The Sandman (TV Series)/Tear Jerker

Tear Jerkers in  include:

General

 * For those who have read the comics, just knowing that Dream is going to undergo all this Character Development, only to realize that he cannot change enough to be the King of Dreams that the world needs.
 * Lucienne, especially compared to her comic counterpart. She's held the Dreaming together to the best of her ability with her creator and lord gone, watching books lose their knowledge and entire buildings crumble. Dream even notes that she went far beyond her purpose to ensure that he would have a home when he eventually returned. He thinks that he needs to relieve her of the responsibility by restricting her to librarian duties as the books fill the shelves. Lucienne instead takes offense at this, believing that Dream is undervaluing the sacrifices and hard choices she had to make. Despite herself, she liked the duties, to help the dreamers. Dream, as soon as he realizes this, apologizes and officially makes her his Number Two.

Season One

 * "Dream A Little Dream of Me."
 * It's glossed over, but that poor princess who finds out that a demon was possessing her fiance. The exorcism disguised as a wedding ceremony rips his head off his body, much to her horror and you can hear her crying afterward. Ric and Joanna mentions that he's not much for brains but has a good body; we also see that he seems to be very nice.
 * Joanna seems to be a jerk, blowing off Dream when he confronts her about buying his pouch of sand at a sale. Dream then tracks her down and sees that she has horrific nightmares about failing to save one of her friends from a demon exorcism gone wrong. He expresses genuine sympathy for her, saying that he will take away her nightmares if she helps him reclaim his pouch.
 * Joanna's My God, What Have I Done? expression when she sees Rachel dying while using the dream sand. The reason why she ghosted Rachel is the fear that Rachel would die due to her demon work. Self-Fulfilling Prophecy ensued in the worst way possible.
 * "The Sound of Her Wings"
 * All of the deaths that we see onscreen:
 * When the Jewish violinist realizes who Death is, he asks if he can say one last prayer before taking her hand. She agrees. He then does the prayer, and mentions how saying it before death is supposed to get you into heaven.
 * One husband realizes what has happened when he sees death. He doesn't care about that, but begs her to let him tell his wife the code to his phone. it has all their travel information, as they're on vacation. Death tells him it's too late; then we hear a woman screaming, and the man sees his body being pulled from the lake. He drowned shortly before he and Death started talking.
 * The baby. When the mom steps out to get a bottle, Dream picks up the child's soul and comforts it, saying that's all it gets. Dream is so saddened that he leaves before the mother can see.
 * Franklin is a sweet college student who invites both Dream and Death to play with his football team after watching their amazing catching skills. He runs into the streets after the ball, much to his friends' alarm. Next we see him, he tells Death with adrenaline about how the car nearly hit him. She has to drag him away to tell him what happened.
 * Dream finds out that the pub that he and Hob frequented was torn down, decades ago. He has an anguished expression of having failed to keep his promise to Hob.
 * At the last meeting time, Dream didn't show up because he was in Alex's basement. Hob sadly asked the bartender for whiskey, saying that he must have been stood up because of their fight. The bartender pours him a shot and says that drinking buddies can fight, but they will never ghost.
 * Dream apologizes to Hob for keeping him waiting when seeing the new bar that he bought. Hob kept vigil on the same day every year, hoping that his friend would return. Dream doesn't elaborate what happened to him, but buys the first round of drinks as an apology for their last fight.


 * "Lost Hearts"
 * Jed finds out that the man who rescued him from Barnaby and Clarice had no selfless motives; he's a serial killer that used him as bait to get to his sister. He's betrayed even though the Corinthian sincerely tells him and Rose that he has no desire to hurt them, and advises that if she wants to lock the door when he comes from making his speech, she has permission.
 * The Corinthian fails to sway Rose to his side when Dream informs her that her powers are apocalyptic, and she has no desire to bring the killers' nightmares to life. She brings the walls back up, depowering Corinthian. So what does he do? Try to make one final stand. He was a monster, but he went out fighting.
 * Jed cries when Rose tells him that their mother died; that's why she was trying to find him. She reassures him that they have a great-grandmother, and neither of them are letting him go back to foster care. Sadly, Jed never gets to meet Unity, let alone know the great sacrifice that she will make later on in the episode.


 * "Dream of a Thousand Cats"
 * Casting Sandra Oh as the mother cat was a clever choice, as she's fresh from doing Turning Red. She expresses her anguish about how her humans drowned her kittens, and she could hear them screaming before they were tossed into a nearby river.
 * The way that Dream tells the mother cat, humans dreamed out of fear and hope. They could get hunted, played with or eaten, and sometimes all of that happened at once. Dreaming was the only thing they had control over when their feline overlords regulated their lives.


 * "Calliope"
 * Calliope is an Adaptational Badass compared to her comic counterpart, but she is still a prisoner, and if raped, her ideas can be stolen from her. No matter how she chides Erasmus or Richard, she cannot make them free her. The Fates also apologize to her, their sister, that they cannot do anything either. Only her ex, Oneiros, might be able to do something, but he's also in captivity. Oneiros is revealed to be another name for Dream...
 * Richard Madoc is better at hiding his slimeball nature. He signs autographs for the medical student that is a big fan of his, and at first attempts to woo and beg Calliope for ideas. But in the end, he was no better than Erasmus, by choice.
 * To put into perspective how bad Calliope's imprisonment was, Dream said that it was even worse than his. He was kept in a glass sphere, naked, for 100 years, stripped of his tools and Forced to Watch his faithful raven Jessamy die trying to save him. But he wasn't raped and used for his ideas. Calliope has to tell Dream they can't play Misery Poker; she'd rather know if he sincerely wants to help her.