Cold Case is Made of TearJerker. In most cop dramas we only get after-the-fact descriptions of the murder/crime and the events leading up to it. Cold Case shows us these things via flashbacks. Every episode shows us a new group of people, most of them happy, just trying to live their lives. Then it shows the events that lead one of them to taking the life of one of the others. You get to see all the stupid STUPID reasons people decide to take each others' lives. And the worst part is: while each episode depicts the culprits being brought to justice, in most cases, they've gotten away with it for years, if not DECADES! This Troper loves the show, but can only watch a couple of episodes a week because the stories are so soul-crushing.