History TearJerker / StarTrekTheNExtGeneration

** First of all being the fact that the ship we have always heard described as a ship of exploration, peace and opportunity, is now literally called ''a galaxy class battleship''. The very idea tears right at the gut of what Star Trek is meant to be about. And all [[ForWantOfANail because of one unfought battle 22 years ago.]]

** On rewatch, [[FridgeBrilliance you realize that this extends into her wardrobe in this episode]] - typically, Lwaxana is wearing elaborate, colorful, and splashy outfits, making a spectacle of herself - as she says in [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS1E17TheForsaken DS9's The Forsaken,]] she doesn't like being ordinary. Here, she's wearing a very subdued outfit and her hair is done completely naturally. At first, it could be passed off as her simple exhaustion from her work with the Cairn, but based on everything we learn, it's more likely because the effort of holding back her memories of Kestra alone is wearing her out so much, just to maintain that denial of her trauma and pain.

** On rewatch, [[FridgeBrilliance you realize that this extends into her wardrobe in this episode]] - typically, Lwaxana is wearing elaborate, colorful, and splashy outfits, making a spectacle of herself - as she says in [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS1E16TheForsaken DS9's The Forsaken,]] she doesn't like being ordinary. Here, she's wearing a very subdued outfit and her hair is done completely naturally. At first, it could be passed off as her simple exhaustion from her work with the Cairn, but based on everything we learn, it's more likely because the effort of holding back her memories of Kestra alone is wearing her out so much, just to maintain that denial of her trauma and pain.

** Guinan even adds that it was an "empty" death, one without purpose. Which is exactly what Armus thought after he had done the deed, noting that her suffer was so brief that he couldn't ''[[EvilIsPetty enjoy]]'' it.

--->'''McNary:''' So this is the [[TitleDrop big goodbye]]. Tell me something, Dixon... When you've gone, will this world still exist? Will my wife and kids still be waiting for me at home?

* There's something deeply sad about McNary, fictional though he may be, asking Picard/Dixon about what awaits him after the holodeck program he's part of is shut down, and Picard being unable give him an answer because he frankly doesn't know... It makes you hope that holodeck characters were programmed to have slightly less convincing facsimiles of real personality after that, at least when it comes to awareness of their existence, just to save people the immense ''existential dread''.

** Worf's parents' concern for his recent discommendation. As they say themselves, they don't really understand the nuances of what happened to Worf or how he feels, but they still came. They're not sure what they can do to help, and they know that some of their attempts are failing miserably, but they still have to try.

* Much about [[WoobieSpecies the Bajorans]] in general; both the description of their plight (driven out of their home into camps, oppressed, tortured) and the visuals of the camps themselves, and the recognition that this has been the state of affairs for generations and they've had nothing but empty promises to compensate. To anyone who's been to Palestine and to the camps there, much of the episode is physically painful to watch, and the parallels are far too apparent not to appear deliberate.

* Ro Laren talking about her childhood in "Rascals". It was quite an unhappy childhood -- she hardly ever had a bed, she never drew or [[NeverHadToys played with toys]], and worst of all, [{DisappearedDad her father was tortured to death]] ''while she watched''.

* Picard's encounter with the illusory version of his dead mother in one of the ''Enterprise'' corridors. It gets turned up to eleven when he happens to turn around and glimpse at Riker for the briefest of moments, only to discover that she's gone again when he turns back to look at the spot where she was. Even though Picard gets back down to business comparatively quickly, he looks so utterly crushed in the moments after he realises she's gone again. It becomes even more poignant some 35 years later when we learn in the ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' episode ''[[Recap/StarTrekPicardS2E09HideAndSeek Hide and Seek]]'' that Yvette Picard had committed suicide while Picard was still a child, and that for years afterwards he envisioned her growing old and inviting him to have tea with her.

** To a much lesser extent, Armus itself. A creature created by a race who took their anger, hate and all other negative emotions, seperated themselves from them and just threw them away like garbage. The only joy it feels is when it's being malicious or evil, because that's literally what it's composed of and all it understands. And true to Picard's words, it ''is'' trapped there, alone and immortal... and given the events that occurred this episode, it's guaranteed that no one will be going anywhere near the planet ever again.

** It's not just that he realizes that he's not going to get it. He starts off believing he's managed to grasp the concept of humor, but then it dawns on him that the holographic crowd he's playing to is programmed to laugh at what he says, regardless of if it's genuinely funny. In that moment of realization, the laughter stops being laughing with Data, because he's being funny, and laughing AT Data.

** To expand on the above, when making his case at the hearing Riker goes so far as to remove Data's hand and shutting him off. All present look very disturbed by this, but [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone you can see tears in Riker's eyes as he sits back down.]] It must have killed him to hurt his friend like that.
* Also from that episode, during the trial Picard brings up Data's moment of intimacy with Tasha. Data actually has a little memorial of her. And when asked to define his relationship with Tasha, Data just says they were "intimate". It's one thing to make someone talk about having feelings for someone on the spot, but another still when they can't even properly ''say'' it.

-->'''Picard''': Let's make sure history never forgets the name ''Enterprise''.

* This episode features a Betazoid man who was born with his abilities turn on and [[CursedWithAwesome cannot control them,]] so he often angsts about the emotions/thoughts he's sensing being too much. He even says he ''wants to die'' at one point.

* The away team's horror when they see [[WhamShot what's been done to Picard,]] and their drawn faces when they return and report to Riker. Even Worf is visibly upset, and knowing his sense of loyalty and duty, he likely feels he personally failed the captain. Then Riker shoots down every argument for trying again, because they can't give up what may be their last chance to destroy the Borg ship. Finally, there's the crew's faces when Picard as Locutus addresses them, with no trace of the man they knew in evidence, and Riker gives the terrible order to fire and destroy his mentor and friend.

** There's a subtle tone that many [[FridgeBrilliance miss]] - ''The Best of Both Worlds'' is frequently said to be the point at which The Next Generation truly broke away from the name of the original series, and became respected in its own right. And it did this by not only crafting a critically acclaimed story, but by choosing to break away from the original with the kind of plotline the original series would ''never'' have attempted (partially due to technology constraints of the time, and partly due to the kind of stories they told -- isolated fables, more distant from Earth). It's a bittersweet moment, half hopeful and half tearjerker. The crew of the Enterprise D are truly their own now. And to fully embrace that, we ''had to let the captain go.'' Maybe it wasn't just ''this'' series' captain we let go of.

** Jean-Luc's breakdown after a fight with his brother Robert.

** Make no mistake: Lore is an irredeemable monster. But his anguished conversation with Dr. Soong, you at least feel a little sorry for him. And he stops dead in his tracks when he finds out the old man is dying, immediately falling back on denial that Soong is ill like any organic child who's just learnt that their parent is dying. The way his voice cracks when he protests that Soong looks fine tugs at the heartstrings.

* Riker wakes up from a coma 16 years in the future, and learned that he has a 16-year gap in his memory due to a brain disease, and he may never recover his memories. Among the memories he lost were the memories of his wife and son. Not to mention that his son effectively lost his father.

** Before that, O'Brien's reveal that his animosity towards Cardassians is because they made him have to kill during the war.

* "The Drumhead" gives us NervousWreck and certified [[TheWoobie Woobie]], Simon Tarses, who is accused of being part of a conspiracy on board the ''Enterprise'' by Betazoid interrogator Sabin. Why? Because he lied about his heritage when he got into Starfleet, and he doesn't have Vulcan, but ''Romulan'' bloodlines. Of course, that in itself doesn't mean he's part of any conspiracy, but that doesn't matter to Sabin, nor his boss, Admiral Norah Satie. As Satie watches in quiet satisfaction, Tarses gets utterly steamrolled and humiliated by Sabin's interrogation, in a hearing ''open to the crew,'' no less. By the end, the poor little guy looks like he wants to roll over and die.

* Sela's story of the fate of her mother, Tasha Yar. Particularly when you factor in the fact that she transferred to the Enterprise-C so that her death could have meaning, only to end up the concubine of a Romulan general, pregnant with his child, and then having her daughter call for the guards, who executed her, rendering her once more with a meaningless death.

* Much about the Bajorans in general; both the description of their plight (driven out of their home into camps, oppressed, tortured) and the visuals of the camps themselves, and the recognition that this has been the state of affairs for generations and they've had nothing but empty promises to compensate. To anyone who's been to Palestine and to the camps there, much of the episode is physically painful to watch, and the parallels are far too apparent not to appear deliberate.

* The episode features a young boy named Timothy, whose parents died in an accident and he's grieving, [[BittersweetEnding still being sad at the end]]. Troi describes his condition as his "world being gone" and him being in "a lot of pain". This is even worse because he tries to suppress his emotions by pretending to be an android and there's some unnerving pathos to the idea of someone doing something silly for a serious reason. The "cherry on top" might be when Timothy admits that he thinks [[AccidentalMurder he accidentally killed them]] and starts ugly-crying. Troi reveals that there's no way Timothy could have accidentally killed his parents, but it's still sad.

* Lwaxana's reason for marrying the (dreadfully dull and overbearingly rule-bound) Minister Cambio - she's scared of being alone, and is seizing this relationship simply to avoid loneliness, despite all of the ways she is sacrificing her own nature to do so.

** [[spoiler:The final moments of the episode just drive the tragedy home. The probe that caused all this shut down after it finished the simulation. Inside was a single artifact that Riker decides to bring to Picard. It's the Ressikan flute, which "Kamin" spent his entire life playing. A very shaken-up Picard closes out the episode alone in his quarters, playing a melody he learned from his time on Kataan - the ceremonial birth melody, for a son he never had.]]

* Scotty is being escorted to his quarters by Ensign Kane, talking all the way. Kane is as patient and polite as you can expect, but eventually he has to tell Scotty that he has to get back to duty. The implication is that he doesn't really want to listen to an old man ramble on about things that he doesn't care about. Scotty understands, but that doesn't mean he has to feel good about it. He collapses into a chair, depressed at the idea that he doesn't have a place in this new world.

* Ro Laren talking about her childhood in "Rascals".
** Ro talking about the torture and death of her father ''while she watched''.

* The ending, which reveals that Picard was indeed broken by the torture and could see five lights.

** When he goes to Riker and Troi in the altered timeline, asking about career advancement options, at first they can pretty much only damn him with faint praise (he's punctual), and then have to effectively bring him down to earth - with the record he has, of not taking any risks, Jean-Luc Picard’s career goes no further than a junior grade lieutenant, bringing reports to the senior staff.

** Towards the end of the episode, when Picard believes he had sent Daren to her death on a dangerous away mission, he walks over to where the flute's case is and wordlessly slams it shut, as though expressing he ''could never play that flute again''. Considering the heartbreak he went through ''learning it''...

* "Interface" isn't very happy to begin with, centering around the possible loss of Geordi's mother and his subsequent denial. But there's one remarkably sad scene where Riker tries to talk it out with him, and relates this story of his [[MissingMom late mother]]:

* Really, the whole episode manages to reframe Lwaxana's persistent attempts at meddling with Deanna's life, because now we understand why she can't help but treat Deanna as her "little one," insisting that she MUST marry (and, presumably, have children) for years - she could never see Kestra grow up and experience these things, her eldest daughter is forever a child, and she can't help but transfer some of that onto Deanna, because she refuses to even acknowledge Kestra's existence in her grief.

* The final fate of Vorin, who commits suicide because he can't live among aliens ''or'' be regarded as insane by his people ''or'' keep the truth a secret from them. Picard shows real regret when he says that he would've liked to have known him better.

* The heartbreaking ending, especially when Worf sits down with all of Sito's friends to reminisce and mourn her death.

** Make no mistake: Lore is an irredeemable monster. But his anguished conversation with Dr. Soong, you at least feel sorry for him a little. And he stops dead in his tracks when he finds out the old man is dying, immediately falling back on denial that Soong is ill like any organic child who's just learnt that their parent is dying. The way his voice cracks when he protests that Soong looks fine tugs at the heartstrings.
--->'''Lore (near tears):''' ...Why couldn't you just fix me? It was within your power to fix me.

* Tasha's frustration at being toyed with by Q, put in his penalty box, where, in the event of anyone else suffering a "penalty" under Q's rules - which he openly acknowledges as being unfair - she will be "gone." Both in the moment, where her emotions bubble up to the point of Picard offering her some comforting words, and one can easily imagine that her anger at being toyed by someone more powerful resonates with her given her background on the failed colony she was rescued from, and from the meta knowledge that, in just a few months time, she IS "gone," and killed by a being more powerful who killed her in the name of its own amusement.

[[AC: [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E21Symbiosis Symbiosis]]]]
* On the meta level, Merritt Butrick (who'd previously portrayed [[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan David]] [[Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock Marcus]], Captain Kirk's son) took the role of T'Jon in this episode to help cover the costs of his AIDS medication - he would pass a year later from further complications. It's already painful watching the Onarrans suffering from the effects of the drugs, but knowing that at least part of T'Jon's physical state is because his actor is already suffering from such a devastating disease...

** Another bit of meta is that the scene is at least two minutes long - and with a constantly moving camera and no possible cutaway, there is [[TheOner no possibility to stop for a breather]]. Stewart and [=McFadden=] had to do that scene in its ENTIRETY every cut.

[[AC:[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E10NewGround New Ground]]]]
* A meta level one - Worf and his adoptive mother are speaking about the unsuitability of the Rozshenkos to care for Alexander, that they're growing too old to keep up with him. Worf tells her that she has many years yet. [[HarsherInHindsight Unfortunately,]] the actress who played Helena Rozshenko, Georgia Brown, would pass away within the year.

** To a much lesser extent, Armus itself. A creature created by a race who took their anger, hate and all other negative emotions, seperated themselves from them and just threw them away like garbage. The only joy it feels is when it's being malicious or evil, because that's literally what it's composed of and all it understands.

** Ro Laren talking about her childhood in "Rascals".
*** Ro talking about the torture and death of her father ''while she watched''.

** When he goes to Riker and Troi in the altered timeline, asking about career advancement options, at first they can pretty much only damn him with faint praise (he’s punctual), and then have to effectively bring him down to earth - with the record he has, of not taking any risks, Jean-Luc Picard’s career goes no further than a junior grade lieutenant, bringing reports to the senior staff.

** Juliana's reaction to the brief existence of Lal.
** Data's conversation with a hologram of his "father", Dr. Soong. Data wants to know spoiler:why Soong doesn't want him to reveal that his "mother" Juliana is really another android, whom Soong built after the real Juliana died. You can tell the sadness Soong felt when he made the recording, of how much he loved her, and how he couldn't bear to tell her the truth.
-->'''Soong:''' Truth is - in every way that matters - she *is* Juliana Soong. I programmed her to terminate after a long life. Let her live out her days - and die, believing she was human. Don't rob her of that, son. ''Please.''
** Following the conversation with his "father", Data talks with Picard, Crusher, and Troi about it. Even if he has no emotions, he can describe the loneliness of his life well enough for his friends to sympathize with him.
** Data and Juliana's parting words as mother and son.

** In one of the alternate universes, Worf is married to Troi, but Alexander doesn't exist, which breaks his heart when he learns of this.
** A small moment, when alternate-Riker tells main-Picard it's good to see him again. ''His'' Picard died during "The Best of Both Worlds", so he got to say hello and goodbye to a close friend who had been dead for three years.

** Picard's announcement of Sito's passing is thoroughly depressing. For one, it's the sad realization of just [[RedShirt how often]] Picard - plus Kirk, Sisko, Janeway, Archer, and so on - has had to make this solemn announcement. Not to mention that Picard is obviously especially heartbroken over inadvertently leading a promising young ensign to her death.
** Nurse Ogawa's startled, dismayed gasp on hearing of her death on the comm system sells it.

* Picard's encounter with the illusory version of his dead mother in one of the ''Enterprise'' corridors. It gets turned UpToEleven when he happens to turn around and glimpse at Riker for the briefest of moments, only to discover that she's gone again when he turns back to look at the spot where she was. Even though Picard gets back down to business comparatively quickly, he looks so utterly crushed in the moments after he realises she's gone again. It becomes even more poignant some 35 years later when we learn in the ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' episode ''[[Recap/StarTrekPicardS2E09HideAndSeek Hide and Seek]]'' that Yvette Picard had committed suicide while Picard was still a child, and that for years afterwards he envisioned her growing old and inviting him to have tea with her.

* Worf doesn't exactly help in the tears department. He led the away team on the mission that killed Marla Aster, and [[ItsAllMyFault that fact weighs heavily on him.]] When Troi twists his arm a bit to get him to open up, poor Worf can only pace around the room, completely overcome with regret and anger.

* Obviously, this brings up the topic of Wesley's late father, also Beverly's late husband. Wesley opens up to her about the little things he remembers about his last days with his father, Picard's eyes when he broke the news to Wesley..... and Beverly quickly cuts him off with a CooldownHug. Beverly's face through the whole conversation is gut-wrenchingly sad.
* Even the alien intruders can make viewers want to cry! There's a non-corporeal alien trying to cheer young Jeremy up by pretending to be his mother, and then she (he? it?) reveals that her (his? its?) species doesn't want to see suffering again because they were there when another species went extinct due to war. To top it all off, Picard then gives a speech on mortality.