUSIONS (2)

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    • The character of Alice B. Harris seems to be based on Susan B. Anthony, a well-know female suffragette.

    • During the musical montage at the end, you can briefly see a woman standing in front of an American flag on a TV screen when they hand over Frances' letter to Audrey. The woman is Nancy Pelosi, who in 2007 was the current Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.

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