Waymond briefly sees an elderly Asian couple comfort each other in the IRS building lobby. He gets a wistful look, clearly hoping that he and Evelyn will be able to grow as old together and remain as loving as them.
Evelyn's first experience with another universe is one where she didn't go to America with Waymond and instead ended up becoming an incredible martial artist and famous movie star. One of the first things she does after coming back is telling her Waymond that she never should have married him and how amazing her life would have been if she hadn't. While she didn't mean to be cruel, Waymond is outright driven to tears, especially because he thought the divorce papers he'd given her would make them talk things out and save their marriage.
Even more heartbreaking. Later on, when Waymond gives his "Be Kind" speech, he says, "All day, I don't know what the heck is going on. But somehow, this feels like it's all my fault."
When Evelyn is crossing the Despair Event Horizon, she hurts Waymond across multiple universes. She nearly sexually assaults CEO Waymond and stabs Protagonist Waymond in the stomach with a shard of glass, and the rapid-fire Mind Screw montage implies she's doing all sorts of other horrible things to different versions of him.
Preceding the "Be Kind" speech, the scene where Waymond gives Evelyn a brave little smile, then sweeps up the broken glass while softly singing a Chinese New Year song, may hit Chinese-American viewers like a sack of bricks. (For American viewers, imagine if this meltdown had taken place over a Christmas Eve family gathering, and he swept up broken glass while quietly singing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", in the midst of everything falling to pieces). Choosing to be kind indeed!
In an alternate universe, Waymond remarks how Evelyn might have never said that she regretted marrying him, but the way she looked at him and treated him got the message across. He filed for divorce because it was the only thing he could think of to save their marriage. When Evelyn is exposed to the Bagel enough that all of her multiverse selves are now acting self-destructive and cruel enough that one of them really goes through the divorce by signing the papers, Waymond is beyond heartbroken. note A friend of his had done the same, which got him and his wife to sit down and actually talk out their problems.
The movie star universe Evelyn is shown to have no one close to her except her sifu. While she and Waymond are both extremely rich and successful, neither is remotely happy with their life, with CEO Waymond in particular having basically given up on romance. This what makes CEO Waymond's memorable line of how he would choose a life opening a failing laundromat and pay taxes with her more powerful and visceral, because at least in that world, he has her.
After Fake-Out Fade-Out, Movie Star Evelyn rushes out of the theater desperate to find Joy. CEO Waymond in particular is confused when Evelyn refers to "their" daughter. For all her previous belief that this is the preferable universe, Evelyn is missing the one great thing that her marriage to Waymond definitely provided her: her beloved daughter.
Alpha Gong Gong is briefly portrayed as a coldly pragmatic Well-Intentioned Extremist, but when Evelyn demands to know how he could ask her to murder her own daughter, he admits how hard the situation is on him. His granddaughter murdered his daughter and has (seemingly) become an Omnicidal Maniac bent on destroying the multiverse. Not long after, Evelyn seemingly joins Jobu Tupaki, and Alpha Gong Gong vows to die alongside his daughter this time, pulling a grenade to kill them both after pinning her to a pillar.
Alphaverse Waymond's death. His vehicle is attacked by Jobu Tupaki, his own daughter, and he spends his last moments hugging his wife (Alpha Evelyn)'s ashes while telling main Evelyn how happy he is to have met her.
After Evelyn's exposure to the Bagel and subsequent breakdown, with her multiverse selves succumbing to nihilism and callousness, special mention goes to the hot dog finger universe, where Deirdre has to deal with her wife seemingly no longer loving her out of nowhere even as she begs Evelyn to tell her what's wrong. Eventually, when her attempt at a romantic dinner fails completely, Deirdre packs her bags and leaves in tears. Considering how main Deirdre become a Jerkass because she went through a rocky marriage that led to a divorce, this is heartbreaking.
Though Jobu Tupaki initially seems to be a Reality WarpingOmnicidal Maniac, she's really just a depressed and scared young woman who desperately wants someone who can convince her that life isn't as hopeless and meaningless as she thinks; failing that, someone willing to commit suicide with her, so she won't die alone. Even her main counterpart Joy isn't faring better, given how her mother denies her sexuality and constantly criticizes her aimlessness, leading Joy to keep her distance.
Jobu: Nothing...matters. [...] Feels nice, doesn't it? If nothing matters, then all the pain and guilt you feel for making nothing of your life...goes away.
Jobu might kill all her mothers in various verses, but only because those Evelyns don't really bother to understand her, her own daughter. Even main Evelyn and Return Home Evelyn fall down on the same pitfall as well until her enlightenment. When Evelyn tries to reach out to her daughter and tries to see things on her daughter's perspective for the first time, Jobu (and on extension, Joy)'s first instinct is to run away. It is sobering how nihilism and despair negates someone to seek and cling to hope when it is on their grasp, and how deep the damage she suffered at the hands of her well-intentioned but emotionally-stunted mother. She has no idea that her mother is also a victim of Abusive Parents as well and that is why she is like that to her. That doesn't excuse Evelyn's actions to her, but that really puts it into perspective about generational abuse.
It doubles as a Heartwarming Moment, but Evelyn telling Joy that no matter what the circumstance and even with all of her power to access to various verses, she will always want to be with her daughter.
