History TearJerker / AgentsOfSHIELD

* Coulson being haunted over killing Ward. While, as Fitz pointed out, [[AssholeVictim Ward's fate was deserved]] for everything he has done to the team, this doesn't relieve Coulson from the fact that he killed him in cold-blood out of revenge for murdering Rosalind. He even go as far as stating that by killing him, ''[[TheBadGuyWins Ward]]'' [[TheBadGuyWins was the actual victor]] in their FinalBattle. It doesn't help his case that, by killing Ward, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero he caused Hive to find a new body that enables him to come to Earth]], something he acknowledges. That Hive is essentially a walking and talking reminder of what Coulson did to Ward further drives the point home too.

* [[ExpendableAlternateUniverse The destruction of the Framework.]] The characters we've grown to know (a resurrected Trip, a heroic Grant Ward, Coulson's students, the kids Mace died to save), gone. A whole world of people were unceremoniously erased because AIDA was throwing a temper tantrum. Worst of all, was the deletion of Hope. This show played DeathOfAChild straight before, but watching a ten year old pleading with her father to ''make it stop'' and sobbing that she doesn't want to ''die'' was next level. Mack holds the sobbing child until she stops crying... and the camera pulls back to reveal that she is gone. Not to mention that Mack has now lost his daughter twice (both in reality and in the Mainframe).

* Even Aida's death manages to gather a bit of sympathy. Fitz seems quite horrified by her brutal demise at the hands of Ghost Rider.

* Coulson being haunted over killing Ward. While, as Fitz pointed out, [[AssholeVictim Ward's fate was deserved]] for everything he has done to the team, this doesn't relieve Coulson from the fact that he killed him in cold-blood out of revenge for murdering Rosalind. He even go as far as stating that by killing him, ''[[TheBadGuyWins Ward]]'' [[TheBadGuyWins was the actual victor]] in their FinalBattle. It doesn't help his case that, by killing Ward, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero he caused Hive to find a new body that enables him to come to Earth]], something he acknowledges.

* The more we see Mike the more we see Deathlok taking his place. The quiet, humble and noble man who wanted to stand for something and be a good father? He's slowly becoming a monster, a killer with blood on his hands, and he has no choice in the matter to keep his son safe and to keep himself alive in the hope of seeing his son again. Mike Peterson, the man who in a fair Universe would have been [[Franchise/SpiderMan a friendly neighbourhood superhero]] must turn himself into something terrible and tragic.

'''WARNING: Later episodes may contain unmarked spoilers.'''

* How about the fact that none of the ''Avengers'', whose first proper rallying moment was their shared grief over Coulson's death, never found out that he was alive again, but probably never knew [[spoiler: that he died all over again years later.]]

* He's still a monster, but Gideon Malick's reaction to Hive killing his daughter as "sacrifice" is tragic, showing what little humanity he has up to this point. Mostly justified in the sense of it representing an AdultFear of a father losing their only child.

* As a reward for acts of violence and murder, the only solace Mike Peterson/Deathlok can get is watching per-recorded footage of his son... in a cell where Mike can't touch or talk to him. Despite having enough firepower to take on an army, he's helpless here. Imagine that kind of hell for a loving father like Mike. He can't comfort Ace, he can't tell him he's there and he can't tell Ace that things will get better because Mike isn't sure if they will.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shieldspysgoodbye.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''It's a spy's goodbye.'']]

* Coulson being haunted over killing Ward. While, as Fitz pointed out, [[KarmicDeath Ward's fate was deserved]] for everything he has done to the team, this doesn't relieve Coulson from the fact that he killed him in cold-blood out of revenge for murdering Rosalind. He even go as far as stating that by killing him, ''[[TheBadGuyWins Ward]]'' [[TheBadGuyWins was the actual victor]] in their FinalBattle. It doesn't help his case that, by killing Ward, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero it's his fault that Hive found a body to enable him to come to Earth]], something he acknowledges.

* Coulson being haunted over killing Ward. While, as Fitz pointed out, [[AssholeVictim Ward's fate was deserved]] for everything he has done to the team, this doesn't relieve Coulson from the fact that he killed him in cold-blood out of revenge for murdering Rosalind. He even go as far as stating that by killing him, ''[[TheBadGuyWins Ward]]'' [[TheBadGuyWins was the actual victor]] in their FinalBattle.