< Supernatural (TV series)

Supernatural (TV series)/Tear Jerker


Season 1

  • "Home":

Dean: Dad? I know I've left you messages before. I don't even know if you'll get 'em. (Clears his throat.) But I'm with Sam. And we're in Lawrence. And there's somethin' in our old house. I don't know if it's the thing that killed Mom or not, but... (His voice breaks. He pauses, barely keeping himself together.) ...I don't know what to do. (He begins to cry.) So, whatever you're doin', if you could get here. Please. I need your help, Dad. (He hangs up sadly, with tears in his eyes.)

  • In retrospect, after watching season 4 premiere and beyond, there is one line in "Faith" which is certain to make your heart hurt. Made even worse by the fact that Dean doesn't think that he should have been saved:

Mrs. Rourke (to Dean): Why do you deserve to live more than my daughter?

    • My mom could handle Dean's speech to Sam's corpse in "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 2", the boys singing together and later Dean's death in "No Rest for the Wicked", and damn near every other Tear Jerker in the show, but she burst into sobs watching the end of "Faith", in which the boys are forced to stop a reaper controlled by the faith healer's wife, though it will probably cost the tumor-in-the-brain Girl of the Week her life:

Layla: I'm okay. Really. I guess if you're gonna have faith... you can't just have it when the miracles happen. You have to have it when they don't.
and:
Dean: Well... I'm not much of the praying type... but... I'm gonna pray for you.
Layla: (tearfully) Well... There's a miracle right there.

  • "Salvation":

Dean: (emotionally, as Sam pins him up against the wall.) Sammy, look... the three of us-that's all we have. And that's all I have. Sometimes I feel like I'm barely holdin' it together, man. (Sam, with tears in his eyes, lets go of Dean.) Without you and Dad... (Sam turns away from Dean.)

    • From the same episode, John's old friends are being killed by demons and he finally snaps when Sam questions him one too many times: "I want to stop losing people we love. I want you (Sam) to go to school, I want Dean to have a home. I want... I want Mary alive. It's just... I just want this to be over."
  • After all Sam and Dean's issues with John in the first season, there's one line in "Devil's Trap" that breaks this troper's heart:

Dean: Daddy, please...

    • Another from "Devil's Trap," how Dean realizes that John is possessed by the demon - he gave them praise for making it out alive, rather than chewing them out for using one of the Colt's few remaining bullets. It's John being a good person and a good father that tips him off.

Season 2

  • The last ten minutes of "In My Time of Dying".
  • "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things":

Dean: Sam... you and Dad - you're the most important people in my life. And now... I never should have come back, Sam. It wasn't natural. And now, look what's come of it. I was dead. And I should have stayed dead. (His voice breaks, his bottom lip quivers.) You wanted to know how I was feeling. Well, that's it. (Sam has tears in his eyes. He nods, understanding.) So, tell me... what could you possibly say to make that all right? (Looks at Sam - who can't say anything - as tears stream down his face. The two sit in silence as the screen fades to black.)

  • "Croatoan":

Dean: I'm tired, Sam. I'm tired of this job, this life. This weight on my shoulders, man, I'm tired of it.

  • This troper was on the edge of tears for, well, the entirety of "Houses of the Holy", because I could tell just why he believed this. The scene where he admitted it? ...Meep.

Sam: I don't know, Dean, I just... I wanted to believe, so badly. It's so damn hard to do this, what we do. All alone, you know? There's so much evil out there in the world, Dean, I feel like I could drown in it. And when I think about my destiny, when I think about how I could end up...
Dean: Yeah, well, don't worry about that, alright? I'm watching out for you.
Sam: Yeah, I know you are. But you're just one person, Dean. And I needed to think that there was something else watching too, you know? Some higher power. Some greater good. And that maybe...
Dean: Maybe what?
Sam: Maybe I could be saved.

    • This troper just about lost it when Dean explains why he doesn't believe.

Dean: Okay, all right. You know what? I get it. You’ve got faith. Hey, good for you. I’m sure it makes things easier. I’ll tell you who else had faith like that –- Mom. She used to tell me when she’d tuck me in that angels were watching over us. In fact, that was the last thing she ever said to me.
Sam: You never told me that.
Dean: What’s to tell? She was wrong. There was nothing protecting her. There’s no higher power, there’s no God. There’s just chaos and violence and random, unpredictable evil that comes out of nowhere, and rips you to shreds. So, you want me to believe in this stuff? I’m gonna need to see some hard proof. You got any?

      • When you know she was right and how much worse that makes everything...
  • "Born Under a Bad Sign": that bit where Sam begs Dean to kill him. Especially since I have a little sister. And then Dean says, "I've tried so hard to keep you safe...." Just thinking about having to do that makes me wobbly.
  • "Roadkill": The Reveal of poor Molly the ghost's true nature. This got a remake in Supernatural, and is just as sad then.
  • This troper was a wreck at the end of "Heart".
    • This troper is a wreck at the very mention of "Heart," even knowing that using "Silent Lucidity" in the background is goddamn emotional manipulation.
  • "What Is And What Should Never Be":
    • You can either: have your heart broken by Dean's godawful mental state, be slightly crushed by the Downer Ending (especially when you take "All Hell Breaks Loose" into account), feel the tears welling up at Dean meeting his Mom and being glad that (at least in this "reality") his father's death wasn't all his fault, need some happy pills after the revelation that Alt!Sam can't stand Dean or cry your heart out at the graveyard scene where Dean self-orders himself to go back to his normal, oh-so-very-crappy life.

Fake!Sam: Why is it our job to save everyone? Haven't we done enough?

  • "All Hell Breaks Loose":
    • Sam's death, anyone? I mean, take the one thing that Dean couldn't stand to have happen, and it happened while he was standing right there. Watching Sam die in Dean's arms and seeing Dean finally lose it completely... And they say Joss Whedon is cruel to his characters.
    • While this troper wanted to be pissed at Dean for making his fucked up deal, the ending conversation in "All Hell Breaks Loose" just broke her down completely. He's so vulnerable and childlike when he's begging Sam not to be mad at him and he looks genuinely shocked that Sam might actually want to save him. Poor, broken, stupid little boy.

Dean: It's like I had one job... I had one job... (Voice breaking.) And I screwed it up. I blew it. And for that, I'm sorry. (Crying openly.) I guess that's what I do. I let down the people I love. I let Dad down. And now I guess I'm just supposed to let you down, too. How can I? How am I supposed to live with that?

    • Also Bobby: "Are you that screwed in the head?!" Yes, Bobby, yes he is.
    • Dean's just sold his soul and only has a year to live, but he begs Bobby not to tell Sam... *sniffle*
    • Daddy Winchester crawling out of Hell to save his two sons again hits this troper hard. Then any composure is gone with the exchange:

Sam: All this time, and I don't know what to say.
Dean: I do. That was for our mom, you son of a bitch.

Season 3

  • "Fresh Blood": Dean teaches Sam how to fix the Impala, so that he'll know how to after Dean dies.
  • "A Very Supernatural Christmas": We find out where Dean got his amulet (Sam gave it to him when they were kids) and they both try their hardest to have a happy Christmas even knowing that next year, Dean will be dead.
    • Made even worse if you read the scene as Dean only getting the amulet because Sam doesn't care about the gift any more since it can't go to John.
  • Let's not forget, the sobbing, desperate Sam holding Dean's body in his arms when Dean dies "for real" in "Mystery Spot" reduced this troper to tears. The first half of that episode was unexceptional; the second half, between that moment and Sam majorly Taking a Level In Badass (pulling a bullet out of your own chest? Seriously, that is awesome. It kind of completely rocked.
    • Oh, God, in retrospect the Trickster bringing Dean back to life because he was bored is heartbreaking when you consider that in season five you discover that he is Gabriel and left Heaven because he couldn't stand to watch his family rip themselves apart, that he only wanted it all to be over. He would give anything for everything to be reversed so that his family was together again. Maybe he didn't just get bored of screwing with Sam...
      • Though vague and entirely coincidental, as that plot point wasn't even formulated at the time, when Sam tearfully says, "He's my brother," for a second the Trickster appears to be contemplating this line, as if he were remembering his life before and his then-nonexistent relationship with his brothers, and then goes on with a casual, "Yep." This Troper wibbled just a tiny bit thinking about how the Trickster didn't have anyone who loved him that much anymore.
    • For quite a while afterwards this troper was haunted by that ending shot of the Winchester boy finally leaving their motel room, and Sam giving one last look backwards, as if remembering how many times he woke up in there and had to watch his brother die.
  • This troper found himself close to tears when Corbett died in "Ghostfacers".
  • The moments where Dean was so close to having a complete nervous breakdown in "Long-Distance Caller" where he was so desperate to believe that Daddy would save him from hell made this troper cry tears of massive pity.
  • This troper can't help but feel sorry for Mr. Benton, who is trapped underground and cries to be let out as Dean and Sam bury him. He feels more sorry for him than Bela, who dies in the end (by hellhounds), but not that she doesn't deserve some sympathy.
    • Oh, but Bela. The more this troper thinks about it, the more she pities the oft-annoying thief. Part of it is simply because unlike Sam and Dean, the only way Bela is getting out of Hell is by eventually losing all her humanity and sense of self through horrible, unending torture and becoming a monstorous abomination that will never truly find peace or salvation, all because the desperate, broken teenager she used to be wanted her parents to stop hurting her. The other part is an exchange she has with Dean, because it shows that Bela is so screwed up that she doesn't understand that just maybe someone would just help someone else purely out of the goodness of their heart. (*sniff*)

Bela: (breaking down into tears) Dean, listen, I need help.
Dean: Sweetheart, we are weeks past help!
Bela: I know I don't deserve it.
Dean: You know what? You're right, you don't. But you know what the bitch of the bunch is? If you would have just come to us sooner and asked for help we probably could have taken the Colt and saved you!
Bela: (still crying) I know, and saved yourself.

  • "No Rest for the Wicked": Dean dies in front of Sam's eyes, right after convincing Sam not to use his powers to save him. Sam cradles his body, while Dean screams for his brother in Hell.

Sam: Then what am I supposed to do?
Dean: Keep fighting. Take care of my wheels. Sam, remember what Dad taught you. Remember what I taught you.

    • Here's a "fun exercise; after seeing "No Rest for the Wicked", try watching the middle of "A Very Supernatural Christmas" ("I don't get it. You haven't talked about Christmas for years." "Well, yeah. But this is my last year." "I know. That's why I can't." "What do you mean?" "I mean, I can't sit around drinking eggnog, celebrating Christmas, when I know next year, you'll be dead. I just can't." And then they just sit on their different beds, silent and alone and depressed) and the end (where they drink eggnog, celebrate Christmas and watch a football game) without bawling. I guarantee that you will fail miserably.
    • Speaking of things that hurt far more through hell-tinted glasses, how about the end of "Fresh Blood" where Dean acts like a brother again and shows Sam how to fix the Impala. This troper is crying just thinking about it and it doesn't help that this was the moment when I thought they might actually fail this time and he would go to hell.
    • Another hell-tinted glasses one (LOVE that phrase by the way!): The recap at the beginning of "No Rest For The Wicked". The last few shots play out like a pre-emptive Really Dead Montage.
      • Especially that last shot of Dean leaning against the car with a little half smile, looking, for Dean, unusually innocent. It looks like the sort of thing you'd display at a funeral.

Season 4

  • "Lazarus Rising":

Sam: (furiously) I tried everything, that's the truth. I tried opening the Devil's Gate, hell, I tried bargaining, Dean, but no demon would deal, all right? You were rotting in Hell for months--for months!--and I couldn't stop it. So I'm sorry I wasn't the one who broke you out. (starting to break down) Dean, I'm sorry.

    • It might be true that the writers rely a bit too much on Dean's self-esteem to bring out good angst but this little exchange always breaks this troper's heart, while making her feel a little sick - she doesn't know why.

Castiel: Good things do happen, Dean.
Dean: (looking like he's about to crack) Not in my experience.
Castiel: What's the matter? (slowly realizing) You don't think you deserve to be saved.
Dean: (completely changing the subject and after a long pause) Why'd you do it?

    • And that's not counting the reunion scenes...the hugs...the returning of the amulet...
  • From "Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean Winchester," there's the real Meg Masters' speech to Dean about her year-long possession, subsequent (and entirely preventable) death, and her little sister's suicide, the mere memory of which brings tears to this troper's eyes the way nothing else on this show can.
  • In the Beginning" was filled to the brim with these. Take your pick: you can have the horrible Dramatic Irony of seeing John Winchester as a young, innocent himbo when you know how he ends up, you can have Dean almost in tears when his pre-burned mother tells him how she doesn't want her children to grow up in her hunter lifestyle and then him begging her to stay in bed the night she died, you can have Dean too tired and exhausted to choose all the people he's saved over his family this time or the almost crushing realization that the Winchesters were doomed from the start and that Dean is somewhat to blame for that. Somebody want to give the poor boy a hug?
    • In particular, Dean bonds with Mary, which is all the more heartbreaking when he knows she will one day die. Knowing he won't be successful, he tries to warn her:

Dean: On November 2, 1983, don't get out of bed. No matter what you hear, or what you see. Promise me you won't get out of bed.

  • "Metamorphosis". When Dean finds out that Sam is using his powers he basically says that he is just as bad as the things they hunt and assaults him for using his powers. It's especially painful because this hits Sam's fear of being evil that goes all the way back to Season 2. Oh, Dean.
  • "Heaven and Hell". Dean's breakdown at the end had me blubbering like a baby -- completely unexpectedly, given the utterly craptastic Wallbanger of an episode I'd been watching up to that point.
  • "Criss Angel is a Douchebag". The final line from Jay: "Throw them away."
  • "On the Head of a Pin". Uriel turns out to be a traitor and has to be killed and Dean gets broken completely, (this is the end of the hell-revelations, right, writers? Right?) having to learn that John apparently never broke, Dean was the first seal and that he's the only one who can stop the apocalypse--then rewatch it knowing he was never intended to stop the apocalypse, only to raze the world stopping Lucifer. This show is the reason why people slit their wrists.
  • "The Rapture", from beginning to end, is a masterpiece and a work of art especially from Misha Collins. Two things get this troper every time:
    • Claire asking Jimmy if he is going to say Grace at the dinner table, and he answers, just barely keeping from bursting into tears, "I don't think I will."
    • The ending, when Jimmy demands that Castiel take him as his vessel again and release his daughter Claire, rather than letting him die and go to Heaven. Once Cas is back in Jimmy, he simply gets up, exchanges one look with Jimmy's wife, and continues to walk away. "It doesn't matter. You take me. You take me." *WAIL*...
  • "When the Levee Breaks." Everything about it, but especially Dean calling Sam a monster.
    • This troper agrees and would like to add that the last three shots of the episode (Sam walks out after beating the holy living shit out of Dean, and Dean is so devastated and hurt that he can't even roll over onto his side to get up) were particularly heartwrenching.
  • Two Words: "Lucifer Rising."

Season 5

  • 5x04 "The End" The whole thing, but somehow Castiel was the worst. This troper has no idea how people managed to find the whole sex and drugs thing hilarious. 'What happened to you?' '...Life?'. It's bad enough for any character but...he's an ANGEL.
    • Well, it's kinda funny when you consider that the bawdy, sarcastic ("Okay, if you don't like, uh, 'reckless,' I could use 'insouciant,' maybe") version of Castiel is basically an exaggerated, zombie-apocalypse version of Misha Collins' real-life personality. But still, point taken, especially his line "I'm hapless, I'm hopeless--I mean, why the hell not bury myself in women and decadence, right? It's the end, baby." Quite depressing.
    • Not to mention that future!Dean is ready to sacrifice him (and the other guys, but present!Dean was most horrified when it came to Castiel) without batting an eyelash. And it was entirely pointless. Dean and Castiel's reunion at the end of the episode was a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming, but also a Tear Jerker for this troper.
    • Made worse after watching the rest of the season. Their last hope, the Colt, was completely useless. Even if future!Dean had gotten to Lucifer and shot him, the Colt can't kill an angel. Their one chance to beat the Devil was already gone, because Sam was the only one who could really fight him, and his (lost) relationship with Dean was the only thing that could have given him the strength to win.
  • "Changing Channels" was a funny episode, but Gabriel revealing that he left Heaven because he couldn't stand by and watch his family fight was a bit painful. When he's standing all alone in the middle of the circle as the fire begins to go out, soaking wet, he just looked so isolated and lonely that I teared up.
  • "Abandon All Hope": Jo, dying from her wounds, offers to commit suicide by blowing herself up along with the Hellhounds just outside so that Dean and Sam can have a shot at ganking Lucifer. Ellen stays behind with her daughter to rig the explosives and open the doors. Dean gives Jo a goodbye kiss, and he and Sam escape out the back. Jo dies right next to her mother before she can trigger the bomb, so Ellen hits the button and blows up the shop.

Ellen: It's okay. It's okay. That's my good girl.

    • The fact that Jo dies in Ellen's arms makes this scene even worse. No mother should have to watch her daughter die.
    • Even more heartbreaking when you know that Ellen's parting words to Dean--"Kick it in the ass. Don't miss"--were a Shout-Out to producer Kim Manners, who passed away in early 2009.
  • In "The Song Remains the Same" when the boys discover the people their parents really were. John indirectly yelling at himself for what he put the boys through was bad enough, but then you have Mary crying when she learns Sam and Dean became hunters...
  • "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid":

Bobby: She was the love of my life. How many times do I have to kill her?

    • Again, heartbreaking because of real-life: Jim Beaver is in fact a widower.
  • "Dark Side of the Moon". The boys die and go to Heaven where they know the angels will bring them back to life so they can do their parts for the apocalypse, so you'd think nothing could be angsty about temporary Heaven, right? WRONG!
    • All of Sam's favorite memories are times when he abandoned his family and got to play at 'being normal.' Dean's reaction when he realizes this is gut-wrenching. And it only becomes even more heart-breaking when you realize that both of Dean's favorite memories were not even moments when he was particularly happy, but rather moments when he was making his family happy.

Dean: This is your idea of heaven? Wow...this was one of the worst nights of my life.

    • Dean's face when his mom starts telling him how worthless he is and how much she hates him. Even knowing that she wasn't--couldn't possibly be--his real mom, it still made this troper's stomach tie up in knots.
    • And the bit at the end, in which Castiel loses his last tiny shred of hope and faith onscreen. 'Maybe...maybe Joshua was lying?'
    • Or the moment right after, when Castiel completely breaks and rages at God.
    • In the very beginning after Sam is shot by angry hunters. The way the hunters just "know" that Dean will in fact kill them now.
      • Hunter: You just snuffed his brother. Do you really want Dean Winchester on your ass for the rest of your life?
      • The fierce look on Dean's face is heartwrenching.
    • Dean, not realizing he is dead and in heaven, follows a young Sam to a field where he relives a memory of taking Sam to shoot off fireworks on the 4th of July. Young Sam is delighted, and Dean looks the happiest we've seen him in a long time. All while "Knocking on Heaven's Door" plays in the background. The moment is then broken by gunshots as Dean remembers his violent death, and then finds himself alone in the dark field.
    • The ending. After an hour's worth of pain and angst (in Heaven, of all places), Dean trashing the amulet still managed to shatter this troper's heart. Not only because of what it symbolized for the characters, but also because Dean WAITED UNTIL SAM WAS WATCHING to do it, and because of Sam's reaction to it.
  • "Hammer of the Gods". I don't know about anyone else, but this troper was a wreck after Lucifer killed Gabriel/The Trickster with his own angel sword. And Team Free Will lost yet another ally.
    • This troper might be alone, but she sobbed at Kali's speech. "We were here first."
    • Lucifer's reaction to killing his brother was a bit heart-wrenching, in a sympathy-for-the-devil kind of way.
    • For this troper it was the pure wretching look of heartbreak and terror on Gabriel's face when he realized what Lucifer had done.
      • Absolutely agreed--especially because we got faked out earlier in the episode when it seemed that Kali killed him, but he came back--only to get Killed Off for Real by his brother.
        • Especially when you consider that Gabriel not only died at the hands of his brother, with his own sword, but told them how to beat Lucifer, but they never really liked him that much so won't really grieve for him that much.
        • Combine that with the fact that most of his family probably either took him for dead anyway or just didn't care. He died a hero, saving the Winchesters, followed his father's orders, and indirectly saved the world by telling them how to seal Lucifer back up. And no one will ever know nor care about it. Redemption Equals Death, indeed.
  • "Swan Song". Full stop.
    • The five year montage especially.

Dean: Sammy, it's ok...it's ok, I'm here...I'm here...I'm not gonna leave you...
Dean after Sammy jumps into Hell and pulls Adam/Michael down with him, sitting in the cemetery utterly alone and realizing that he's lost everything

    • The bit that got this troper is the part when Dean decides to go and see the fight between Sam/Lucifer and Adam/Michael to see if can help them despite Castiel's protests

Castiel: I want you to understand. The only thing your gonna see out there is Michael killing your brother
Dean: Well, then I ain't gonna let him die alone.

    • A minor moment, but Bobby telling Sam to fight as hard as he could and Sam responding with "yes, sir" made this troper exceedingly wibbly, since it seemed to be Sam acknowledging that Bobby was a father to him (because he and Dean always called John "sir" as well).
    • The looks on Lucifer and Michael's (especially Michael's) face when they know they are about to have to kill their own brother.
      • Agreed, Jake Abel masterfully portrays Michael in that scene, especially when his visibly hardens himself against Lucifer’s pleas. He’s just as sad as Lucifer, but he is a solider first and he has a duty to his father.
    • This troper might be alone in this, but Chuck's narration brought her to tears. In particular: "It never occurred to them that, sure, maybe they never really had a roof and four walls but they were never, in fact, homeless."
      • Agreed, the very dialogue is heartbreaking.

Season 6

  • Sam tries to kill Bobby because he doesn't want his soul back, and tells Bobby that he knows that Dean doesn't care about him, only the version of his little brother who's still trapped in Hell.
    • Even more so when you realize that he is afraid of the damage that Hell has wrought on his soul for being there for 180 years. Castiel stated that integrating his soul back into him could only lead to disaster.
  • On a lighter (?) note, Misha in "The French Mistake" actually being killed. And then pretty much everybody else.
    • Sam doesn't want to stay in an alternate dimension where he has a wife who loves him, a secure high paying job, and where he is generally happy living a good life, because him and Dean aren't brothers and aren't talking in this alternate dimension. It's even more powerful when you see how shocked Dean is by Sam's response and how he tries to cover it up as if it doesn't faze him.
  • "And Then There Were None" - Rufus' funeral. But averted with Samuel's death, since he was an asshole.
  • The ending of "My Heart Will Go On," and the boys deciding not to tell Bobby about the alternate timeline where he was married to a still-living Ellen and happy.
  • In "The Man Who Would Be King", Castiel spends the whole episode praying to God, explaining how he came to work with Crowley in order to defeat Raphael and prevent a second attempt at the Apocalypse, and how he's come to both doubt himself and fear what he's turning into. At the end of the episode, Cas breaks down, on the verge of tears, begging his father to give him a sign that what he's doing is right. None seems to be forthcoming.
  • The entire conversation between Dean and Cas in "Let It Bleed" when Cas saves Dean from a demon and then asks for his trust is just unbelievably gut-wrenching. You don't even have to ship them (although it helps) for it to be powerful; either way it's still a terrible break between two individuals with strong feelings between them. Just their teary-eyed, emotional facial expressions will pretty much just punch your heart in the balls.
  • In "The Man Who Knew Too Much", Castiel kills Balthazar, who's been trying to help the Winchesters. A tear jerker because he's not only killing his closest brother, but because Balthazar was doing something because he actually has a streak of decency, despite what he claimed in the previous episode.
    • And what makes it worse is that Balthazar's last word is "Cas...", in what was either shock or a plea, or a combination of both. It really got to me. And something in his eyes--possibly his grace leaving?--looks just like tears. Heartbreaking.
      • While we're on that topic...

Balthazar: Well, you'll always have little old me.
Castiel: (stabs Balthazar) Yes, I'll always have you.

    • Bobby's upset when the creature from Purgatory, also known as Eleanor Visyak, dies. She was killed for her blood, but had also been trying to stop Purgatory from being opened because she isn't evil, and likes this world. She dated him, and honestly cares about him. Bobby's anger at Castiel provokes tears.
    • For fans of Castiel, his revelation in this episode that he's become God, and is ready to kill anyone who doesn't follow him must have been a real blow to his diehard fans. Funny, Castiel who was learning sarcasm tips into the deep end, becoming the thing he was against. YMMV, though, as the rest of us thought this was awesome.
      • It was mainly a tearjerker because a lot of Cas fans saw 'something' heading towards him snapping. The continuous poor treatment Castiel endured from all the other characters were brushed off by many other fans as Cas!fans being to sensitive and that Cas didn't seem all that bothered by it. You really get the feeling had the Winchesters actually treated him a bit better, Dean's last ditch "we're family, please stop" speech might have worked, rather then being laughably too little too late, not to mention insincere at that point.
      • Another reason it's gutwrenching is because the Winchesters are being hypocritical at this point: Throughout the series, when have they ever not been willing to cross a line to save someone/solve a problem/procure personal power? Even with lives on the line, even if they had to go behind each other's backs, they've always been ready, when push came to shove, to take the risk - and the worst part is that it ends up fine in the end, more or less, and they always end up forgiving each other because they're family. Conversely, Cas is treated many times as if his only worth is in being a powerful ally, and is mocked relentlessly not just by the monsters but by Dean whenever he's low on power ("baby in a trenchcoat", anyone?) And yet suddenly, when he tries to apply the things they taught him and do the exact same thing ( deal with a monster, absorb the power of Purgatory), they condemn him for it without even hearing the details or offering an alternate plan and resort to trying to kill him in pretty short order, in spite of the allegations that he's family. Which makes it understadandable why he proclaims that they're not his family, in the end - from his point-of-view, they must have been lying about it, otherwise they would've given him the same break they always give each other in such situations.
    • Tortured!Sam begging normal!Sam to stay in the coma rather than take the memories of hell, and then handing him the knife to kill him when normal!Sam refuses for Dean's sake.

Sam: I can't leave my brother out there alone.

Season 7

  • In the Season Seven premiere, "Meet The New Boss", Castiel seemingly dies while returning the souls he took to Purgatory. Of course, he returns...possessed by Leviathans, who seem to be similar to an Eldritch Abomination. Dean's reaction to losing his friend, is both subtle and heart-wrenching.
    • What about the look on Dean and Castiel's faces when, after everything they've been through together, Dean summons Death and demands that he kill Castiel. It gets worse when Castiel breaks Death's bonds knowing that there is a good chance Bobby, Sam, and Dean will be slaughtered shortly thereafter.
  • Dean picking up Castiel's trenchcoat in "Hello Cruel World".
    • Even with everything going on, from the Leviathans to Sam's hallucinations, Bobby takes the time to ask how Dean's doing. Dean brushes it off, of course, but Bobby assures him that when he's ready to talk he'll be there. "Where he always is." Made even more heartbreaking because at the end of the episode, he's not there.
  • The last scene with Jo in "Defending Your Life." The look on Dean and Jo's faces throughout the entire thing just break your heart, especially when she touches his cheek before she disappears. He opens his eyes and she's just gone and he looks so broken.
  • In "Death's Door" the ending where Bobby sacrifices what's left of his brain to pass on the knowledge he got to Sam and Dean.
    • Just about everything in that episode, from Bobby saying he adopted the boys and they grew up heroes to his mother's anger when he shoots his abusive father. "They never thank you."
    • This troper managed to hold out until the very last scene in which Bobby his last, best memory which is so simple yet so sweet. When the Reaper asked him if he was going to stay or go he just looked so torn that this troper couldn't help but start sobbing.
    • Every season, there's at least one episode where they decide to remind us that they have some really good actors on the show. This was it.
  • "Plucky Pennywhistle's Magical Menagerie": The fun, lighthearted, humorous episode isn't supposed to reduce you to tears, right? Right? Well, your show must be very angst ridden and tragic if the main characters smiling and laughing can reduce viewers to tears.
  • "Time After Time" has Sheriff Mills finding a bottle of alcohol in with some of Bobby's things and says that she and Sam should share it. There's a very palpable undercurrent of how she'd considered there to be something that could have been with him that just never was.
  • "The Born Again Identity". Everything from Sam's deteriorating mental state to Dean's conversations with Emmanuel (Castiel with amnesia) to Castiel taking Sam's insanity onto himself at the end. The entire episode seemed designed to make fans weep.
  • "Party on Garth" has in its final two minutes Bobby finally returning as a ghost, and trying in vain to get Dean to notice him
  • YMMV obviously, but the alpha vampire's reaction to Edgar coldly telling him that they will kill him and all his "children" in "There Will Be Blood". He refuses to believe it at first, but then looks so honestly upset when he realizes that his "family" has betrayed him. He's a villain, but still...
  • The burning of Bobby's flask. It's a questionable mercy that the camera never cuts away from Sam and Dean as they watch Bobby go and we get to see the heartbreak on their faces of saying goodbye to the man who might as well have been their father.
  • It's kind of expected by now that all Supernatural Season Finales will have Downer Endings, but still... Season 7 ends with Sam losing everyone he still had left: Dean, Castiel, Bobby, even Meg and poor Kevin Tran were taken in the end.

Other

  • The very sound of "Carry on my Wayward Son" by Kansas has been known to make some long time viewers teary eyed. This might have something to do with the show's history with season finales.
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