History YMMV / ColdCase

** A number of the one-off victims have small fanbases of their own, such as Sean "Coop" Cooper ("Forever Blue"), Carrie Swett ("That Woman"), Rita Baxter ("The Sleepover"), Rita Flynn ("Pin Up Girl"), Alice Miller ("Factory Girls"), Patrick Bubley's brothers ("Saving Patrick Bubley"), Julian Bellowes ("Libertyville"), Jimmy Tully ("Shore Leave"), Ray Takahashi ("Family 8108"), Marlene Bradford ("A Dollar, A Dream), Dexter Collins ("Street Money"), Gonzalo Luque ("Stealing Home") Rainey Karlsen ("Stand Up and Holler"), Mike Chulaski ("Cargo"), Sam Randall ("Boy Crazy"), Maurice Hall ("Shuffle, Ball Change"), Miriam Forrester ("Wednesday's Women"), Laura [=McKinney=] ("True Calling"), Jack Chao Lu and Tam Sung ("Chinatown"), Vivian Lynn ("[=WASP=]"), Felicia Grant ("Almost Paradise"), Melanie Campbell ("Fireflies"), Rose Collins ("Best Friends") and Hank Dempsey ("The House"), ([[spoiler:the last three of whom turn out to have survived their apparent murders]]).

** A number of the one-off victims have small fanbases of their own, such as Sean "Coop" Cooper ("Forever Blue"), Carrie Swett ("That Woman"), Rita Baxter ("The Sleepover"), Rita Flynn ("Pin Up Girl"), Alice Miller ""Factory Girls"), Patrick Bubley's brothers ("Saving Patrick Bubley"), Julian Bellowes ("Libertyville"), Jimmy Tully ("Shore Leave"), Marlene Bradford ("A Dollar, A Dream), Dexter Collins ("Street Money"), Gonzalo Luque ("Stealing Home") Rainey Karlsen ("Stand Up and Holler"), Mike Chulaski ("Cargo"), Sam Randall ("Boy Crazy"), Maurice Hall ("Shuffle, Ball Change"), Miriam Forrester ("Wednesday's Women"), Laura [=McKinney=] ("True Calling"), Jack Chao Lu and Tam Sung ("Chinatown"), Vivian Lynn ("[=WASP=]"), Felicia Grant ("Almost Paradise"), Melanie Campbell ("Fireflies"), Rose Collins ("Best Friends") and Hank Dempsey ("The House"), ([[spoiler:the last three of whom turn out to have survived their apparent murders]]).

** A number of the one-off victims have small fanbases of their own, such as Sean "Coop" Cooper ("Forever Blue"), Carrie Swett ("That Woman"), Rita Baxter ("The Sleepover"), Rita Flynn ("Pin Up Girl"), Patrick Bubley's brothers ("Saving Patrick Bubley"), Julian Bellowes ("Libertyville"), Jimmy Tully ("Shore Leave"), Marlene Bradford ("A Dollar, A Dream), Dexter Collins ("Street Money"), Gonzalo Luque ("Stealing Home") Rainey Karlsen ("Stand Up and Holler"), Mike Chulaski ("Cargo"), Sam Randall ("Boy Crazy"), Maurice Hall ("Shuffle, Ball Change"), Laura [=McKinney=] ("True Calling"), Jack Chao Lu and Tam Sung ("Chinatown"), Vivian Lynn ("[=WASP=]"), Felicia Grant ("Almost Paradise"), Melanie Campbell ("Fireflies"), Rose Collins ("Best Friends") and Hank Dempsey ("The House"), ([[spoiler:the last three of whom turn out to have survived their apparent murders]]).

** A number of the one-off victims have small fanbases of their own, such as Sean "Coop" Cooper ("Forever Blue"), Carrie Swett ("That Woman"), Rita Baxter ("The Sleepover"), Rita Flynn ("Pin Up Girl"), Patrick Bubley's brothers ("Saving Patrick Bubley"), Julian Bellowes ("Libertyville"), Jimmy Tully ("Shore Leave"), Marlene Bradford ("A Dollar, A Dream), Dexter Collins ("Street Money"), Rainey Karlsen ("Stand Up and Holler"), Mike Chulaski ("Cargo"), Sam Randall ("Boy Crazy"), Maurice Hall ("Shuffle, Ball Change"), Laura [=McKinney=] ("True Calling"), and Felicia Grant ("Almost Paradise").

** A character in "Frank's Best" wanted to go to the US but was delayed because of the chaos of post 9/11 America.

** A number of the one-off victims have small fanbases of their own, such as Sean "Coop" Cooper ("Forever Blue"), Carrie Swett ("That Woman"), Rita Baxter ("The Sleepover"), Rita Flynn ("Pin Up Girl"), Patrick Bubley's brothers ("Saving Patrick Bubley"), Julian Bellowes ("Libertyville"), Jimmy Tully ("Shore Leave"), Marlene Bradford ("A Dollar, A Dream), Dexter Collins ("Street Money"), Rainey Karlsen ("Stand Up and Holler"), Mike Chulaski ("Cargo"), Sam Randall ("Boy Crazy"), and Felicia Grant ("Almost Paradise").

** A number of the one-off victims have small fanbases of their own, such as Sean "Coop" Cooper ("Forever Blue"), Carrie Swett ("That Woman"), Rita Baxter, Rita Flynn, Patrick Bubley's brothers, Julian Bellowes, Jimmy Tully, Marlene Bradford, Dexter Collins, Rainey Karlsen, Mike Chulaski, Sam Randall, and Felicia Grant.
** Even if the killers on the show, particularly the {{Serial Killer}}s, mostly manage to avoid being [[EvilIsCool portrayed in a positive light]], George Marks is considered the most memorable despite his depraved actions. His ruthlessness, surprisingly tragic backstory, ability to actually outwit the detectives and being [[PlayingAgainstType played by]] the quirky [[Series/StarTrekEnterprise John Billingsley]] made him a standout character and a villain that the show later continuously tried (and failed) to recreate.

** "Family" can be seen as this. Yes, the killer and the kidnapper do end up being arrested for their crimes, but the fate of the mother and daughter is unlikely to end well; the girl is still [[BrokenBird damaged]] from her years of growing up without a father, her knowledge of mother abandoning her at birth and being exposed to the harsh world of foster care (or it was in her case). The mother, on the other hand, lives hand-to-mouth in a group home, virtually has no skills to come by and is seen as still [[NervousWreck emotionally wrecked]] by the end of the episode, even with the HopeSpot between the two women reuniting and all.
** This also applies to the victim's daughter in "Gleen". Her mother was viciously murdered when she was only five years old, it still deeply affects her in the present day, twenty years later, and even with a caring and well-rounded supporter at her side (in the form of her father's fiancée), she outright admits to Lilly that she may as well [[spoiler: [[DrivenToSuicide kill herself]]]] if it's found out that her father was the one who killed her mother. [[spoiler: [[FromBadToWorse He did]] and Lilly does end up arresting him, [[ThrowTheDogABone but out of respect to her, she can't bring herself to put the cuffs on him in front of her.]]]]

** The ending of "Ghost of My Child" is supposed to be one of the more moving and happy of the series; it ends with Priscilla, a recovered drug addict and struggling single mother, finally reuniting with the son she thought had died in a house fire as an infant. The fire had been used to cover up his kidnapping by a childless social worker and her husband. The couple are arrested and the child is removed. Except it's been three years since he was taken from Priscilla and while he seems to recognizes her, he's likely too young to understand that he's being taken from his kidnappers and given back to his rightful parent -- from his perspective, he would experience it as being ripped away from the only life, parents, and home he's known and given to a stranger. Returning him may be right decision (certainly legally, and arguably morally as well), but it's probably going to be a lot more complicated and traumatic for him than the upbeat ending montage would seem to imply. At least the mother may now be able to reconcile with her parents, who are willing support her raising her son this time.

* FanficFuel: The compelling natures of most of the victims' stories and the happy ImagineSpot or alternate universe in "Bad Night" make it interesting to imagine the events leading up to the the murders in other episodes being avoided due to ForWantOfANail plot deviations.

** A number of the one-off victims have small fanbases of their own, particularly Sean "Coop" Cooper ("Forever Blue") and Carrie Swett ("That Woman").

** The killer in "Revenge", [[spoiler:the abused son of a pedophile who sought his father's approval]], leading 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 abuse that he genuinely thought a nine-year-old could somehow swim all the way home?

** The victim in "Boy Crazy" - UsefulNotes/{{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.

** Deidre from "The Promise". The poor girl was invited to a frat party, only to be fat-shamed, force-fed alcohol, and sexually assaulted. In her traumatized state, she set the frat house on fire, but unknown to her, the frat president deliberately locked another girl inside, who died of smoke inhalation. She is led away in handcuffs at the end of the episode along with the rapist councilman and frat president, as if their crimes are equal.

** Watching the season three episode "Death Penalty: Final Appeal" and season five episode "Spiders" ends up this due to the actors in the episode (Creator/MichaelJace playing a character who was ''innocent'' of the crime he was executed for in the former and Johnny Lewis playing the younger version of the killer in the latter) committing murders in real life.

** Future ''Film/{{Creed}}'' and ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' star Creator/TessaThompson played a cross-dressing lesbian bootlegger in "Best Friends".

** "Stand Up and Holler" made mention of ''Music/BritneySpears'' as a soon-to-be-has-been celebrity. This was in 2007 which was her lowest year personally.

* EvilIsSexy: A decent amount of killers and {{Asshole Victim}}s are quite seductive and alluring, including [[GoldDigger Sherry Fox-Stephens]] in "Sherry Darlin", [[BlackWidow Caroline Hargreave]] in "The Runaway Bunny", [[AlphaBitch Becca Abrams]] in "Stand Up And Holler", [[MrsRobinson Lauren Williams]] in "Blackout", and [[FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon Mike Delaney]] in "Justice."

** Debatable. However, most long-time viewers agree that Season 7 was the point at which the series went downhill, save for the odd good episode. Both Lilly and Scotty went out of character and turned rogue against Moe Kitchner and Hector Cruz respectively over several episodes causing ArcFatigue or that some episodes were merely [[ItstheSameNowItSucks retellings of older episodes]].

** The killer in "Revenge", [[spoiler:the abused son of a pedophile who sought his father's approval]], so he 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 abuse that he genuinely thought a nine-year-old could somehow swim all the way home?

* DesignatedVillain: In-universe in both "Family" and "Bad Reputation". The fathers were called "cowards" by their children for not letting honor before reason dictate their actions, despite the fact that doing so would have made a bad situation far worse.

* ValuesDissonance: While the case flashbacks to other eras often featured DeliberateValuesDissonance (see main page), the present-day scenes are starting to show signs of this trope as of the early 2020s, due to changing views on LGBTQ rights in the years during and since the series aired. In "Daniela" and "Boy Crazy," both about transgender youth, the team crack jokes at the victims' expense and continually use deadnames. This is especially jarring in "Boy Crazy," as the way the team talk about Sam is nearly identical to the way his 1960's contemporaries talk about him, except it's PlayedForLaughs in the 2000's and PlayedForDrama in 1963. "A Time to Hate" is noticeable for its use of LGBTQ slurs and the detectives' confusion as to why an older drag queen would continue to fight against discrimination. Lilly also vocally comes out in favor of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policies for the police force. Given that several other episodes are notable for their delicate exploration of LGBTQ couples and no one on the team ever thinks that one's sexuality, gender, or gender expression is an appropriate motive for murder, it could be considered FairForItsDay. However, the shifting attitudes does make it an UnintentionalPeriodPiece and is a reminder the 2000's are a relic of the distant past.

* ValuesDissonance: While the case flashbacks to other eras often featured DeliberateValuesDissonance (see main page), the present-day scenes are starting to show signs of this trope as of the early 2020s, due to changing views on LGBTQ rights in the years during and since the series aired. In "Daniela" and "Boy Crazy," both about transgender youth, the team crack jokes at the victims' expense and continually use deadnames. This is especially jarring in "Boy Crazy," as the way the team talk about Sam is nearly identical to the way his 1960's contemporaries talk about him, except it's PlayedForLaughs in the 2000's and PlayedForDrama in 1963. "A Time to Hate" is noticeable for its use of LGBTQ slurs and the detectives' confusion as to why an older drag queen would continue to fight against discrimination. Lilly also vocally comes out in favor of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policies for the police force. Given that several other episodes are notable for their delicate exploration of LGBTQ couples and no one on the team ever thinks that one's sexuality, gender, or gender expression is an appropriate motive for murder, it could be considered FairForItsDay. However, the shifting attitudes does make it an UnintentionalPeriodPeice and is a reminder the 2000's are a relic of the distant past.

** "Stay By Me" by Ben E. King is played in "The Good-Bye Room", when Hilary's boyfriend reassures her that he'll marry her after she delivers their baby. A few flashbacks later, it's revealed [[spoiler: [[DramaticIrony he's cheating]] on her]].

* ValuesDissonance: While the case flashbacks to other eras often featured DeliberateValuesDissonance (see main page), the present-day scenes are starting to show signs of this trope as of the early 2020s, due to changing views on LGBTQ rights in the years during and since the series aired. Weirdly, since "Forever Blue" was praised by critics and fans alike as progressive, other episodes are decidedly of their time. Most notably "Daniela", where the team [[PlayedForLaughs makes jokes about the victim]] and continually deadnames her after TheReveal; "A Time to Hate", where detectives drop the f-word on several occasions and express bewilderment why an old drag queen would continue to stand up for himself in face of discrimination; and "Boy Crazy", in which the team speaks about FTM transgender victim Sam in the derisive, dismissive way that the 1963 community does. Lilly also vocally comes out at one point in favor of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policies for the police force. It could be argued as FairForItsDay, as nobody on the team ever feels that one's sexuality, gender, or gender expression is an appropriate motive for murder, but it's still [[UnintentionalPeriodPiece jarring]] and a reminder that the mid-2000's are a relic of the distant past.

** Actually she was seen as a hero for getting what could be considered a degrading job to feed her son in a time when that would’ve been seen as "unseemly" for a woman. Not helping is that this happened after her husband refused to get a better paying job ''during the Great Depression'' out of {{pride}}!

** The bastard father from "The Brush Man" is finally arrested for murdering the salesman who tried to intervene with the abusive situation of the man's family. However, this still does little to undo the 40-plus years of torment he inflicted onto his wife, who's nowadays an alcoholic and his son, who hasn't accomplished much with his life due to all of [[DarkAndTroubledPast his underlying issues.]]

** Tina in "Rampage" is referred to as a [[{{Butterface}} butter face]] (as in everything is hot "but her face") by her [[SmugSnake meathead]] [[JerkJock ex-boyfriend]]. [[IAmNotPretty She even calls]] ''herself'' a "hit and run queen". Oh yeah, for those of you who haven't seen the episode [[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0115297/mediaviewer/rm2242182400 this]] is the aforementioned "butter face".

** "WASP": [[spoiler: Creator/JohnAniston and Deanna Dunagan]]

** The victim in "The Sleepover" is considered unattractive and nerdy by the other girls, who deem her unpopular at school. In reality, she's adorkable and quite cute. Then again, it was the '90s.

** Thanks to AnachronismStew and WritersCannotDoMath, some episodes that would have been otherwise more serious tend to get undermined. Examples include the victim and her classmates in "Stand Up and Holler" being 16-year-old high school juniors yet are attending their ten-year reunion with the seniors or how the victim and his [[spoiler: first wife]] in "Two Weddings" apparently have access to [=MySpace=] in '''2000'''. The latter may be a case of MostWritersAreAdults, since not only is that not possible, the page in question is very clearly based on Facebook (and leaves in the HTML address that shows it was a prop. [[LeftItIn Whoops.]])

** The episode "Volunteers" became this in light of Dobbs v. Jackson, which overturned the decision conferred by Roe v. Wade.