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Tear Jerker / Homicide: Life on the Street

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  • Giardello's speech at the end of "Strangers and Other Partners".
  • The scene in "Every Mother's Son" when the mothers of a murdered child and the boy who did the killing meet unaware of who the other is.
  • "Crosetti":
    • After spending the entire episode in denial, Lewis realizes Crosetti committed suicide when the preliminary report reveals that he had deliberately overdosed on antidepressants before committing suicide. He immediately breaks down on the spot and starts crying brokenly.
    • In the following scene, Lewis confesses to Bolander how angry he is that Crosetti killed himself and questions why he didn't tell him about whatever troubles motivated his suicide or even say goodbye. He then recounts that Crosetti had tried to give him his prized yo-yo, and realizes he had meant it as a going-away present.
    • Lewis's denial is pretty painful to watch, especially when he rants to Felton about how if Crosetti had committed suicide, then what kind of a partner was he to not pay enough attention to his friend to prevent it.
    • Bolander admitting to Munch that he never really knew Crosetti, and now he'll never get the chance to do so.
    • Pembleton's one-man honor guard at Crosetti's funeral, which also doubles as Heartwarming.
    • The final shot of Crosetti's name being wiped off the board.
  • "A Doll's Eyes" when the parents have to take their son off life support.
  • Charles S. Dutton's performance in "Prison Riot" especially his line "I'm in here forever, Detective. Forever."
  • The end of "Blood Wedding" and "Betrayal".
  • Bayliss' shooting in the season 6 finale, "Fallen Heroes". Just all of it from Pembleton's reaction to the look in Bayliss' eyes (and his eventual seizure) to the former's breakdown in the hospital, begging God to let his best friend live.
  • The end of "Betrayal" in which Bayliss reveals why he takes cases with murdered children so hard.
  • Lewis talking Kellerman out of suicide in "Have A Conscience" with a Heartbreaking invoking of Crosetti.
  • "Bop Gun" is one long Tear Jerker with Robin Williams as a man who just saw his wife murdered. Highlights include him becoming furious after hearing the detectives humourously banter about the murder and the investigation and the final moments in which he says he is now a member of a "special club where only the initiated can recognize the other members".
    • Vaughn Perkins' breakdown when Howard visit is him in prison, where he rants about how much he regrets killing Ellison's wife and that he can't take it back.
  • Adena Watson's funeral.
  • "The Subway" mixes this with Nightmare Fuel as a man (portrayed by Vincent D'Onofrio) being pushed in front of an oncoming train and the detectives trying their best to get him to cope with the fact that his death is imminent as soon as the train is eventually moved.
  • David Tarnofski, played by Steve Burns (yes that Steve), the killer from "Full Court Press" a young man who killed a guy who among many things got away with torturing and humiliating him. It's implied that the detectives are the first people to be nice to him in a long time, to the point that after confessing to the crime the first thing he does is thank the detectives for being friendly with him. He seems to be often suspicious and apathetic because of his experiences with bullying to the point that he can't even feel bad about what he did. His disturbing smile seems less like the Slasher Smile you'd see in a situation like this and more like a statement that he's has stopped caring.
    • He only seems to drop his disturbing calm behavior in two moments. When the detectives mention his father, not because he 's going to be arrested but because he doesn't want to bother his father with his problems. The second when he looks like he's trying to feel guilty for killing Mark, he apparently fails and immediately reverts to his usual behavior.
    • He also says that the original goal wasn't to kill Maccaron, he wanted to scare him, just deciding that Mark should die when he saw that on his face there was no fear just a sadistic smile when mixed with the comment he makes about shooting himself. There are disturbingly high odds that his original plan would end with someone dead, but it wouldn't be Mark.
    David: I aint sorry about a damn thing.
  • The season six Christmas Episode, "All is Bright" features a woman played by Kathryn Erbenote  who killed the ex-boyfriend who willingly gave her HIV years earlier that had now developed into full-blown AIDS. Even as she was guilty and was arrested for the crime (which Ballard was reluctant to do), she knew that it was for nothing as she was now terminally ill. Worse, we learn that the victim had freely slept around without protection and had most likely infected the other women featured in the episode who were witnesses. A montage later played of Ballard informing the women of his status and seeing their individual reactions ranging from absolute horror to angered denial.
  • The conclusion of the movie, where not only does Brodie inform the squad that Giardello has died, the scenes of him in the afterlife with Felton and Crosetti heavily imply that someone else will join them soon.
  • "Nothing Personal":
    Giardello: I wouldn't expect you to understand, being a woman. And white.
    • When Giardello returns, he's uncharacteristically angry and holes himself up in his office. When Bolander checks up on him and insists that Giardello tell him what's wrong, Giardello talks about how broken he is, and how much the job and his wife's death has emotionally destroyed him.
    Giardello: We reach a certain age where we realize we know less about life then we did when we were seventeen. When I was seventeen, I remember… I believed in life. I trusted life. I believed there were answers to questions. I had… hope. Right now, I'm gonna tell you: I hate myself. I don't have any friends to speak of. All I have is this… job. And it disgusts me. You like garlic greens and cornbread?
    Bolander: Not particularly.
    Giardello: That's because you never tasted my wife's. That's all it would take, no matter how bad of a day it was. She had that touch. I remember how she used to touch me, you know, so gently on the cheek. And when she was dying, I remember how she touched me… She said, "Remember… how much I love you." I'll never forget that. …I don't wanna be alone anymore. I find myself folding in. I think this is what Crosetti found out, and I refuse to recognize it in him because I wouldn't recognize it in myself.
    Bolander: [sighs] I understand. I understand completely.
    • After Beth suddenly refuses to come back to Felton after promising to do so, and learning this from a panicked phone call with his son, Felton goes on an alcoholic bender and loses critical evidence in a case. At the end of the day, Felton goes to Russert's house and rants about how he's realized he's falling into alcoholism but can't stop himself and breaks down into tears, admitting he just misses his kids.
  • "The City That Bleeds":
    • After watching Bolander, Felton, and Howard be gunned down in front of him, Munch goes into Heroic BSoD and is overcome with survivor's guilt. He's so traumatized that Giardello forces him to go home.
    • Wesley and Josh arrive to check on Howard. When Wesley realizes there's a good chance his daughter might die, he breaks down in tears.
    • Giardello is overcome with grief and anger after his detectives are shot, and spends most of the episode slowly simmering until he snaps and starts beating the roof of Lewis's car. Giardello then goes on an impassioned monologue about how his daughter had to be rushed into surgery and he watched as she begged him to help her, and he had to tell her he couldn't; the implicit message being that he feels just as powerless now as he did then.
    • Throughout the episode, Pembleton seems to feel nothing about the shooting. During a quiet moment outside with Giardello, Gee checks up on Pembleton. After Pembleton claims he feels nothing, Giardello simply replies that Pembleton is simply repressing his emotions, and the full weight of the situation will come crashing down on him soon. Pembleton stares at him before wordlessly heading back inside.
    • Mary tries to comfort Felton, only to be reminded by his demands to see his kids and lack of concern for her and Russert's presence that he no longer loves her. After making sure he's alright, she quietly informs him she's leaving again and walks out, never to be seen again.
  • Most of Bayliss and Pembleton's case in "A Dog and Pony Show" can be hard to watch for animal lovers- especially when it's revealed that the police dog's death was merely a tragic mistake by an overworked animal shelter employee.
    Pembleton: You know, Bayliss, life would be perfect if it was only kids and dogs.
  • In 'Justice pt2' the team reluctantly convict a cop who killed the man who murdered his father and was then let off on a technicality and a bullied high school student who killed his tormentor, a boy everyone else adored. In the final scene they are led off to jail in chains as Tori Amos' "Crucify" plays in the background.
  • The season 4 finale, "Work Related", sees Frank getting so worked up in interrogation that he brings on a stroke. The buildup to the horrible event is very intense and realistic as Frank's buttons get pushed in an increasingly nerve-wracking manner. The man keeps growing angrier and unrelenting, until he overdoes it and abruptly collapses to the floor.
  • In 'Kaddish', Munch investigates the rape and murder of his adolescent love interest, a girl he barely knew and whom he hadn't seen in decades but once let him carry her books home from school. He mourns both for her and the lost childhood innocence she represented to him.
  • Frank's harsh but resonant final statement in the series that "Death goes on and on and on", only to be countered by Gee's son, "Because life goes on and on." It's a conclusive summary of the whole show, as it now reaches its end.
    • Giardello arriving in the afterlife, a darkened version of the homicide office complex with unsettling and ominous music playing in the background, filled with the many victims that were killed throughout the show, most of which exchange cold and unhappy looks as they remain stuck in limbo, except for a familiar little girl skipping around and waving to Gee, which he recognizes as Adena. Then, he discovers Crosetti and Felton (who is having a good smoke) playing five-card stud, and they're wondering who might be the next decedent from homicide, but have no way of telling who because it's not set in stone. They assure Gee to stop worrying about the life he left behind (concerned that his son Michael will be a worthy successor to him) because death makes all the worries you had in life no longer matter and that once you've died, you're dead a long time, so there's no real sense in spending your afterlife in discomfort. However, it's indicated that this isn't the final destination for the departed (at least not those who didn't pass on in good graces), because when Gee asks for espresso, Crosseti wisecracks, "No espresso! Where do you think you are, Heaven?" The series concludes with a farewell montage of Al Giardello throughout the span of the show while highlighting each major character connected to him, before ending on the executive producer credit with black text on a white background as opposed to a black background with white text.
  • Danvers' grief-fueled breakdown in "Blood Wedding" after his fiancé is murdered in front of him. It culminates when ASA Conroy apologetically tells him she doesn't have enough evidence to prosecute the killer, and Ed collapses into a weepy, guilty mess as he realizes he's done the same thing to so many victims' families.
    • Julius Cummings' suicide is a rather tragic send-off for an otherwise unsympathetic character. Ed, despite having wanted him dead, is visibly horrified that he killed himself out of terror over Danvers' threat to use his power and legal knowledge to give him the death penalty.

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