Cold Case: The Brokeback Mountain episode

****WARNING: SOME PLOT SPOILERS**** cold case.jpg

Last night's episode of CBS's crime show Cold Case was remarkable for a slew of reasons. First off was the fact that it was a gay-themed episode, but as far as I know CBS didn't make a big deal out of it despite the fact that veteran television actor Chad Everett played one of the gay roles. The show also featured a passionate same-sex kiss that ten years ago would've had folks up in arms. Yet last night all of the above happened with nary a mention. It's great! The episode itself was also pretty darn good despite the fact it might as well have been called Brokeback Mountain: NYPD Blue. To nutshell the plot for you, you need to know that every episode of Cold Case opens with an unsolved murder that has gone "cold". When new evidence comes to light the "cold case" is reopened as the show's detectives try to solve it.

In this case, the murder victim was a cop named Coop (Shane Johnson, pictured) who turns out to have been having an affair with another cop named Jimmy. (The Brokeback comparison is because Jimmy is married, but Coop wants them to move away and start a new life.) It turns out Coop was murdered by two other cops who couldn't stand the idea of a queer cop "disgracing" the force. I can already hear some folks saying, "Great. Another dead gay guy." But I think that would be seriously missing the point. First of all, it's the nature of the show that someone ends up dead. And I think ten years ago that criticism would have been valid, but now there is a whole range of gay storylines on network TV (if not enough lead gay characters). Just last week I wrote about gay plots on How I Met Your Mother and ER, in addition to the regular storylines on The Class, Help Me Help You, and Brothers & Sisters just to name a few. So I don't think anyone should be heaving stones at Cold Case over the episode. In fact, I think the opposite is true. I think it's a necessity for people to understand that gays and lesbians did--and do--get beaten and murdered just for being gay. (The show went out of its way to ask if things were really that much better for gay cops today.) Besides the aforementioned kiss, the show not only portrayed the two men as being deeply in love, but in fact being "the lucky ones" because they truly loved each other.

The show also showed the horrible damage wrought by living in the closet. And despite Coop's death it even managed to end on a happy note as Jimmy, now an old man (Chad Everett) went back to where he had last been with Coop and saw themselves walking away together holding hands. It was quite touching and something millions of Americans tuned in to see without knowing they were going to. Three cheers for CBS for doing such a well done episode and for not making a big deal out of it. And three cheers to Rhonin for tipping me off about the episode!

Michael Jensen's blog

Submitted by

Michael Jensen

on Sun, 2006-12-03 10:16.

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Submitted by

Anonymous

on Sun, 2006-12-03 12:55.

I watch Cold Case on a semi-regular basis and have seen some of their other episodes about gay characters. This episode in particular was very hard for me to watch because the Coop character was strong, complex, self-accepting. He was extremely rare for gays on TV. And he was brutally killed at the end. All my life I have sat through shameful, shameful characterizations like Jack Macfarlane and Steven Carrington and Jodie Dallas. To see this man who was so complicated, and scarred, and yet also at peace with himself, about as self-accepting as you could get in his position, to see him gunned down, while his closet case, scaredy-cat lover was unscathed and lived a long life - that really was heartbreaking.

So many times over the years have I seen people punished for being proud to be gay, while those in the closet are rewarded. I think the writer may have also been very concerned about this message, because he (?) included the scene where Coop said they should feel lucky that they had each other, that they had love.

I was very surprised to see that kiss. The kiss was critically important to the story, but still, that was a surprise. What surprised me even more was when Jimmy grabbed Coop and kissed him back, which was a kiss of lust and affection, not of violence, like the first kiss. I was surprised they aired that, even as truncated as the scene was. And the final scene of the two young men, in their cop uniforms, holding hands and disappearing together, packed quite a punch. It was one of the most moving scenes I've ever seen on TV, and especially for gay men.

This teaches an important lesson about TV in general. Some of the most pro-gay TV episodes from the 70's were on shows like "Alice" and "Dallas". These were ordinary, everyday programs, not the critical darlings. Today, we're supposed to find shows like Desperate Housewives or Nip/Tuck hip and must-see. Wow, Mario Lopez shows his butt, so let's all watch a show that says bisexuals are serial killers. We're supposed to be impressed because they have a few gay characters or gay-related stories. Yet all I ever see on those shows are harmful, tired stereotypes. Shows like the crime procedural dramas are supposed to be un-hip and/or run by conservative types (and in some cases, like "24" and their bad portrayal of gays, this is accurate).

Cold Case has never had enough credit or plaudits from the gay community, as far as I'm concerned. They have had some GLAAD Awards, but I don't even know if anyone cares about GLAAD now. At a time when other crime dramas have had trashy stories about murders caused by "down low" or vigilante heroes who kill men who have unsafe sex, here we have a positive, painful, real portrayal of what gays go through. Not just in 1968, but today, every single day.

Does anyone have the contact information for the show? I want to write them a thank you letter.

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Cold Case: The Brokeback Mountain episode