History TearJerker / ER

* Happy tears at the end of "[[https://youtu.be/NbGT_DDP86Q Such Sweet Sorrow]]" when Carol and Doug reunited.

* The transgender patient jumping off the roof in "[[https://youtu.be/5nRUWA9LTcc ER Confidential]]".

* In “Hell and High Water” [[spoiler: the little girl who dies after being hit by a car, after seemingly being stable for most of the episode. The last we see of her bickering divorced parents, they're walking down the hall, utterly devastated, trying to hold each other up.]]

---> They haven't been able to catch the guy who did it. At least, they haven't been able to charge anyone. The worst thing about it isn't what it did to me. The worst thing is, it meant that some of the world's violence... ...has leaked into our own ER. This is meant to be a safe place for fixing people. Now it's vulnerable. And as an ER doctor, that's hard to accept.

--> "I hated the son of a bitch. And I loved him. It's never simple, is it?"

* At the end of "[[https://youtu.be/ohZ0hBO7H3w Orion in the Sky]]", Mark leaves the ER for the last time, shares a HeldGaze with Susan, clearly wondering WhatCouldHaveBeen and [[PassingTheTorch passes the torch]] to Carter by telling him, "[[ArcWords You set the tone]]."

-->'''Romano''': Is he your husband?
-->'''Corday''': Yes.
-->'''Romano''': Do you love him?
-->'''Corday''': Yes.

* The death of Pratt in the final season premiere. He and Abby had been injured in an ambulance explosion. They try their hardest to save him, but his carotid artery bursts, killing him. The most heartbreaking part is his little brother, a paramedic who only first met him when he was 18 (4 years before), begging them to keep him on a bypass machine a little while longer when the doctors know he's already far beyond hope. What follows is a practical honor guard as Pratt is wheeled to the elevator to be taken to surgery for his organs to be harvested for donation--Frank rushes ahead and presses the elevator button. A menial task he would otherwise have complained about, but clearly felt obligated to do for Pratt's sake.

* "[[https://youtu.be/LyQ0xSrrloU The Book of Abby]]". Specifically, Haleh's [[https://78.media.tumblr.com/fdecd6ca0d374687762709eb71f70902/tumblr_inline_p8r15tILQO1vololo_540.png hidden wall]] with the nameplates from departed staff.

* On the November 13, 2008 episode "Heal Thyself", Eriq La Salle gave a speech before the episode's cold open remembering Creator/MichaelCrichton, who helped create the show. Made all the more saddening because the episode it prefaced was the one that featured the return of Mark Greene via flashback.

* In “Hell and High Water” [[spoiler: the little girl who dies after being hit by a car, after seemingly being stable for most of the episode.]]

* "Ambush". Two patients are brought in. One is a young man who was beaten up by a gang he was trying to leave, the other is the GoodSamaritan who was trying to help. The young man recovers, while his would be savior is left paralyzed from the neck down. NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished indeed. The scene of him and his wife talking, trying to say as much as possible before he has to be intubated is especially wrenching.

* "Ambush". Two patients are brought in. One is a young man who was beaten up by a gang he was trying to leave, the other is the GoodSamaritan who was trying to help. The young man recovers, while his would be savior is left paralyzed from the neck down. NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished indeed. The scene of him and his wife talking, trying to say as much as possible before he has to be intubated is especially wrenching.* In "Family Practice", Mark and his father, a Navy veteran, are at a VA hospital's ER after the latter had suffered a COPD episode, when a mass-casualty trauma arrives, the result of a helicopter crash. The pilot, who is stable when they arrive, is visibly distraught over the accident. Capt. Greene does all he can to re-assure him while three of his crewmates are coding all around them. Then suddenly, the pilot stops breathing as a pneumothorax (pressure from a collapsed lung) suppresses his heart.

* In "Family Practice", Mark and his father, a Navy veteran, are at a VA hospital's ER after the latter had suffered a COPD episode, when a mass-casualty trauma arrives, the result of a helicopter crash. The pilot, who is stable when they arrive, is visibly distraught over the accident. Capt. Greene does all he can to re-assure him while three of his crewmates are coding all around them. Then suddenly, the pilot stops breathing as a pneumothorax (pressure from a collapsed lung) suppresses his heart.

* "Ambush". Two patients are brought in. One is a young man who was beaten up by a gang he was trying to leave, the other is the GoodSamaritan who was trying to help. The young man recovers, while his would be savior is left paralyzed from the neck down. NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished indeed. The scene of him and his wife talking, trying to say as much as possible before he has to be intubated is especially wrenching.

* [[https://youtu.be/C9szWKSmWzs Mark runs to Union Station to catch Susan and tell her that he loves her]]. Once again, we've all seen this before--she returns the sentiment and falls into his arms, right? No. Once again, RealityEnsues--she rejects him, given that not only does she not reciprocate, his AnguishedDeclarationOfLove came at literally the last minute before she left.

* "The Gift". Doug has a LoveEpiphany about Carol and [[RaceForYourLove races]] to her engagement party to tell her. We've all seen this a million times--she returns the sentiment and falls into his arms, right? No. Instead, RealityEnsues--[[https://youtu.be/3LgfjZQoSoA she screams at him to leave her alone and her fiancé punches him]]. The final shot of him in the episode is of him wandering the streets, looking even ''more'' dejected than before.

** One of Lucy's early conversations with Valerie has them talking about how Valerie would be graduating soon if she had stayed at university and how Lucy is. Neither of them survive until then, with Valerie dying in her next episode, and Lucy being stabbed to death in the February.

* The death of Pratt in the final season premiere. He and Abby had been injured in an ambulance explosion. They try their hardest to save him, but his carotid artery bursts, killing him. The most heartbreaking part is his little brother, a paramedic who only first met him when he was 18 (4 years before), begging them to keep him on a bypass machine a little while longer when the doctors know he's already far beyond hope. What follows is a practical honor guard as Gant is wheeled to the elevator to be taken to surgery for his organs to be harvested for donation--Frank rushes ahead and presses the elevator button. A menial task he would otherwise have complained about, but clearly felt obligated to do for Pratt's sake.

* [[https://youtu.be/C9szWKSmWzs Mark runs to Union Station to catch Susan and tell her that he loves her]]. Once again, we've all seen this before--she returns the sentiment and falls into his arms, right. No. Once again, RealityEnsues--she rejects him, given that his AnguishedDeclarationOfLove came at literally the last minute before she left.

* The ending of "The Storm, Part 2". Carol tearfully begs Doug not to leave, telling him "I don't want to wake up alone tomorrow." Nearly in tears himself, Doug plants TheBigDamnKiss on her, makes an AnguishedDeclarationOfLove, and walks away, leaving her sobbing in the hallway.

** What's more, after the adoption denial, she goes running not to her fiance, but to ex-lover Doug, essentially revealing that she's still in love with him despite how he broke her heart, and he has to struggle not to take advantage of the situation as he's clearly still in love with her.

* When Benton's mother dies. Throughout the entire season, we've come to know him as a very stern, stiff, gruff character whose only weak spot is his love for his mother and his complete denial about how ill and frail she's becoming. Towards the start of the episode, we've heard him give a patient's relative a very standard, "I'm sorry" speech. Then he's paged about his mother, rushes to her nursing home, only to get nearly the exact same speech from ''her'' doctor. When her physical therapist comes to comfort him, he finally breaks down and cries in her arms.

* "Love's Labors Lost". That is all.

* The transgender patient jumping off the roof in "ER Confidential".

* Carol's fiance's speech to her on their wedding day when he describes how much he loves her--"Every day, I thank God for bringing you into my life"--then asks if she feels the same way, thus forcing her to admit that she doesn't. It really says something for the show's quality that it could make you feel sorry for a Bland Perfection DisposableFiance that the viewer isn't supposed to care about.
* "The Gift". Doug has a LoveEpiphany about Carol and [[RaceForYourLove races]] to her engagement party to tell her. We've all seen this a million times--she returns the sentiment and falls into his arms, right? No. Instead, RealityEnsues--she screams at him to leave her alone and her fiancé punches him. The final shot of him in the episode is of him wandering the streets, looking even ''more'' dejected than before.

* When Mark runs to Union Station to catch Susan and tell her that he loves her, only to have her reject him.

* When Lucy died in "All in the Family", because even that bastard of a doctor Romano refused to give up on her when she was clearly beyond help. The worst part is that at one point it looked hopeful, before things took a turn for the worse.

* Benton flat-out begging his ex Carla not to take Reese away from him, telling her that he means more to him than anything--"I'd lay down in front of a train for him. ''THAT'S'' how much I love him."

* Happy tears at the end of "Such Sweet Sorrow" when Carol and Doug reunited.

* In "The Visit", Benton's nephew Jesse gets shot. Benton does absolutely everything he can to save him. Finally, when Mark states that Jesse's chest cavity is filling with blood and Elizabeth sadly points out that he's oozing everywhere, Benton starts to fall apart and desperately says, "Come on, Jesse. Come on, man, don't give up on me. Jesse. Come on, man. Don't give up, please. Come on, Jesse." Jesse finally dies from his injuries. Jackie's BigNo over [[OutlivingOnesOffspring the loss of her son]] and the way she and Benton cling to each other as they cry make it all the more painful.

* "Damage is Done" is full of them. As the episode starts Rachel is happy to take care of her baby sister Ella, and offers to make Elizabeth something to eat or drink while she's sick. Then Ella gets a hold of ecstasy pills that were in Rachel's backpack. Mark gets told of his daughter coming in with an overdose and hurries down to the ER, panicked over Rachel whom he naturally assumes is the one who took the pills, and is completely stunned and shocked when he walks into the trauma room and sees Elizabeth and Ella. But most of all it's Rachel who gets your tears flowing. Clearly she loves her baby sister and she is both frightened, sad and shocked over what is happening. When Mark lays into her for keeping drugs in the house where the baby can find it, and explains to her exactly what damage Ella might suffer, she breaks down, needing her father in that moment just as much as Ella does.
* At the end of "Orion in the Sky", Mark leaves the ER for the last time, shares a HeldGaze with Susan, and [[PassingTheTorch passes the torch]] to Carter by telling him, "[[ArcWords You set the tone]]."

** The look on Carter's face after he finishes reading Mark's letter to the staff can still give one chills, as well as his near-breakdown as he reads Elizabeth's.

** Elizabeth's reaction during Mark's funeral in "On the Beach". No screaming or wailing--just quiet, wordless, complete devastation. Bravo, Creator/AlexKingston...bravo.

* "The Book of Abby". Specifically, Haleh's [[https://78.media.tumblr.com/fdecd6ca0d374687762709eb71f70902/tumblr_inline_p8r15tILQO1vololo_540.png hidden wall]] with the nameplates from departed staff.

* Sandy's death in Season 10 was played for mass quantities of {{Narm}}, but largely saved by Laura Innes' performance. Kerry's quiet desperation as she pleads with the surgical team to let her into the OR ("You have to let me see her...that's my wife in there") is devastating, especially for a character who's spent her career being as abrasive and unlikable as possible. Especially at the very end of the OR scene, where blood begins running up Sandy's endotracheal tube (that's it in a surgical situation), Kerry's face freezes in position and she quietly tells Elizabeth and Anspaugh: "You can stop. She's gone."

* The death of paramedic/firefighter Raul in season 2.

** A subplot of "Love's Labor Lost" has Benton bringing her into the hospital after she falls down the stairs. As the nurses try to undress, she frantically tells them, "No! Not in front of Petey!". Frail, elderly, and possibly developing dementia, and she still has enough dignity to not want her son to see her naked.

* The ending of "The Storm, Part 2". Carol tearfully begs Doug not to leave, telling him "I don't want to wake up alone tomorrow." Nearly in tears himself, Doug plants a BigDamnKiss on her, makes an AnguishedDeclarationOfLove, and walks away, leaving her sobbing in the hallway.

* In "Responsible Parties", a kid in a car accident on the way to prom ends up with 80% 3rd degree burns. Lucy is clearly distressed as she holds a phone up to him while he speaks to his parents (en route) on their car phone.

* The episode where Benton's nephew Jesse gets shot. Benton does absolutely everything he can to save the boy. Finally he starts to fall apart and says "Come on Jesse. Come on, man. Don't give up on me. Don't give up on me." Jesse finally dies from his injuries.