History TearJerker / Leverage

** Especially when Parker points out how Luka flinches in the video when Mrs. Morton touches him. She trails off before actually spelling out what the poor kid is expecting to happen to him (and by implication what she had expected to happen to her in her own situation), but Sophie's reaction says it all.

* "The Lost Heir Job" actually gave a tragic backstory to a character who in almost any other episode would have been the VillainOfTheWeek. [[spoiler: CorruptCorporateExecutive falls for the stripper he got pregnant and plans to marry her. His [[AmoralAttorney lawyer]] who cleans up after him doesn't want the scandal and sends her off to UsefulNotes/LasVegas, where she has their daughter and dies of cancer two years later. The guy manages to track his now HappilyAdopted daughter down and begins to gradually build up a relationship with her through her charity. But then his lawyer cuts off contact with anyone and he never gets to explain anything to his daughter. The last time he sees his daughter, he mistakes her for her mother, who he thought had abandoned him and is thrilled to see her. And then he's distraught again when his lawyer drags her away, and he thinks the woman who left him is leaving him again.]]

* "The Tap Out Job": When Sophie belittles the fighters at the MMA gym, Eliot fiercely defends their motivations and points out the downward spiral of the town and the sad state its in, plus the likely fate its headed towards.
-->'''Eliot:''' These guys don't fight because they like hurting other people. They fight to gain some sort of control over their opponents, over their environment, over their lives. Have you seen this town? The farms are drying up! The only stores are bail bondsmen and pawn shops, and there's nothing they can do about it. So yeah, they get in the ring and...try not to let it all suffocate them...and it's about two guys trying to beat the crap out of each other.
* "The Beantown Bailout Job": The client's hospitalized and probably concussed daughter desperately and repeatedly telling Nate that something is wrong with the car.

*** We saw the flashback two or three times previously, only this time it's revealed that she was there too. As Nate barrels into the hospital room and breaks down over their son's body, Maggie is standing just outside crying, looking like she's on the verge of collapsing.

* "The Lost Heir Job" actually gave a tragic backstory to a character who in almost any other episode would have been the VillainOfTheWeek. [[spoiler: CorruptCorporateExecutive falls for the stripper he got pregnant and plans to marry her. His [[AmoralAttorney lawyer]] who cleans up after him doesn't want the scandal and sends her off to UsefulNotes/LasVegas, where she has their daughter and dies of cancer two years later. The guy manages to track his now HappilyAdopted daughter down and begins to gradually build up a relationship with her through her charity. But then his lawyer cuts off contact with anyone and he never gets to explain anything to his daughter. The last time he sees his daughter, he mistakes her for her mother, who he thought had abandoned him and is thrilled to see her.]]

* In the "The 15 Minutes Job", while the team is following the mark, they come across a woman whose high school boyfriend has been in jail for the last 14 years. [[spoiler: he was framed as the drunk driver in an accident caused by the mark]]. She's spent the entire time fighting on his behalf, with nearly nothing to show for it. It's by pure chance that the team was able to find and help her. [[spoiler: At the end of the episode, when her innocent boyfriend goes free, she is right there by him.]]

** Mixed with heartwarming, the revelation that the executive's [[MayDecemberRomance much younger wife]] was really in love with him, and only ran off with his money to protect him from her ruthless [[BlackWidow boss]]. When Elliot and Sophie find her, she is initially terrified for her husband's safety, begging them not to hurt him, until they reveal he sent them to find her. The woman ''crumbles'', both touched and heartbroken -- far from believing that she was just a [[GoldDigger gold-digging]] TrophyWife, her husband loved her so much he potentially risked his life to find out what happened to her.

* The OnceMoreWithClarity flashback in "The Rashomon Job" is hilarious when it reveals that the seemingly impressive security chief is also a geek with a crush on Sophie's HotScientist alter ego. Still, his crushed reaction when he misses a chance to say goodbye to her and admit his feelings is sad enough to elicit some pity from even the team members.

** Mixed with heartwarming, the revelation that the executive's [[MayDecemberRomance much younger wife]] was really in love with him, and only ran off with his money to protect him from her ruthless [[BlackWidow boss]]. When Elliot and Sophie find her, she is initially terrified for her husband's safety, begging them not to hurt him, until they reveal he sent them to find her. The woman ''crumbles'', both touched and heartbroken that her husband loved her so much, he not only refused to accept she was just a [[GoldDigger gold-digging]] TrophyWife, but potentially risked his life to find out what happened to her.
** It's subtle, but the woman's dilemma over whether to tell her husband the truth about her past clearly resonates with Sophie. It makes you wonder how many times she struggled with the same.

* In "The Homecoming Job" Hardison reveals that Nate donated almost all of his take (assuming everyone got an equal share, ''$32 million'') from their initial job to "some children's hospital." It doesn't take much to figure out which one.

* In "The Homecoming Job" Hardison reveals that Nate donated almost all of his take (assuming everyone got an equal share, ''thirty-two million dollars'') from their initial job to "some children's hospital." It doesn't take much to figure out which one.

* The second-to-last episode of the season: "The Radio Job". [[spoiler: Jimmy Ford makes a deal with Latimer, despite his son's warnings, because it was all to keep him safe (and for two million dollars). He gets knocked unconscious and wakes up slowly by Nate's phone calling him, and realizes [[OhCrap he's surrounded by explosives and a timer just about to go off]]. Jimmy calmly tells Nate to stay away, who keep telling him he's going to get him, losing his cool and rising his voice to the point of fear because he knows what's about to happen. He gets out of the car and hears his dad say he loves him... forcing him to a shocked stupor. Then the building blows up, all in slow motion.]]

** Sterling manages to catch Nate before he can clear out with the team because he knew Nate would return to HQ to retrieve a TragicKeepsake: a drawing Nate's son Sam made of his family. Possibly one of the last times they were happy together before his illness and death.

*** We saw the flashback two or three times previously, only this time it's revealed that she was there too.
* "The Lost Heir Job" actually gave a tragic backstory to a character who in almost any other episode would have been the VillainOfTheWeek. [[spoiler: CorruptCorporateExecutive falls for the stripper he got pregnant and plans to marry her. His lawyer who cleans up after him doesn't want the scandal and sends her off to UsefulNotes/LasVegas, where she has their daughter and dies of cancer two years later. The guy manages to track his now HappilyAdopted daughter down and begins to gradually build up a relationship with her again through her charity. But then his lawyer cuts off contact with anyone and he never gets to explain anything to his daughter. The last time he sees his daughter he mistakes her for her mother who he thought had abandoned him and is thrilled to see her.]]

* "The Maltese Falcon Job", The season two finale. After spiraling further and further out of control following the loss of Sophie, Nate finds himself at the mercy of his rival Sterling who wants to exchange a gun smuggler he's pursuing and Nate's team in exchange for Nate's freedom--because Nate is not like them. In the end, Nate captures the smuggler, then exchanges him for his teammates' freedom. While the team escapes, an FBI mook asks "Who is this guy?" It's Nate, bleeding and exhausted. For the last two years, he prided himself for being above his team. Now, he laughs and says, "I'm a thief."

* The OnceMoreWithClarity flashback in "The Rashomon Job" is hilarious when it reveals that the seemingly impressive security chief is also a geek with a crush on Sophie's HotScientist alter ego. Still, his crushed reaction when he misses a chance to say goodbye to her and admit his feelings is sad enough to elicit some pity from even the team member.

** The ''very first'' person to do anything after Hardison is let out is Eliot, who HatesBeingTouched and is so visibly relieved that he pulls Hardison into a hug that actually lasts several seconds, complete with Eliot telling Hardison "don't do that again, man."
* At the beginning of "The Lonely Hearts Job" a wealthy executive who would normally be a target walks in. Nate tells him to leave and the man just breaks down crying, begging Nate to find his wife.

* "The White Rabbit Job" The mark's feelings of guilt. [[spoiler: He blames himself for the death of his cousin, who he was closest to in the world, and it sent him into a self destructive spiral to the point his panic attacks and feelings of guilt are so bad, he's trying to sell off his family business as fast as possible.]]

* Sophie and the crew invoke this in the climax of "The San Lorenzo Job" to turn the people of the titular country against corrupt President Ribera.
* Two for the price of one episode in the season 4 premiere, "The Long Way Down Job": Parker's pleas of wanting to bring the body of the dead husband of their client, and the victim's goodbye message to his wife from his phone.

--> '''Eliot:''' You have no idea who I was before all this started. That guy, kid, he had God in his heart, and he had a flag on his shoulder, clean hands, and I ain't seen him in the mirror in over 10 years. And believe me, I get up every morning looking for him. So you can trust me when I tell you when you pull that trigger and two men die. The guy you kill and the guy you used to be.

* The OnceMoreWithClarity flashback in "The Rashomon Job" is hilarious when it reveals that the seemingly impressive security chief is just a geek with a crush on Sophie's HotScientist alter ego. Still, his crushed reaction when he misses a chance to say goodbye to her and admit his feelings is sad enough to elicit some pity from even the team member.

* "The Inside Job" has Parker's old mentor/father figure Archie having no idea why Parker would jump the gun and try to infiltrate the world's most advanced security system all alone. When they're finally in contact over comms, Parker simply says, "You were gonna get caught, and they were going to hurt you and your family -- your real family." The way she says it and the look on Archie's face are heartbreaking, as she has clearly felt the difference between herself and Archie's "real" family, knowing they've always been more important to Archie than she was.

* At the beginning of "The Lonely Hearts Job" when a wealthy executive who would normally be a target walks in. Nate tells him to leave and the man just breaks down crying, begging Nate to find his wife.

* A blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment in "The Miracle Job." While talking to Father Paul, Nate has a silent, visibly suppressed reaction to the calm announcement of a "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hospital_emergency_codes#Code_Blue Code Blue]] in pediatrics" over the intercom in the background. He knows exactly what that means. He's been there. He knows what's happening, somewhere else in that building.