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Revision as of 12:57, 23 December 2022


Works that need pages

Monkey Life

  • Alison Cronin breaking down in tears on camera, discussing the death of her husband Jim and her intent to carry on running his park the way he wanted.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Rough Riders

  • The Rough Riders miniseries. When Tiffany, in one of the battles, shouts out as Roosevelt has charged forward with no one else following, "For God's sake, follow the Colonel!" He stands up to follow his own words and that's when the bullet goes straight through his head, making him fall back into the group of other soldiers, dead.

S Club

  • S Club...a surprising amount of episodes, specials and the movie were very sad, depressing or disturbing. "Boyfriends and Birthdays" in particular, with people dropping hints as gently as they can, and the kid becoming increasingly unable to deny the fact that his father, who has hasn't seen for years, isn't going to come and see him, because he doesn't care. Also, it was a bit jarring to have people making the same jokes as always, only this time no-one is laughing.

The Suite Life on Deck

  • Marcus' goodbye party in "Bon Voyage", especially when he's thanking everyone and telling them how fondly he has always thought of them.
  • The ending of "Computer Date". Poor Callie...

Lists that need to be split into individual works

Reality TV

  • Several people have actually committed suicide after being contestants on a reality TV show. Cheryl Kosewicz from the show Pirate Master was found dead during the show's run on TV (after filming) and someone[who?] from Paradise Hotel also did the same.
  • Big Brother: All Stars had a small tear jerker when Dr. Will and Boogie, Chilltown, were put up on the block against each other and they chose to evict Dr. Will. Throughout the game, they played around in the diary room and pretended to call each other on the telephone. After Dr. Will was evicted, Boogie had one of those where he had the phone-hand to his head and asked "Hello? Hello?" and there was no answer.
  • The Israeli version’s third season (not including the celebrity season) has Ram Preiß Siton who came out on television. His parents had been told not that long before he came in, so the only ones who knew were his family, production (he had told them he might come out during the show), presumably some of his friends, and his boyfriend, known only by his nickname ‘Smiley’ (Kiyukhi חִיּוּכִי). The really tear-jerking moment came later on, when one of the two hosts, Asi ‘Azar, who is also gay, came in to talk to Ram about it. Bar Refaeli was sitting at the same table as they were, and was moved to tears by the scene.
  • Michael from Survivor: The Australian Outback being evacuated. He was going to be perhaps one of the best players ever (Tina admitted that he could have beaten her) but then passed out in the fire and ran into the water in pain, fingers burned together. They then showed him being evacuated and saying "Bye!" to everyone.
    • A few other people being evacuated. There were a few people where it wasn't really that big of an impact and was sort of a relief to see that they got treatment. (Like say, Bruce in Panama or Jonathan Penner & James in Micronesia) But some others were odd...Kathleen quit the game in Micronesia and was having a mental breakdown, but the most recent was in Samoa where Mike and Russell S. both had extremely low blood pressure and Russell S. was saying "No no let me get back into the game"

Super Sentai

  • Mikoto's death in Bakuryu Sentai Abaranger, made all the more amazing by the fact that for most of the series he had been the resident Magnificent Bastard.
  • Any episode of any Super Sentai series where the rangers befriend a Monster of the Week that doesn't want to hurt people or cause trouble never ends well for the heroes.
  • Burai's death in Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger.
  • In episode 12 of Gokaiger, we have Joe's desperate attempt to get Barizorg to remember his humanity as Sid Bamick.


Lists that need to be integrated into existing Tear Jerker pages

Misfits (TV series)/Tear Jerker

  • Superhoodie/Simon's death, and him asking Alisha to burn his body because no one can know that it was him who saved them. She loves him so much, and knows that the current Simon isn't him yet. Then she goes to his lair and finds the photo of them in Las Vegas- the city she's always wanted to visit.

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood/Tear Jerker

  • Watching this show after he died of cancer. Just hearing him sing "it's such a good feeling to know that you're alive..." * sniff*
  • True story: Fred Rogers's car was stolen. And then returned the next day, intact, untouched ... with a note on the steering wheel: "We didn't know it was yours."

One Tree Hill/Tear Jerker

  • With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept. We already start with Jimmy's monologue ('Every day is one less day I have to come back'), but the whole episode doesn't ever let up; Brooke going outside to cry because she realizes that her behavior could have been the cause of Jimmy's breakdown; Jimmy saying that the happiest day of his life was 'the day he stopped existing' and reveals he tried to kill himself but no one even noticed his absence; most of the scenes in the classroom among the hostages, Jimmy screaming 'It hurts! It hurts SO BAD!' and then killing himself. Also, Lucas' ending voiceover; We send our young into the world like we send young men to war; praying for their safe return... but knowing that some will be lost along the way.

Oz/Tear Jerker

  • Alvarez losing his baby. And later, during an LSD trip, hallucinating that he's holding his son in his arms and babbling about how he loves him and is going to protect him.
  • The execution of Donald Groves.
  • Beecher screaming in his pod after receiving his son's chopped off hand by mail.
  • Peter Schibetta crumbling in despair in a hallway after being intimidated by the warden and taunted by Schillinger again about the several rapes.
  • Cyril O'Reilly being executed.
  • Beecher meeting the mother of the girl He killed
  • Schillinger telling Beecher that He won't seek Revenge for His Son's Death and telling Him how sorry He is for all that happened
  • Alvarez finally losing any hope of ever getting out of Oz,summed up with three Heartbreaking words:"I'm so Tired".
  • The mother of Groves' victim telling Him She loves Him and forgives Him,moving Him to tears
  • Seamus O'Reilly finally accepting responsibility for His abusive behaviour and asking for Ryan's forgiveness

The Office (2005 TV series)/Tear Jerker

  • "Take Your Daughter To Work Day" from the US version of The Office. Michael Scott shows the kids an old tape of himself being interviewed on a kids' show, where he says his dream is to "get married and have a hundred kids, so that no one can say no to being my friend."
  • When Jim confesses to Pam that he loves her in "Casino Night", and she turns him down. Both actors act the beejesus out of the scene, both are in tears, and so am I.
  • There's also something about the way Dwight says "you don't want to use Shrute Bucks?" after he takes over the office in the season 3 finale that makes me well up.
  • In "Boys and Girls", when Pam breaks down into tears upon reflecting how impossible her dream of having a house with a terrace is.
  • In one of the most recent episodes, "Niagara Falls", when Jim and Pam get married.
  • In "Back From Vacation", when Pam is crying in the hall after helping Jim and Karen, and when Dwight finds her, the first words out of his mouth are "Who did this to you? Where is he?" * lump in throat*
  • In Season 4, after Dwight and Angela breaks up and he loses it, both in real life and Second Life. He's crying in the stairwell, and Jim gives him a speech about how lousy it feels to not be with the one you love. Doubles as a CMOF when Dwight moves to hug him and Jim's already gone.
  • The "Goodbye, Michael" episode. The whole damn thing.
    • The moment when Michael, after taking the mic off, says, "that's what she said" inaudibly, and walks away

The Office (UK series)/Tear Jerker

  • The last episode of the second series of the British Office - as if the scene where Dawn shoots Tim down again isn't bad enough, David of all people when he begs for his job.
    • In the second christmas special where Dawn, after saying goodbye to Tim for possibly the last time, opens his present and reads the note. Followed almost immediately by a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming.

Primeval/Tear Jerker

  • Nick's death in the third episode of the latest[when?] season.
    • The first few minutes of the following episode managed to be Tear Jerkers without even doing anything at all. Just the whole mood of the characters and the ARC was able to convey how upset and lost everyone was without him.
  • In Season 2, during Abby's Disney Death. The worst part is seeing Plucky Comic Relief Connor absolutely destroyed by it.

Connor: * fighting desperately not to cry* "We can just go out there and we can find her! All we need to do is get back in the boats and do something; why is nobody doing anything!?"

  • In the final scene of the Season 4 premiere, Connor wakes up to find Abby already up. He correctly deduces that she's still used to keeping watch from when they were stuck in the Cretaceous. That fact just hammers home the absolute hell those two went through.

Scrubs/Tear Jerker

  • The Scrubs episodes "My Old Lady" and "My Screw Up" are generally the most tear-jerking of the series.
    • Carla finally admitting to herself that Laverne's not going to be coming out of her coma, and finally saying goodbye.
    • Dr. Cox's confession in "My Heavy Meddle." that he's burned out.
    • The final three and a half minutes of "My Lunch." That scene turned "How to Save a Life" from a wangsty pop song into something truly heartbreaking.
      • The exact same thing can be said about "My Long Goodbye" and "A Bad Dream".
      • Jill Tracy. All she ever wanted was to be happy, and it was denied at every turn. Her death was one of the saddest on that show. She was so pathetic, so reviled for being annoying, and no one ever really saw to the poor person underneath.
    • 'My Dumb Luck'. All of Dr. Kelso's scenes at that episode are touching, but the finale, as he resigns from his post, completely content, thanks Ted, with real emotion, for all his help over the years and finally drives off into the sunset with his picture on the back of his car is one of the most beautiful moments I've ever seen, managing to be a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming, a Crowning Moment of Awesome and a Tear Jerker. Wonderful.
    • Carla's post-partum depression really got to me.
    • The end of the episode "My Philosophy" where the heart transplant patient dies and, in J.D's mind, goes out with a Broadway style musical, just like she wanted.
    • Also, the end of "My Last Chance", after Dr. Cox rants at the annoying, talkative paramedic he had to work with and asks what could've possibly happened in her life to make her that way only to later find out she talked so much because her son, who she had been talking about through most of the episode, had died in a car accident years ago
    • My Screw Up: "Where do you think we are?"
    • My Finale: the montage scene where all the important people who have been on Scrubs in it's eight year run turn up to wish JD goodbye. It looks like a stereotypical series finale ending until the end when he turns around and we realize it's all in his fantasy .
      • Actually, I was talking about where he's watching that film of events on the banner, culminating in Dr. Cox finally giving J.D. the hug he always wanted. Also, you can add in Dr. Cox's Engineered Public Confession that he actually respects J.D.
      • Not just the hug from Dr. Cox in the film, it's the JD getting as great a life as possible: he marries Elliot, has a child with her, stays close enough to spend Christmas with Turk and Dr. Cox, gets the fatherly hug from Dr. Cox, and JD's son marries Turk's daughter. Then, as JD's walking away he suggests that unlike the other fantasies, there's no reason why this one can't come true. It's an amazing sequence in and of itself, but add to the fact that "The Book of Love" by Peter Gabriel is playing and, well, it got a little dusty.
  • The end of "My ABC's" where JD explains that he's learned everything you need to know about life from Sesame Street and ends it with, "it's okay to cry sometimes" while he sheds a tear watching a mother console her 8-year-old son after his father has died from lung cancer after it had been in remission. A melancholy cover of "The Sesame Street Theme" by Joshua Radin is playing
  • I'm amazed no one has mentioned the episode where J.D. and Turk are going out for Steak Night and they give it up to spend the night with a dying old man. In the end, after all of their banter, they all admit to being afraid to die. The saddest part is his last words, after they smuggled him in a drink; "You know you guys... that beer... was delicious."
    • The saddest part of that was the choice of music: "I Will Follow You Into The Dark" by Death Cab for Cutie.
  • 'My Princess' - Cox is telling Jack a disguised hospital story and ends it happily, but when Jordan (recognizing it for what it was) asks if the patient really got a new liver in time, he slumps down next to her with a sigh and replies with "That's how I'm telling it."
  • The final moments of My Cabbage, where Cabbage accidentally infects Mrs. Wilkes after mishandling medical waste; the infection kills her in the following episode. The Coldplay song ("Fix You") playing in the background doesn't help the teariness.
  • Although surely most anyone can relate to it, there are a good amount of people for who the line, "Because nothing sucks more than feeling all alone, no matter how many people are around," can sting just a little too much.
  • Carla's hysteria while she's in labour in My Best Friend's Baby's Baby and My Baby's Baby is mostly Played for Laughs, which makes it all the more upsetting when they take her to have a C-section and she sobs down the phone to Turk that she's really scared and needs him there.
  • A minor one, but still sad nonetheless. In Season One, episode 15, during a psychology interview the main cast had to do, Doctor Cox winds up talking about his marriage with Jordan. He says that he kept trying to figure out why his friends who were married weren't trying to destroy each other like him and Jordan were. The words "They weren't unhappy. We were." really sold it due to Johnny C Mc Ginley's acting ability.
  • That scene in season 1, episode 22 "My Occurrence" when Jordan's brother Ben visits the hospital and at the end, JD finally admits that he was just hoping that he was wrong about Ben having leukemia.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine/Tear Jerker

  • The ultimate Tear Jerker, the first five minutes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nines opening episode where we see Benjamin Sisko lose his wife and his ship. The cold numb feeling as Sisko is dragged away from his wife's dead body; "Dammit! We can't just leave her!" - "Sir! There's nothing we can do!"
  • Another frequently-cited tear jerker is "The Visitor", a time travel story in which Jake watches his father die and spends the rest of his life trying to bring him back. He succeeds, but at the cost of his own life (in the future)... and Ben has to watch. Fathers and sons alike were hit hard by this one.
  • Duet, when the Cardassian prisoner finally breaks down and tearfully explains why he pretended to be a war-criminal.

"Darhe'el": [fevered] It's Marritza who's dead! Marritza, who was good for nothing but cowering under his bunk and weeping like a woman! Who would, every night, cover his ears, because he couldn't bear to hear the screaming for mercy of the Bajorans...the Bajorans...[he breaks down and slowly starts to weep uncontrollably, before muttering quietly]...I covered my ears every night, because I couldn't bear to hear those horrible screams.

    • The prisoner's confession and eventual murder in "Duet".
    • Oh my god, the end of that episode. One of the more heartwrenching Cruel Twist Endings, ever.
    • Much of "Duet", but one particular moment is Kira's plea that she be allowed to continue the investigation, on behalf of "every Bajoran who moved too slowly, and then never moved again."
  • The finale manages to do it through Mood Whiplash. The happiness of the end of the war quickly turns into the sadness of Odo's departure, Garak returning to a destroyed Cardassia, and Sisko's death/ascension.
    • "To the best crew any Captain ever had. This may be the last time we're all together, but no matter what the future holds, no matter how far we travel, a part of us - a very important part - will always remain here, on Deep Space Nine." When you think about what that crew went through together... Cue sobs.
  • Weyoun... poor, poor Weyoun. Not just his death(s), but his entire existence, really.
  • Damar...poor, poor Damar. Especially his final "Keep..."
  • "The Siege of AR-558" nearly managed to make two men cry.
  • "The Quickening", never a baby has been so beautiful. Never a birth made me cry before...
  • The earliest one of the series after "Emissary" is in "Battle Lines," where Kira - who up until this point has never displayed anything remotely resembling vulnerability - completely shatters at Kai Opaka's death.
  • "Hard Time."
  • Dear GOD, the death of Jadzia. Between her last words, the Klingon death howl, and the chant that Worf starts into, it can still induce tears, even when you know it's coming.
    • And then, on top of that, there's the scene in the first episode after it when Worf listens to Vic singing Jadzia's favorite song, and then destroys the lounge in a heart-broken rage.
  • Your Mileage May Vary, but in "Sacrifice of Angels", I always had a hard time watching Garak and Kira's exchange over Ziyal's body, especially Garak's reaction to her death, and the fact that he betrayed himself by revealing that yes, he did genuinely care for her. Dukat's reaction to Ziyal's death was just as bad.
    • God yes. Poor Ziyal. And the way Dukat reacts... He may be the Big Bad, but that doesn't make this scene any less sad.
  • The end of "Tacking Into the Wind". The fact that Kira is caught in the middle of a full-blown Mexican Standoff and barely even notices because she's so absorbed in caring for Odo is heartbreaking. This story arc is full of these; Kira's conversation with Garak about why she is ignoring Odo's illness in "Tacking Into the Wind" and the first scene of "Extreme Measures".
  • "The Darkness and the Light". Poor Kira. Especially the deaths of Furel and Lupaza.
  • The baby changeling dying in "The Begotten". Oh. My. God.
  • I saw this episode when I was really young, and I know it's not the most popular, but Heart of Stone. Odo recognizes that Kira isn't Kira because "[she] said something [she] would never say... [she] said she loved me." And then at the end, Kira asks him how she knew. "Nothing important."
  • When Benny Russell has a nervous breakdown in "Far Beyond The Stars" because the publisher pulped the issue carrying his story--which was "real"--thanks to racism, you can feel his pain.

Star Trek: The Next Generation/Tear Jerker

  • The episode "The Best of Both Worlds" had a ton:
    • Picard sheds a single tear, as he's powerless to stop the Borg from altering his mind and body. Add in Ron Jones's epically sad music and a Klingon would weep.
    • After failing to save the captain, Riker walks into Picard's office and looks at his empty chair and sadly asks "What would you do?"
      • In that same scene, Guinan walks into the office a few seconds later and tells Riker the hard truth:

Guinan: It would've been easier if he just died, but he didn't. They took him from us a piece at a time. You're gonna have to do something you don't want to do... You have to let go of Picard...
Guinan: Did he ever tell you why we were so close?
Riker: No.
Guinan: Oh... Then let me just say that...our relationship is beyond friendship - beyond family. And I will let him go. And you must do the same. There can only be one captain - and that is now your chair.

    • A short but powerful scene in which the Enterprise witnesses the complete defeat of the fleet at Wolf 359.
      • Including the ship that Riker would've been commanding, if he hadn't turned down the promotion.
  • In the following episode, "Family" Picard suddenly breaks down and cries, admitting to his brother how wretched he feels that he couldn't stop the Borg from taking over his mind. To see Jean-Luc "Bad Mo-fo" Picard cry is hard enough, but when you factor in Patrick Stewart's acting, it just becomes too much.

Jean-Luc: "They took everything I was. They used me to kill and to destroy, and I couldn't stop them! I should have been able to stop them! I tried. I tried so hard. But I wasn't strong enough! I wasn't good enough! I should have been able to stop them. I should, I should."
Robert: "So, my brother is a human being after all."

  • Star Trek: The Next Generation "Skin of Evil". Tasha Yar's final messages do it to me every time. Even 20 years later. Interestingly, today is the 20th anniversary of that episode's first broadcast.
    • Especially "I hope I met death with my eyes open."
    • This line got cut: "Data...It did happen."
  • 'Yesterday's Enterprise' is simply one episode-long Tear Jerker and Crowning Moment of Awesome. Picard's still fighting as flames rise higher and higher around him, the moment that Tasha and the Lieutenant have when she reports to the Enterprise-C (especially 'But I don't want you here...'), 'Tell me about - Tasha Yar...', 'Let's make sure history never forgets the name - 'Enterprise' ..., and my all-time favorite:

Tasha Yar: Guinan told me that I die a senseless death in the other timeline. I didn't like the sound of that. I've always known the dangers that come with a Starfleet uniform. If I am to die in one - I'd like my death to count for something.

  • "The Inner Light" is one long Crowning Moment of Heartwarming, but the end, where Picard plays Kamin's tune on the flute... I dare you not to choke up.
    • "Now we live in you. Tell them of us... my darling."
    • And then the follow up episode where Picard falls in love, and tells the woman what happened in "The Inner Light" because "I want you to know how much my music means to me, and how much it means to me to share it with someone." Then they play the tune together in a maintenance tunnel so that it echoes through the entire ship.
  • The end of the finale, "All Good Things..."- "You were always welcome", followed by Picard beginning the card game with the pull-out to the ship as it enters the nebula- he chokes up just thinking about it for some reason. The perfect finale.
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation's episode The Bonding was just one big tearjerker from beginning to end. Even Wesley was tugging on heartstrings in that one.

"On the Starship Enterprise, no one is alone."

  • The death of Data's daughter, Lal, as a result of Cascade Failure in ST:TNG episode The Offspring. Especially her final few words to her father.

Lal: I love you, father.
Data: ...I wish I could feel it with you.
Lal: I will feel it for both of us.

    • Her last words always bring a tear to my eye.

Lal: Thank you for my life.

    • Another tearjerker? Lal's name actually means "beloved".
    • The admiral's description of Data's desperate attempts to save Lal.

Haftel: There was nothing anyone could have done. We'd repolarize one pathway and another would collapse. And then another. And his hands started moving faster than I could see, trying to stay ahead of each breakdown. He refused to give up. He was remarkable.

  • While on the subject of Data, I'm surprised no one mentioned the end of the episode Brothers, and the death of Data's creator/father.
  • Also on the subject of Data—I may be alone here, but I always found Descent to be a little bit sad. Especially Data's simple "Goodbye, Lore," when he finally deactivates Lore for good. Emotionless, my foot.
    • Definitely not alone. But for me, I teared up at Lore's last words as Data deactivated him: "I love you... brother..."
      • Indeed; it was always debatable whether Lore did love Data or not, personally I think he grew from the initial you're my replacement hatred to actually genuinely respecting him. After all, he went to a lot of trouble to convince Data to join him and the rebel Borg.
  • The scene in "Darmok" where Picard tells the story of Gilgamesh to the dying Tamarian captain: "He who was my friend through adventure and hardship is gone forever."
  • Picard gets a truly beautiful monologue in the episode "Where Silence Has Lease", where - with everyone on the ship doomed to die in twenty minutes - he talks to Nagilum disguised as Data.

Data: I have a question, sir.
Picard: Yes, Data. What is it?
Data: What is death?
Picard: Oh, is that all? Well, Data, you're asking probably the most difficult of all questions. Some see it as a changing into an indestructible form, forever unchanging; they believe that the purpose of the entire universe is to then maintain that form in an Earth-like garden which will give delight and pleasure through all eternity. On the other hand, there are those who hold to the idea of our blinking into nothingness, with all our experiences, hopes and dreams merely a delusion.
Data: Which do you believe, sir?
Picard: Considering the marvellous complexity of our universe, its clockwork perfection, its balances of this against that, matter, energy, gravitation, time, dimension... I believe that our existence must be more than either of these philosophies. That what we are goes beyond Euclidian or other practical measuring systems and that our existence is part of a reality beyond what we understand now as reality.

    • This YTMND doesn't help much, either, syncing the final part of his monologue with Barber's Adagio for Strings, showing images of various galaxies and nebulae before finally showing Picard arriving in Heaven.
  • The acting in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Half a Life" was a little on the dry side, but at least part of it. Lwaxana Troi (Deanna's overbearing mother) has fallen in love with a scientist who has just turned sixty, and is heading back to his planet to commit a customary ritual suicide. Lwaxana isn't happy, and Deanna finds her furious mother trying to teleport down to the planet and chewing the authorities' ear off about the custom... before breaking down in tears. The scene that follows is a very emotional moment between mother and daughter that no doubt touches home to many people who have lost a parent (and includes one of the rare moments where Deanna willingly uses telepathic speech with her mother - she usually goes out of her way not to).

Lwaxana: But I'm crying. I don't cry...
Deanna: You cried when Father died. We both cried.

  • The episode Dark Page was worse, when it's finally revealed that Deanna had a sister who drowned while she was a baby; her mother has suppressed the knowledge of Kestra's existence ever since, and now she finally breaks down and hugs the illusion of her daughter, and says goodbye.
    • Earlier in the same episode where Deanna is tormented by the illusion of her father (conjured by Lwaxana in an attempt to make Deanna stop searching for her inside of her own dreamscape), he sings her a familiar childhood song, and wants to talk to her, because "they'll never have that chance again." Watch it, weep. and go call your father.

Deanna: ...Goodbye, Daddy.

      • "Half a Life" and "Dark Page" are especially powerful since Lwaxana is a character usually Played for Laughs. To see such a brassy, sassy Large Ham emotionally stripped raw is pretty shocking.
  • The TNG series premiere "Encounter at Farpoint" has one - DeForest Kelley's last-ever appearance as the immortal Dr. "Bones" McCoy.

McCoy: Well, she's a new ship, but she's got the right name. Now you remember that, y'hear? ...Treat her like a lady, and she'll always bring you home.

  • While on the subject of beloved classic characters, "Relics" should also be mentioned here for what was a wonderful tribute to James Doohan. The Enterprise comes across a Dyson Sphere with a crashed ship on it's surface, after beaming over they discover Scotty alive, over 70 years after the events of Star Trek VI. However he struggles to adapt to the differences in this new time, the Tear Jerker comes when he goes onto a holodeck simulation of the original Enterprise bridge and sadly walks around the empty room, knowing all of his friends are long gone. All he can do is raise a glass and sadly toast:

Scotty: Here's to ye, lads.

  • The episode Sarek is particularly rough going for anyone who's lost a loved one to Alzheimer's. The legendary Ambassador Sarek comes aboard the Enterprise to conclude a peace treaty, but it turns out his mental health is deteriorating at a frightening rate. In order to keep him stable enough to finish the negotiations, Sarek mindmelds with Picard to regain a measure of his self-control. Unfortunately, this leaves Picard a screaming, despairing mess, channeling all of Sarek's repressed emotions and love for his son Spock, falling apart in Beverly Crusher's arms. Patrick Stewart acts the hell out of this scene, but it's not easy going. And while we're on the subject of Sarek, there's also Unification where he dies.
    • There's also a Reality Subtext, as the first episode was written around the time of Gene Roddenberry's decline and the second, where Sarek died, was dedicated to Gene, who had died not long after it was filmed. It's about the decline and death of the father of Star Trek, giving it a more personal Tear Jerking touch.
  • The Naked Now had Tasha indulging with Data under the influence of a virus similar to the TOS episode The Naked Time. Her later That Didn't Happen excuse, to what we find later is one of his most cherished memories, leaves us heartbroken for someone who can't be.
  • It comes up again in Measure of a Man when the Captain is seeking out examples of Data's humanity to show the court how wrong it would be to dismantle him- he shows the only holophoto Data has is of Tasha... and then the looks on the faces of the court, including people who had considered him as nothing more than an elaborate automaton, as Picard makes Data tell them exacly why she's so important.
    • More wrenching still is that Data attempts to avoid answering the question out of respect for Tasha. Picard answers this concern quite calmly and no doubt accurately.

Picard: Under the circumstances, I don't think Tasha would mind.

  • More Data in The Measure of a Man. Riker's guilt for playing devil's advocate, not to mention essentially committing multiple acts of battery, shows that their friendship has evolved from what it was. Data's forgiveness of same, noting that he did what he had to do, shows that not only does he understand humanity more than he thinks, he embodies some of our best traits.
  • K'Ehleyr's death in "Reunion," where she uses her last bit of strength to place Alexander's hand in Worf's. And then Worf lets out the Klingon Death scream, and sounds utterly heartbroken.

Worf: Have you ever witnessed death? Then look, and always remember.

Star Trek: Voyager/Tear Jerker

  • The "Year of Hell" two-parter packed many into a small space by virtue of being, well, a year of hell. Janeway sending most of the crew off for their own good. Poor, blinded Tuvok trying to shave by touch, and Seven becoming his ever-present helper. Janeway's tribute to the ship that's given them everything it had to give. Her farewell to the last few crew, who know they'll never see her again. Voyager crumpling like cardboard into the side of Annorax's ship... Nobody likes a Reset Button, but it's never come as a greater relief than in this wrenching story.
  • "Living Witness", one of the show's best episodes, involves a backup copy of the Doctor activated 700 years in the series' future. He fixes some revisionist history and brings peace to a whole world, but he'll be homesick for the rest of his life—all his crewmates died centuries ago. He sets off on a lonely journey to the Alpha Quadrant, and if he gets there, all he can hope to find are the descendants of his friends.
    • It's sad a lot of fans hate that episode because of the concept of a backup Doctor being ridiculous, although it is a logical idea. But the fact that all of his friends are gone and you can tell he misses them. When you discover he left, you really do hope he made it home. It's why The Doctor was one of the series most touching characters.
  • "Homestead". Laugh if you want, but I'm not ashamed to admit that Neelix's farewell scene is the only thing on TV that's actually made me cry. The first two times I saw it. More than any other Trek crew, Voyager's was a family, and Neelix was its heart.
  • "Equinox" was an odd episode, and had a notable amount of bad writing, But Ransom's last words were enough to make up for it.

Ransom: You've got a fine crew, Captain. Promise me you'll get them home.
Janeway:...I promise.

    • Oh, most definitely. It's bad enough I haven't seen the episode, but Ransom's death scene sounds horrible. The very concept is heartwrenching enough.
  • "Endgame"s ending where after 7 long years, Voyager finally makes it back to earth.
  • The ending of the episode "Blink Of An Eye", in which the lone astronaut (Daniel Dae Kim of Lost) who made it to Voyager and met the crew, watches the ship (considered by his society to be a god) finally warp away while sitting on a rock as an old man, with a look of heartbreak on his face. There's a reason why this is often included in the list of top Voyager episodes.
  • In "Real Life", the death of the Doctor's holographic daughter. Yes, she isn't real, but the effect it has on the Doctor is, and it's such an acute reminder of how painful ordinary life can be. What makes is sadder is that the Doctor could have just terminated the program, but he faced up to her death instead because otherwise he wouldn't have got anything out of the simulation.
  • I may be alone on this, but I found the end of the episode Maneuvers to be a mini-tearjerker; Chakotay does his best to rectify a situation he created, attempts to keep the crew out of danger, and is ultimately captured and tortured for it. And when he returns to Voyager, Janeway and he have this conversation which was the tearjerker For me—because of the emotion in Chakotay's voice, and knowing all the things that had already happened to him in this episode:

Janeway: I'm putting you on report, in case that means anything anymore.
Chakotay: It means something to me, Captain. It means I've let you down, and for that I'm truly sorry.

  • The ending of "The Chute," when Harry feels guilty about trying to kill Paris while they were in the alien prison, and Paris pauses for a moment before saying, "You want to know what I remember? Someone saying, 'This man is my friend. Nobody touches him.' I'll remember that for a long time."
  • "Jetrel" is actually quite similar to Deep Space Nine's "Duet" except this time it is Neelix who is confronting the scientist who created the weapon that destroyed his homeworld. Just before said scientist dies after trying everything to atone and reverse his mistakes, Neelix finally forgives him for his sins.
  • "Heroes and Demons": The scene where Freya dies in the Doctor's arms after sacrificing herself for him. Despite Freya being a hologram, the Doctor (obviously) finds her death no less real, and later he can't even bring himself to adopt the name he'd chosen for himself, as it reminded him of her.
  • "One Small Step". Kelly is an explorer to the last breath, and Seven is moved to tears (so naturally the audience is too).

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles/Tear Jerker

  • In the second season premiere, a rather berserk Cameron is trying to kill John, and John and Sarah have her pinned between two trucks. As John is trying to remove Cameron's processor chip, she begins asking him not to remove it, saying she's "fixed" herself. As John keeps working, she gets more desperate, and starts sobbing and begging more frantically, going so far as to shout she loves him. Even though you know that she's simply trying to escape, it doesn't change the emotion in her words.
    • All of "Allison from Palmdale." The juxtaposition between Allison's suffering in the future and Cameron's suffering as Allison in the present, especially the part where Cameron tries to call her "mother" who doesn't know who she is. Then, at the very end, we have Allison being choked to death by Cameron, while utterly refusing to help her assassinate John Connor. The scene in question is a borderline between a Tear Jerker and a Crowning Moment of Awesome for Allison for her defiance.
      • Especially the part where Allison talks about her birthday right before Judgment Day:

"July 22. I had a party in Griffith Park. My friends were there....I saw a boy ride by on a Solar mountain bike, and I told my dad, 'That's what I want.' And he said, 'Next year.' ....I didn't have a party next year. No one did. (...) ....everyone was dead."

    • In the episode "Self Made Man," Cameron makes a friend in the form of Eric, a wheelchair-bound research assistant at the history building at the university. Toward the end of the episode, Cameron's unwitting "weirdness" while pursuing the Terminator Stark has alienated Eric to the point where he finally demands that she leave. She does, and walks away, giving her only friend a look that is as close to confused pain and hurt as she possibly can get. Its hard to make a killer deathbot sympathetic.
    • Things get even better (or worse) in "Ourselves Alone". After finally making some headway healing her relationship with John, Cameron gives John her kill switch, in the shape of a locket made * just for him* . You'll just want to take that thing out and tell her she'll be all-ok. And don't cry.
    • Toward the end of "Today is the Day Part 1," the scene where John apologizes to Riley's dead body was absolutely heartbreaking. Alas, Poor Scrappy, indeed.
    • A subtle but very upsetting moment comes at the end of "Automatic for the People", where Sarah keeps pressing Cameron for answers about whether she'll get cancer, culminating in Sarah getting frustrated and asking "What do I do, just wait? Like a time bomb, am I just going to go off some day?" Cameron quietly replies: "I don't know...am I?" This is made so much worse by knowing that while Sarah, John and Derek will all do their best to help each other, no one is going to comfort Cameron; she's just a machine, after all. She's scared, of herself, and she's alone. Just thinking about that makes me cry.
    • In the penultimate episode, John is talking to Savannah Weaver, whom they just rescued from another terminator. She remembers him from one of their brief encounters before, at the psychiatrist's office. Savannah says that he's dead, and he was her friend, and she misses him... Which is sad enough, coming from a child, but then asks if Derek was a friend of John's, and then blames herself for his death. If the parallels between John and Savannah weren't obvious already, it becomes painfully so right at that moment.
    • In the series finale, when they reach the basement only to discover that Cameron has given her chip to John Henry, who just time-traveled to the future. One of the screens displays the words: "I'M SORRY JOHN" being repeated over and over and over again. John has already lost one protector terminator, which served as a protective father/uncle figure to him. And now he's lost another protector, who in this case is somewhere between a sibling and a lover. He's going to be so desperate to go after her.

True Blood/Tear Jerker

  • The end of "I Will Rise Up". Godric's calm, joyful acceptance of his impending death and Sookie's tears for him. Also, when Sookie asks Godric if he's very afraid and he replies: "No, no! I'm full of joy!". It's the delivery that makes it so affecting.
  • Eric, who all Season 3 has apparently been willing to throw anyone under a bus in order to get his 1000-year old revenge, finally shows his true colours by handcuffing himself to Russell and staying out in the sunlight to take the bastard out with him, saving Sookie and Bill in the process.
  • Sam kills Maryann, but that was alright, because she believed she had accomplished her life's goal, and, by extension, was the perfect sacrifice. And then Sam changes back. The look on Maryann's face...
  • In the first episode of season three, after Bill feeds from the old lady, he glamours her into thinking her son showed up.
  • In "Me and the Devil" when Tommy accidently kills his mother. His reaction is absolutely heartbreaking.

The Twilight Zone/Tear Jerker

  • Jack Klugman's monologue in "A Passage for Trumpet" as a washed-up, alcoholic trumpet player.

Joey: Because I'm sad. Because I'm nothing. Because I'll live and die in a crummy one-roomer with dirty walls and cracked pipes. I'll never even have a girl. I'll never be anybody. Half of me is this horn. I can't even talk to people, Baron, cause this horn, that's half my language. But when I'm drunk, Baron...oh when I'm drunk, boy, I don't see the dirty walls or the cracked pipes. I don't know the clock's going, that the hours are going by, cause then I'm Gabriel. Oh, I'm--I'm Gabriel with a golden horn, and when I put it to my lips, it comes out jewels, comes out a symphony, comes out the smell of fresh flowers in summer, comes out beautiful. Beauty. When I'm drunk, Baron. Only when I'm drunk.

Mr. Corwin: "I live in a dirty rooming house on a street filled with hungry kids, and shabby people. And the only thing that comes down the chimney on Christmas Eve is more poverty! I just wish, Mr. Dundee, that on one Christmas - only one! That I could see some of the hopeless ones, and the dreamless ones... just on one Christmas - I'd like to see the meek inherit the Earth." *shot cuts to black child, then back to Mr. Corwin* "That's why I drink, Mr. Dundee... and that's why I weep."

Victorious/Tear Jerker

  • Rex Dies is definitely one, especially when Tori tries to console Robbie after he says that he needed her support. Combined with when Robbie is saying what looks like his final goodbyes to Rex...

Warehouse 13/Tear Jerker

  • Three words: Emily Lake/Stand.
    • When HG is saying they should sacrifice her and then her goodbyes to the team...
      • Steve's death, when Pete begs Claudia to get back to the car and her scream when she finds Steves body had me sobbing my heart out.

Pete: ...Please get back to the car.

  • When HG doesn't know how to save Myka and with tears in her eyes she tells her she's sorry.

The West Wing/Tear Jerker

  • "Two Cathedrals", almost all of it.
  • A lot of Bartlet's monologues.
  • "Election Day", made even worse by the Reality Subtext.
  • Ave Maria.
  • The "guy in the hole" story.
  • Watching CJ wander aimlessly through New York, shocked that the Secret Service agent who'd been protecting her (and whom she had started to fall in love with) had just been killed when he walked into a minimart hold-up. The fact that "Hallelujah" is playing over the scene makes it doubly bad.
  • "Leo? Leo? LEO!" Not that spectacular in itself, but when combined with the fact that it was necessitated by the actual death of John Spencer? Kind of traumatizing. As was Josh's trip to the hospital.
    • Everything associated with that was heartbreaking, but Josh at the end really does it. "Thanks, boss."
      • Other moments were the moments CJ had to go into the oval office and break the news to President Bartlet that first Leo had had a heart attack, and then later that he had died. This latter scene in particular was heartbreaking; CJ walks in without saying anything; Bartlet sees her expression, knows immediately that Leo's gone, thanks her, and turns away with tears in his eyes.
  • The homeless Korean veteran's funeral was rather stirring.
    • How about Mrs. Landingham explaining why she gets a little down around the holidays in that episode?
  • The end of the last episode of Season 4 with the Bartlets in the church, and Josh and Donna standing at the massive amount of flowers people are leaving for Zoey in front of the White House.
  • Bartlet's CMOA when condemning God in Latin in "Two Cathedrals" doubles as a Tear Jerker as you can see how distraught he is how God treats those closest to him.
    • Both the CMOA and Tear Jerker are combined again at the end of the episode as they all go to the press conference.

Leo (sotto voce): Watch this ...

  • Leo's funeral in "Requiem".
  • All of "Bartlet for America," particularly in the opening teaser during this exchange:

Josh: I'm gonna help you out and you know why?
Leo: Because you're so worried about everybody you love dying that you're a compulsive fixer?
Josh: Nah, it's because a guy's walking down the street and he falls in a hole, see?

  • "That was a nice thing you did."
  • Santos' speech announcing his candidicacy, superimposed with President Bartlet walking across the Oval Office with braces and standing for the first time after a particularly debilitating MS attack.
  • From In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, which is practically a goldmine for Tear Jerker moments:
    • Sam frantically shouting "Josh, I'm here!" as Josh is wheeled into GW after being shot at Rosslyn.
    • The scene where Donna comes to the hospital after the shooting.
    • When Bartlet kisses Leo on the cheek before going into surgery.
    • The look on Toby's face after he yells at Josh from behind for fooling around behind the gate, then reaches him and realizes he's been shot. To put it simply, Richard Schiff is an astounding actor.
    • When CJ finds out that Sam was the one who pushed her out of the way of the bullets.
    • When Toby loses it and starts screaming at CJ about wanting to hunt down every white supremacist organization in the country.
    • Bartlet to Leo, while watching Josh's surgery: "Look what they did."
  • The end of "The State Dinner", where President Bartlet is talking on the phone to the sailor on a fuel tender that services the John F. Kennedy, whose entire battle group is in the middle of a hurricane, and Bartlet knows that there's no way the small ship will survive. The static-y, broken-up description of the storm by the sailor, who is awed to speak to his Commander-in-Chief even though he's in the middle of it, coupled with the look of total despair and helplessness on Bartlet's face.
    • And that gets mentioned in Bartlet's tirade against God.

Bartlet:They say we haven't had a storm this bad since you took out that tender ship of mine in the north Atlantic last year, 68 crew. Do you know what a tender ship does? Fixes the other ships. Doesn't even carry guns, just goes around, fixes the other ships and delivers the mail, that's all it can do.

  • When Bartlet gives Charlie the carving knife: "Charlie, my father gave me this knife, and his father gave it to him, and now I'm giving it to you." The implication of the words strikes the audience and Charlie just dead-on. And god, the expression on Charlie's face when Bartlet adds that the knife was made especially for the Bartlet family "By a Boston silversmith named Paul Revere."
  • "Sam, you're going to run for President one day. Don't be afraid, I believe in you."
  • The end of "Posse Comitatus", when Bartlet hears the news that the terrorist-sponsoring foreign defence minister, whose assassination Bartlet ordered against all of his moral convictions, has been killed. While Bartlet's favorite song is performed on the stage inside the theater hall: "And the victorious in war shall be made glorious in peace."
  • The entire speech Toby gives in 25, starting with, "I didn't realize babies come with hats" and ending with, "This isn't going to mean anything to you, but... Leo was right. Leo was right."
  • The episode "Han".
  • Zoey dealing with her kidnapping in "Jefferson Lives".
  • The President telling Ellie "The only thing you ever had to do to make me happy was come home at the end of the day" in "Ellie".
  • "18th and Potomac," which led to all those tearjerkers in "Two Cathedrals".

Charlie: Leo, there was an accident at 18th and Potomac. Mrs. Landingham was driving her car back here.
Leo: What happened?
Charlie: There was a drunk driver, and they ran a light at 18th and Potomac. They ran it a high speed.
Leo: Charlie, is she all right?
Charlie: No. She's dead.

  • The episode "Noel":

Stanley: You have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Josh: That doesn't sound like something they let you have if you work at the White House.
Stanley: Josh...
Josh: Can we have it be something else?

White Collar/Tear Jerker

  • The end of season 1 finale. The plane blowing up is a bit of a Special Effect Failure case, but the look on Neal's face as he realises what happened and tries to throw himself into the fire in a futile attempt to save Kate is heartbreaking.

Xena: Warrior Princess/Tear Jerker

  • The murder of her son Solan, where she denied it at first and cradled the teenager's body like a baby as the truth started to sink in. And when she was forced to kill her undead African lover (long story); she stabs him and kisses him passionately as he slowly dies.
    • The first example is sad enough, but you could see it coming, so you'd think it wouldn't be that sad. But then this line comes up:

"Solon. Solon, please. I'm here now. Your mom is here now just like you always wanted."

  • The end of "Destiny".
  • "Been There, Done That".
  • Most of the Xena/Gabrielle scenes from "One Against an Army"
  • The end of "Sacrifice pt. 2"
  • The crash scene and aftermath of "Looking Death in the Eye"
  • "Motherhood"
  • The poem scene at the end of "Many Happy Returns"
  • The two "Friend in Need" episodes, especially the bit around sunrise of part 2.
  • Gabrielle at the end of "The Deliverer." Forced to kill and used in a horiffic ritual. "Everything's different now."
  • So much of it in "Orphan of War." Xena gave up Solon during her warlord days both because he would be a target and because he would turn out like her. Years later, she encounters her son, who believes she murdered his father and is still a monster. Though those opinions are corrected, the episode ends with Xena not telling him the whole truth. It's the right thing to do, but you can see how much it hurts in that last shot.
  • "A Comedy of Eros" is indeed a comedy, with lots of romances starting because of misuse of Cupid's arrows. Thing of it is, Joxer didn't need any arrows. He really does love Gabrielle, but she didn't and doesn't know he still does. In the end, she thinks the whole thing is laughable. Cue Joxer uttering a completely defeated "Ha-ha."
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