History TearJerker / ThreeBillboardsOutsideEbbingMissouri

-->'''James''' ''(in tears)'': You know, I didn't ''have'' to come and hold your ladder.

* James date with Mildred goes sour, with Mildred acting hostile towards James, James giving TheReasonYouSuckSpeech in response to her anger, and him just getting up and leaving. Thankfully this causes her to have a HeelRealization about her anger and how it’s corrupted her.

--->'''Willoughby''' ''(at the end of the letter)'': Kiss the girls for me, and know that I've loved you, and maybe I'll see you again if there's another place and if there ain't, well, it's been Heaven knowing you. Your boy, Bill.

--->'''James''' ''(in tears)'': You know, I didn't ''have'' to come and hold your ladder.

* After [[spoiler:spending much of the movie being an unlikeable, bumbling, and violent thug of a cop, Dixon reads Willoughby's letter for him in the police station. Willoughby's letter says that he thinks Dixon would make a great detective, but he needs to let go of his own rage and replace it with love, as that will give him the calmness and understanding needed to solve cases.]]
* [[spoiler:Once Mildred starts firebombing the police station, he turns around to see his desk in flames; seeing Angela's case file about to be consumed, he saves it and tucks it under his shirt. Mildred, not expecting anybody to be in the station, watches as Dixon, a man she held so much contempt for previously, not only dives out of the window, suffering horrible burns, but pulls out her daughter's case file and throws it away from him, ensuring its safety and making certain that, if anything, they can bring justice to Angela.]]

-->'''Robbie:''' Great. The good ol' "Raped While Dying" route home. Cause if there was two seconds in a day when I ''didn't'' think about her, and ''wasn't'' thinking about how she died... "There ya go, Robbie. Think about it some more, why don’t ya?" It’s good, too. That as much as a person might've tried to avoid the details of what happened, cause he didn’t think it'd do any good, and he didn't think he could bear it, it’s also good to be informed, in twenty-foot-high lettering and a real nice font, the precise details of her last moments, y’know? That it wasn’t enough that she was ''RAPED''. And it wasn’t enough that she ''DIED''. No. "Raped '''WHILE''' Dying". [[SarcasmMode Thank you, Mom.]]\\

* [[spoiler:Mildred discovering the billboards burning. At first she's a {{Determinator}}, firmly working to put the first couple of fires out, but when it's clear she won't save the third, she nearly breaks down as she wrestles the second fire extinguisher from her son.]]
* [[spoiler:Chief Willoughby's suicide, and his wife's reaction to it. Especially his letters to her, Mildred and Dixon. Not to mention that thanks to his cancer, even if he hadn’t committed suicide, his wife would still have been left a widow anyway.]]
--->[[spoiler:'''Willoughby''' ''(at the end of the letter)'': Kiss the girls for me, and know that I've loved you, and maybe I'll see you again if there's another place and if there ain't, well, it's been Heaven knowing you. Your boy, Bill.]]

* Tragically, the three billboards [[spoiler:are just down the street from the Hayes' household.]] This means that Angela [[spoiler:was raped, killed and torched less than 500 feet from her own home, and it was probably the last thing she saw before she died.]]

* James date with Mildred goes sour, with Mildred acting hostile towards James, James giving TheReasonYouSuckSpeech in response to her anger, and him just getting up and leaving.

'''Robbie:''' I didn’t read them. I'm depressed enough as it fucking is.

'''Robbie:''' I DIDN'T READ THEM! I'm depressed enough as it fucking is!

* [[spoiler:Chief Willoughby's suicide, and his wife's reaction to it. Especially his letters to her, Mildred and Dixon.]]

'''Charlie:''' Yeah. But I ''know'' that.\\

'''Angela:''' You know what? I will walk. ''[storms out]'' I will walk! And you know what else!? I hope I get RAPED on the way!\\

* Charlie's entire exchange with Mildred when he finds out about the billboards. We have here two grieving parents and ex-spouses who, even after their daughter is dead, still keep dressing each other down. But as much of an asshole as he is, Charlie visibly tearing up during this argument is upsetting to watch. They may have grown to hate each other, but they miss their daughter more.

-->'''Charlie:''' Don’t you think I don’t wish it had never happened? Don’t you think I don’t wish she was here still?\\

-->'''Charlie:''' You think I don't wish it hadn't happened? You think I don't wish she was still here?\\

* Charlie's entire exchange with Mildred when he finds out about the billboards. We have here two grieving parents and ex-spouses who, even after their daughter is dead, still keep dressing each other down.
-->'''Charlie:''' Them billboards ain't gonna bring her back, Mildred.\\

* As much of an asshole as he is, Charlie visibly tearing up over Angela during his argument with Mildred is upsetting to watch. They may have grown to hate each other, but they miss their daughter more.

** Right before this flashback, while Mildred's driving Robbie home from school, they pass by the billboards, [[WhatTheHellHero and he proceeds to chew her out]] over the billboards constantly reminding him of Angela's death, which he's tried to avoid thinking about. Mildred's quiet response speaks volumes about how she never stopped to think about how this whole ordeal might have affected her other child.

'''Mildred:''" ''Yeah?! Well, I hope you get raped on the way, too!!!''

* Mildred's flashback to her last conversation with her daughter, with the regret she feels over her final words not even needing to be stated.

* [[spoiler:Once Mildred starts firebombing the police station, he turns around to see his desk in flames; seeing Angela's case file about to be consumed, he saves it and tucks it under his shirt. Mildred, not expecting anybody to be in the station, watches as Dixon, a man she held so much contempt for previously, not only dives out of the window, suffering horrible burns, but pulls out her daughter's case file and throws it away from him, ensuring it's safety and making certain that, if anything, they can bring justice to Angela.]]

* [[spoiler:Mildred discovering the billboards burning. At first she's TheDeterminator, firmly working to put the first couple of fires out, but when it's clear she won't save the third, she nearly breaks down as she wrestles the second fire extinguisher from her son.]]