Tear Jerker / Chicago Fire

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

Season 1

1x02 Mon Amour

• A man knows that he's going to die, so gets Severide to record him saying a goodbye message to his wife. The way the wife hugs him and then thanks him after watching it is heartbreaking.

1x06 Rear View Mirror

• This is where the story of poor Ernie starts, which culminates with him being burned alive in a house fire set by his uncle.

1x09 It Ain't Easy

• What happens to Vargas; because of a few seconds of breathing poisonous smoke, he's diagnosed with emphysema, and can no longer serve as a firefighter. To make matters worse, he had only recently transferred to Squad 3 from Truck 81, which had been his dream for quite some time. While the crew assures him he's always welcome at 51, when he comes to visit things are awkward. It all culminates in a suicide attempt Casey and Severide just barely talk him down from, after which he is never seen again outside a flashback at the beginning of season three.
  • A couple of seasons later Otis even jokes that they promised to stay in contact with him but never did, which is really sad when you think of it.

1x19 A Coffin That Small

• Just...the whole episode.

1x22 Leaders Lead

• Casey's fiancé Hallie is murdered at her private clinic due to a drug coupe. She dies in the hospital, and as Mills comes to check on him, Casey falls into his arms and sobs.

Season 2

2x04 A Nuisance Call

• A frequent flyer Shay had grown friendly with shooting himself right in front of her and her spiraling afterward.

2x14 Virgin Skin

• It is heavily implied that Severide's little half-sister Katie was raped. She had also been severely beaten and Otis (with whom she had a burgeoning relationship) being scared to even see her after the ordeal was really sad.

2x18 Until Your Feet Leave the Ground

• Candidate Rebecca Jones committing suicide after finding out that her father would be placing her in an administrative position and she would not become a firefighter.

2x19 A Heavy Weight

• Gabby goes to confront Chief Jones about barring his daughter from becoming a firefighter, which led to her suicide, but when she gets there she sees a man clearly distraught about his daughter's death. While his actions still weren't right, he was simply a father trying to protect his only daughter from a dangerous job.

Season 3

3x01 Always

• Shay's death on the job, which later turned out to be arson. It caused Kelly to retreat for a while, Gabby to blame herself in the aftermath since they switched spots, and is just such a shock to everyone.

3x08 Chopper

• The reason why Severide's wife is so apprehensive about his profession; her sister died in an accident while she was driving the car, but she was almost unharmed.

3x20 You Know Where to Find Me

• While Mills definitely had the warmest goodbye of the main cast, compared to Shay and Otis' deaths, Chili being fired and going to rehab, and Gabby leaving and divorcing Matt on not-so-great terms and going to Puerto Rico; it is still really sad to see him give Pouch one last goodbye hug and then walking away from the station for good.

3x23 Spartacus

• The tension that had been growing at Firehouse 51 vanishes during the warehouse fire they respond to as, when Severide or Dawson don't come out and are running out of air, Boden personally goes in to rescue them, telling off his station as a way to end the tension between the companies since, as Battalion Chief, his orders are law, putting them in their place. However, when the 26th Battalion Chief prepares to have the building pounded with water from the ladder companies, fireboats, and snorkels, Cruz pleads for him not to do it. His pleas go ignored, and the rest of 51 watch helplessly as the building is swamped, fearing Boden, Severide, and Dawson are done for, some of them even crying in devastation.
  • However, Boden soon emerges with Severide and Dawson safe behind him, having got to them in time to get fresh O2 to them and led them out of the blaze, much to the relief of the rest of 51, who are overjoyed to see they are alright, putting whatever tension the station had in the episode finally to rest after having nearly lost some of their own in the line of duty.

Season 4

4x01 Let It Burn

• Katja's death.
• How about the fire that 51 responds to, but find the street blocked by the neighbors, who decided to torch the abandoned house on the corner themselves?
  • The neighbors want the house to burn, and blocked the street to prevent 51 from getting in. They even refuse to help 51 and deny any of the cars blocking their street as theirs. By the time 51 get to the house and extract a victim, the victim is too far burned to be saved and has to be declared DOA (Dead On Arrival). Hermann erupts in fury at the neighbors for their defiance and stupidity.
  Hermann: YOU HAPPY NOW?! IS THAT WHAT YOU WANTED?!
  (Neighbors all have My God, What Have I Done? looks of guilt, shame, and remorse on their faces as they turn to go home and think about their behavior)
  Hermann: You people make me sick!
  • Even the neighbor who stubbornly didn't want to leave his home is horrified to see there was still someone in the burning house and didn't make it and realizes how stupid his neighbors acted.

4x04 Your Day Is Coming

• Gabby losing her baby. The whole thing is incredibly sad, especially considering how excited Gabby was about the whole thing.

4x13 The Sky Is Falling

• Brett and Chili tearfully holding hands as a gunman makes their way into the room they're hiding in.

4x16 Two T's

• While the father's approach wasn't exactly legal, the fact that he ended up going to jail despite only wanting to keep his son safe from his drug addict mother is actually quite sad.

4x20 The Last One For Mom

• Detective Holloway's death. Her son's tearful reaction as his aunt breaks the news to him doesn't help, either. And while the Firehouse 51 allowing him to take Pouch with him is a heartwarming touch considering the two had become close, it's sad to see the beloved dog go away for good.

4x22 Where the Collapse Started

• Jimmy's brother dying and him not being able to save him despite his best efforts. Seeing him getting dragged out of the building by Boden while reaching for his brother is just incredibly heartbreaking.

Season 5

5x02 A Real Wake-Up Call

• Jimmy Borelli trying to save a victim of a car accident by pushing the car away from a fuel fire. The fire flashes over and he suffers severe burns down his left side and goes blind in his left eye. The last we see of him, he's in a hospital bed, intubated and unable to speak, and he cries a Single Tear knowing a single stupid mistake has ruined his life. Even worse, he did this because he was angry at the chief for, in his view, getting his brother killed.
  • Really, Jimmy's whole arc is incredibly sad toward the end. He started out as a candidate eager to become a firefighter and ended up with a dead brother and then horrific injuries that leave him needed intensive care for the rest of his life. I mean, he was in his early twenties at the time and everything was just over for him.
  • And while Jimmy was definitely acting out of line and incredibly rude to Boden, it's sad that the entire house expected him to just buck up or get out merely a month after his brother had died, especially considering they had all been through such losses in the past and some of them lashed out worse than Jimmy did.

5x06 That Day

• Boden explains to his stepson and the rest of House 51 what he did on 9/11. He and two other Chicago firefighters traveled to New York City together to help dig and search for survivors.
  Boden: We talked about rebuilding, rebirth. But I never really believed in it. Not in those days. The world felt brutal, ugly. The people who gave their lives that day would never know why. Through all the digging and the dust and the death, we never found a single soul. And I felt like I failed them. Firefighters don't fail people. A hole formed inside of me.

5x10 The People We Meet

• Chief Boden gives a speech about what it means to be a firefighter while Dawson and Casey give Louie up to his father and Severide recuperates from painful bone marrow donation.

5x20 Carry Me

• Just as it seems Severide is finally going to be happy with Anna, a woman to whom he donated his bone marrow to save from cancer, her cancer returns, and this time she dies.

Season 6

6x23 The Grand Gesture

• Brett crying in her car at night after her losing a patient.

Season 7

7x02 Going To War

• Otis finding a young mother and her baby burned to death in the elevator. His face, when the smoke clears, is gut-wrenching, and him solemnly reporting it to Boden is just awful.
  • In the same episode seeing Ritter having a panic attack during a giant high rise fire, stammering that he is not as good as his uncle is really sad.

7x06 All the Proof

• Severide tries to talk to his father, Benny, about removing Gorsch from the station. Benny seems reluctant and Severide snaps at him how Boden has been a better father than Benny ever was. A few days later, Severide hears Benny has a stroke and arrives at Med to be told he died. He's in the chapel, telling this to Boden who reveals that Benny had called in every favor he could to get Gorsch removed. Realizing his father died thinking his son hated him causes Severide to break down crying.
  • The following episode, Kelly gives a heartfelt eulogy about his father, before placing his medal on the casket and having this to say to his father to atone for his Parting-Words Regret:
  Lieutenant Kelly Severide: Sleep tight, Dad. You earned it.
  • Then as the casket is brought out to the hearse, several CFD engine and truck companies arrive, decked out in their black-and-purple bunting of mourning, with their emergency lights blazing, and their crews in full honor guard regalia. Once they line either side of the way to the hearse, and joined by the members of Firehouse 51 not carrying Benjamin's casket as pallbearers, the Assistant Chief on scene orders final salutes as two truck companies raise and cross their ladders in salute and then the Chief has this to say:
  CFD Assistant Chief: Battalion Chief Benjamin Severide has returned to quarters.
  (The ceremonial bell is rung to signal Code 3-3-5)
  CFD Assistant Chief: He is cleared from all his duties. He is gone, but never forgotten. May he rest in peace with his brothers and sisters above.
  Boden: Ready? Step!
  (They proceed to the hearse past the members of the CFD saying goodbye to one of their own and one of the best to ever be a member of Chicago's Bravest)

7x09 Always A Catch

• Chloe's car accident and the ensuing storyline.

Season 8

8x01 Sacred Ground

• Otis' death.
  • While his death hits everyone hard, Cruz is hit the hardest. He breaks down crying when Otis dies in the hospital. Otis' last words to him are in Russian^note  A rare case of Shown Their Work in a show that usually doesn’t; people who are multilingual often revert to their native tongue when in extreme pain or altered level of consciousness (burn victims usually check both boxes). Otis recognizes Cruz, but probably doesn’t even realize he's speaking Russian instead of English. It's pretty obvious that these will be his last words. "Brat, ya budu s toboy vsegda". Later on when Boden reveals a memorial for Otis, then tells them that he looked it up and tells them that they mean, "Brother, I will be with you always." Cruz breaks down sobbing again.
  • What makes it even sadder is that Cruz thought it was something bad and that Otis was angry with him.

8x04 Infection, Part 1

• That mother and her baby (and quite frankly every other victim) dying an awfully painful death because one asshole decided he wanted to play God is seriously upsetting.

8x05 Buckle Up

• We find out that Blake Gallo's family (including his little sister) all died in a house fire when he was only twelve years old.

8x18 I'll Cover You

• Sylvie's birth mother dying just as they were reconnecting. Sylvie holding her baby sister and sobbing is just so sad.

Season 9

Season 10

Season 11

Completely Shattered

• Hawkins dies after being crushed saving a civilian from a falling archway with Violet in hysterics trying in vain to save him.

Angry Is Easier

• A heckler hassles the 51 crew at their calls, it turns out he blames them for the death of his father in the first episode of the season at the wedding tent fire. Violet, having lost Hawkins, sets him straight.
  Edgar: HE'S GONE! And you all just go about your lives like nothing happened! Like you had nothing to do with it!

Damage Control

• Hermann is clearly struggling with Cindy having cancer the entire episode, after a conversation with her on the phone, he finally breaks down crying in the room where they keep the gear. Ritter comes in and gives him comfort.