History TearJerker / HouseOfCardsUS

* Frank's college lover Tim disappears on his boat, and while he tries to act like he's not affected, he slowly breaks down until near the end of the episode he stops dead in the middle of one of his chats with the audience and whispers "Damn it, Tim."

Fair warning. Spoilers any current seasons may be unmarked. As Netflix releases the episodes for an entire season at one time, material from all episodes beginning to end is fair game.

* Claire's panic attack [[spoiler:after meeting her college rapist for the first time in several decades.]] And Frank's reaction to this, and their conversation later that night...basically everything regarding that situation.

* Walker's wife phones Claire and calls her a good person [[spoiler:as the Walkers are finalizing their departure from the White House, an exit engineered by Frank and Claire.]] Claire doesn't take it well.
* Rachel being forced to [[spoiler: break up with Lisa, the one person she'd managed to forge an intimate connection with since the series' premiere, all because Doug felt disconcerted by the relationship. Worse because when she breaks up with Lisa, she's not allowed to tell her the real reason for it, with [[BlatantLies Rachel instead saying that she never loved her]], sending her over the DespairEventHorizon]].
* Lucas' conversation with Janine before [[spoiler: he's about to serve his term in prison]].
-->'''Lucas''': [[spoiler: He's going to get away with it, isn't he?]]\\
'''Janine''': (beat, tears in her eyes) [[KarmaHoudini Yeah.]]

* [[spoiler: The murder of Rachael Posner. After spending the season trying to find her, Doug kidnaps her and brings her to the middle of the desert. She then tries to scream for help, only for Doug to coldly remind her than no one can hear her. She then tries to convince him not to kill her and promises she's going under a new identity. [[HopeSpot At first, he does decide to let her go after all,]] but then he just decides to kill her anyway.]]

* [[spoiler:The death of Ed Meechum when he's killed during Lucas Goodwin's assassination attempt hits hard, considering that Frank saw in Meechum some real, honest to god innocence and naivety. Not the usual kind that he could regularly exploit or manipulate (although he obviously did do it when he first met Meechum), but the kind that he could use as a sort of conduit to let his own hair down and have a little bit of carefree fun, e.g., the baseball throwing or when Frank traced around his hand on the wall. The latter is more depressing when Frank finds out that Meechum's handprint was painted over.]]
* Lucas Goodwin returns in this season, only to [[spoiler:end up dying for his efforts. His noble crusade to finally bring down Frank and his administration, built on the bodies of three people (one of which was his girlfriend) and a multitude of lies, ends up failing when he hits rock bottom and ultimately decides to shoot Frank, as he had nothing else left to lose. Frank doesn't even die from the bullet wound and Lucas inadvertently gets both Frank and Claire, who were at each other's throats, to forgive one another and get back together. Worse his research is dismissed as the ramblings of a "disturbed" man and Dunbar's campaign ends up taking the heat for Lucas' actions. Just when it finally looked like Frank, Claire, Doug, etc. were finally going to answer for their sins...]]
** Lucas' mental state is worth extra mentioning: at the beginning of the series, he was a smart, clean, respectable young journalist. After Zoe's death, his obsession with taking down Frank starts weighing him down and ultimately gets him arrested for his troubles. When he's finally let out, [[spoiler:he ends up working odd low-paying jobs, has to live on the down low in order to avoid appearing on Frank's radar, and even ends up having to perform sex acts on his boss just to get a workable car. Meeting with Dunbar and pleading with her was his last hope but Dunbar inadvertently ends up crushing his hopes when she voices out loud that she wanted nothing to do with him. The tears and despair in Lucas' voice and facial expression drive home the unfairness of how much Frank has screwed him over, which led to Lucas trying to shoot Frank as a last resort.]]

* The finale reveals that [[spoiler: ''Doug Stamper'' killed Frank Underwood. As he reveals it, he tearfully explains how he had to do what he did in order to save Frank's legacy from an impulsive murder that would tarnish it forever. He ultimately dies by Claire's hand, fighting for Frank to be recognized as the one who put her in office.]]

'''Janine''': (beat, tears in her eyes) Yeah.