List of running gags

A Running Gag, or Gag Reel, is a series of jokes and/or cliches that runs throughout Criminal Case and happens frequently. The purpose of this is to make the players of the game to have a laugh or have a "déjà vu" feeling.

"Better to Not Love Again"
On some occasions, the player's respective partners—David Jones, Amy Young, and Frank Knight, to be specific—will fall in love with or have a crush on a suspect during some point of the game. Later, however, the person whom they fell in love with would either have something wrong with them or end up in a tragedy as described herein:
 * Jones fell in love with Alice August, but later discovered that she was guilty of Trixie Velvet's murder.
 * Jones had a strong liking of Rachel Priest and cared for her as a friend, but her attempt to expose a criminal endeavor cost Rachel her life.
 * Jones somehow had a liking of Madison Springer, who was later killed upon being crowned queen of the Prom Ball.
 * Jones fell in love with Isabella Fairchild, who eventually admitted her wrongdoings at the climax of the murder investigation of Andrew Ashworth.
 * Amy had a crush on Zack Taylor until she found out that he was gay.
 * Frank had deep feelings for Veronica Blade, who was ultimately found guilty of the premeditated electrocution of Peggy Pascal, the unlawful utilization of Colonel Spangler's weather-controlling machine, and the willful destruction of property through Hurricane Yves and Hurricane Zelda, thus confirming her as the person liable for the largest crime spree in Jazz Town.
 * Amy's ex-boyfriend, Bobby Prince, whom she still had strong feelings for, eventually turned out to be the horrific slayer of a pilot.
 * Frank had a mild liking of Luz Lucha, who was ultimately revealed to be the murderer of a movie producer.
 * Frank opted to step down from the police ranks to pursue a romance with a femme fatale named Velma Bannister, who ultimately turned out to be a fraud before being arrested for plotting the theft of a rare diamond.

"Caught Drinking"
Frank will often try to drink while on duty and when Chief Marquez is not watching, even though the Chief is smart enough to catch Frank red-handed in doing so. This includes:
 * Frank attempted to drink out of his flask and even offered the player a little bit of his favorite whiskey before they had to go back to the scene of the murder during a murder investigation. Shortly after, Chief Marquez caught him in the act and got mad at him for drinking in the job, after which she ordered the team to backtrack before the City Maintenance removed vital evidence from the scene.
 * Frank was ordered to do civic duty in the forest after he was caught drinking in court during the trial of Steve Bundy.

"Roxie's Twisted Jokes"
In almost every case, Roxie Sparks makes jokes about the victim's death as soon as she's done with the autopsy. These jokes are either a twist on how the victim died, or something related. For instance:
 * Upon finishing the autopsy of Valerie Green's body in What Dies Beneath, Roxie made a comment about the irony of divers drowning.
 * Roxie stated that Becky Walden's death was "cooler" than the Tiki Shack bar, mocking the fact that Becky was frozen with liquid nitrogen.
 * In Death by Moonshine, Roxie said that there was a "happy hour" in the morgue after having to autopsy Sammy Duncan's body.
 * In Smoke and Mirrors, Roxie claimed that the method of murdering Vanessa Kimmel was cool, to which Frank responded that the victim might disagree with her. Roxie then replied that Vanessa couldn't disagree as her mouth was stitched shut by her killer.
 * After having to autopsy Ling Zhang's body in Heartless, Roxie exclaimed how her heart moved in excitement due to the body's state—making fun of the fact that Ling's heart was literally removed.
 * When she finished autopsying Clifford Grady's body in Cloudy with a Chance of Murder, Roxie joked how it was a "cut-throat" murder, making fun of how Clifford had his neck sliced open.
 * After successfully autopsying the corpse of Dinah Cooper, a cabaret dancer who was found hung up like a puppet in Hanging by a Thread, Roxie clearly intended a pun when she remarked: "our victim must have really been hung up about something before she died".
 * In Leap of Death, Roxie said that "this was the best thing since sliced bread", joking about how Anjulie Cruz was sliced in half.
 * In The Hunger Planes, Roxie claimed she liked her meat medium-rare, mocking the fact that Harry Hugo was roasted alive over lava.
 * After autopsying the body of an artist named Fabrizio Gallardo in The Ship of Dreams, Roxie makes a joke about how Fabrizio's last vision must've been a "blast", given that a flare was found thrust in his eye socket.
 * In "Smart Money" the victim, Ernest Turing, was suffocated to death with dollar bills. Roxie says she'd "Bet her bottom dollar" and "The victim wasn't keen on becoming a piggy bank" When Roxie points out how much money there was. Amy asks Roxie if she'd taken any. Roxie looks in an innocent manner. But it is obvious that she has.

"Breaking the Fourth Wall"
Sometimes your partner will say something that may indicate he/she knows everything in the game is fictional, as displayed herein:
 * After finding a broken webcam in the Grimsborough University's library in At the End of the Rope, Jones showed distraught and expressed how everything could break so easily in Grimsborough.
 * In Heartless, Hannah says that she couldn't believe that Amy and the player had to deal with this many murders every week. Pointing out that there was a new case every week.

"You've Just Got Served!"
On occasion your partner may become victim of (sometimes dangerous) jokes by different suspects. Here are some instances:
 * Jones was subject to several jokes after he mistook costumes when assisting to the Grimsborough Sci-fi Festival, dressing himself as a superheroine reminiscent of Wonder Woman.
 * Taylor Kirby threw a pot of blue paint on Jones's head while he and the player were summarizing details about Aaliyah Banks' death.
 * Jones was hit in the head by a brick thrown by Opera Phantom while standing in the Opera during the murder investigation of an Opera director.
 * Shawna Knox made fun of Frank's Hawaiian shirt during the murder investigation of a young restaurant waiter after he questioned her tobacco-chewing habits.
 * Shelly Dulard deliberately littered Amy when she stood near her steamboat during the murder investigation of a banker.
 * Veronica Blade opened fire on Frank and the player from her estate's cannon while the duo was doing a quick recap at the American Civil War reenactment battlefield.

"Memes, Memes, Everywhere"
Throughout the game, players may occasionally encounter many references to Internet memes. Here are some of the instances:
 * Grumpy Cat has been spotted six times in the game: the first time in a crime scene of Anatomy of a Murder, the second time in a crime scene of The Wollcrafts' Creature, the third time in a crime scene of Killing Me Softly, the fourth time in a crime scene of Spring Break Massacre, the fifth time in a crime scene of All the King's Horses, and most recently in a crime scene of Easy Prey.
 * A poster of Uncle Sam can be seen in a crime scene of All the King's Horses.
 * Becky Walden swapped Eva Sanchez's face on a picture with the popular meme face known as "trollface".

"They're Everywhere!"
In various crime scenes, players can find the preeminent and most widely recognized symbol of a real-life secret society known as the Illuminati. For instance:
 * You can encounter the symbol at the middle-right area of the "Workshop Window" crime scene in The Ghost of Grimsborough.
 * You can spot the symbol for a second time in the "Showcase" crime scene of The Poisoned Truth.
 * The symbol reappears in the "Military Bootcamp" crime scene of The Root of All Evil.
 * The symbol returns once again, this time in the "Ivywood Sign" crime scene of The Young and the Lifeless.

"Grimsborough, We Miss You"
There are several references to characters from Grimsborough, especially Grimsborough PD members, during the events of Pacific Bay's cases:
 * In Shark Attack!'s crime scene "Ice Cream Kiosk", you can spot "Jones" written on the star embedded in the sidewalk.
 * In the "Plaza Stairs" crime scene of Dead Girl Rolling, you can find a tree trunk with Jones's name carved on top of a heart symbol.
 * There are two Easter eggs in The Ice Queen's crime scenes featuring Grimsborough PD members:
 * In the "Beach" crime scene, you can find a seaplane with a "We miss you Jones" banner.
 * In the "Gift Shop" crime scene, you can find a US postal stamp with Chief King's face.
 * Judge Hall is mentioned by Judge Dante during Ray Westman's trial, suggesting that he could impress her with that murder trial in the Annual Judge Convention.
 * After the player recovers Ramirez's notebook for him during the Additional Investigation of Spineless, a drawing of Jones eating cookies can be spotted on the bottom of the page at the right-hand side.
 * In the "Looted Station" crime scene of Of Rats and Men, a portrait of Jones can be seen.
 * Also in the aforementioned crime scene, a poster of Freddy Stewart's corpse can be noticed.
 * Rachel Priest can be seen on a TV screen in the "Distillery" crime scene of The White Peaks Project.
 * David Jones can be seen on a flashing television screen, in the crime scene "Mayor's Office" in Uncivil Rights. Along with Clifford Grady doing a weather forecast and his employer.

"A Gamer's Best Friend"
Throughout the game, players may find references to popular video games in crime scenes and cutscenes. Here are a few examples:
 * There are references to Magical Ride and My Shops—two other games by the makers of Criminal Case—in the "Square's Entrance" and "Square Steps" crime scenes of The Kiss of Death.
 * In the "Festival Main Hall" crime scene of The Reaper and the Geek, there is a head that resembles a Creeper from Minecraft.
 * In the "Bridge Entrance" crime scene of Blood and Glory, you can spot the logo of Half-Life, a popular science fiction video game series.
 * After analyzing Vito's phone in Killing Time, Hannah Choi mentions that Vito was addicted to "a game with all the sweets"—an obvious reference to Candy Crush Saga.
 * Andre Roche is shown to have a tattoo on his neck featuring five block lines and the words "cut here", which is a rip-off of the popular tattoo sported by Trevor Philips, one of the three protagonists of Grand Theft Auto V.

"We the Media"
Throughout the game, players can find various references to famous media titles. Here are some instances:
 * In To Die or Not to Die, during the moment of Phineas Fine's arrest—specifically after he reveals the reason as to why he killed Jacob Dawks—Jones remarks, "This is madness!" Phineas then responds, "This is THEATER!" This is an obvious reference to the popular "This is Sparta!" Internet meme which originated in the 2007 American fantasy war film 300.
 * The video Jones is seen to be watching in the opening cutscene of The Wollcrafts' Creature is a reference to Charlie Bit My Finger, a 2007 viral video that is famous for formerly being the most viewed YouTube video of all time.
 * In the "Festival Main Hall" crime scene of The Reaper and the Geek, there is a poster in the background which says "The God of the Rings"—an obvious parody of the popular book/film series The Lord of the Rings.
 * Also in the aforementioned crime scene, there's a blue police box resembling the TARDIS—the time-travelling space ship featured in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who.
 * There are various references to the popular American crime drama television series Breaking Bad:
 * In the "Students' Desks" crime scene of Spring Break Massacre, the "Mysterious Man" on the projector screen strongly resembles Heisenberg from Breaking Bad. Plus, the subtitles on the projector screen, "Robbing a train", may be a reference to "Dead Freight", the fifth episode of the fifth season of Breaking Bad.
 * In the "Gas Station Shop" crime scene of Burying the Hatchet, on a unit is a sticker of the element abbreviations "Br" and "Ba"—the logo of Breaking Bad.
 * During the events of Death on Wheels, you can see a magazine cover which advertises a TV show called "Burning Mad" and features a parody of Heisenberg on the cover.
 * In the "Plaza Stairs" crime scene of Dead Girl Rolling, you can spot a "Br" symbol and a "Vamonos Pest" poster which are obvious references to Breaking Bad.
 * In the "Saloon Terrace" crime scene of Open Wounds, there is a wanted poster which features the portrait of a man bearing a striking resemblance to Heisenberg.
 * The "Mining Shaft" crime scene of There Will Be Blood is full of references to the Indiana Jones franchise.
 * In the "Deep Coral" crime scene of What Dies Beneath, you can spot a clownfish and a blue surgeonfish, which are references to Marlin and Dory from Finding Nemo.
 * There are several cases whose titles pay homage to popular songs, novels, or movies. For example, Ashes to Ashes is a reference to David Bowie's popular song of the same name.
 * During the trial of a notorious serial killer known as "The Puppeteer", Judge Dante sarcastically remarks that he thought the Puppeteer was "some toy that came alive at night and killed people, but turned back into a doll by day." This is a reference to the popular horror movie franchise Child's Play featuring the fictional living doll, "Chucky".
 * Sven Blattner bears a disturbing resemblance to Mr. Burns from The Simpsons.
 * While reporting the result of a young actress's autopsy in the first case of Ivywood Hills, Roxie tries to conciliate a discontented Frank by utilizing the popular tagline "Why so serious?"—which originated in the 2008 superhero film The Dark Knight.

"Pretty Sneaky"
The game features a lot of references to Pretty Simple, the development team of Criminal Case. The following are just some of the examples:
 * In the "Third Floor" crime scene of Good Cop Dead Cop, there's a pizza box marked "Pretty Pizza".
 * In the "Main Street" and "Hot Dog Stall" crime scenes of The Last Supper, a license plate with the text "PRT - SMPL" can be spotted.
 * When the player is piecing back a webcam in At the End of the Rope, the words "Pretty Webcam" can be observed.
 * In the "Festival Main Hall" crime scene of The Reaper and the Geek, there is a t-shirt which has the logo of Pretty Simple.
 * In A Shot of Beauty's crime scene "Sun Chair", a pink smartphone—with Pretty Simple's logo set as its background picture—can be seen.
 * The gymnastic beam in the "Training Facility" and "Training Mats" crime scenes of Marked for Death is created by a company called "Pretty Strong".
 * When the player is piecing back Odette Kamarov's mobile phone in Murder-Go-Round, you can notice that the mobile brand's name reads "PrettyPhone".
 * In the "Temple Interior" crime scene of Under the Skin, you can easily spot a rock with a "Pretty Simple" graffito on it.
 * The Pretty Planet guidebook by travel writer tourist Paula Mahler is clearly a nod to Pretty Simple.
 * It is mentioned that actress Felicia Steppingstone earned her fame after winning a reality show called Pretty Simple Life.
 * When Roxie gives her autopsy report on Randolph, she notes that the killer eats a candy called "Pretty Pieces", another nod to Pretty Simple.
 * In Smart Money, it is found that the killer reads comic books. The image for this is the "Captain Pretty" comics.