Alternative Character Interpretation / Cold Case

• In "The Letter," did Jonesy mean to Mercy Kill Sadie by smothering her while she was being gang-raped by his white supremacist friends, or was it an accident while he was trying to distract her from the trauma of what was going on or keep her from yelling out about their relationship in front of the others?
• The head bow of the victim in "Maternal Instincts" before her ghost fades away; was it done in disappointment over her kidnapped son being reunited with with biological family or shame over her past actions and behavior that led to her death and caused his subsequent particularly unhappy life?
• In "Discretion," did Detective Martin really coerce a false confession while thinking Antonio was guilty, or (given how there was a period of a day or two between when he questioned Antonio and then forced that confession) did he get a lead on the real culprits but take a bribe to pin their crime on a scapegoat? It would add an even nastier dimension to his refusal to pursue any leads leading to them.
• The killer in "Revenge", the abused son of a pedophile who sought his father's approval, led the victim, another abused boy, out. Did he intentionally send the victim to his death by encouraging him to swim across a river, knowing that he would drown? Or was he so traumatized by the abuse that he genuinely thought a nine-year-old could somehow swim all the way home?
• In "Saving Patrick Bubley," is Letecia really a Love Martyr for the murderous and unfaithful Miguel, or does she stay with him out of fear that he'll hurt her if she leaves him? She has little good to say about him and seems to be perfectly happy during her Maybe Ever After moment with his cousin after Miguel's arrest.
• The killer in "The Hen House" can be seen as either an attempted Atoner tragically pushed back into doing evil again, or simply a murdering, identity-stealing, Nazi scumbag through-and-through.
• In "Forever Blue," did McCree kill Coop out of simple homophobia or did he decide to go that far due to Coop standing up to his corrupt ties to the drug trade (in which case, confessing to a hate crime might have felt like a case of Confess to a Lesser Crime to him, especially depending upon how long that corruption lasted)? Then again, the two motives aren't mutually exclusive.
• The Asshole Victim in "Thick as Thieves" pleaded with her son, who was holding her at gunpoint, that she did all her scamming for him, to give him a better life. Was she telling the truth, and her recent scams were to provide a more luxurious life for her child than the one she had growing up in the trailer park? Or was she just lying to save her own life, and her schemes were solely to satisfy her own desires for wealth, and her son was just a pawn in that scheme?
• The killer in "It Takes A Village". Was he intentionally goading his Sadist Teacher, thereby causing not only himself but all the boys to be punished (which would mean that he's not entirely blameless in the incident where the others attacked him in retribution), or was he just being a normal kid and the teacher decided to pick on him over every little thing?
• The victim in "Boy Crazy" — transgender, or just a tomboy? Given that she never expresses a desire to actually be male but isn't fully comfortable being female either, non-binary is also a possibility.
• The killer in "Roller Girl". A Wrong Genre Savvy Dogged Nice Guy, or a Stalker with a Crush who (albeit accidentally) killed his best friend after she rejected his advances and got away with it for thirty years?
• In "Stealing Home":
  • Jaime Reyes claims that his efforts to get Cuban baseball players to defect under risky circumstances (sometimes willingly or unwillingly leaving their families behind) are to undermine the Castro regime, but is he really a Well-Intentioned Extremist or does he just care about the money? He does clearly relish his wealth and success, is now booking non-Cuban players, and never does give the detectives paperwork he claims to have that proves he managed Gonzalo Luque's affairs honestly. On the other hand, he did pay back Gonzalo's family some money he misappropriated to smuggle other baseball players out of Cuba despite parting with Gonzalo on bad terms and being in a position where no one might have known differently if he didn't due to Gonzalo's death.
  • Why exactly did Gonzalo's girlfriend Marisol end their relationship after hearing him and Juan talk about Gonzalo's wife and son back in Cuba and how Gonzalo still wants to raise his son if he and his wife divorce? Did she not want to get stuck raising someone else's kid? Did she not want to be with someone who was already married when they started dating and/or didn't feel strongly enough about their relationship to tell her that? Or could she tell that Gonzalo still loved his wife and decided that I Want My Beloved to Be Happy?
• Given how much of "Into the Blue" is All Just a Dream, but the clues and culprits in the dream are real, were lots of events accurate or just in Lilly's head? Were Ryan's motive for killing Kate, suicide attempt, confession, and even his actual status as the killer (although he is seen being arrested at the end) real? Was Lawrence actually the mysterious cadet who threatened Kate in the shower^note  Lilly had identified him as a suspect but hadn't singled him out? Did Hank Butler's failure to reconcile with Kate during their last meeting and subsequent remorse ever happen? Was James's crush on Kate and her eventually being accepted enough to hang out with the male cadets real? Are Moe Kitchener's rampant misogynistic tendencies (the last of which shapes a lot of his interactions with Lilly in Season 7), willingness to kill a scapegoat, and family background true to his actual self? The bits with Hank and Kitchener in particular feel believable given their later actions, but could have also easily been Lilly projecting about her own Daddy Issues and the misogyny she faced as a rookie detective.
• In "WASP," is Iris's desire to avoid a scandal regarding her unit really out of feminism and a desire to make opportunities for future generations of women, or is preserving her own career and status at least part of her motivation?
• In "Read Between the Lines," Donnalyn says that ephebophile Kenneth is giving her signs that he wants her to get out of the house before he acts on his urges. Is Kenneth a Reluctant Psycho trying to get rid of sources of temptation, or is he trying to make Donnalyn leave so her younger sister, Meesha, will be easier for him to prey on? The only underage girl he's confirmed to have abused is closer in age to Donnalyn than Meesha, but his constant visits to her don't suggest that much restraint in his actions either.
• The victim in “Almost Paradise”, the prom queen who showed signs of doubting the meaning of her high school status, especially after getting some hate from her best friend and former friend. Was she an Alpha Bitch who had a Jerkass Realization, or a Class Princess with some bitter enemies that were blinded by jealousy and resentment?
• In several episodes, such as "Factory Girls" and "The War at Home", fans debate whether the death was a deliberate killing, an Accidental Murder, or in some cases, even the killer trying to commit suicide and accidentally killing the victim instead.
• In some of the episodes where someone (Butch in "Kensington", Edie in "The Red and the Blue", etc.) witnesses the killing but never tells the police, either after the original murder or during the new investigation, it's possible to read multiple reasons into their silence, including fear of arrest or scandal related to the event that led to the killing, initial fear of being killed that later turned into fear of being arrested for obstruction, a sense of anger and contempt for the victim that transcended death, or sympathy for the killer and a sense of responsibility for provoking their actions.
• When killers like Gibby in "8:03 a.m." and Tina in "That Woman" start crying during their final interrogations, are they just panicking about finally being caught, experiencing belated remorse after hearing their petty motives for killing people and ruining lives put into words, or both?