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The Best Episodes of Cold Case

Every episode of Cold Case ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Cold Case!

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The Philadelphia homicide squad's lone female detective finds her calling when she is assigned cases that have never been solved. Detective Lilly Rush combines her natural instincts with the updated technology available today to bring

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
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    Cold Case Season 1 Episode 12 - Glued
    8.5/10(11 votes)

    #1 - Glued

    S1:E12

    Det. Stillman asks Lilly to re-open a case he couldn't solve, wherein an 8-year-old boy, Tim Barnes, was murdered in 1980. The prime suspects included a catholic priest, three glue-sniffing teenagers, one elusive suspect, and the boy's own parents.

    Director:Peter Markle
    Writer:Tyler Bensinger

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  2. Cold Case Season 1 Episode 22 - The Plan
    8.5/10(11 votes)

    #2 - The Plan

    S1:E22

    The 1999 drowning death of a military academy's swim coach, which was originally ruled as accidental, is reinvestigated after the homicide division receives a note that suggests it was murder. Back at the office, Valens searches for Elisa after she goes missing.

    Director:Agnieszka Holland
    Writer:Veena Sud

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  3. Cold Case Season 2 Episode 2 - Factory Girls
    8.3/10(9 votes)

    #3 - Factory Girls

    S2:E2

    On the eve of the 60-year reunion of women who worked in a weapons factory during World War II, Lilly is asked to re-investigate the death of Alice Miller, one of the worker girls. The death was deemed accidental at the time, but her friend pleads to Lilly to look closer into the case.

    Director:David Von Ancken
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. Cold Case Season 2 Episode 10 - Discretion
    8.3/10(7 votes)

    #4 - Discretion

    S2:E10

    The team re-opens the 2000 case of a prominent Puerto Rican assistant district attorney when rumors about his connection to a large amount of money gone missing at the time of his death start to circulate. However, his widow insists that the claims are not true. The re-investigation reveals that the victim was prosecuting a murder trial and the man convicted for the crime after his death may possibly be innocent.

    Director:James Whitmore Jr.
    Writer:Henry Robles

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  5. Cold Case Season 7 Episode 22 - Shattered
    8.3/10(3 votes)

    #5 - Shattered

    S7:E22

    Valens partners with Rush to locate her abducted, drug-addicted sister, while Jeffries tries to bring justice to the case of a murdered teenaged girl that has haunted him for 17 years.

    Director:Jeannot Szwarc
    Writers:Elwood Reid, Greg Plageman

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  6. Cold Case Season 2 Episode 4 - The House
    8.2/10(9 votes)

    #6 - The House

    S2:E4

    When human remains are found outside a former state prison, the team re-opens the 1968 case of a dead inmate, murdered on the night Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Concert was broadcast to prisons throughout the country. However, when it's revealed that the bones don't belong to the person everyone had assumed, the team must start the probe anew by first identifying who the victim was.

    Director:Alex Zakrzewski
    Writer:Sean Whitesell

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    The 20 WORST Episodes of Cold Case

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  7. Cold Case Season 1 Episode 14 - Boy in the Box
    8.1/10(11 votes)

    #7 - Boy in the Box

    S1:E14

    The 1958 death of an unknown 6-year-old boy found in a field inside a cardboard box is reinvestigated after a small suitcase with the child's picture and his old cowboy hat is left in front of a church. The new probe reveals that the rowdy boy lived at a Catholic-run orphanage and was adopted two days before his suspicious demise.

    Director:Karen Gaviola
    Writer:Meredith Stiehm

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  8. Cold Case Season 1 Episode 15 - Disco Inferno
    8.0/10(11 votes)

    #8 - Disco Inferno

    S1:E15

    Construction workers discover a skull with bullet hole under the ruins of a disco club burned down in 1978. 22 people died in the fire. Rush and Valens come to the conclusion that the burning of the club was arson, meant to cover up a murder leaving them with not one, but 23 cold cases.

    Director:James Whitmore Jr.
    Writer:Tyler Bensinger

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  9. Cold Case Season 1 Episode 20 - Greed
    8.0/10(10 votes)

    #9 - Greed

    S1:E20

    The team reopens the 1985 case of a wealthy stock broker. At the time it was deemed that Charles Danville was killed when someone attempted to steal his car, but new evidence suggests that he may, in fact, have been murdered.

    Director:Karen Gaviola
    Writer:Stacy Kravetz

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  10. Cold Case Season 2 Episode 8 - Red Glare
    8.0/10(7 votes)

    #10 - Red Glare

    S2:E8

    The 1953 murder of a white school teacher, a communist sympathizer who was involved in civil-rights issues, is reopened after the victim's youngest son asks for it to be reinvestigated. The probe reveals that the slain man was killed on the same day that the Rosenbergs were executed and was set to testify the next day before the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

    Director:Tim Matheson
    Writers:Jay Beattie, Dan Dworkin

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  11. Cold Case Season 2 Episode 9 - Mind Hunters
    8.0/10(7 votes)

    #11 - Mind Hunters

    S2:E9

    The headless torso of a woman who disappeared in 1985, on the same day she filed domestic-abuse charges against her husband, is found by hikers in a wildlife preserve. The investigation quickly leads to the grisly discovery of 8 more decapitated bodies, the victims of a serial killer.

    Director:Kevin Bray
    Writer:Veena Sud

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  12. Cold Case Season 2 Episode 11 - Blank Generation
    8.0/10(7 votes)

    #12 - Blank Generation

    S2:E11

    The team re-opens the case of Matthew Adams, a teen-aged cult member who apparently committed suicide back in 1978, when his sister comes forth with new evidence about the deprogrammer her family hired to rescue her brother.

    Director:David Barrett
    Writer:Chris Mundy

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  13. Cold Case Season 2 Episode 13 - Time to Crime
    8.0/10(7 votes)

    #13 - Time to Crime

    S2:E13

    After a murder weapon connected to the 1987 drive-by shooting of a little girl turns up, Det. Rush and her team re-open the case. The team slowly tracks back the gun's previous owners until the shocking original owner is finally revealed.

    Director:Tim Hunter
    Writer:Tyler Bensinger

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  14. Cold Case Season 2 Episode 14 - Revolution
    8.0/10(7 votes)

    #14 - Revolution

    S2:E14

    Rush and the team investigate the 1969 murder of a 19-year-old girl whose body was found in her boyfriend's apartment the day he fled to Canada to avoid fighting in Vietnam.

    Director:Alex Zakrzewski
    Writer:Liz W. Garcia

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  15. Cold Case Season 3 Episode 5 - Commited
    8.0/10(7 votes)

    #15 - Commited

    S3:E5

    In 1954, 9-year-old Otis Petrowski last saw his mother in a mental institution. Now over 50 years later, after the death of an elderly woman who had been using Otis' mother's identity, Det. Rush sets out to discover what happened to the boy's real mother.

    Director:Alex Zakrzewski
    Writer:Liz W. Garcia

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  16. Cold Case Season 3 Episode 17 - Superstar
    8.0/10(5 votes)

    #16 - Superstar

    S3:E17

    When a poison-soaked towel turns up at the station, Lilly re-opens the 1973 case of a murdered female college tennis star.

    Director:Bill Eagles
    Writers:Jason Tracey, Craig S. O'Neill

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  17. Cold Case Season 3 Episode 21 - The Hen House
    8.0/10(5 votes)

    #17 - The Hen House

    S3:E21

    The 1945 case of a murdered newspaper reporter is reopened when new evidence suggests that the woman was thrown in front of a passing train by someone she knew.

    Director:David Von Ancken
    Writer:Craig Turk

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  18. Cold Case Season 4 Episode 8 - Fireflies
    8.0/10(6 votes)

    #18 - Fireflies

    S4:E8

    The 1975 disappearance of an 8-year-old girl who was never found is reinvestigated after a note written by the girl shortly before she vanished turns up. Their friendship rattled many in the predominantly white neighborhood and the girls quickly became targets of hatred.

    Director:Marcos Siega
    Writer:Erica Shelton Kodish

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  19. Cold Case Season 4 Episode 17 - Shuffle, Ball Change
    8.0/10(6 votes)

    #19 - Shuffle, Ball Change

    S4:E17

    When a body is found in a dumpster, the team re-opens the 1984 case of a murdered teenage boy who wanted to become a dancer against his father's wishes.

    Director:Mark Pellington
    Writer:Liz W. Garcia

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  20. Cold Case Season 4 Episode 18 - A Dollar, A Dream
    8.0/10(9 votes)

    #20 - A Dollar, A Dream

    S4:E18

    The 1999 murder of a homeless woman, whose body is found at the bottom of a river in a station wagon, is investigated.

    Director:Chris Fisher
    Writer:Erica Shelton Kodish

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  21. Cold Case Season 4 Episode 21 - Torn
    8.0/10(4 votes)

    #21 - Torn

    S4:E21

    The team re-investigates their oldest cold case yet, the 1919 murder of a young woman who was a passionate advocate for women's right to vote.

    Director:Kevin Bray
    Writer:Tyler Bensinger

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  22. Cold Case Season 6 Episode 18 - Mind Games
    8.0/10(4 votes)

    #22 - Mind Games

    S6:E18

    The team suspect a 2004 arson that killed a psychiatrist may have been caused by her former patient.

    Director:Donald E. Thorin Jr.
    Writer:Gavin Harris

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  23. Cold Case Season 6 Episode 23 - Into the Blue (2)
    8.0/10(2 votes)

    #23 - Into the Blue (2)

    S6:E23

    The investigation into the female cadet's murder continues. As the team finds more and more clues, the killer tries to stop the investigation to remain hidden.

    Director:Jeannot Szwarc
    Writers:Jennifer M. Johnson, Greg Plageman

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  24. Cold Case Season 7 Episode 6 - Dead Heat
    8.0/10(3 votes)

    #24 - Dead Heat

    S7:E6

    The 1986 murder of a jockey is investigated after his body is discovered in a mass grave for horses. The victim disappeared shortly after losing a race that he had planned to be his finale before retiring.

    Director:Nathan Hope
    Writer:Adam Glass

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  25. Cold Case Season 1 Episode 8 - Fly Away
    7.9/10(11 votes)

    #25 - Fly Away

    S1:E8

    When a young woman, Rosie, wakes up from a coma, Lilly re-opens the fall in which her 6-year-old daughter Toya died. Things get complicated when the mother remembers very little of that night, and Lilly feels especially motivated to find the killer.

    Director:James Whitmore Jr.
    Writer:Veena Sud

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Best Episodes Summary

"Glued" is the best rated episode of "Cold Case". It scored 8.5/10 based on 11 votes. Directed by Peter Markle and written by Tyler Bensinger, it aired on 1/18/2004. This episode scored 0.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "The Plan".