History TearJerker / CriminalMinds

* The backstory of the Unsub from "What Happens in Mecklinberg". [[spoiler: She's [[BigSisterInstinct the elder sister]] of a college girl who was gang-raped at a fraternity party and then forced to drink huge amounts of alcohol so she wouldn't remember anything if she tried to report it...only the amount of alcohol she drank sent her into an irreversible coma. The Unsub's grief and rage were only compounded when she found out the doctor who examined her sister at the hospital changed the medical report to claim the sex was consensual, because her sister's rapists were on the college football team and their coach was an old friend of the doctor's who convinced him to change it so they wouldn't get kicked off the team. To make matters worse, the death of another student at the same party resulted in her sister's rape being completely overlooked. After spending years bankrupting herself paying her sister's medical bills, the UnSub finally snaps after having to turning off her sister's life, abducting two of her sister's rapists, the coach who got them off the hook and the girl who took her sister to the party in the first place. The BAU even sympathise with her to a degree that she wants justice for what happened, and Rossi promising her that the men who raped her sister will face justice for their crimes is what finally convinces her to surrender]].

* "The Anti-Terrorism Squad" has a small one. The father crying over his dead son, saying over and over again "My son, my boy, he's dead." The kid may have been somewhat of an AssholeVictim but he was still just a teenager.

** Even worse, we get a snapshot of some of the passengers in their final moments before the crash. They include a mother and her young son, a couple with their newborn baby, and a woman flying with her friends to her own wedding (it is implied the groom is not on the same flight). Their screams of terror as the plane takes a violent final nosedive reaches ''Film/United93'' levels of heartbreak.

* Imagine what the poor co-pilot must had felt in "A Thousand Suns." As one of the pilots of the plane it is his responsibility is to fly the plane and its passengers safely and in one-piece to their destinations. Not only he failed to do that, he is the only survivor of the wreck with his fellow co-pilot and passengers dead with him surviving just by pure-luck. It was already mentioned that he already received threatening calls because of him being the only survivor and briefly the BAU even considered him a suspect. Though it wasn't his fault as the Unsub hacked the plane and crashed it, it is doubtful it would give him much comfort.

* The death of Luke, the penultimate victim in "Open Season." He dies with his wife or fiancée Heather crying over him while pleading for Heather to leave him to increase her chances of survival. There’s a shot of her taking Luke's wedding or engagement ring from his finger before fleeing. And then Heather still gets killed a couple of minutes later.

-->'''[[HighClassCallGirl Megan]] [[MonsterSobStory Kane]]:''' You're the first man who didn't let me down. Will you stay with me?\\

* "The Fox": When Frank Fielding (a mentally retarded man, who is the brother of one of the first victims) realizes that he saw the killer, and misinterpreted his sister saying "help me" as "go away". His cries of anguish as he beats his hands against his head and has to be restrained by four of the BAU agents is just heart-wrenching. Additional FridgeHorror: It's mentioned that he's bipolar and off his meds. Combined with the guilt over his sister's death, he is at very high risk for suicide.

* In "In the Dark", the team dealt with [[TheWoobie an absolute Woobie]] of an [=UnSub=]. [[spoiler: As a child, he was abused by his father and always had to be taken along to brothels and drug dens, where he was exposed to a lifestyle of sex and drugs. At one brothel, he was molested by a prostitute, his father didn't care, and worse, it didn't seem like anyone was prosecuted for it. As an adult, he started killing {{Asshole Victim}}s who reminded him of said father, but because he sleepwalks, he unknowingly continues killing at night to seek more of the release he gets from murdering. The worst part is that these victims are completely innocent people who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. When the [=UnSub=] realizes this, he does all he can to stay awake, only to fail. By the time he's arrested by the BAU, he breaks down horribly, especially after learning how many people he killed. Considering how pretty much everything in his life went wrong, you'd feel nothing but sorrow for this guy.]]

* Depending on where the turns of events in the second half of "Open Season" leave you, the episode can be downright agonizing to watch. The younger [=UnSub=] dying and Gideon comforting him. Him begging Gideon not to hurt his brother because he is all he has left and him knowing his brother was shot and killed before dying himself. Remember he and his brother [[ForTheEvulz kidnapped, hunted and killed people in the woods]].

* At the end of "Demons", Alex explains to Reid why she called him "Ethan" after he had been shot. [[spoiler: Ethan was her son, who died at the age of nine because of a rare neurological disease.]] Alex is so traumatized by what has happened to Reid that she decides to [[spoiler: quit the BAU.]] Lily Kershaw's song "Maybe", played during the final scenes, only makes it sadder.

* Garcia's B-Plot in Burn. For the entire episode our happy-go-lucky, GenkiGirl team member is in a constant state of depression [[spoiler: as she tries to deal with her PTSD after the events of Angels/Demons by going to see the male nurse who tried to kill Reid in death row. Each time she goes to death row to see the AssholeVictim she becomes more distraught. It all comes to a head after she witnesses the execution when Garcia find Derek waiting for her at her house and she runs into his arms sobbing uncontrollably.]]

* Imagine what the poor co-pilot must had felt in "Thousand Suns." As one of the pilots of the plane it is his responsibility is to fly the plane and its passengers safely and in one-piece to their destinations. Not only he failed to do that, he is the only survivor of the wreck with his fellow co-pilot and passengers dead with him surviving just by pure-luck. It was already mentioned that he already received threatening calls because of him being the only survivor and briefly the BAU even considered him a suspect. Though it wasn't his fault as the Unsub hacked the plane and crashed it, it is doubtful it would give him much comfort.

* JJ's subplot in "If The Shoe Fits". Before she leaves her parents' house for the case, Henry finds out about Rosalyn via a picture of his mother and aunt that his grandmother showed him. JJ gets into a little argument with her mother, telling her that she and Will wanted to wait until Henry was older before telling him about his aunt. Her mother argues that she should tell Henry about Rosalyn sooner than later, especially since she and her husband regret not helping her when she was still alive. Her mother even makes a bitter comment about JJ's refusal to properly talk about Rosalyn.
--> "Go. We're fine. Avoidance is what this family is best for."
* Nelson's Sparrow. Just. Nelson's Sparrow. [[spoiler: The episode deals with the BAU having to solve the murder of their former colleague, friend, and TeamDad, Jason Gideon. Needless to say, tears abound!]]
* While investigating murders in a prison, the team notices an inmate named Devon White is missing, who is linked in some way to the murders. To find out more they questioned the inmate named Sam who worked with him in the library. They bonded quickly, Devon even stole a book for him after Sam had his taken away by guards, but sadly everything went downhill when [[spoiler: two corrupt security guards arrive, making an underground fight club, causing Devon to be killed and covered up by said guards. Sam misses Devon, reading the book he gave him and the note left for him. After they find the murders and Devon's skull, Rossi gives Sam's books back. Sam is on the verge of tears. Coupled with sad music and great acting, this is amazingly bittersweet.]]
* Hotch's father-in-law being diagnosed with Alzheimer. Aside from still blaming Hotch for his daughter's death, he says that his illness is a blessing in disguise, so he can seemingly find peace while forgetting everyone else.

* William Taylor's story from "Awake". He was driving home with his five-year-old daughter after working a double shift. To prevent an accident due to his sleep deprivation, he pulled into a rest stop to shut his eyes for a little bit. When he woke up, his daughter was missing. Unable to cope with the guilt or to move on, he targeted random men, believing that one of them is the man who took his daughter. Things aren't much better when he found [[spoiler:his daughter's dead body during a search.]] There's also the song associated with him and his daughter: "You Are My Sunshine". Not only that his daughter will not get real justice anytime soon as it is revealed that the man he suspected took his daughter is still real and still active and the BAU had a hard time believing that the Unsub is real as they brush it off as the man being sleep-derived.
* The old couple in "Future Perfect." The elderly lady was suffering a neurological disease that was terminal with her being given months to live and she and her husband were desperate to find a cure. The Unsub promised them a "treatment" and they eventually agreed to it. At the end though the "treatment" came at the expense of others and it will most likely wouldn't had work anyway. The old lady eventually died the next day with her husband deeply mourning her death as the team looks on.

* The [=UnSub=] in Anonymous who was trying to get his daughter a liver transplant that is needed to save her life and targeting people who are organ donors in hopes that the organs will donate will be given to his daughter. He even went as far to kill people who were ahead of her on the wait-list in hopes to improve her chances of getting a liver. While he eventually was prevented from killing his latest victim, he commits suicide in the end so his daughter can have his liver and live.

* "The Bunker" has the Joanna Miller reuniting with her sister Chrissy (who had been missing for years) at the end and also has Joanna finally meeting her nephew Joe.

* In "Bad Moon on the Rise" the UnSub's son putting himself in the line of fire for his mother and dying in the process.

* In "Bad Moon on the Rise" the [=UnSub's] son putting himself in the line of fire for his mother and dying in the process.

* "Bad Moon on the Rise" has the [=UnSub's] son putting himself in the line of fire for his mother and dying in the process.
* "Full-Tilt Boogie" has the police chiefs wife being buried alive and later detoxing in the hospital as her daughter watches in horror. In addition to that it has the [[spoiler: Un Sub's]] drug-addict sister who only wanted to be with her daughter and is coerced into giving herself and overdose.
* In "Killer App", the [=UnSub=], a former civilian drone operator, learned [[spoiler: that he bombed a elementary school instead of a presumed insurgent camp, which killed 372 kids all under the age of 12. He was consumed by guilt and hatred towards the company that contracted him, who not only covered up the incident to save their own butts but made it seemed more like a game (especially since he was a gamer in his spare time) and the casualties as just numbers (each operator is sent letters about how many people were killed during each mission) without consideration of the lives that were taken and how most of the civilian operators don't have access to the same accessible and adequate mental healthcare compared to their military counterparts to help deal with the stress of killing so many people.]]

* "Full-Tilt Boogie" has the police chiefs wife being buried alive and later detoxing in the hospital as her daughter watches in horror. In addition to that it has the [[spoiler: Un Sub's]] drug-addict sister who only wanted to be with her daughter and is coerced into giving herself and overdose.

* "Full-Tilt Boogie" has the poliece chiefs wife being buried alive and later detoxing in the hospital as her daughter watches in horror. In addition to that it has the [[spoiler: [=UnSub's=]]] drug-addict sister who only wanted to be with her daughter and is coerced into giving herself and overdose.

* In "Chameleon", Krystal asks Rossi if he's truly okay when he comes home after a hard case. Rossi being Rossi at first claims he is fine and after remembering the things that happen during the case he breaks down in Krystal's arms telling her that he couldn't breathe.

* Nikki's fiancé J.P. being killed and her reaction to it. The only reason they were even in that situation in the first place was because the [=UnSub's=] intented victims had rented out the house to them.

* "Twenty Seven" has [[spoiler: two]] UnSub's who shoot innocent people in the middle of the street, the reason behind that being [[spoiler: that they wanted to see how fast emergency services would react as a year prior, their younger brother was shot in front of a night club and the ambulance took twenty seven minutes to arrive at the scene. By that point their brother had already died. The sad tear jerker here being not only the younger brothers senseless death but also the fact that his brothers were with him the entire time, desperately waiting for the ambulance to arrive.]]