Heartwarming / Cold Case

Heartwarming moments in Cold Case.

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

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Season 1

• "Gleen":
  • The ending. After the killer is arrested, the victim's daughter sees her mother's ghost. The victim gives her an approving nod and smile, because her daughter turned out "headstrong" enough to do the right thing and help stop a bad guy.
  • Out of principle that Gwen still loves her father, Lilly simply leads Rob away without cuffing him, allowing him to be arrested with dignity.
  • The implication that although she wasn't married into her family proper, Rob's would-be bride will act as a mother figure to Gwen.
• In "Our Boy is Back", the victim's neighbor hangs up a birdhouse with her name written on it.
• In "The Runner", when Diane and Sammie finally meet, they embrace tenderly, bonded by their love for Joe.
• "Fly Away":
  • Toya's teacher has nothing but good things to say about how much Rosie loved and took good care of her daughter. She hasn't forgotten that, even years after the fateful night of the crime.
  • In the end, Rosie sees the ghost of her daughter, Toya. This shows that not only does Toya forgive her mother for basically 'murdering' her, but she's grateful Rosie did it to save her from Mr. Freely. Toya's even wearing her butterfly costume from her school play, signifying her soul may now safely fly away.
  • Also, we see Philip wave good-bye to Rosie. She may have unintentionally ruined his life by leaving him a scapegoat, but he still shows forgiveness to her.
• "Sherry Darlin'":
  • The ending where, true to their agreement, once James turns himself in, his grandmother is given a proper burial. In a sense, this is a posthumous Earn Your Happy Ending.
  • The entirety of the episode shows Lilly unwittingly forming a friendship with James. In trying to solve the case, she helps him through the very trust issues Sherry planted in him. At one point, James even lampshades how Lilly actually addresses him by name, as opposed to Sherry who only referred to him by nicknames.
• While the ultimate resolution of the Star-Crossed Lovers romance in "The Letter" is a base-breaking Downer Ending, few first-time viewers of the episode aren't moved by the earlier moments of Sadie and Jonesy exchanging covert love letters in milk bottles, and the team is then shown reading the eloquent contents of those letters.
• Near the end of "The Lost Soul of Herman Lester", Billy Berkenpass, a teammate that had resented and come in second best to Herman, confronts him about playing badly in the earlier game, accusing him of trying to lose on purpose. Herman says that wasn't it, and instead reveals that the reason he barely managed to score a win was because Billy himself hadn't been playing in the game that night. He gives Billy a speech that lays out that for all of the great stuff Herman himself does in the game, it's Billy, as his teammate and defense on the court, that makes it so he can score. He then says, "Billy, we haven't been friends, but we've been a team, right?". The two shake hands and part ways amiably.
  • Years later, Billy apparently was so moved by Herman's words that he chooses to silently support the man's son Ray, who is following in his footsteps. When Billy fesses up that he and his dad weren't watching TV together the night Herman was killed, which was their shared alibi for the murder (implicitly revealing his own father as the murderer), he does it because the detectives tell him that Ray doesn't know anything about Herman and intends to walk away from the sport he loves because of it. Billy also tells Ray what he knew about Herman: "Your dad was stand-up. There was all this junk around us, everyone trying to make us enemies. But he just followed his instincts, and they were good. The man was good." He then accepts Ray's own handshake of gratitude for telling him.
• At the end of "Resolutions", Russell gets a new puppy after his old one was killed by the neighborhood Jerkass.
• At the end of "The Plan", instead of seeing the usual apparition of the victim (who was a pedophile who preyed on his swim class students), we instead see a blurry reflection of him in the pool water, which is then erased by the splashing of a new class of boys who will never have to suffer from his predation. It's like a final sign that the academy is finally free of him and his memory.
• Another one from the apparitions: at the end of "Greed", we see the Smug Snake victim Charles Danville, wearing perhaps the first genuinely-friendly expression we'd seen from him all episode, offering Lilly a toast for solving his murder. Like a posthumous Pet the Dog, if such a thing is possible.

Season 2

• In "Daniela," the victim's boyfriend never caring the littlest bit about the fact he fell for a male-to-female Transgender person. He just knew he loved her, he wanted to love her for a lifetime and beyond, and when you have that, nothing else matters.
• The ending scene of "The House" where the supposed victim's ex-girlfriend and current wife is peacefully fishing with the supposed victim, still alive, in a non-extradition country where neither one of them can be arrested for their role in his jailbreak.
• The ending montage for "Discretions" where the real killers are arrested and the falsely accused, a young Hispanic teen who was pressured to confess, is cleared of his crime and released, reuniting with his mother.
• Likewise, "Schadenfreude's" ending montage shows the falsely accused being released after spending 23 years behind bars for the murder of his wife.
• "Who's Your Daddy?":
  • The entire relationship between Booker and Kara. Especially how Lilly was convinced he was guilty of the parents' deaths or the very least somehow shifty throughout the episode until during the ending, where she realizes that, yes, he ultimately was a good guy who really loved and protected Kara.
  • Especially when the whole ending montage is coupled with the song "Send Me an Angel" by Scorpions, as though saying Booker is something close to Kara's guardian angel.
• "It's Raining Men":
  • The victim, Jeff, comes to see his boyfriend Artie (whom he had previously had an open relationship with) in the hospital when he gets sick with HIV. Despite Artie's telling him to stay back so he doesn't get it, Jeff takes off his mask, curls up next to him and says "I can't believe I only want to be with you." Meanwhile "Time After Time" by Cyndi Lauper is playing in the background. Of course, the fact that we know Jeff will soon be killed puts this into Tearjerker territory as well.
  • Parts of the ending montage fall into this as well: not only will Artie and Russ' wedding bring happy tears to your eyes, but also Carlo watching a gay couple and their baby look at the puppies in his store... something that would have been impossible in 1983. It also has Artie seeing Jeff's ghost at his wedding. In this case, it seems like Jeff is not only appearing because his murder has been solved, he's also letting Artie know that he's okay with him getting married.
• The New Old Flame scene in "Yo, Adrian" where Jerry and Gina meet outside the movie theater and he compares her to Adrian from Rocky while her best friend is in Shipper on Deck mode.
• "Time to Crime" has a boy who had the family maid fired because she caught him with a gun. At the end, we see him visiting her and asking for her forgiveness.
• The ending of "Ravaged" is quite bittersweet, as the lonely Alcoholic Parent who drove away her family and understands that it's her fault spends the episode befriending an inured fighting dog, with the two protecting each other. As she passes out from a blow to the head and freezes to death on the street, the dog (Ravage) curls up next to her and licks her to try and wake her up. This makes her one of the only victims who avoids Dying Alone (not counting killers, although hers had already left anyway). Ravage even gets a happy ending in the epilogue, being cared for by his former owner, a former dogfighter who has since reformed.
• The relationship between George Marks and his mother is as far from heartwarming as it can get, but it appears him carving the marks at the top and bottom of the stairs was done with no other motive than to help her. In addition, when she complained about it to the social worker, George simply said, "But I did to help you," rather than revealing her disability or taunting her.

Season 3

• The end of "Family" has Claire forgiving her mother, and Quinn in turn accepting Claire as her daughter. They share a long, meaningful hug. In the same ending, we see Jimmy's ghost happily look on as his girlfriend and their daughter share a bonding moment. He can move on, knowing the only two girls he ever loved are a family at last.
• The ending to "A Perfect Day." After forty years of living in hiding and keeping a terrible secret, Cindy is reunited with her surviving child (who she had given up in order to keep her safe) and the one man who ever really loved her. Then the victim (in ghost form) turns up to complete the family reunion, the only time we see her without her broken arm. The final shot shows the twins standing side-by-side with their arms around each other, finally getting a chance to say a proper goodbye.
• Every scene with Vera and the abandoned baby in "Frank's Best", and the end where Vera is filling out the adoption application.
• In "Start-Up", Malvinder's Arranged Marriage wife is The Ghost, but there's something sweet about the description of how they finally opened up to each other and fell in love for real.
  Malvinder: She talked, I listened, and after four months of marriage, we finally met.
• "Saving Patrick Bubley":
  • The opening scene is really sweet, with the Bubley brothers sharing a laugh and Maeve expressing gratitude and good wishes for each of her children (and Patrick returning the favor) before they all have Thanksgiving dinner. It would be one of the last times the entire Bubley family was happy together.
  • In the ending, the titular character is seen going back to school, when he turns around and sees the ghosts of his brothers behind him, encouraging him on with their waves.
• Will and Scotty showing up at Vera's hotel room at the end of "Superstar," pizza and beer in hand, after Nick's wife has kicked him out of the house.
• "Honor": Stillman saluting the victim (a fellow Vietnam War veteran) at the end.
  • In the beginning of the episode, Stillman instructs the detectives to treat this case as though the victim had been a family member.
• "One Night" implies that Justin, the killer's intended victim, is alone and that his recent acquaintance Valentino is his closest friend. At the end, Justin is rescued and Valentino comes to see him and hugs him.
• "Bad Night":
  • Both the victim's mother and his potential love interest.
    • While the love interest who was paralyzed from the waist down in a car accident was obviously unhappy about her state, unlike everyone else around her, she never blamed him for what happened and was able to live a happy, productive life as an elementary school teacher who genuinely loved her work and her students as if they were her own children. Even after finding out that her husband, the firefighter who "rescued" her but in actually was the one who caused her injury due to his inexperience, was his killer, she cried out, "No, not that sweet kid!"
    • The mother was able to convince the skeptical detectives to reopen her son's case, never believing a serial killer did him in, regardless of the little evidence available, and even said that it would be good karma to solve the case. Her ending has her being able to move out of the house they shared and hugging Lilly for solving her son's murder. Lilly even smiles and hugs her back.
  • The ending montage counts too because it has the victim's ghost avoiding being in the accident that kicked off the events of the episode, which also hints that his possible love interest may have started seeing him in a new light if he had managed to do so. There is also an Imagine Spot of Jeffries saving his wife from her own accident.
  • Vicky's father talks about being able to forgive Angus for the accident that paralyzed her, saying it was just an accident and encouraging Will to forgive the driver who killed his wife.
  Alex: The truth is, on a bad night it could've been you or me driving.
  • The end of the episode has Vicky's father and brother comfort her after years of estrangement.
• The end of "Committed" showed that Carmen painted a portrait of Bettie in the hopes that Otis would get to see it one day.
• "Strange Fruit" has a bittersweet one where, during the ending montage, Jeffries leaves a flower at the spot where the victim died 50 years ago. It was sadly established in the prologue that nearly everybody had forgotten about the victim, and thus hadn't left flowers for years. But Jeffries (who found the victim's body as a little boy) never forgot about him.

Season 4

• The end of "The War at Home" where Lindsey salutes her mother's casket after receiving her war medal, and her mother's ghost salutes back.
• “Shuffle Ball Change” has Maurice’s dance audition, with his macho dad Pat in the audience. When Pat sees Maurice dance, he recognizes his talent and dedication to the art. It’s written all over Pat’s face how proud he is, truly seeing his younger son for the first time out of his older brother’s shadow. Pat’s biggest regret is that he never got to tell Maurice how proud he was. Maurice’s dancing also has some intercuts of his younger self dancing with his late mom, who inspired his love for dance.
• "Stand up and Holler" has Rainey's ghost visit Joe, not in her cheerleader outfit, but wearing normal clothes. Not only is she acknowledging him as "the only real person", but we see her maintain her individuality, even in death.
  • "My daughter is my hero."
• The ending to "Fireflies", in which the victim turns out to be still alive and she is reunited with her family and best friend.
• The moment Jerkass dying businessman Jay Gratton from "The Good Death" starts redeeming himself is when he visits the mother of another patient who he earlier mocked and gives her a butterfly wind chime to remind her of her daughter’s happier moments.
• Vera's nod of acknowledgement to the ghost of one of the Serial Killer couple's many victims at the end of "Lonely Hearts".
  • The homeless possible hooker who helped out the team is seen getting married.
• The "Baby Blues" ending montage shows Devon being able to hold his baby daughter for the first time once the detectives tell him he didn't accidentally kill his baby sister as a child (a belief that had long traumatized him).
• In the episode, "Rampage", the girl was desperately telling the security guard that got shot to survive. She tries to motivate him with a picture of his family that she assumed he had, but then he told her he was all alone. Then she told him that he still needs to stay alive so that he can get another chance to have a family. At the end of the episode, we see the security guard, while unable to walk due to his wounds, has a wife and baby, and he seems very happy.
• In "Saving Sammy", Brent has to work through both his existing difficulty in communicating and his depression from knowing that the murderer of his parents is his big brother figure and sister's boyfriend, in order to share information which helps to solve the case. When Brent succeeds at this, Scotty tells Brent, in a way that he can understand, that he is proud of him.
  • In the ending montage, Brent is allowed to stay with his older sister. The new room he's staying in? The wallpaper is decorated to look like an ocean with dozens and dozens of fish swimming around his room, perhaps symbolizing how Brent wants to interact with other people again. And he smiles for the first time in years.
• The relationship between the Sugar Brothers in "The Red and the Blue". After the episode setting up that the victim, Truck Sugar, was a better musician than his older brother Ty, it finally comes to a head when Truck is forced to kick Ty out of the band to make it big. But in spite of the detective's (and Truck's) assumptions, he doesn't get angry, bitter, or jealous of his brother's success. Ty admits that he saw the day coming when his brother would leave him in the dust, and that he's proud that Truck has the chance to make something of himself. The brothers part with tears in their eyes.
  Ty: "Look here. I'll always have music. It doesn't matter if I'm playing a beer joint, or the gran' ol' Opery, I will play, and I'll love it. But I don't gotta hold you back. You just remember where you come from. Remember that music in momma's kitchen. Okay?"
• In "8:03 am":
  • The first half of the opening flashback where Michael and Madison talk about going to a dance together.
  • Skill's You Are Better Than You Think You Are speech to Madison, and how he is clearly embodying his own Reformed, but Rejected frustrations into it.
• Everything involving the friendship between Mike and Lena in "Cargo".
• The ending of "Offender". Although it borders close to Bittersweet Ending, the wife and husband make up after 20 years of the former believing the latter killed their son. As a fitting send-off, both see their son's ghost walking right up to them, as though meaning to join in a group-hug. The episode fades out to white, the symbolic color of the boy's undying love and innocence.

Season 5

• During the closing montage of "That Woman", we see Valens with the victim's mother who finally gets to celebrate her daughter's case being solved (she's been waiting over a decade to do so). Valens's gift to her: a note written by Carrie saying "I think that God loves me for who I am". It's especially heartwarming as this poor girl was slut-shamed by everyone, even people who didn't know her, and her mother had even said to the detectives that she was worried Carrie didn't realize how lovely and special she was.
• The episode "Devil Music" was a loving tribute to Elvis Presley for the 30th anniversary of his untimely demise. Not only was his Expy, Bingo Zohar, an extremely likable and talented non-conformist, but the ending itself deserves special mention; the Medley Exit features the King's much-loved classic, "I Can't Help Falling in Love with You",^note In spite of the song coming out nearly a decade after the time frame of the episode, in this case 1953 and Bingo's ghost is dressed in a sparkly Elvis-inspired costume. Furthermore, unlike some other Cold Case victims, his ghost had a variety of people whom he could have appeared to (his loving aunt, his girlfriend, any of the investigators, etc.) but chose to appear to his friend, who Bingo defended to the bigoted jerks in the episode at the man's club, and who in turn was just as happy to see him again one last time.
• The end of "The Road", where the serial killer's most recent victim is found alive and reunited with her fiancé, both of them having clearly never given up hope that they would see each other again.
  • "The Road" shows a home video Brenda's then-boyfriend David made of her running a marathon. Brenda stops to get a jug of water, and then suddenly holds up a sign asking him to marry her. He splutters for a moment about how he had been planning to ask her, and then happily says yes, hugs her, and lifts her off her feet. This is cute by itself, but becomes even more moving when they embrace the same way after she's saved from John Smith.
  • The widower of one of John Smith's victims plays a home video of his wife for their toddler daughter, who walks over and touches the screen with a smile.
• The end of "It Takes a Village" when the killer's last attempted victim is freed and his older sister runs to hug him.
• In "Andy in C Minor":
  • We have a flashback where Andy's father tells him he's changed his mind and will allow his son to get a cochlear implant. Why? He was looking through the photo album and saw a picture of younger Andy playing piano, back when he could hear. He admits he was afraid Andy would be ashamed of his deaf parents, and Andy assures him that will never happen.
    • During that flashback, what's the one phrase that's not in subtitles? "I love you".
  • Each scene of Andy's Defrosting the Ice Queen romance with Emma is sweeter than the last, from the way they smile at each other, to the Hidden Depths they bring out in each other, to the way she signs "I love you" to his ghost at the end.
• The mother in "Bad Reputation" giving her son his father's letters (which she had been hiding from him) after they found out exactly how he died.
• In "Slipping", the grown daughter of the victim kept a keepsake: a drawing she made for her mother. As luck would have it, it turns out the drawing is exactly the evidence the detectives need to incriminate her stepfather, the killer.
  • There's also the context behind the drawing. The first drawing Rachel made depicted her having blonde hair like her mother. Nancy told her daughter her red hair was lovely just the way it was. Later, the daughter made another drawing, only this one showed herself with red hair.
  • The fact that by the end, Nancy posthumously earned her happy ending: For decades, Rachel treated her mother like a dark family secret to hide away and fear, leaving her worried she would go crazy like she did. She never even talked about it with her own daughter Liza. But after the truth comes out, we see Rachel tell Liza about how her mother wrote the poems, finally able to share her history as a person.
• In "Justice", the little kid loves his sister so much, he's willing to kill the man who raped her. Hell, even the detectives take compassion on him since the guy was such a cold-hearted bastard.
  • The following reunion of the three rape victims. Although their past experience hurt them, it's touching to see they came out of their adversity as old friends. And as they leave their past behind, they still remain good friends.
• The ending of "Family 8108", where Billy posthumously receives the Medal of Honor for fighting in the war. We see his mother finally give her daughter an admiring smile, proud of her for having called upon Lilly and the detectives, who solved the case of her husband.
  • Although very poignant, hearing Billy's last letter is also heartwarming, as he admits his father inspired him to fight in the war, and how his experiences have taught him what you're fighting against isn't nearly as important as what you're fighting for. And if that doesn't make your heart melt, he mentions dreaming of his whole family being free from the internment camp, including his then baby sister!
• The ending of "Ghost Of My Child", where the mother is reunited with her child, who was kidnapped from her as an infant, three years later after it was revealed that he didn't die in an apartment fire that destroyed their home. The mother is shown happily offering her son a flower as he looks at her for the first time in years, and smiles at her in recognition. It also shows a glimpse of the mother, three years before, holding her infant son and embracing him while "Far Away" by Nickelback plays throughout the entire scene.
  • Everything Priscilla does to raise Max in the flashbacks, from getting a job to staying clean. One notable time is the memory of how she came to find solace at the flower shop. When Max was just born and the heating went out in her apartment, she searched for any warm place within walking distance, but with no luck. She was just about to give up hope of keeping her baby warm when she heard music from a flower shop that was still open. She and Max were able to stay warm there, and she promised her son she'd make sure he was always warm and happy and loved.

Season 6

• The end of "Glory Days" when Prof. Boreki showed the victim Mike's mother his final paper on which he got a B+, which surprised Boreki since, unlike his teammates, Mike earned it without cheating. Everyone in the episode remembered Mike as a great football player and a good person, but his mother was the only one who remembered how much he loved to read, and she finally got to meet someone who remembered her son the same way she did.
• In "One Small Step", we have the victim's older sister. Although she used to find her brother annoying when he was alive, she's matured to be a loving mother for her own family, and she feels bad about how she wasn't always the nicest to her late brother.
  • The mean old hermit in Danny’s neighborhood turned out to be a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who recognized that Danny was lonely and gave him what he needed to build a rocket to impress the other boys to make friends. Years later, he is happy when he hears Danny’s rocket worked, and he gets the rocket after Danny’s murder is solved, keeping it to remember the kid by fondly.
  • Danny and Seth are initially just unhappily thrust together out of convenience, but after they fight off some bullies together, the two bond deeply for the rest of their adventure (although the traumatic effect Danny's death has on Seth makes these moments bittersweet).
• The end of "Libertyville" with Julian Bellowes' spirit happily looking on as his wife and daughter finally meet his black sister and her family.
  • In the penultimate flashback, Julian reveals his African-American heritage and desire to reconnect with his family and integrate his housing development to his brother-in-law Harry. Harry is surprisingly sympathetic despite his jealousy of Julian both before and after the revelation, and concernedly asks why Julian isn't joining the rest of the family visiting his dying father.
• In "Witness Protection," the Victim of the Week (who was in witness protection) encounters a mobster he knew before and is terrified for his life, only to learn that the guy also turned state's evidence and is happy to see someone else he knew before, especially one who can understand what it's like to leave behind your old life, with their kids also becoming friends and getting a cute romance. However, both instances end up being Harsher in Hindsight for indirectly leading to one of the show's many tragically pointless murders.
• The relationship between the victim and his (not) daughter in "November 22".
• The ending of "Street Money", where the victim's childhood friend and former drug dealer turns his life around and begins helping out in the community, starting with putting up a new basketball hoop for the kids (something the victim wanted to accomplish). He sees the victim's father, who had always believed that he would never amount to anything, nod his head in approval. Finally, the victim himself appears to show he's proud of how his old friend has turned out.

Season 7

• In "Hoodrats":
  • It’s a minor moment, but right before Nash is murdered, he's preparing to go return the expensive camera that he borrowed from his girlfriend Vonda and that she initially thought he seduced her to steal after his disappearance.
  • Grady keeps a video of his archrival Nash mastering the trick that Grady became famous for after he spent month studying the video following Nash's dissapearence. When the cops ask him why he kept the video, Grady replies watching Nash do the trick was too beautiful a sight to destroy it.
  • The epilogue shows the skatebaords with Nash's personal logo finally being produced and sold.
• The ending of "Soul" where Thomas meets Archie and both see Billy's spirit.
• The victim's fiancé in "The Crossing" finding out after so many years that Darcy had intended to marry him, and then getting to see her in what would have been her wedding dress.
• In "Bombers," there's the scene of the homeless sewer dwellers admiring the mural that Carlos paints in the sewers, with one of them (who now runs a soup kitchen and later shows the mural to the detectives) saying that he still visits it as a reminder about how far he's come in the past decades.
• The victim in "One Fall" becoming a wrestler to bond with his son. Tragically, it was the decision that led to his death, but the motivation behind it (recognizing that he was becoming distant from his son after his divorce and hearing his son call wrestlers the coolest thing ever, he decided to take up his son's interest so that they could have something in common and his son would look up to him) was pure. He also does everything he can to shield his son from the darker aspect of wrestling matches: trying to censor the more violent stunts, only bringing his son when he knows he's going to win, assuring his son that everything is just pretend when he does get hurt so he doesn't worry (which also didn't go well, unfortunately).
• In "The Runaway Bunny", due to Harry's noble actions that led to his death, Miller places a bottle of Harry's favorite scotch in his box after writing "closed" on it.
• The last scene of the series shows Lilly meeting her baby niece for the first time and then taking her sister and niece out of their abusive home, with Chris resting her head on Lilly's shoulder.

General

• The ending montages often have moments like this for the side characters, implying that the solving of the case made their lives better, too. Examples include the drug-addicted mothers of the victims in both "Saving Patrick Bubley" and "8:03 AM" checking into rehab, the victim's Fat Bastard boss in "Ravaged" adopting her dog, and one of the suspects in "Wilkommen", a former Gang Banger who went straight after discovering acting, playing with his baby.
• Most of the spirit reunions at the end of an episode.