I weep, you weep, we all weep for … TV. Okay, it doesn’t exactly rhyme, but I’m emotionally compromised! Have you seen all the devastating, gutting, sob-inducing stuff going down on our favorite scripted-television shows this year? Well, I have and I am exhausted. But exhausted in a good way — crying is cathartic, remember. And don’t worry, not all of this year’s weepy TV moments are sad; there’s been great joy and some wistful bittersweetness, too. All cries are welcome here.
So which of 2023’s TV tearjerkers did their worst to us? And by worst I obviously mean best because getting too emotionally involved in a television program is a true blessing! Below, find the ten moments on scripted TV that made me, your trusted Crying Correspondent, cry as hard as real life does — and that’s saying something! Please pack tissues.
10.
Ronald learns the truth
Jury Duty, “The Verdict”
When I started watching this weird little scripted-reality-show hybrid about a random dude who doesn’t know he’s serving on a fake jury — with James Marsden playing a warped version of himself, no less — I could not fathom that it would end with me crying tears of joy. Yet here we are! Some of the emotion surely comes from the anticipation that’s been building to this moment when the curtain comes down, and some from the nerves over whether the producers and actors could pull this off and how Ronald Gladden would react to learning that everyone has been lying to him for three weeks. But most of those tears come from the sweetness of knowing that a guy who never hesitated to show kindness or compassion just got a huge win (and $100k). Later, the cast will tell Ronald that they all fell in love with him, and that’s the energy that fills this scene as the judge reveals the ruse and recounts all the moments when Ronald showed himself to be a stand-up guy. As everyone in the room stands up to applaud and cheer, you can’t help but get caught up in a swell of emotion that is very, very real.
9.
Sam sings “Gloria”
Honestly, this list could include any moment from Somebody Somewhere season two when Sam sings, because Bridget Everett has the voice of an angel. (I beg of you to watch her sing “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” in episode 6.) But there’s just something so special about the unbridled joy of this performance at the wedding reception of Fred Rococo and Susan. The season holds lots of moments of grief and loss and yes, we had to watch our favorite best friends Sam and Joel have a devastating fight, but in the end we are sent off with overflowing love. To see Sam choose to perform the song Joel said he would want played at his dream wedding (she even breaks her “no Barbra, no Judy, no Branigan” rule for him); to see Tricia, with whom Sam has a real roller coaster of a sister dynamic, hop on her back in the middle of the dance floor; and to watch Sam sit on the stage and take in this community of people she’s built after working so hard on not pushing people away — well, it’s so unbelievably cathartic, how can you not cry?
8.
Chilli explains why Aunt Brandy is sad
Bluey, “Onesies”
That’s right, people: The kids’ cartoon about the dog family in Australia is on this list! If you’ve seen even a handful of episodes of the bright, warm Bluey, you will be in no way surprised by this. Plenty of episodes over its three seasons have reduced unsuspecting adults watching with the littles in their lives to tears, but nothing quite prepared me for the shock of realizing this kids’ cartoon was doing an episode — a gorgeous, bittersweet one — about infertility. When Chilli’s sister Brandy (voiced by Rose Byrne!) comes to visit, you can tell something’s off — Brandy hasn’t seen her sister or nieces in four years, they’re tip-toeing around each other, at one point she thinks she needs to leave — and eventually Bluey asks her mom why. Chilli explains that sometimes there are things you want so badly but can’t have and there’s nothing anyone can do to help. This conversation is cut with a shot of Brandy playing outside with Bingo, and when Bingo runs off, Brandy’s outstretched arms are left empty. Later, Brandy takes her sister’s paw and says that yes, it’s hard to be here, but she’ll be all right eventually. That’s great for her, but what about me?
7.
Elora tells Bear she’s leaving for college
Reservation Dogs is a masterclass in achieving poignancy without ever getting saccharine, and its final season is full of moments that are beautiful and heartbreaking and moving and thought-provoking all at once. The one I will hold onto for a long time is this scene in the finale in which Elora, knowing that Bear’s mom is moving away, decides she needs to tell her friend she’s leaving, too. You can see how anxious she is, anticipating a fight, but Bear has the opposite reaction: He is so proud of her. “It’s a good thing,” he says. The two friends, who haven’t had the easiest dynamic since Daniel died, hug and say “I love you,” and through tears, Elora tells Bear: “I’ll miss you, but it’s gonna be okay.” It’s a gorgeous conclusion to their relationship but also an incredibly brave character moment for each of them. Elora is pushing herself to imagine a bigger life no matter how much it scares her. Bear is able to look past his own needs to support the people he cares about instead of lashing out, fearing he’s been left behind; he knows he hasn’t. What the two of them have, what their friends have, what this community has, is bigger than that.
6.
Shiv says good-bye
Succession, “Connor’s Wedding”
Listen, I did not want to have one shred of empathy for these fuckers. But I have watched Succession’s season-four masterpiece “Connor’s Wedding” more than once, and the Roy children learning their father has suddenly died on a plane while they’re all stuck together on a boat for Connor’s nuptials makes me weep every single time. It’s Shiv’s whispered, desperate “Daddy?” into the phone being held up to Logan’s ear even though he’s already gone that really does me in. (Sarah Snook! An icon!) As much as Shiv, Kendall, and Roman want to constantly walk around like they are in control, like they have all the power, like they are the smartest people in the room, they are completely leveled by this shock. They soon revert back to being horrible people trying to assert themselves, but for that moment when the call comes in, through all the chaos and devastation, they are just kids who learned that they will never see their dad again. Ah, death, the great equalizer.
5.
The plane crash
Jason Katims. Connie Britton. A show about a 12-year-old boy who is the sole survivor of a commercial-airline crash. If you were not prepared to weep over Dear Edward, that’s on you, friend. The series doesn’t pull any punches, either: The first episode spends its time making its sprawling cast of characters seem so very alive, jumping among them in the days leading up to the doomed flight before, uh, killing off most of them. The crash itself, which comes at the end of the episode, is visceral and terrifying. As the plane flies into a storm and is forced to make an emergency landing, the fear is palpable. It’s chaos as the turbulence gets worse, and we get front-row seats to the passengers’ final thoughts — the faces of the people they love, when they became a mother, their daughter’s laugh, a day in the ocean with their brother — before they, save for Edward, are just gone.
4.
Clare finally lets her guilt go
Tiny Beautiful Things, “Love”
You had to know Kathryn Hahn and Merritt Wever would bring you to your knees — they are a mother-daughter dream team. This final moment shared between them comes on the heels of learning that Clare (Hahn) wasn’t with her mother when she died in the hospital, but rather was off looking for and staying with her younger brother; she has carried the guilt of leaving her to die alone throughout her entire life. It comes on the heels of learning Frankie’s (Wever) last word to her daughter was simply “love,” her body too destroyed to muster the strength for “I” and “you,” and Clare realizing that it is the word you should say to the people you love as much as possible. It comes on the heels of Clare’s daughter Rae telling her she’s glad Clare was with her brother at that moment in time because “maybe we end up where we’re supposed to be,” offering Clare the permission to begin healing. That night, she dreams of her mother in her hospital bed in the middle of a field. Frankie opens her eyes, smiles at her daughter, and says the most important word. “Love,” Clare says back. It may be just a dream, it may all be metaphorical, but Clare is finally there at her mother’s side as she dies. When Frankie says, “It’s time,” Clare takes the IV out of her mother’s arm and is able to let her go, along with all the guilt and pain. Now, she can just keep the most important thing.
3.
Otto thanks Miep for Anne’s diary
A Small Light, “Legacy”
A Small Light is a gorgeous season of television from top to bottom, telling the Anne Frank story from the perspective of Miep Gies, one of the people who helped hide the Franks and four others for two years in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, among many other heroic acts. But holy hell, the performances that Bel Powley and Liev Schrieber deliver as Miep Gies and Otto Frank are just stunning. Any scene they share together is worth watching more than once. It’s hard to shake off so much of this story, but this scene in the finale is especially affecting. After learning that his daughters Anne and Margot died in the camps, that is he is the only person from the Annex who survived, and spending the rest of the day reading Anne’s diary that Miep was able to save, Otto returns to Miep’s house. Since returning from Auschwitz, he’s been a shell of a person, but he’s even quieter now. The diary revealed to him a different side of his daughter, one he’s ashamed he never got to know. Reading it, however, “was like getting to watch her grow up.” It’s a gift for which he can never repay Miep. Schrieber remains so still and quiet throughout this whole scene, and yet you are walloped with his pain as tears fall down his face and he chokes on his words. There’s nothing else Miep can do for this man in this moment other than hold him as tight as possible.
2.
Charlotte and George hide from the heavens together
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, “Crown Jewels”
Thanks to the two seasons of Bridgerton that came before it, and to history, to a certain extent we knew going into the Queen Charlotte prequel that this love story would be a tragic one. We’ve seen what becomes of Charlotte and George in their present day — the king is entirely lost to his madness. And yet Shonda Rhimes finds a way to infuse the end of their story with a little light. It is bittersweet, but it is good. When Charlotte learns that her daughter-in-law is pregnant and she has finally succeeded in securing the line of succession for her husband, she rushes over to tell him, only to find him completely lost in his mind. She goes under the bed, the same place we saw them go in their youth because George felt safe from “the heavens” there. George follows her. There they are lying next to each other, Charlotte tells him the news, and suddenly, George is back. He has a moment of lucidity when he sees his wife; he remembers their love. They hold hands. They see each other as they once were, back in their youth when they fell in love. They see each other as they are now. They kiss. It may be fleeting, but they have found each other once again. It’s just like the show has said: A great love can perform miracles. You know, like making a grown woman sob at the mere thought of feet sticking out from under a bed.
1.
Sarah dies
The Last of Us, “When You’re Lost in the Darkness”
There are lots of moments throughout The Last of Us season one that will leave you weepy: Bill and Frank, Henry and Sam, Ellie and Riley, when Joel tells Ellie how he got his scar — the list goes on. But there’s just something about the very first emotional gut punch this apocalyptic drama delivers that reduces me to sobs every time I watch it. Maybe it’s the shock of it, that after an intense sequence of unrelenting drama and chaos, just when Joel thinks he’s gotten his daughter Sarah somewhere safe, she is shot by a U.S. military officer right in front of him. Maybe it’s the pure violence of the act. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s the first time we realize that we should be just as frightened of other human beings as we are of the infected taking over the city. It certainly has something to do with the panic in Pedro Pascal’s delivery of “We’re not sick.” Or maybe the moment’s emotional potency comes from the simplest explanation: That we watch this man who only seconds ago was holding his daughter in his arms, telling her that she was safe, now in agony, helplessly holding her bloodied, lifeless body. Yes, there are lots of tear-jerker moments in The Last of Us, but the old saying holds true: The first cut is the deepest.
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