Quillsville Cold Case: Battered Husbands

"Quillsville Cold Case: Battered Husbands"
Queen of the Willis episode
Episode no.	Season 13 Episode 7
Directed by	Season Atkins
Written by	Donna Doogan
Featured music	(see article)
Production code	1307
Original air date	September 27, 2024
Guest actors
Kathryn Morris as Lilly Rush
Episode chronology
<span /> ← Previous "Quillsville Cold Case: Blown Away" Next → "Quillsville Cold Case: Richmond Quill Explosion"

"Quillsville Cold Case: Battered Husbands" is the seventh episode of the thirteenth season of the American animated television series Queen of the Willis. It originally aired in broadcast syndication in the United States on September 27, 2024 as a two-hour movie.

In the episode, Harry Willis, Daniel Rose, Dallas Cowboy, and Paul Cooper share their stories of domestic violence at the respective hands of Harry's ex-wife Peggy, Daniel's then-wife Jill (now husband Bill), Dallas' ex-girlfriend Cassandra, Ellen Rush, in addition to Carter's story of being battered by Thelma. Each couple has their own problem, but there's one thing they have in common; husband beating. Whether it is financial problems, drinking or whatever, Harry, Daniel, Dallas, and Paul have to fight their ways out of this- and so do Peggy, Jill (now Bill), Cassandra and Ellen.

The episode is a parody of the 1978 NBC TV movie Battered (previoulsy mentioned by Ava Willis in "Revenge of the Male Anchors 5"), concentrates upon five male victims of spousal abuse.

The episode was written by Donna Doogan and directed by Season Atkins.

Plot

This video presents a tale of four different couples of different ages, backgrounds, and circumstances where domestic abuse is occurring. The first is is Dan and Jill; Jill (now Bill) is a United States Postal carrier whose life is filled with work, family, and lifestyle pressures. The second is Dallas and Cassandra, a younger African-American couple; Cassandra is a receptionist with dreams about being an inventor and having a better life who vents her frustrations with her job and her life on Dallas, especially when she drinks. The third is Carter and Thelma, an older couple (their son Harry, is also involved with an abusive woman, Peggy, who comes to get Harry, Frank (now Ava), and Albert at the couple’s home and is arrested for DUI); Thelma is a negative and cynical postal worker who despises her job and drinks heavily to try to forget it, making Carter a frequent target of her drunken rages. The fourth is Paul and Ellen; Paul is a construction worker whose life is filled with work, family and lifestyle pressures and Ellen is a housewife with dreams of havinng a better life for their children Lilly and Christina who vents her frustrations on Paul and Lilly, especially when she drinks.

The verbal and physical abuse escalates in all five families and Harry, Dan, Paul and Dallas initially make the decision to leave their marriages to go to a a battered men’s shelter (where they get to know one another and become friends that existed with Crystal Donovan).

Harry eventually returns to his marriage to Peggy (eventually divorcing in 1996) while Ellen and Cassandra gets involved with chemical dependency and domestic abuse treatment and Daniel makes the decision to end their marriage after Jill is unwilling to pursue therapy for herself to address the domestic abuse issues. Carter eventually endures a brutal assault by Thelma due to her increased anger about him calling the police and her being arrested for an earlier assault, which leads to Carter being disabled and Thelma getting arrested again and charged with the assault. Thelma, as she sits by his bed in the hospital when he is dying says, “Why in the fuck didn’t somebody stop me.” Peggy, Jill, Ellen, and Cassandra both offer good examples of the apologies and “hollow promises” that abusive women often make to their partners to try to get them to re-connect with them after an abusive incident has occurred. Daniel also illustrates the emotional damage that is done to men in abusive relationships when he tells Paul that he “feels like he went from hero to zero in a year.”

Production and development

Cast

• David Caruso as Harry Willis (1978/2024)
• Ava Zinn as Peggy Willis (1978)
• Ava Zinn as Frank Willis (1978)
• Ava Zinn as Ava Willis
• Ava Zinn as Albert Willis (1978)
• Ava Zinn as Carter Willis
• Ava Zinn as Thelma Willis
• [[]] as Daniel Rose (1978)
• [[]] as Daniel Rose
• [[]] as Jill Rose (1978)
• [[]] as Bill Rose
• [[]] as Braden Rose (1978)
• Kendra Ray as Melissa Rose
• [[]] as Kymberly Rose
• [[]] as Adelle Rose
• [[]] as Kymberly Rose (1978)
• [[]] as Adelle Rose (1978)

• [[]] as Dallas Cowboy (1978)
• [[]] as Cassandra Sellars (1978)
• [[]] as Christiana Sellars (1978)
• [[]] as Dallas Cowboy
• [[]] as Cassandra Sellars
• [[]] as Christiana Sellars
• [[]] as Paul Cooper (1978)
• [[]] as Ellen Rush (1978)

Music

No.	Title	Original artist	Length