History Tearjerker / Glee

*** You truly cannot mention "Grilled Cheesus" without bringing up Kurt's HEARTBREAKING rendition of "I Wanna Hold Your Hand", complete with childhood home movie footage of a kid who looks exactly like Kurt. No matter how tough you are, you cannot watch that scene without feeling close to tears.

* Almost anything Finn goes through in "Mash Off". Santana humiliates him so often.
** On the other hand, the last five minutes of the episode are absolutely heartbreaking for Santana. No one deserves what happened to her, and the Adele mashup just made the entire scene even more painful.
** Santana's face after Finn outs her. Even though later it's going to get so much worse, for that one moment, it's the absolute worst thing Santana can imagine happening (because even the worst pessimist could not have imagined the ad coming) and it's happening right then in a crowded, public hallway. All of her control over what is a very personal, very scary process was yanked out from under her and you can see every bit of that on her face. It's not even humiliation, like Finn is supposedly taking from her trash-talking. It's pure, animal fear, and it's gut-wrenching.
** Something about the raw emotion in Santana's voice during "Rumour Has It/Someone Like You" really gets to you, where it sounds like she is trying to use the song as an outlet about her feelings for Brittany - the IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy mixed with that longing for her to be happy with her.

** The final performance of [[Music/{{Journey}} Don't Stop Believing]], the show's SignatureSong[=/=]BootstrappedTheme. It starts with the original five then slowly growing to include nearly everyone who was ever in New Directions except for those who are no longer around.

** Special mention goes to NBK's famous [[WhamEpisode Wham Moment]] where Karofsky grabs Kurt's face and kisses him. Normally it would lead to a comedic "What the hell just happened?!" or a SlapSlapKiss [[FoeYay storyline]], but instead Kurt is as confused as an actual person would be in that situation. Look at it from Kurt's perspective - he thought that if he stood up to his bully, even if he had to do it a couple of times, Karofsky would eventually get the message and maybe realize Kurt had no interest in him. Or Kurt could threaten him with school disciplinary action. Instead, the Wham Moment happens - knowing Karofsky is gay makes it infinitely harder for Kurt. Now he can't rat him out because he sympathizes with him, and standing up to him again would probably achieve nothing. Feeling like all he can do is take the abuse ultimately drives him to leave the school. Worse, he might feel obligated to protect Karofsky because he doesn't want his feelings to be hurt if Kurt rejects him. Amidst all the petty cast it just shows how nice and how human Kurt is, and it's hard watching for anyone who's tried standing up to a bully, in any measure, and gotten nowhere and had no support from their school.

** Duh, it's Creator/JossWhedon. It'd be a TearJerker if he ''didn't'' cause one of these.

-->'''Rachel:''' [[CompletelyMissingThePoint I'm not giving up on Finn. It's not over between us.]]

* A meta-example; Dave's attempted suicide isn't even mentioned in the "Previously On" montage in "Big Brother".
** Pretty much the entirety of Blaine's relationship with his brother. Particularly during "Fighter" where he was trying so hard to stay strong but at one point looks like he's about to break down crying. Seriously, give this poor woobie a hug!

** A meta example: This was one of the last things Creator/PattyDuke appeared in before her death in 2016.
* "Love Love Love"

[[folder:Meta]]
* The death of [[AuthorExistenceFailure Cory Monteith]]. At first, it was unclear what exactly happened at the time but three days later, his autopsy report confirmed that he had died of a heroin and alcohol overdose.
** It seemed almost all the cast and crew first learned the news via Twitter, about the worst way possible.
* Just a few weeks later Glee won "Best Comedy" at the 2013 Teen Choice Awards and the cast dedicated the win to the fans on behalf of their "brother" Cory. Later that night, his girlfriend Lea Michele won "Best Actress", appearing onstage, putting on a brave face and smiling through tears as she dedicated her award to Cory:
-->"I just wanted to be here today to personally thank all of you and tell everyone out here how much all of your love and support had meant to me over these past few weeks. Not that I had any doubt before, but we certainly do have the greatest fans in the world. I want to dedicate this award to Cory. For all of you out there who loved Cory as much as I did - I promise you, we’ll get through this together. He was very special to me and also to the world, and we were very lucky to witness his incredible talent, his handsome smile and his beautiful, beautiful heart. So whether you knew him personally or as Finn Hudson, he reached out and became a part of all of our hearts. So thank you guys so much.”
* After Monteith's death, many Gleeks had a realization that the first number the original six performed together (the half-finished ''Grease'' number doesn't count) was also the last: "Don't Stop Believing" in the pilot and again in "Sweet Dreams" when Rachel imagines them backing her up during her "Funny Girl" audition. An odd case of BookEnds, but it seems oddly touching.
* Lea Michele being such a sweetheart that not only did she face the barrage of photographers waiting for her outside in LA on the first anniversary of Cory's death but she did so selflessly because that's the day she found out that co-star Becca Tobin's (Kitty) boyfriend was found dead in his hotel room a few days earlier and she wanted to go comfort and be with her. Some fans were so touched, and also sad at how heart wrenching the news on that day must have been for her, that they cried in posts on the internet.
* Although a few lines in "The Quarterback" had most of fandom assuming this anyways, Ryan Murphy's reveal at the end of 2013 what the final scene of the show was meant to be:
-->''Some time in the future. Rachel has made it on Broadway and Finn has happily found his calling as a teacher. Rachel walks into Finn's glee club.''
--->'''Finn''': What are you doing here?
--->'''Rachel''': I'm home.
--> ''Fade to black. The end.''
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXDfhMlPSR0 This tribute]] to the show, made shortly after its finale.
* The downfall of Mark Salling culminating in a series of sexual assault and child pornography charges and his eventual suicide, particularly after Puck's sketchy pedophile plots.
* Lea Michele being accused of racist behavior on set by some of the show's black stars during the BLM movement in 2020, and even the stars defending her saying she was at best sometimes unpleasant to work with. A good few did just not comment, though.
%%* Naya Rivera being arrested for domestic battery after accusations from her ex-husband, which he later rescinded.%%
* And then there's Creator/NayaRivera's death on July 8th, 2020. Her son was found unharmed on her boat, Naya’s lifejacket and identification left behind. After several days of searching and the hopes of fans, Rivera's body was found on July 13th. The cause of death was accidental drowning at only 33. If that wasn't bad enough, her last actions were saving her son's life but at the cost of her own.
** Even more chilling: Rivera's body was found and identified on the seventh anniversary of Monteith's death.
** As many have noted, her performance on the show of "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlWHTfrGhoY If I Die Young]]" is even more heart-breaking to watch now.
[[/folder]]

** Emma's scene, especially the shot of her compulsively rubbing her hands together, to be the most heartbreaking scene ever. She's made so much progress with her illness, and her disturbingly emotionally abusive parents just come in and tear her down in one swipe. Seeing her so completely broken and lost was awful, and the reflection of Emma praying as a little girl...

** Will's heartfelt proposal to Emma and her getting chocked up as she said yes jerked quite a few TearsOfJoy from at least one viewer.

*** Oh, gosh yes - this and the scene where Becky is having catharsis ice cream and watching Lifetime with Sue in her office to feel better because she really liked Artie and is horribly disappointed by the breakup.

*** Oh, you ''cannot'' mention The Scientist without mentioning the montage during the number: You know the one that starts with Rachel and Finn's first date and kiss, leads into Lea Michele's gorgeous belting of "I'm going back to the start," and then goes into the very beginnings of all of the couples: Blaine and Kurt in the hallway at Dalton holding hands when they first met, Will and Emma's first kiss, Santana and Brittany on their first Valentine's Day as an official couple being adorable in the choir room... Seriously, thanks to this episode, my tear ducts may never function properly again!

* The end of 'Girls (and Boys) on Film" has Finn demand that Will punch him as punishment for kissing Emma. Because Finn still has such low self esteem that he (somewhat rightfully) blames himself for the entirety of the previous episode's drama and is no longer worthy of being Will's friend.

* The New Directions dedicating their set at Regionals (s5) to Finn, especially when Carole figures out they're performing all his favourite songs.

* In "What the World Needs Now", Santana's abuela continued to reject her for being gay, even after her fiancee Brittany worked hard to reach out to her. Santana acts like she doesn't care in front of her abuela, but as soon as she leaves, she curls into Brittany's side looking defeated and exhausted.

* In "New York", when Finn goes to all this trouble to take Rachel on the most amazing date she's ever had, then tries to kiss her only to be rejected because she's still dating Jesse. The look on his face is devastating enough, but you can tell from the look on Rachel's face that it caused her as much as distress as it caused him.

** In "The Purple Piano Project" Kurt and Rachel in the car after seeing the other kids trying out for NYADA are awesome and worrying if they even have a chance was absolutely depressing. It turns out sweet, but it starts out tear jerking.

* The end of Asian F. [[TheWoobie Poor Emma...]]

*** Mike's mom promising to support him and Mike teaching her to dance was such a tearjerker. Not what I was expecting at all.
*** "The only time I feel special"...How many young artists have tried to explain that to their parents?

** Something about the raw emotion in Santana's voice during 'Rumour Has It/Someone Like You' always gets to em, where it sounds like she is trying to use the song as an outlet about her feelings for Brittney - the IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy mixed with that longing for her to be happy with her.
** Santana after the ad in tears: I haven't even told my parents yet!

** It was especially tearjerking for some tropers as it is they're also on the other side of the world from their family and it will their first time away from their family from Christmas.

* "''Michael''": "Hi mommy!"

* "The Spanish Teacher": Puck saying that in ten years he sees himself in jail or dead. He's so out of hope for himself, it breaks my heart.

* ''Heart'': "I Will Always Love You". Even if it wasn't right after Music/WhitneyHouston's death, it'd still be a tearjerker.

** Rory's singing "Home". Again for the tropers away from their families.
* The beginning of On My Way, when Dave Karofsky tries to kill himself. And when his dad finds him.

*** There's a bit of FridgeHorror here too- I could be wrong, but I think this is the only time Sue's commentary has led to a quick cut like that. You have to wonder if she imagines the worst all the time.

** "Who's Chandler?" Blaine's face during that conversation just makes your heart hurt.

** In Emma's office, as soon as Blaine says and while we're being perfectly honest... until they make up and he hugs Kurt like he's afraid to let go. Made even sadder when you remember that Blaine transferred schools for the sole purpose of getting to spend more time with Kurt every day. And though the new directions has come to accept him as someone other than just Kurt's boyfriend, every single member of ND would still take Kurt's side no matter what. He doesn't have a true bond with anyone at that school other than Kurt, and Kurt is going away for college within a few weeks. Poor baby.
** And this. "You're right, I have been distant...And I'm sorry. But I'm trying to practice what life is going to be like without you."

** Kurt's apology via "If I Don't Have You".

* Sam and Mercedes throughout the time spanning from his return, trying to get her back, her breaking up with Shane and still refusing to date him and them finally dating, particularly "I Will Always Love You"
* Prom-asaurus is, for the most part, a fairly funny, non-tearjerking episode. Except for one part - Becky talking to Puck about how badly she wanted to be Prom Queen. She just wanted it so badly your heart hurts for her - and then when he crowns her and himself king and queen of the anti-prom and escorts her to the dance himself, you start crying harder but this time it's because of how awesome that is! Becky's sheer joy of being at the Prom with a crown on her head and a hot date is all kinds of tear inducingly adorable.

** Jesse after Rachel says that she isn't singing "My Man to anyone.

** The entire scene where Becky tries to turn in her pompoms after [[spoiler: Jean's funeral]]. Sue apologises to Becky, tells her she will be the captain of the Cheerios next year, and before dismissing her, requests she give her a hug.