how to pick out the killer in coldcase?
-
rebschucks — 10 years ago(July 01, 2015 10:50 AM)
I've figured out that a majority of the killers are introduced on or around the 25 minute mark (in a show aired with commercials, so maybe the 20 minute mark without?). The killer has definitely been introduced before the 3rd commercial break, and the first person they interview after the 4th commercial break (around the 45-50 minute mark with commercials/also the last person they mention before the 4th break) is almost always a red herring.
When a cold momma gets hot, boy how she sizzles! -
varuns-1 — 10 years ago(July 01, 2015 08:08 PM)
If the subject in question is shifty, insincere sounding or overly brash. Like the killer in "Hitchhiker" when first interviewed, or the character in "One little step". Those are clues, though I can say that now in retrospect!
Also, as someone mentioned, if the actor in the episode looks like he's too big to be playing a tiny role, it's a clue that he could be the murderer, or at least a very good chance that he is. One example being the real culprit in "Discretions". That is a pretty well known TV actor, he wouldn't be doing a bit part. -
ARH — 10 years ago(August 15, 2015 04:55 PM)
If the subject in question is shifty, insincere sounding or overly brash. Like the killer in "Hitchhiker" when first interviewed, or the character in "One little step". Those are clues, though I can say that now in retrospect!
Years ago someone posted "Cold Case Survival Guide," and one entry was; "If you turn out to be successful at anything, immediately leave town. Your mentor/best friend etc. will become jealous of you and kill you."
Those were almost always killed by the overly brash person interviewed. -
bennmatt — 10 years ago(July 05, 2015 03:34 AM)
This is obvious and often applies to other procedural shows as well, but if a big name guest star isn't the killer or sometimes the victim, there's a good chance that they are the doer. It doesn't always apply, but often enough that it's a recognized trope.
Edit: I'm not quite sure what I meant here, but I think I meant if they weren't the victim or sometimes the false lead killer that the chances were they'd turn out to be the killer. Like Bruce Boxleitner in Goodbye Room - it looked for a while like he might be the killer because of being the baby's father, he was also the best known name of the episode, so I thought for a while that he'd turn out to be the killer. -
Razor187 — 10 years ago(March 08, 2016 06:32 PM)
Not so much here, it's more like if the actor is known for playing a bad guy they probably will here. Wings for instance had Lee Majors and Adrienne Barbeau, but my money went to Lindy Booth the second I saw her name onscreen. And sure enough, she was the unsub.
To their credit though, they did subvert it a couple times. Pretty notably in Spiders, in which Jeffrey Combs ended up having the least to do with the death.
And so Governor Devlin, because even the cost of freedom can be too high, I REFUSE your pardon! -
chris_thorne — 10 years ago(January 30, 2016 11:17 AM)
They give away the killer in EVERY episode. I've literally guessed the killer in everyone, but something still makes me watch more episodes? Lol. Basically I've seen it goes like this with most mystery murders, but more-so with CC.
1: There are so many red herrings. Usually the giveaway is if in the opening scene a character is seen often, but isn't the victim. For example, in the pinultimate episode the teacher whom was seen around prom was noticable, he was the murderer. Not the victim.
2: They never have a better off life because of it. Never fall into that trap! If they do, it's a rarity. But on CC? Never. At least no examples that I can think of.
3: When it reaches around the 30 min mark, they will have a penultimate flashback. In that flashback, either a place is mentioned where the victim is headed (usually the place of work of a suspect/where they were last seen) or you will actually see the murderer in the background! They're usually a lurker. There's never ever a logical story to any of them.
4: When a big star is not playing a role of their caliber is an obvious one. I kinda wish I didn't storm through Cold Case now, I want to watch more
-
sd-172 — 10 years ago(February 04, 2016 11:37 PM)
2: They never have a better off life because of it. Never fall into that trap! If they do, it's a rarity. But on CC? Never. At least no examples that I can think of.
Off the top of my head, the killers in scheuden wuteva wound up being more successful.
The best way to tell is that normally after their first interview, their stories don't math up with everybody else that gets interrogated.