Live-Action TV/Tear Jerker/Lists that need to be split by individual works: Difference between revisions

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{{Cleanup|MOD: All of these entries belong on the Tear Jerker subpages for their works, and should be moved there. If the work pages don't exist yet, remember that [[Works Pages Are a Free Launch]]. Once that is done, this page can be deleted.}}

* This otherwise hilarious French-Canadian series got a few brilliant tear-jerker moments, all delivered by Sylvie Leonard. The first of the two most notable happens at the end of the episode in which Sylvie's mother dies. She gives a beautiful speech to her mother's grave, and asks her to give her a sign if she heard her. At this point, a pigeon poops on Guy's, her boyfriend, shoulder, turning it into a [[Crowning Moment of Funny]].

* The second happens during the final episode. After going all the way to Vietnam to adopt a little girl, Sylvie suddenly collapses in the street and wakes up in hospital. Weak and afraid she might die, she tells Guy how much she wanted to see their new child grow up and how much she loves him. The doctor arrives seconds later to inform them that Sylvie is actually pregnant, turning the scene into a [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]].

 

 

* While [[Soap Opera|soap operas]] in general are liable to have a few tearjerkers mixed in with all the [[Narm]], one would be hardpressed to find a span of time more rich with tearjerkers than 1994-1995 on ''[[General Hospital]].'' In those two years, you had Monica Quartermaine's breast cancer, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hYFIAqKde8 Stone and Robin's HIV/AIDS] and perhaps the most tearjerking story ever on soaps, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX7IswtuTas&feature=related BJ's heart]. Dominique's death in 1993 after hearing her unborn baby's heartbeat (carried by surrogate Lucy) was another good one.

** Karen admitting to ex-boyfriend Jagger that she had been sexually abused as child, felt unworthy of love, and that ''that's'' why she pushed him away and broke up with him always got to me.

* BJ's death, which is on here, has to be THE biggest tear jerker a soap has ever done. Too many moments to name, here are just some of the biggest tear jerkers

** Bobbie and Tony talking about giving BJ's heart to Maxie. Bobbie's response is so raw and so emotional, yet so believable.

What were the writers trying to do to us? Make us cry? Make us feel the pain? Well, it worked

 

* Sergeant Brad Colbert in ''[[Generation Kill]]'' has a [[Heroic BSOD|really affecting moment]] when he realises that a Marine under his command {{spoiler|has shot a young Iraqi boy}}. The fact that Colbert's nickname is "Iceman" for his usually detached and cool attitude

* Navy Hospitalman Second Class Robert Timothy "Doc" Bryan trying to treat and protect a little boy before the group of Marines is overwhelmed by local civilians desperate for help and have to leave.

 

 

* "Save Our Souls": A room on a cruise ship is haunted by the ghost of a stowaway name Lorelai, where she saw her lover kissing another woman. {{spoiler|It turns out the woman she saw was only giving him a goodbye kiss, because neither wanted to marry each other even though they were supposed to. When Lorelai saw this, she ran away and hid in an access shaft, but slipped and plummeted to her death. The captain orders her body be tossed overboard, and she is never found. Her lover then spent years trying to find her across the world, to no avail.}}

 

* When Will leaves Glee to go become an accountant and then returns after hearing the Glee kids singing Don't Stop Believing.

* When Quinn found out about her pregnancy.

 

 

* The [[Grand Finale]], for sure.

* The second half to the end of the episode where the girls stay in a homeless shelter for the night, looking for a misplaced lottery ticket worth $10,000. They do find it but give it away to help the needy, having briefly experienced and lived as they did (and talked to some people, one of which was one of Sophia's friends and a big Tear Jerker of its own).

 

 

* Blair reading the letter she wrote to Serena.

* Chuck coming to Blair to break apart in her arms and perhaps get some comfort after the death of {{spoiler|his father}}. Also the scene earlier in the episode when Blair finally tells him she loves him, and he just drives off.

 

 

* The live action ''[[Great Teacher Onizuka]]'' episode where Tomoko pours her heart out during the public speaking part of the competition.

 

 

* End of season two, {{spoiler|Denny's death and Izzie curled up next to him on the hospital bed.}}

* Season 3. The 'woman with two uteruses' subplot in the episode "Let The Angels Commit"

* After a 39 hour day when Meredith goes to answer the door expecting the pizza delivery and it is {{spoiler|the social worker holding Zola. "She's yours."}}.

 

* The scene in "Love That Lets Go" while we're looking at back at some of the happy memories that Miley has been through with Blue Jeans, as the song of the same name plays over it. Also, the last bit before commercial where Miley tells the audience that it was dedicated to her horse in real life.

* "Been Here All Along", where Miley tells Robby Ray that she's happy to have a father like him, and they hug, which is followed by them having fun together on the pier.

** This whole episode is one big tear jerker. It won't completely obliterate your heart like [[Toy Story 3|that one Disney film]], but it will take it, slash it in half and hit it with a giant rock.

 

* In the first episode when {{spoiler|Steve's dad}} is killed ''while'' {{spoiler|Steve}} is talking on the phone with him has to qualify for some.

* Danny in "Malama Ka Aina" (episode 3) and Rachel threatening to take away Grace from him. The way he pleads at the end for her not to take Grace away (again) is just murder. Especially if you have father issues, and you hear this grown man ''begging'' his ex-wife to let him see his daughter because he loves her ''that much''.

 

 

* The "eureka" scene, where a young Hawking - already debilitated but not yet immobilised by his motor neuron disease - comes to a sudden realisation about the nature of the Big Bang and chases after Roger Penrose at a train station before desperately chalking out diagrams on the platform flagstones

 

 

* In episode 2 of the live-action ''[[Hell Girl]]'' series, Enma Ai's client is a [[Hikikomori]] whose father has been murdered. There's a heartbreaking flashback sequence in which we see all the times his father talked to him through the door of his room, patiently trying again and again to reach his son. They love each other, but whatever sorrow has taken hold of the boy won't let go. And now it's too late -- he'll never see his dad again, never get to make things right. You'll need to hug someone you love after watching this.

 

 

* Right from the start in "The Wrong Path." Hercules' wife and children are murdered by Hera... in front of him... before the opening credits. Before setting out to settle the score with Hera, Hercules buries his family and grieves.

* "The Other Side": While on a mission to the Underworld, Hercules is briefly reunited with his family. Though overjoyed to see his loved ones again, Hercules knows full well this is only temporary, which clearly gnaws at him. Additionally, his family is unware they're dead, so the big guy has to carry this load by himself. And what viewer couldn't be moved by:

 

 

* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' - the ending of "Company Man". "I love you, Clairebear... (to Haitian) Go deep."

** Also the scenes in 'Cautionary Tales' between {{spoiler|Hiro and his dad}}. Especially the part where {{spoiler|Hiro meets himself as a boy: 'There are some things even Tazeko Kensei cannot change'.}} It didn't provoke actual tears, but it came very close.

 

 

* The end of the ''[[Higher Ground]]'' episode "Innocence" where {{spoiler|Peter's previously estranged father dies, in the midst of a recollection of their visits to Central Park, with the words "I love you too, son" on his lips.}} If ''that'' doesn't get you, the episode's last shot of a 7-year-old Peter muttering "'bye, dad" as his father strides in slow-motion across a bridge ''will''.

** The end of "Daised (sic) and Confused", when Daisy opens her father's photo album, and finally grieves for her dead mother, after spending the entire episode resenting her and blowing up at her father (and showing up at the funeral in the very Goth getup that led her to the school in the first place).

 

 

* ''[[Hogan's Heroes]]'', for all that it's a comedy, still has moments of acknowledging that they're in the middle of a war. In one notable episode, Hogan attempts to seduce a female SS officer for information. She then confesses that she has no way out of her job without dying and is probably going to get shot soon anyway, ending with a pitiable "Help me...". Then it turns out she's going to the exact place where Hogan knows Allied forces are going to bomb and he can't tell her a word of it even to save her life. {{spoiler|She eventually doesn't go, but still.. the look on their faces}}

** Another is when General Burkhalter steals a painting from the Louvre and brings it smugly to Stalag 13. LeBeau, enraged at this further pillaging of his country, sneaks into Klink's office and steals the painting. When he removes it from its frame and holds it up in front of him, the surge of sorrow and anger causes him to start crying.

 

 

* Giardello's speech at the end of "Partners and Other Strangers".

* The scene in "Every Mother's Son" when the mothers of a murdered child and the boy who did the killing meet unaware of who the other is.

 

 

* Horatio saying goodbye to Archie, after he confessed to pushing Captain Sawyer into the hold to save Hornblower from hanging. "Just take what I have to offer... and say goodbye." Sniffle.

** Not only that scene, but a few scenes before, just after the battle has ended. Complete with some in-universe [[Mood Whiplash]]. The audience saw Archie get shot, but Horatio didn't, and as soon as the battle is over he and Archie are chatting, poking a bit of fun at Buckland ... then Horatio looks over at his friend, notices, asks "Is that your blood?" and it goes downhill from there.

 

 

* The season 4 finale.

** When {{spoiler|House talks to Amber in the Limbo-bus. " I don't want him (Wilson) to hate me"}}

 

 

* ''[[How I Met Your Mother|HIMYM]]'' is usually one of the happiest shows around... but dammit, it can [[Tear Jerker|make you cry like a baby]]:

** The ending of ''Come On''. Seeing Ted arriving home so happy only to find Marshall sitting on their building's doorsteps, in the rain, holding Lily's engagement ring.

* In 'Symphony of Illumination' {{spoiler|Robin is narrating the episode to her and Barney's future kids. Until she finds out she can't ever have children. "So I can't have kids. Big deal. This way, there's no one to hold me back in life. No one to keep me from travelling where I wanna travel, no one getting in the way of my career. If you wanna know the truth of it, I'm glad you guys aren't real." And the kids fade away.}}

 

* When {{spoiler|Barbara Havers is shot in the abdomen, throwing herself in front of a bullet to save someone else}}. Even though [[Like You Would Really Do It|you know they wouldn't really do it]], ''Lynley'' doesn't know, and his reaction is absolutely heartbreaking.

* {{spoiler|Helen's death}}, Lynley's face, and Barbara doing her level best to save her. Just... ouch.

 

 

* ''[[Inspector Morse]]'' ''The Remorseful Day'' The last few scenes where Lewis is saying goodbye.

 

 

* In the last ever episode of ''[[It Ain't Half Hot Mum]]'', the war is over and the men are demobbed. As Sergeant Major Williams struggles to make conversation, the viewers and Concert Party realize that the army was his life; he has nothing to return to as a civilian. Gunner Parkin invites Sergeant Major to dinner where he can see Parkin's mother (his former love) again.

 

* Many many scenes - at least one per episode.

* {{spoiler|Ogata-sensei's death and the preceding conversation}} in episode 7.

 

 

* The scene from [[Joan of Arcadia]] when {{spoiler|Judith dies just after watching Joan juggle in "Friday Night." And the subsequent reactions to her death, especially Friedman reading Hamlet.}}

** Watching "Death Be Not Whatever" and "Jump" scenes involving Rocky

** The episode "Silence", in which Joan is diagnosed with Lyme Disease and begins to think that her contact with God is just a hallucination. The scene where she is pleading with all the avatars of God to tell her something, and they just look at her in silence...

 

* In the finale of season 1 "Eclipse Of The Korven", {{spoiler|K-9 destroys the Korven, burning out his power core, and because he had his regeneration circuit removed in the previous episode, he could not repair himself, killing him. His regeneration circuit does manage to home itself back to him, and revives K-9.}}

 

 

* Given its [[Anyone Can Die]] policy, [[Kamen Rider Ryuki]], unsuprisingly, has a fair number of these moments.

** {{spoiler|Kamen Rider Imperer}}'s final moments are particularly painful. Betrayed and left for dead in the Mirror World without his armor for protection, he spends his last seconds alive in the rain, gazing at the lone figure of a woman who may have represented everything he wanted in a life, as his body slowly dissolves into nothingness.

 

 

* ''Kasou Taishou'', the show that brought you the famous [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dcmDscwEcI Matrix Ping Pong] brings you a tear-inducing number called [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njgvEX-JtUc Friend in the Graffiti].

 

 

* The first half of the [[Kenan and Kel]] episode where Kenan has to move away. It's the slowed down theme music that does it. Also, in the 2nd half of that two-parter, [[Catch Phrase|"... Kel loves orange soda."]]

 

 

* Some may say it's a direct lift from ''[[Twin Peaks]]'', but the whole scene where [[First Episode Spoiler|Rosie's body]] is found it's heartbreaking in its own right, especially with Mr. Larsen arriving on the scene. "Is that my daughter?"

 

 

* In the original series, the death of {{spoiler|Stevie Mason}} never fails to draw a few sniffles.

** Screw that, then entire episode The Scent of Roses. The whole thing was effectively an exercise in ripping Michael’s guts out.

* The death of {{spoiler|Devon}} in the Knight Rider 2000 movie, complete with flashback to the first ever episode.

 

* {{spoiler|Dana's death}} was definitely the saddest moment of the series, no question, but scene in "Lacuna" where {{spoiler|Shane finds Jenny in the bathroom cutting herself to shreds}} is a very close second. Jenny's so broken and Shane is so terrified for her, it's both painful to watch and moving at the same time.

 

 

* In the three-part episode, "The Odyssey", Lassie gets trapped in a truck and is driven hundreds of miles from Timmy and the Martin family, and tries to return home. Timmy meanwhile, slowly begins to lose hope of ever seeing her again. Near the end of the third episode, Timmy gives up, and with tears in his eyes, goes out to bury Lassie's toys. But as he's burying them, he suddenly hears a familiar bark. He looks up and finds Lassie running towards him down the hill.

 

 

* When Danny is called back into service by the Marines, Ed makes a phone call to one of his old CIA connections, and asks where his protege is being sent. We don't hear the response, but seeing the tough-as-nails Ed shudder and virtually age ten years makes it abundantly clear that he's convinced Danny will come home in a casket.

 

 

* For a show that didn't usually take itself very seriously, the episode "Why Did The Fireman...?" is just heartbreaking.

 

 

* ''[[Law and Order]]'' had one with Lennie Briscoe in Season 8. His daughter gets arrested for drug possession and is forced to testify against her dealer, and after his acquittal she ends up murdered. He goes to the crime scene and has to be restrained from cradling her body by his partner. To see this gruff, world-weary homicide detective on the verge of sobbing just makes you ache.

{{quote|'''Lennie''': "She was my baby, Rey. What am I gonna do?"

 

 

* ''[[Law and Order: Criminal Intent]]'', episode ''Magnificat''. Det. Goren's interrogation of Paul Whitlock, whose wife {{spoiler|(based on Andrea Yates) is being charged for the murder of three of their sons in an attempted murder-suicide.}} You can view the clip [https://web.archive.org/web/20111013234554/http://thereelvincentdonofrio.com/clips/loci_clips/s4/magnificat.wmv here.]

** Also, the ending of ''Semi-Detached''. You really must watch the episode to appreciate ''why'' it's so sad.

 

 

* ''[[Law and Order Special Victims Unit]]''. The episode dealing with [[John Munch]] and his mentally disabled uncle, [[Adam Westing|played by Jerry Lewis]]. Specially the end, where {{spoiler|the uncle kills the main suspect of the case by ''pushing him on the NY metro railroad to get him hit by a train'' and then ''refuses'' an insanity plea, preferring to spend his last days in prision rather than in a mental institution.}}

* The end of ''Paternity.''

 

 

* "Unloved": Steel's efforts to comfort and help a 13-year-old boy who's just pleaded guilty to murder after swallowing his barrister's argument that his genes made him a killer.

* "Alesha":

 

 

* The flashbacks to the death of Nate's son, slowly parceled out throughout the first season.

* Parker's fear for the orphans in "The Stork Job":

 

 

* At the end of the original documentary, it's speculated that while apes may one day achieve a human-like mastery over the environment, the ability to [[Navel Gazing|look outside one's self and contemplate your place in the cosmos]] was an evolutionary accident that will likely never be repeated. Ultimately, it doesn't matter whether anything from the time of humans survives...because even if it does, there will be no one to talk about it.

{{quote|'''Narrator:''' And so, like an abandoned village on a global scale, the Earth will move on without us. There was life before us, and there will be [[Title Drop|life...after people.]] }}

 

 

* The Chilean TV series "Los Archivos del Cardenal" ("The Files od the Cardinal"), narrating the struggle of the "Vicaria de la Solidaridad" ("Vicary of Solidarity") during the terrible Chilean dictatorship, is the perfect mix of [[Tear Jerker]] and [[Nightmare Fuel]]. Maybe the names and some circumstances were changed to protect sensibilities of the victims and their families, but the emotional impact is devastating.