History TearJerker / BuffytheVampireSlayer

* In the end, Spike is left without even the bit of herself Buffy has been giving him.

* The scene where Buffy seeks SexForSolace with Spike because she's upset about Riley being married is doubly troubling to watch; for one, her pain is all too real for anyone coming out of a long-term relationship. For another, while she would normally reject all romantic talk from Spike, this time around she orders him to tell herbeing he loves her, as she desperately wants to feel desired. He does, [[AllLoveIsUnrequited and means every word]].

* Things are pretty bleak [[LoveMartyr from Spike's end too]]. He's expected to be around when needed for whatever; a protector for Dawn, an extra pair of fists, to provide sexual escapism, a verbal or literal punching bag for Buffy to take out her frustrations on, an emotional crutch etc. But also expected to shut up about his feelings and disappear immediately when he's not needed. On top of that, he's put down constantly, dehumanized (when previously he'd told Buffy how much he appreciates her treating him "like a man"), pushed into sex when he didn't want it in "Gone", and even beaten bruised and bloody in "Dead Things". The fact that Buffy is using him as a sort of emotional escape is something she refuses to explain, leading him to believe that it's her morality about being with a soulless "monster" that keeps her from being with him the way he wants, and thus attempts to convince her she's already on his level. It's a deadly cycle of her using him for [[SexForSolace solace]] because she's so depressed and emotionally numb, taking it out on him in the aftermath, and him feeding into her self-loathing, believing that she restrains herself due to a moral quandary he doesn't understand or think is valid. The relationship was just...so depressingly toxic for everyone involved.

** An earlier related moment: During "Walk Through the Fire," she sings: "But why I froze, not one among them knows/And never can be told." Someone give this girl a medal; she had true perfection and was finally at peace from the pressures of Slayer-age, and is forcefully ripped from it by her friends, but refuses to call any of them out on it. That's love and devotion right there because she knows their intentions were intended to be good ones.

** What really makes it a TearJerker are the reactions of the others, especially Willow. She has a horrified expression, realizing that she made her best friend suffer for nothing.

** Notice that while Tara is packing up tp leave, Willow just sits alone in the bathroom ashen-faced. She's not trying to stop her, make excuses or anything like before. She ''knows'' she messed up and crossed a line, and all she can do is see the consequences unfold.

%%[[AC:6x09 -- Smashed]]

** Really, the social worker showing up on that day at that point... Buffy probably thought that was doomed from the word go. It's the worst possible day for this inspection, and there's no reason for her not to assume that the moment Doris showed up was a guarantee that Dawn would be taken from her. It's no wonder that this is the moment she hits her rock bottom and enjoys the freedom of not being there by being invisible offers.

** The two of them look horrified as they realise she's right.

* Your Milage May Vary hard based on how you view Buffy and Spike's relationship in Season 6, but the scene where a grimacing and tearful Buffy watches from the shadows while her friends all dance and have a good time, as Spike begins to initiate sex with her, all while [[BreakingSpeech whispering in her ear about how she knows she doesn't belong in her friends' world anymore, that she belongs in the darkness with him]] is hard to watch for many fans.

** It's also the fact that Tara has essentially accidentally highlighted Buffy's twofold guilt when it comes to Spike; one she's told her it's alright if she's with him even despite his past, because he has done a lot of good, aggravating Buffy's guilt that she's a hypocrite who sleeps with the exact type of monster she's supposed to be sworn to destroying. The on the other end, Tara says it's also okay if Buffy ''doesn't'' love him, because she's going through a rough patch. This in turn, aggravates the other half of Buffy's guilt, because she ''knows'' she's using and abusing a person who--for all his shortcomings--has proved again and again to love her enough to die for her. Buffy ''wants'' to be held accountable for her actions, to be whipped back in shape, but is only being offered non-judgemental, unconditional understanding and it's overwhelming her.

* Buffy's conversation with the newly-risen vampire of her high school classmate Holden is a mix of funny and heartbreaking. Their initial fight pauses when he recognizes her and they start to awkwardly but sincerely catch up, acting like any twenty-somethings who haven't seen each other in awhile. He fills her in on his life, including a girlfriend and an internship at Sunnydale's psychiatric hospital, and even gives Buffy some free therapy. Buffy confesses to being the Slayer and the burden it's been in her life, which Holden acknowledges. They genuinely have a nice time catching up, but despite all appearances, Holden is a vampire now, not a person, and he's that way because Buffy failed to save him. She apologizes to him before they fight.

* "...It's cuz I'm gonna win..." never fails to elicit tears. The sadness in Buffy's voice, knowing that, once again, the socializing and having a life will inevitably have to once again take a backseat to the Slay-age.

* Wesley was a smug, uppity Watcher who wound up making a huge mess when he tried to have Faith sent out of the country for her murder of the deputy mayor, and his attitude and ill-advised decisions cause Buffy to refuse to cooperate with the Watcher's Council any longer, and he was fired. So when he slowly walks into the library, he's genuinely ready to help with the Mayor's ascension, but he sounds so utterly ''defeated''. And this is after Cordelia earlier reports that Wesley had been crying after Buffy's rejection. Luckily, he got a new lease on life over on ''Series/{{Angel}}''...before it all became an even bigger mess.
* Mayor Wilkins standing over Faith's bed. While he may be the season's BigBad and is planning the destruction of the entire town and hundreds if not thousands of innocent people, watching the Mayor look over Faith, being told she'll likely never wake up, is heartwrenching. It's clear with this scene that the Mayor clearly loved Faith like a daughter and wanted to share his victory with her. It's also telling that this act is the one thing that actually makes the Mayor lose his cool for the first time in the entire season and endangers his entire plan--the one that he has spent a hundred years building towards--just to take revenge upon Buffy.

* The Fear Demon tells Buffy that "There all going to abandon you, you know?" This becomes so much worse in late Season 7 where Buffy's friends kick her out of her own house. Her fear that her friends would turn on her came true.

%%[[AC:3x07 -- Revelations]]

*** The change in the dispatcher's voice is a punch all its own. The woman on the other end of the line starts the call trying to calm down Buffy, talking her through CPR, speaking in a soothing voice. And then when she hears that Joyce is cold, that she's clearly been dead for a while and can't be revived, the voice on the other end just goes utterly silent for too long, and then the very clinical "The body is cold?" When she speaks to Buffy again, she's clearly aware that she's talking to someone who can't process that someone they loved is dead, and doesn't know what to say, but has to say SOMETHING to the panicked young woman on the other end of the line.