History Series / ColdCase

* MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot: A frequent device used to get evidence to reopen a case or even close it at last. Situations have included the following:
** The victim's prized possession turning up in the hands of someone who would be very unlikely to have it unless they were involved.
** Something "not quite right" being noticed in a suspect's finances.
** The murder weapon, by sheer coincidence, being turned in or seized in an unrelated incident.
** Most prominent in "Spiders": The arrest of four Neo-Nazis and the solving of the disappearance of a Latino woman is originally kicked off by investigating another victim's abusive father as a suspect after he is arrested for beating his stepdaughter into a coma.

* FlashbackEffects:
** Flashback scenes imitate the style and appearance of actual footage from that time period, including DeliberatelyMonochrome for really old cases, spots on the film, and what have you.
** An episode where the crime happened at a party in 2004 has flashback footage looking like it was filmed with a camera phone.
** An episode set in 1990 looks as though it were filmed on home video.
** Episode 3x01, "Family", is set in 1988. They use a pop art style with four windows in one screen, and exaggerated colors.
** "The Woods", set in 1972, has flashbacks that appear to have been filmed with low-quality Super-8 home movie film, giving the scenes a de-saturated quality that adds to the nightmarish atmosphere of the story.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: Anybody from the killer to the [[AssholeVictim victim]] to [[TheScrappy any suspect in between]].
** The killer in [[spoiler: "Gleen". Being a retired firefighter and caring father makes for fine sheep's clothing. But underneath, he's a controlling, overbearing monster who scared off his first and third wives and [[DivorceRequiresDeath killed his second wife, the victim and mother of their child]], with a bomb he plants.]]
** In [[SpoilerTitle episode 9 of season 1]], we have [[spoiler: Sherry Fox. Outside: A beautiful, caring young woman who loves her boyfriend. Inside: [[BreadMilkEggsSquick Con artist, gold digger, murderer]].]]
** [[StealthPun In "Justice"]], we have the victim Mike Delaney: a handsome college student who was considered a '[[TheCasanova Casanova]]' and had good grades, was a varsity athlete, a charitable member of the Meals on Wheels program, and made valedictorian at graduation. But [[BrokenPedestal all that goes out the window]] once you learn he was a [[AssholeVictim serial rapist in life]].
** Almost literally with the killer in "Churchgoing People". [[spoiler:All flashbacks of her show her as a prim, modestly dressed and coifed woman. Until her son finally confesses that she was actually a violent and abusive drunk who regularly beat his father and finally killed him in a rage upon learning of his infidelity]].
** "Slipping" gives us [[spoiler: the victim's husband, her own killer. He throws off the audience by claiming he wrote his poem as a dedication to his wife. But once you learn he actually stole that poem from her before killing her, it becomes clear he only married her to be [[GreenEyedMonster close to the competition]].]]
** [[spoiler:The professor]] in "Hubris". When we meet [[spoiler:him, he's a broken man whose marriage and career were ruined by the murder suspicions and the fact that not only had he had an affair with the victim, she wasn't his first dalliance. Despite his cheating, it's easy to have a little sympathy for him given that he regrets his behavior and just wants to clear his name and get his life back]]. Until the end of the episode where we learn that [[spoiler:he IS the killer, ''every single thing'' that happened to him is fully deserved, and he's actually an arrogant bastard who isn't the least bit sorry for what he did. Indeed, he felt completely [[EntitledToHaveYou entitled]] to seduce his female students and to [[ControlFreak kill the one girl who dared break up with him rather than him be the one to dump her]], to the point where he outright states, "It's her fault. She made me fall in love with her."]]
** In "Who's Your Daddy", Brad Atwater is this to an extent. Although the foreman is earlier described as an [[BadBoss unfair boss]] to his employees, he's initially introduced as a [[AffablyEvil friendly sort]] who [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes has a family of four, and an ailing wife he cares about]]. But later, it's revealed that not only is he unfaithful to said-wife, he makes the wives of his Asian employees service him sexually by licking his boots. And later, when the wife offers some evidence, Atwater [[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk denounces her as crazy and even claims her illness is probably 'made up'.]]
%%** The Lelands from "Spiders".
%%** The Beaudries in "The Sleepover".
%%** The [[spoiler:chastity club president]] in "That Woman".

* TooDumbToLive:
** Two examples from "Stalker":
*** The daughter; after literally being sent a stalker's shrine, she responds by saying how romantic it is. When you add to that the repeated threats the guy made on her and her family...
*** Her mother, for using her daughter's picture in her profile and being the one who was actually writing to the stalker.
** The two teenage boys in "Thrill Kill", who don't realize that playing for the camera in a murder trial against three children is a bad idea. To make matters worse, after they reopen the case, the surviving one tries to invoke NeverMyFault.
** The pedophile in "Revenge" has a gun pointed at him [[spoiler:by the father of a boy he kidnapped and sexually abused,]] and feels that that is the right time to taunt the shooter, saying [[spoiler: the boy was [[{{Squick}} "The best piece of ass [he] ever had"]]]].
** The mother in "Blackout", who was pushed into a pool, [[spoiler:continues to taunt her daughter by saying that she'll groom her son just like her brother, leading to her being drowned by said daughter in anger]]. Though she was already [[AlcoholInducedIdiocy drunk]] at that point.
** The victim in "Jackals" joins a dangerous biker gang because she's mad at her dad, despite everyone, including them, telling her it's a stupid idea.
** An ArmsDealer in "Time to Crime" is arrested simply for being this, selling a gun to the person who tries to kill him, who just happens to be [[spoiler:a 12-year-old-boy]].
** The serial rapist in "Justice". One would think [[spoiler:Mike would be smarter than to [[KickTheDog taunt the younger brother of his rape victim]] (who has a gun aimed ''point blank'' at him, by the way)]].
** The victim in "That Woman" [[spoiler:following her friend into the woods for a tryst despite discovering they all planned to kill her]].
** The victim in "The Promise" following her friend back into the house, despite the {{Jerkass}} frat boys still being in there and her having [[spoiler:suggested burning the house down in revenge for their humiliation.]]
** A guy in "Ravaged" tries to rape the victim in front of her already snarling Rottweiler. And then he is ''surprised'' the dog attacked him.
** A lot of victims, when not overcome by rage or concern, continuing to talk to their increasingly furious and/or hysterical would-be killers rather than backing off ("The Dealer", "Libertyville" etc). In "8:03 AM", both victims continue to taunt their increasingly unhinged killers with {{Reason You Suck Speech}}es even with guns pointed right at them, leading to the expected results. In "Bombers", the victim decides to confront the leader of a graffiti crew for snitching, in the middle of the night without backup, in spite of his violent outbursts previously. Unsurprisingly, the victim ends up dead with nobody knowing what happened.

** The double episodes "The Thin Blue Line" and "Into the Blue" are full of these, pushing the sole female cadet to breaking point.

!!Sub-pages
[[index]]
* [[MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot/ColdCase Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot]]
* [[TragicHero/ColdCase Tragic Hero]]
* [[TragicVillain/ColdCase Tragic Villain]]
[[/index]]
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