History Recap / ColdCaseS5E15TheRoad

* EarnYourHappyEnding: Brenda. Aside from undoubtedly needing therapy after her experience, she is able to hold on long enough for Lilly to rescue her, and is reunited with her fiancé.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Smith imprisons Brenda near a church, enabling her to keep track of time by listening to the ringing bells. Therefore, she won't snap the way his other victims have. To top it off, this rattles ''him'' so much that he makes the mistake that gets him arrested and his determination to make Lily give up like his other victims did leads to him making the final mistake that tips Lily off not only to the fact that Brenda's still alive, but where she is.

!Tropes

* EarnYourHappyEnding: For Brenda: Asides from undoubtedly needing therapy after her experience, she is able to hold on long enough for Lilly to rescue her and she’s reunited with her fiancé.

A woman was abducted in 2007 from her engagement party and is presumed murdered. Lilly and Scotty are instructed to take the woman's presumed killer on a night drive to prison. During it, they suspect that she may still be alive.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: For Brenda: Asides from undoubtfully needing therapy after her experience, she is able to hold on long enough for Lilly to rescue her and she’s reunited with her fiancé.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Smith imprisons Brenda near a church, enabling her to keep track of time by listening to the ringing bells. Therefore, she won't snap the way his other victims have. To top it off, this rattles ''him'' so much that he makes the mistake that gets him arrested and his determination to make Lily give up like his other victims did leads to him making the final mistake that tips Lily off to the fact that Brenda's still alive and to where she is.

* SavedByTheChurchBell: One victim is saved from her abductor because the villain gets overconfident and tells the investigators that the woman is able to stay sane due to being able to hear nearby church bells, which she uses to count her days in captivity. Det. Rush's knowledge of the neighborhood in question allows her to determine where she is being held and rescue her.

* WoundedGazelleGambit: John does one of these to kidnap Brenda.

* MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot: Exactly how John gets caught. He's speeding and the police that pull him over discover Brenda's property in his car. It becomes a plot point as Lilly realises he has to have reacted like he did for a reason.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: Asides from most likely needing therapy after her experience, Brenda is able to hold on long enough for Lilly to rescue her and she’s reunited with her fiancé.

* BuriedAlive: what John Smith does to his victims. Incapacitates his victims in basements, watches them give up, and then leaves them to starve to death.
* DespairEventHorizon: John explicitly attempts to drive his victims over it. The only reason he doesn't manage to kill Brenda, his surviving victim, is because she can hear church bells ringing and so she can keep track of time.

* EurekaMoment: Lilly has one.

* MindRape: what John does to his victims as well. A notable example is when he shows one of his victims a home video of her baby, who is growing up without her.
* MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot: exactly how John gets caught. He's speeding and the police that pull him over discover Brenda's property in his car. It becomes a plot point as Lilly realises he has to have reacted like that for a reason.
* MotiveRant: John gets a few.
* NoNameGiven: Lilly and Scotty never learn John Doe's real name. His licence is fake and his DNA doesn't match anything on the system. Serves to make him creepier.
* RoomFullOfCrazy: what the basements in which the victims are discovered look like when they're discovered. They write desperate messages to their loved ones on the walls when they are kidnapped and slowly starve to death.

* SoftSpokenSadist: John Doe is one.
* TalkingTheMonsterToDeath: Lilly and Scotty eventually help to turn the tables on John Doe like this.
* WoundedGazelleGambit: John does one of these to kidnap Brenda.

* ImColdSoCold: When John flashes back to his first kill (inadvertent, as he merely let the woman die rather than outright harming her), he remembers a woman trapped in a well, frantically treading water and babbling, "Cold. . .so cold".

* SealedRoomInTheMiddleoONowhere: Kind of. John puts his victims in basements in extremely poor, deprived areas of cities.

* ImColdSoCold: When John flashes back to his first kill (inadvertent, as he merely let the woman die rather than outright harming her), he remember a woman trapped in a well, frantically treading water and babbling, "Cold. . .so cold".

* MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot: exactly how John gets caught. He's speeding and the police that pull him over discover Brenda's property in his car. Becomes a plot point as Lilly realises he has to have reacted like that for a reason.

* SealedRoomInTheMiddleofNowhere: Kind of. John puts his victims in basements in extremely poor, deprived areas of cities.

* TalkingTheMonstertoDeath: Lilly and Scotty eventually help to turn the tables on John Doe like this.

* DespairEventHorizon: John explicitly attempts to drive his victims over it. The only reason he doesn't manage to kill Brenda, his surviving victim, is because she can hear bells ringing and so she can keep track of time.

* {{Talking the Monster to Death}}: Lilly and Scotty eventually help to turn the tables on John Doe like this.

* TalkingTheMonstertoDeath: Lilly and Scotty eventually help to turn the tables on John Doe like this.

* TalkingtheMonstertoDeath: Lilly and Scotty eventually help to turn the tables on John Doe like this.

* NoNameGiven: Lilly and Scotty never learn John Doe's real name. His licence is fake and his DNA doesn't match anything on the stem. Serves to make him creepier.
* RoomFullOfCrazy: what the basements in which the victims are discovered look like. They write desperate messages to their loved ones on the walls when they are kidnapped and slowly starve to death.

* SoftSpokenSadist: John Doe is one.