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 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.
• 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?
• 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?
• 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?