Recap / Cold Case S 4 E 21 Torn

Directed by Kevin Bray

Written by Tyler Bensinger

The team takes on their coldest case yet when a college student asks Lilly to investigate the mysterious death of her great-great-aunt, Frances Stone, in 1919 after discovering a letter hidden in one of her family heirlooms that indicates she was keeping a secret which may have given someone motive to kill her. A new angle arises when it's revealed Frances became involved in the women's suffrage movement.

Tropes:

• Abusive Parents: Ambrose, true to the customs at the time, is emotionally neglectful and controlling towards Frances, expecting her to blindly obey him and not even treating her like a person. When she defies him by supporting votes for women, he uses his connections to have Frances wrongfully imprisoned and threatens to disown her unless she leaves the suffragettes. Elizabeth also repeatedly tries to browbeat and guilt-trip Frances into playing along with her dictated role in the family.
• Accidental Murder: Elizabeth accidentally caused Frances to fall off the second story balcony to her death during an argument in which she attempted to physically stop her daughter from leaving to rejoin the suffragettes.
• All for Nothing: All of Elizabeth’s actions to prevent Frances' association with the suffragist movement in order to protect their family's standing, culminating in accidentally killing her, were rendered meaningless. Alice and her fellow suffragettes' false charges were soon voided, the 19th Amendment was ratified 14 months later, and Prohibition was enacted anyway, causing the Stones' brewery to go bankrupt. Worse, some part of Elizabeth's younger self can't even enjoy this milestone because her opposition led to the death of her only daughter, who would’ve been overjoyed to see it. In the end, Elizabeth is left with nothing but her guilt.
• Arc Words:
  • Domestic angels.
  • "We're only as strong as our greatest fear."
• Brainy Brunette: Frances was an avid Bookworm and a good teacher, having taught Phil to read. She aspired to travel the world and be a writer, and was a promising activist as a suffragette.
• Chekhov's Gun: In the prologue, Elizabeth discusses how they can now make and play a personalized recording on a gramophone. This is how she tapes her confession, which allows the detectives to solve Frances' murder in the present.
• Cool Old Lady: Present day Audrey has shades of this. She is very elderly, very quirky, and very helpful to the case.
• Cruel to Be Kind: Deconstructed. Elizabeth claims her refusal to relent on the suffragettes is meant to save her daughter from the same disappointment the former experienced in her youth for her hopes of a better future. However, Frances retorts that her mother's past experiences made her too scared and stubborn to change her ways despite the growing movement for women's rights.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: The episode doesn't pull punches on how women had virtually no autonomy prior to getting the right to vote; they lived under the authority of the most dominant male figure in their lives to the point that Domestic Abuse was the norm, were expected to marry and have children who they barely had any claim to since the children could be easily taken away, and weren’t allowed to work in certain fields, while women in well-off families often had no career at all.
• Deus ex Machina: The vinyl record pointing to Frances' murderer was found in her mother's possessions untouched.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Suffragettes are treated as menaces to society. Their leader, Alice B. Harris, was beaten in prison for hosting suffrage meetings at her house.
• Domestic Abuse: Philippa is trapped in a marriage to an abusive husband.
• Extremely Cold Case: From 1919, 88 years ago, meaning only a single witness, Audrey, is still alive. Emma accepts there can't be any arrests made when she brings the case to the police and is simply hoping to get closure for her late grandmother, who was haunted by Frances' unsolved death.
• Female Misogynist: Elizabeth thinks women have no business getting involved in politics and dismisses the suffragettes' cause as "riffraff".
• Gilded Cage: Said word for word multiple times when it's pointed out that for all of Frances' wealth and privilege, she's still trapped under her family's and society's expectations.
• Heel Realization: Frances initially lays into Phil for selling out the suffragettes until learning she was forced to do so to protect Audrey. This makes Frances realize how she also betrayed her friends in a Moment of Weakness for something less meaningful and motivates her to risk it all to get Alice and the others released, but is killed before she can do so.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Due to Deliberate Values Dissonance, Alice is charged with running a brothel. She just wants women to have the vote.
• Honorary Aunt: Frances was this to Audrey, who called her "Aunt Frannie".
• Interclass Friendship: Between Frances and her housemaid Philippa, which was noted to be unheard of at the time.
• Karma Houdini: Played with. While Elizabeth never legally faced consequences for Frances’ death, she was emotionally broken and became a shut-in for the rest of her life. Plus, the fact that Elizabeth made a recording confessing to the murder, which she played over and over again to punish herself, indicates she wanted to be charged for her crime.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: Ambrose and Elizabeth eventually paid for their cruelty towards Frances, Phil, and the suffragettes when they lost their money and livelihood after Prohibition was enacted, just as they feared.
• The Mentor: Alice B. Harris to Frances. At one point, she assures Frances of her passion and moral compass when the latter doubts her place in the local suffragette chapter due to her family. Even decades later, Alice never forgot about Frances or her potential, mentioning her in the interviews she gave out.
• Mistaken for Gay: The team initially suspects that Frances and Philippa were in a relationship based on a letter Emma found regarding the women's "secret passion" without much context. This is disproven by Philippa's daughter, Audrey, who maintains that while Frances and her mother were close, there was nothing romantic going on between the two of them.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Elizabeth is instantly horrified after pushing Frances to her death and rushes to her daughter's side, but is unable to save her. She ended up becoming a recluse in her grief and guilt.
• Police Brutality: When the suffragettes are arrested on trumped-up charges. Frances mentions the police hit Alice in the head with a nightstick.
• Raised by Grandparents: Emma Stone claims her grandmother was the closest she had to a mother.
• Regretful Traitor: Phil is forced to betray Alice, Frances, and the rest of the suffragettes to the police under pressure from her employers and the threat of her husband divorcing her and never letting her see her daughter again. She's even compared to Benedict Arnold.
• Riches to Rags: The Stones were one of the richest families of the early 20th century until Prohibition imposed a ban on alcohol, causing them to lose their brewery business, fortune, and even home. All that's left are personal heirlooms and trinkets.
• Shadow Archetype: Elizabeth to Frances. Elizabeth was once just like her daughter, hoping to see the world and make something of her life. When she realized she didn't have those options, she settled hard as a wife and mother, trying to convince herself it was what she wanted to the point of shunning the suffragettes. While Frances followed what society dictated for her at first, she came to reject such a future and was eager to join the suffragist movement to change the status quo for women. Despite her conflicting loyalties, Frances ultimately stuck to her beliefs and remained loyal to the suffragettes even when she risked being disowned. Elizabeth is who Frances could've become if she had given up on her dreams: a glib Socialite who clings to her status and marriage due to having no other identity, and refuses to even try to advance her or her daughter's prospects no matter how much it secretly hurts her.
• Stepford Smiler: Elizabeth insists that she's content with running a household and Frances will be too if she just accepts it. However, Frances knows her mother is just Believing Their Own Lies because she doesn’t see any other choice, and is secretly unhappy stifling her desires and capabilities in favor of "needlepointing her life away". She outright calls Elizabeth out on this in their final confrontation.
  Elizabeth: Why can't you accept that I'm happy the way I am, and you can be, too?
  Frances: Because you're not happy, Mother. You're just too scared to admit it.
• The Suffragette: The story of the Victim of the Week, who joined the suffragettes in influencing the Pennsylvania legislature. Multiple visions of them appear in the ending montage: Philippa, Alice, and Frances.
• The Teetotaler: The suffragettes are nicknamed this by their detractors due to their stance on Prohibition.
• Villain Has a Point: Ambrose and Elizabeth warn Frances that their family will be ruined if women get votes because the suffragettes support Prohibition, and she doesn't know what it's like to live without the wealth she grew up in.
• Villainous Breakdown: Elizabeth descends into a tearful rage after Frances stands up to her, yelling that she's happy and her life is not a lie, until she accidentally kills her daughter.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Did Phil ever get away from her abusive husband? Only her elderly daughter Audrey knows.