History Awesome / ColdCase

* The father in "Bad Reputation".

* Former DirtyCop turned private investigator Harry Denton, the victim in "The Runaway Bunny", was hired by a BlackWidow serial killer to find Bunny, the daughter of her latest victim who witnessed her stepmother poison her father. When Harry found her, instead of following through with the job, he turned on his client and decided to help Bunny escape by faking her death and keeping her safely hidden until he could find conclusive evidence proving the killer's guilt. He then found out a [[AmoralAttorney lawyer friend of his helped cover up another of the killer's murders]] and confronted him. The lawyer tried bribing Harry $50,000 to look the other way and killed him after Harry [[ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules tore the check to shreds]], determined to do the right thing for once.

** Before that, the foreman only got the wife to submit to servicing him because he had her husband at gunpoint. Even though she's still a princess in her mind, [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness she nonetheless surrenders her pride and dignity]] to save her beloved husband. She barely begins when the husband makes up his mind to fight the gun out of the foreman's hand. [[ForegoneConclusion It doesn't end well]]. Still, he was willing to sacrifice his own life to protect the woman who's always been a princess to him. He may have married into royalty, but the husband has the heart and soul of a brave prince.
** Daryl Booker. His CharacterDevelopment from a gruff [[RecoveredAddict former crackhead]] to [[PapaWolf Kara's father figure]] and [[KnightInSourArmor Protector]] to (nearly) becoming [[AntiHero her parent's avenger]].

* In the later portion of "Look Again", Lilly Rush boldly faces one of the suspects, an abusive spouse. When he tries to shake her down for information on where his wife and family has gone off to, Lilly refuses to tell. She instead goes into a [[ReasonWhyYouSuckSpeech speech about his manipulative nature]], with a side dish of her EstablishingCharacterMoment.
--> '''Lilly Rush:''' Is this how you handle women you can't control? You're supposed to scare me?
--> '''Todd:''' It's supposed to make you think.
--> '''Lilly Rush:''' I'm not like the girls you're used to, Todd. You can't try to charm me, then when that doesn't work, talk down to me. Then when ''that'' doesn't work, get aggressive. I'm not Jill, or Melanie. [[IAmTheNoun I'm the police Headquarters]], you moron.

* Nadia Kosolov, the victim in "Triple Threat," is standing on a street corner singing Tom Petty's "Free Falling" when her father shows up. When she sees him she transitions flawlessly into "Va Pensiero" from Verdi's ''Nabucco'', a song about freedom and homesickness, then switches back to "Free Falling". Doubles as SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic.

* Jane Everett, The victim of "Breaking News" get a posthumous one in the ending montage. As she was killed to cover up a health scandal in a plastic company she had uncovered. She may have not had lived to tell the tale but her work allow the team to arrest her killer but also the CEO and main lawyer of the company for having covered both of those crimes.

-->'''Jerry''': I'm not a bum.
-->'''Sonny''': You're not, kid.
-->'''Jerry''': I'm not a bum!
-->'''Sonny''': Good on you, kid.

* Jane Everett, The victim of "Breaking News" get a posthumous one in the ending montage. As she was killed to cover up a health scandal in a plastic company she had uncovered. She may have not had lived to tell the tale but her work allow the team to arrest her killer but also the CEO and main lawyer of the company for having covering both of those crimes.

* "The Perfect Day" has the epilogue montage, where Stillman solemnly watches as the victim's late father's picture is taken down from the wall of honor. No matter what he did as a police officer, it hardly outweighs that he [[DomesticAbuse abused his wife and children]] ''and'' [[OffingTheOffspring killed]] one of his daughters, and it possibly speaks volumes of what kind of police officer he ''[[PoliceBrutality really]]'' was. So it's fitting that he's punished by having his title posthumously stripped from him.

** Due to his noble actions that led to his death, Miller places a bottle of Harry's favorite scotch in his box after writing "closed" on it.

* Several victims get pretty awesome [[LastStand last stands]] against their killers. Examples include "Family 8108," "Devil Music," and "Strange Fruit."

* Scotty and Vera give the murderer in "Slipping" - a vile piece of work who not only tried to drive his wife to madness to steal her work (recruiting the gullible and lovelorn housekeeper into helping him) and murdered her when she confronted him, but also allowed her daughter to spend 45 years thinking that she had driven her mom over the edge and might go crazy too, before wrongfully claiming the Nobel Laureate that his wife's work earned - a massive ReasonYouSuckSpeech outlining just how much of pathetic bag of garbage he really is before arresting the bastard in front of a crowd of people.

*

** Before that, the foreman only got the wife to submit to servicing him because he had her husband at gunpoint. Even though she's still a princess in her mind, [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness she nonetheless surrenders her pride and dignity]] to save her beloved husband. She barely begins when the husband makes up his mind to fight the gun out of the foreman's hand. [[ForegoneConclusion It doesn't end well.]] Still, he was willing to sacrifice his own life to protect the woman who's always been a princess to him. He may have married into royalty, but the husband has the heart and soul of a brave prince.

* In "Discretions", Nick manages to coax out a confession out of the DirtyCop by [[ObfuscatingStupidity pretending to be drunk]], in a room staffed with undercover cops.

* The scene in "The Woods," where Lilly rips apart George's god complex and tells him that for all his bravado and posturing that he's god, he's still just the same frightened little boy whose mommy abandoned him to be raped by a pedophile and never loved him. While George was angry once before, this is the only time where his mask completely cracks, reducing him to a screaming lunatic begging her to shut up.

* The ending montage of "Discretions", when the two real killers of a college girl are caught in a stake-out. If they had any doubts they'd ever be arrested, those doubts practically ''evaporate'' the second those cops show up.
* At the end of "The Sleepover," a SympatheticMurderer, with Scotty's supervision, has a tearful reunion with his sister in the mental hospital to which he has been committed. When their AbusiveParents (who had, among other things, forced the brother to ''waterboard'' the sister when she disobeyed them) show up, the sister quietly shakes her head and Scotty slams the door to the brother's room in their faces.

* The father in "Family".

* Meta example: The fact the series, for the most part, did an ''incredibly well'' job with [[TimeShiftedActors casting actors that strongly resembled one another from the past/present.]] Perhaps the best example is the younger Lt. John Stillman, portrayed by Anthony John Crane, looking ''eerily'' similar to the older, present-day Stillman, portrayed by John Finn, which you'll notice if you watch his older work, such as the first season episode of ''Series/LawAndOrder'' "Poison Ivy", where he also played a cop (albeit a [[DirtyCop dirty and racist one]], unlike the decent, ByTheBookCop he portrays here.)
** There's also the equally excellent job at recreating the numerous eras that the show would flashback to--hair, clothes, etc., as well as using filming styles common to that era--film, home video, cell phone video.
* In some cases, seeing justice be served to the criminals who have long [[KarmaHoudiniWarranty evaded justice]].

* Stand Up and Holler:
-->'''Lilly:''' [[IronicEcho Don't move a muscle,]] [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch bitch.]]
** Also, how they arrest the AlphaBitch who had a bunch of {{Jerk Jock}}s rape the WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds killer: they grab her right out of her ten-year high school reunion.
*** While she walks away with the arrested [[AlphaBitch Becca]], Lilly [[DeathGlare glares]] at the JerkJock who raped the [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds killer]] and the ManChild gym coach who allowed it. It's almost like she's wordlessly telling the two "Wipe that smile off your faces: you're next."

-->'''Rainey (smiling calmly):''' Let them.

** When Becca gives a poor "presentation" in class, Rainey voices how inadequate the presentation was. Bonus points for being a moment of character development. Earlier, Rainey backed down when Becca told her being smart was "stupid". Here, we see Rainey stand her ground and tell her how school is supposed to be a place for learning, not earning popularity points.

* The kids beating up the bullies in "One Small Step" especially since they were completely insane.
** Later jumping in to save his killer.

* In "Ghost of my Child", Priscilla Chapin is a former drug addict who, against all odds, stayed clean for her son, even [[MoralityChainBeyondTheGrave in the span of the five years she thought he was dead]].
** Another, smaller one: In the flashback, baby Max's abductors read what's sown on the pajamas his real mother made him: "[[ArmorPiercingResponse MY MOMMY LOVES ME]]". It's as though this innocent baby were defiantly telling his abductors "Just you wait, one day, my ''real'' Mommy will find me!" And years later, she does.

* During the MedleyExit of "Fly Away", we see Lilly going into a interview room and passing by a long line of young girls. Once inside, a little girl tearfully fingers the [[DepartmentOfChildDisservices arrogant, pedophilic social worker]] who molested her, who sits on the other side of the mirror and knows that his [[OffscreenKarma karma]] is finally coming. Judging by both the evidence and Lilly's expression (who at this point is '''''pissed'''''), you know that bastard's going down.

* Scotty and Vera give the murderer in "Slipping" - a vile piece of work who not only tried to drive his wife to madness to steal her work (recruiting the gullible and lovelorn housekeeper into helping him) and murdered her when she confronted him, but also allowed her daughter to spend 45 years thinking that she had driven her mom over the edge and that might go crazy too before wrongfully claiming the Nobel laurate that this wife's work earned - a massive ReasonYouSuckSpeech outlining just how much of pathetic bag of garbage he really is before arresting the bastard in front of a crowd of people.

* Former DirtyCop turned private investigator Harry Denton, the victim in "The Runaway Bunny", was hired by a BlackWidow serial killer to find Bunny, the daughter of her latest victim who witnessed her stepmother poison her father. When Harry found her, instead of following through with the job, he turned on his client and decided to help Bunny escape by faking her death and keeping her safely hidden until he could find conclusive evidence proving the killer's guilt. He then found out a [[AmoralAttorney lawyer friend of his helped cover up another of the killer's murders]] and confronted him. The lawyer tried bribing Harry $50,000 to look the other way and killed him after Harry [[ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules tore the check to shreds]], determined to the right thing for once.

* Former DirtyCop turned private investigator Harry Denton, the victim in "The Runaway Bunny", was hired by a black widow serial killer to find Bunny, the daughter of her latest victim who witnessed the woman poison her father. When Harry found her, instead of following through with the job, he turned on his client and decided to help Bunny escape by faking her death and keeping her safely hidden until he could find conclusive evidence proving the killer's guilt. He then found out a [[AmoralAttorney lawyer friend of his helped cover up another of the killer's murders]] and confronted him. The lawyer tried bribing Harry $50,000 to look the other way and killed him after Harry [[ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules tore the check to shreds]], determined to the right thing for once.

* Scotty and Vera give the murderer in "Slipping" - a vile piece of work who not only tried to drive his wife to madness to steal her work (recruiting the gullible and lovelorn housekeeper into helping him) and murdered her when she confronted him, but also allowed her daughter to spend 45 years thinking that she had driven her Mom over the edge and that she might go crazy too before wrongfully claiming the Nobel laurate that her work earned - a Massive ReasonYouSuckSpeech outlining just how much of pathetic bag of garbage he really is before arresting the bastard in front of a crowd of people.

** Another, smaller one: In the flashback, baby Max's abductors read what's sown on the pajamas his real mother made him: "[[ArmorPiercingResponse MY MOMMY LOVES ME]]" It's as though this innocent baby were defiantly telling his abductors "Just you wait, one day, my ''real'' Mommy will find me!" And years later, she does.
** Lilly telling Max's kidnappers that his mother's name is "Priscilla" when said-kidnapper calls her "[[ItIsDehumanizing that woman]]". Lilly may have issues with druggie moms, but she's [[CharacterDevelopment come to see]] Priscilla is a [[GoodParents cut above the rest]] and deserves to be addressed as Max's rightful mother.

* Formally corrupt cop turned private Investigator, Harry Denton the victim in The Runaway Bunny was hired by a black widow serial killer to find Bunny daughter of her latest victim who witnessed her poison her father. When Harry found her instead of following through the job, turned on his client and decided to help her escape by faking her death and keep her hidden safely until he can find conclusive evidence proving her guilt. He then found out his lawyer friend of his helped cover up another murder he confronted him where said friend tried bribing Harry $50,000 to look the other way and killed him after Harry tore the check to shreds determined to the right thing for once.

** Due to his noble actions that led to his death Miller placed a bottle of Harry's favorite scotch in his box after writing Closed on it.

* "Love conquers Al": Seeing how much a [[LackOfEmpathy cold-hearted bitch]] she was through the episode, it is satisfying to Jane being taken to jail, all for setting up the murder of an innocent girl.

* The scene in The Woods, where Lilly rips apart George's god complex and tells him that for all his bravado and posturing that he's god, he's still just the same frightened little boy whose mommy abandoned him to be raped by a pedophile and never loved him. While George was angry once before, this is the only time where his mask completely cracks, reducing him to a screaming lunatic begging her to shut up.

* "The Perfect Day" has the epilogue montage, where Stillman solemnly watches as the victim's late father's picture is taken down from the wall of honor. No matter what he did as a police officer, it hardly outwieghs that he [[DomesticAbuse abused his wife and children]] ''and'' [[OffingTheOffspring killed]] one of his daughters, and it possibly speaks volumes of what kind of police officer he ''[[PoliceBrutality really]]'' was. So it's fitting that he's punished by having his title posthumously stripped from him.

* In "The River", Miller has Scotty to talk to a guy who has been hanging around a local playground. Scotty talks to the guy and realizes he's a pedophile. After warning him never to come back to the playground, Scott returns to find out that not only has the man returned to the playground, he's now talking to one of the kids he noticed him eyeballing earlier. Without saying a word, Scotty merely gestures to the kid, who instantly knows to get out of there. The next thing we see is Scotty beating the crap out of the guy.

* In the later portion of "Look Again", Lily Rush boldly faces one of the suspects, an abusive spouse. When he tries to shake her down for information on where his wife and family has gone off to, Lily refuses to tell. She instead goes into a [[ReasonWhyYouSuckSpeech speech about his manipulative nature]], with a side dish of her EstablishingCharacterMoment.
--> '''Lily Rush:''' Is this how you handle women you can't control? You're supposed to scare me?

--> '''Lily Rush:''' I'm not like the girls you're used to, Todd. You can't try to charm me, then when that doesn't work, talk down to me. Then when ''that'' doesn't work, get aggressive. I'm not Jill, or Melany. [[IAmTheNoun I'm the police Headquarters]], you moron.
* Near the ending of "Gleen", When Lily and Vera confront the killer. Instead of letting him listen in on his daughter's conversation with his would-be fiancée, he's forced to stay out. It's barely even thirty seconds before he's stewing in frustration, revealing his weakness as a ControlFreak. Lily and Vera casually point out [[ReasonWhyYouSuckSpeech how the killer controls his wives instead of letting them lead their own lives]]. Just when he's a split second from "[[WouldHitAGirl teaching a lesson]]" to Lily, she calmly drops an ArmorPiercingQuestion about how his wife's flasher was a convenient scapegoat. This leaves the killer speechless, unable to deny what an overall weak person he is.

* During the MedleyExit of "Fly Away", we see Lily going into a interview room and passing by a long line of young girls. Once inside, a little girl tearfully fingers the [[DepartmentOfChildDisservices arrogant, pedophilic social worker]] who molested her, who sits on the other side of the mirror and knows that his [[OffscreenKarma karma]] is finally coming. Judging by both the evidence and Lily's expression (who at this point is '''''pissed'''''), you know that bastard's going down.
** Earlier on, when Scotty and Lily confront Mr. Freely in the interrogation room. When they tell him they know what he did, Mr. Freely casually [[ShutUpKirk points out how nobody really cares about his victims]]. In response, Lily presents case files on every child he ever worked with, remarking that ''their mothers'' cared. And she tells him that they're on the other side of the window, telling "all about Mr. Freely". ...Only, there's nobody there. But ''he'' doesn't know that. It works, and he spills the beans about what happened to Toya and Rosie.

* In "Sherry Darlin'", we have James' half-brother who, while James was away, Sherry tried to seduce. She offered that they could run away to anywhere they wanted. But the half-brother had too much integrity and refused. Oh sure, when he tried to tell James what happened, the latter thought he was lying and [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished hit him with a brick that left a scar]]. But not only does it prove the step-brother has character, it later helps Lily Rush provide evidence of Sherry's other husbands.
* "Maternal Instincts" has its small moment. Meaning just about every moment Lily has with Sean, from her pointing out [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech how unbelievable it is Sean is letting people who want to listen to him walk out the door]], to sitting down and telling him you can't just plow through life winging it without any guidance. The latter requires Lily swallowing her pride and admitting ''she'' was once in Sean's shoes and she needed help as well.

-->'''Lily:''' [[IronicEcho Don't move a muscle,]] [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch bitch.]]

*** While she walks away with the arrested [[AlphaBitch Becca]], Lily [[DeathGlare glares]] at the JerkJock who raped the [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds killer]] and the ManChild gym coach who allowed it. It's almost like she's wordlessly telling the two "Wipe that smile off your faces: you're next."

* In "8:03", Lily and Scotty confront Madison's killer, a SmugSnake who dealt drugs in his youth. Oh he may act cool as a cucumber at first, but it doesn't last. Evidence points to him, especially since he identified [[INeverSaidItWasPoison the gun he purchased from Skill]]. But the true crowning moment of awesome comes when Scotty ''only'' threatens the killer, and the killer turns [[DirtyCoward coward]] and promises to spill his guts.

** Lily and Will trick Spider's ex-girlfriend into confessing by simply mentioning a witness saw her helping Spider kill an innocent woman, [[INeverSaidItWasPoison but not that it was nighttime]] when it happened.

** Lily telling Max's kidnappers that his mother's name is "Priscilla" when said-kidnapper calls her "[[ItIsDehumanizing that woman]]". Lily may have issues with druggie moms, but she's [[CharacterDevelopment come to see]] Priscilla is a [[GoodParents cut above the rest]] and deserves to be addressed as Max's rightful mother.