Tear Jerker / The Hardy Boys (2020)

Since this show gives the Hardy Boys major Adaptational Angst Upgrade by killing off their mother in the first ten minutes of the series, it's unsurprising that there are quite a lot of tears to go around.

As a Moments page, all spoilers are unmarked.

Season 1

• Pretty much everything about Laura's death and the ensuing funeral for her:
  • As it hits both brothers at the scene of the accident that Laura didn't survive, Joe can only break down in tears and crumple against his brother, who puts an arm around him as he starts crying too.
  • Both boys' absolute misery at the funeral itself, with Joe openly weeping and Frank sadly dropping his baseball glove into her grave on top of her coffin. She was his biggest fan and supporter as a baseball player and helped him practice, and now that she's gone, he just can't feel the same passion for it anymore. Meanwhile, Fenton looks like he's just barely holding it together, and Gloria gives a heartbroken eulogy for her daughter (especially as we learn later that she and Laura had a fight earlier that day and never got to make up).
  • Inside the house afterwards, Joe, in his pain, lashes out at Frank in resentment about the latter's closeness with Laura over baseball, since it doesn't seem like Joe had a similar hobby that he shared with her the way Frank did. Frank is clearly hurt by this and pleads with him to stop, lampshading that this isn't fair to hold against him right now, and Joe rebuffs Frank's attempt to comfort him.
• During the rest of the series, but especially this season, there are numerous reminders scattered throughout of how much both Frank and Joe sorely miss Laura, and even if they're trying to keep up a brave face in front of others, their pain from it is constant.
  • Frank's incredibly raw account to Anya of how much he still misses Laura every day, and still can't quite believe she's not coming home, softens her enough to help him. He also, a couple of times, is barely able to talk about his mom's death at all and gets choked up when he tries, and then there's his entire vision of her from the Eye in the Season Finale (see below).
  • Joe gets a couple of moments where his cheerful attitude immediately slips when reminded of his mom, like an Innocently Insensitive comment from Biff that she quickly apologizes for. There's also a very poignant scene of Joe silently looking at a picture of Laura in tears while clutching it close, then quickly wiping his eyes and pretending to be fine when Frank enters his room. Alexander Elliot does an excellent job of portraying Joe's grief just through facial expressions and body language alone, without needing to say a single word.
• Emma dumping Frank at the start of "Secrets and Lies" is a small one. While she turns out to be right in the long run that they both need to move on and is pretty clearly a Romantic False Lead for him, she's still not particularly understanding about Frank's situation, and he's obviously upset by this on top of everything else going on. We also know nothing about their history or how long they were together.
• From the same episode, Frank finds out that Gloria and Laura fought on the day she died, and Gloria claims the argument was about him, upsetting him further, especially when Gloria notes her Parting-Words Regret from it. And then Callie reveals that this was a lie and it didn't actually have anything to do with him, further damaging Frank's trust in his grandmother.
• We don't actually meet Mr. Shaw until Season 2, but his and Callie's backstory is rather sad; his wife walked out on him when their daughter was very young and didn't have any kind of contact with either of them, and he never really got over it and raised Callie alone. She wants to be a doctor, a profession many fathers would love for their daughters, but he wants her to take over his film store and stay in Bridgeport because she's all he has. Callie feels conflicted by her love for her dad and wanting to follow her dreams, and admits to Frank that she sometimes misses her mom.
• Gloria's and Trudy's interactions are usually full of Passive-Aggressive Kombat, but Gloria gets a rare moment of being honest and vulnerable in front of Trudy when tearfully admitting that she was not a good mother to Laura, clearly full of regret at how strained their relationship was and that she never got to fix things before Laura's death, and stating that she wants the chance to be a better grandmother to the boys. Despite disliking her, Trudy clearly has some sympathy.
• In "The Key", the Hardy Boys mention Laura's murder to Gloria, only to realize that she didn't know until then that it wasn't an accident. Gloria is literally staggered with grief and has to lean on the sofa for support, and asks them, in tears, why they didn't tell her that before now. Frank and Joe, also both crying, admit that they didn't—and still don't—know whom they can or can't trust, including her.
• After several episodes of rising tensions from the Love Dodecahedron between Chet, Callie, Frank, and Stacy, Chet finally addresses the elephant in the room regarding Callie's Unresolved Sexual Tension with Frank, resulting in their breakup.
  Chet: There's this way you talk about Frank. There's a way you look at Frank. There's a way you are when you're with Frank. (Callie looks at him in increasing realization and guilt) Tell me I'm wrong.
  (Callie can't respond, and just swallows and looks him guiltily with tears in her eyes)
  Chet: Right. Look, Cal. You're my best friend, and I'm not going to sit here and tell you to stop feeling something. I just...can't watch you feel it anymore. (Gets up to leave)
  Callie: (Starting to cry) So, what? That's it? We're just gonna break up?
  Chet: I think we already did. We're just the last ones to know.
• "The Secret Room": Frank and Joe have a major argument when they heavily disagree on what to do with the Eye if they can assemble it, with Joe wanting to destroy it as he knew their mom did, but Frank stuck on the possibility of using it to see and communicate with her, as one of the previous holders did with his own loved one. Joe's frustrations at Frank repeatedly disregarding his opinions finally boils over:
  Joe: My mom died too, Frank! I'm just as angry as you are! Just as scared as you are! So stop pretending like this matters more to you and I'm just the little brother who follows you around!
  • Frank looks incredibly upset in response and tries to talk it out, but Joe just tearfully states that he's too hurt to even talk to him right now, and Frank reluctantly leaves him alone in the loft, wiping his own eye as he goes. This prompts Joe's drastic decision to go rogue with Biff, which gets them trapped in a mine shaft at the end of the episode.
  • In the following episode, "No Getting Out", Frank is already completely frantic when Joe goes missing along with Biff, but it's made even worse by his Parting-Words Regret that they didn't get to make up from their fight. As he lampshades once he does manage to contact Joe over the radio, "I would've had to live the rest of my life like that."
• Frank grabs the Eye to try to destroy it right as it re-forges, causing him to absorb its power and pass out as it shows him what happened on Laura's final day:
  • Frank at first is thrilled to see her again and tries to get her attention, only for his face to fall when he realizes it's just a vision of the past and she can't see him. He tears up when he sees her tell Wilt about having Frank's baseball game to catch (which she never made it to), and before he wakes up, he flashes through memories of his happiest moments with her.
  • Meanwhile, Frank is unconscious and unresponsive in the real world while his brother, dad, and grandma increasingly desperately try to wake him. After already losing Laura, it briefly looks like they've lost him too. Joe is outright sobbing while begging him to come back.
    Joe: I need you, Frank. Please Wake Up! Come on, come on!
    Fenton: Frankie, come back! Come back to us!
• Though Gloria's Break the Haughty fate at the end of the season is a highly deserved Karma Houdini Warranty, her Heel Realization and the impact that the final reveal has on her and the Hardy family is a major downer:
  • After the boys accuse Stefan of being the one who killed Laura, Gloria at first says it's ridiculous and urges him to tell them they're wrong, only to be filled with growing horror as she realizes it is true; her own right-hand-man whom she trusted like family not only murdered her daughter, but used his Undying Loyalty to Gloria as his justification for it. She can only murmur at him in shock and growing anger:
    Stefan: I did it for you!
    Gloria: She was my daughter...she was my...daughter....
  • Once she and the Hardys escape the collapsing mine, Gloria can barely speak and only brokenly apologize to the boys, continuing to do so as she's arrested and dragged away for Viktor Nabokov's death, while they just look on, utterly disappointed and hurt, before leaving sadly.
    Gloria: Francis!...I'm sorry!....Joe...I'm sorry!

Season 2

• It's clear throughout the season just how much of a Broken Pedestal Gloria has become for both of her grandsons after everything that happened last year.
  • Frank doesn't want Callie to go visit her in prison, calling her "a snake" and saying they're better off without her in their lives, which Callie's scene with her later proves. (See below.) Frank eventually does go visit her with Callie when they need info, and returns her hug but is far less affectionate than she is. And then when they tell her about the burglary at her house, Gloria proceeds to have a stroke right in front of them, complicating his feelings for her further.
  • When Fenton tells the boys that Stratemeyer Global is Gloria's company (before clarifying that the ones we see this season who are part of the Big Bad Ensemble are rogue agents going against her wishes), Joe makes a crack about her being able to send goons to kidnap them but not even sending him a birthday card from jail, with the implication that there's a layer of hurt underneath his snark. And unlike Frank (whom she most likely wants to come visit her as part of her and/or George's plans), Gloria doesn't even mention Joe a single time in her appearances in this season and the next, likely solidifying to him for sure that he's The Unfavorite to her.
• After Frank and Joe get grounded for going to look for Dennis, Joe plans to sneak up a back way with Biff and Phil, leading to an argument with Frank that gets heated enough that Frank snaps at him to "Grow up!", and Joe furiously pushes him out of the room and locks the door. Frank immediately feels bad and tries to apologize, to no avail.
  • Joe, still smarting from being grounded, also rants during this argument that Fenton was "off galivanting overseas while we solved the case." However much he loves his dad, missed him, and was overjoyed to have him back when he returned, it's clear that he, like Frank, has some not-so-deeply-buried resentment and feelings of abandonment about Fenton leaving them for the entire first season.
  • Trudy comes upstairs in time to hear the tail end of it, and tries to get Frank to talk to her about it, but he just unhappily leaves. She's become a school guidance counselor at this point, and it clearly hurts her that even her own nephews shut her out rather than talk to her about their problems.
    Trudy: What did he say to you? 'Cause I heard what you said to him, and I know you wouldn't have said it unless it cut pretty deep.
• Callie goes to visit Gloria in prison to see if she has something to do with the false cheating accusation that's gotten her blacklisted from every prep school in the country. This is not the case, but Gloria drops the bombshell that Callie wasn't just admitted to Rosegrave on merit; the exam was rigged in her favor, through no fault of her own, because she's Gloria's protégée who was actually being groomed all along to be part of the innermost ring of the Circle of the Eye. Callie is horrified, as well as utterly devastated to realize that the woman who mentored her for years wasn't doing it out of kindness and had ulterior motives that she never wanted any part of.
  • And then to make it worse, Gloria, who's in full-on manipulative mode for the entire scene, basically rubs it in that people will see the two of them as being connected now, even if it's not true. She offers to use her connections to fix Callie's prep school situation...but only if she convinces Frank to come visit Gloria in the prison. She flatly refuses, disgusted.
    Callie: No. You're not going to use me, and I won't let you hurt Frank. I should have never come here.
  • Gloria takes one last parting shot at her by asking if Frank knows she came there, and Callie, in tears, tells her off and leaves while she just smirks after her. Callie's later shown crying outside the prison, still shaken up, when Fenton arrives.
    Callie: Go to hell, Gloria.
• It's hard not to feel bad for Tom Elroy once he's revealed to be a Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold. He's a No-Respect Guy war hero who has to deal with people calling him cruel names behind his back and mistrusting him because he has a Face of a Thug, and kids coming to his house every year during Demon Week to prank him. One such prank has teens shooting off flare guns, which gives him traumatic flashbacks to his war days. No wonder the poor guy's a recluse. At least he's on good terms with the Hardy gang once they clear up the misunderstanding. And then he gets framed for a bombing plot by the real villains, making his reputation worse, even if the Hardys and co. do manage to prove his innocence in the end.
• After JB's warning to Frank about Stratemeyer, he's shaken up enough by it to pour out all his fears to Callie: that Anya Kowalski was right about the Hardys being cursed, that he can't seem to live a normal, peaceful life even when he wants to, and that he's a danger to Callie just by being with her. Though it moves into Heartwarming territory when she reassures him.
  • But then it veers back to Tear Jerker moments later when Frank complimenting Callie causes her to be so overwhelmed by guilt about the secret she's keeping that she confesses to visiting Gloria in prison, causing her and Frank to have an argument that's still not resolved by the start of the next episode.
  • When they finally do make up from it by the end of "Heading for Destruction", it's after Frank and Joe were kidnapped and Callie and the rest of the gang were at risk of dying in a bombing. It's clear Frank had a lot of Parting-Words Regret that one of them easily could have lost the other without ever getting a chance to fix things, and lampshades that the fight is trivial in hindsight.
• Everyone's reactions to Jesse Hooper nearly being killed in the bombing at Wilt's in "Heading for Destruction", which leaves her comatose for most of the rest of the season. Callie, who only very reluctantly left her there at her own insistence, rushes in after the explosion to see what happened and is horrified by her injuries. And when Jesse is brought out on a stretcher to load into the ambulance, an utterly distraught Biff repeatedly tries to get her to respond before breaking down in Callie's arms, while an equally-devastated Trudy can only stare in shock. We then cut to both of them at her bedside, with Trudy trying to reassure Biff, who collapses into her, sobbing. Joe silently witnesses this, obviously feeling terrible at not having been able to help, and sadly walks away.
• Fenton and his family aren't even reunited for half an episode before he leaves again to go meet Olivia in Dixon City (though it's at the boys' insistence this time). When he comes to say goodbye to Trudy at the hospital and offers to stay, she understands and tells him to go, but clearly isn't holding up well after what happened to Jesse. Meanwhile, Frank says to Joe that they can tell Fenton about the Eye when he gets back; this turns out to be Tempting Fate in a major way since father and sons don't meet up again until the end of next season.
• Biff is so sad and scared about her mom's condition that she's pretty snippy and rude to Trudy while packing up to stay at the Hardy home, which the latter is obviously hurt by. She does apologize later, though, and they both break down and hug in tears once again.
• Once Belinda and Chet discover that Angela, whom they previously only knew as the woman Brian was dating, is part of Stratemeyer and was one of the people who kidnapped the Hardy Boys, Belinda is dismayed and worried for her father's safety. Chet uncomfortably addresses the possibility that Brian may be in on it too, and she's too upset at that point to even talk about it anymore and just goes silent. What's more, the subsequent episode proves him to be correct, leaving Belinda horrified, distraught, and hurt, at least until Brian later privately tells her that he's really a Double Reverse Quadruple Agent. Even then, it's obvious that her faith in her dad is still shaken.
• After a whole season of dropping hints that Chet still has some leftover baggage about his breakup with Callie and her hooking up with Frank—despite his outward claims that he has no issues with it—Angela throwing this in his face motivates him to finally admit how he really feels to both of them at the end of "The Doctor's Orders". Namely, that Callie should have been the one to initiate the breakup instead of him; that Frank "swooping in out of nowhere" wasn't cool and did hurt him; that everyone went on like nothing happened to the point that Chet was worried about losing his two best friends if he brought it up; and that, despite his best efforts to get over it, he was angry, both at them and at himself for not speaking up sooner. It's long overdue and much-needed, but that doesn't make it less awkward or uncomfortable, with both Callie and Frank clearly feeling horrible seeing just how badly this has been weighing on Chet and all three of them tearing up a bit during it. Luckily, getting this all off his chest allows him to finally get past his lingering bitterness and move on for real.
• In "Captured!", the Hardy Boys have their biggest fight of the entire series when their simmering frustrations with each other finally reach a boiling point. Frank is mad at Joe being too trusting of JB and not coming to him about their plan, while Joe is angry that Frank has become so reliant on the Eye that he's not listening to anyone else and has become totally compromised by it. And then Frank states he needs to power to get what he wants most, Joe asks what that is, and he reveals just how buried in grief he still is:
  Frank: I WANT MY MOM BACK, JOE!
  Joe: (Shoves him away) SCREW YOU! Mom's dead! She's not coming back!
  • Frank then pushes him away hard enough that he slams into the opposite wall of the cargo hold, sinks to the ground, and breaks down in tears. Frank immediately has a horrified reaction the second he does it, starts crying too, and tries to apologize, but Joe just slaps his hand away.
  • Once the boys calm down and talk, Joe tearfully tells Frank that he came there to steal the relic because of how worried he's become about his brother, since it's very obvious something's wrong with him thanks to the Eye's corruption. He also insists that they don't need its power to be good detectives, reminding Frank that their dad believed in them without even knowing they have it. All of this finally gets through to Frank and convinces him to give up the Eye, agreeing to swear to it on Laura's grave.
• As Munder prepares to download Frank's consciousness into the Crystal and leave him there forever to put Aaron's mind into his body instead, Frank can only tearfully plead with him not to by stating that he has a brother, too, and is a brother himself, clearly being especially terrified at the thought of not being around to protect Joe anymore, and what Aaron may do to him instead. Munder doesn't care.
• In the denouement, Callie comes to visit Frank, but unbeknownst to her, it's actually George, who stole his body. Knowing he has no chance of keeping up the facade with her, George opts to break up with her, but it's awful to watch from her perspective.
  • Callie is warm and supportive as usual, telling "Frank" she's glad he's okay and moves closer...but then stops, clearly seeing the coldness in his eyes and impassive face, and looks confused as she asks what's wrong. And when he first says he wants to break up, she can't even comprehend what she's hearing, just staring at him with growing shock.
  • What's worse, George seems to think he's breaking it off in the gentlest, least mean way possible, saying "I'm not trying to hurt you," but his cold voice makes it come off far worse. Special mention goes to him saying "You've been a big help"; probably intended like "thanks for all you've done for me, I appreciate it even if I want to split up now," but his tone has a tinge of his usual smugness that instead sounds like he was just using her and is rubbing it in now that he doesn't "need" her anymore. Callie definitely seems to take it this way, saying "Who do you think you are?" before storming out, heartbroken.

Season 3

• At the start of the season, though it's been less than a week since George took over Frank's body, this (and his subsequent breakup with Callie) has already negatively affected the dynamic among the True Companions, and Joe is rather unhappy about it. He bluntly urges Phil not to tell Biff about his crush on her because Joe apparently knows she doesn't reciprocate and doesn't want their group to get even more messed up, heavily disapproves of "Frank" having dumped Callie, and is upset to hear that she's going away to Rosegrave for the summer. It's clear the poor kid is hurt at watching their once-close circle fall apart around him while he's helpless to do anything about it, despite his best efforts to hold it together.
  Joe: (To Callie) Breaking up with you is the worst mistake he's ever made. (...) You [and Frank] could just talk. Figure it out. I don't know. You could get back together and everything can go back to how it was before. 'Cause right now...it's the worst.
• As George gives Breaking Speeches to most of the friend group, he outright tells Biff that Phil's in love with her, and he's pretty shaken by this. When they talk about it later, Phil apologizes that she found out that way, and while she assures him he doesn't need to apologize and she does like him, it's just not in that way. Phil tells her it's okay, but he's still visibly saddened by how awkward the whole thing became thanks to George, and turns to glare at him, while he just sits there with his usual smug smirk.
• Inside the Crystal, Frank watches the previously-mentioned scene of Joe and Callie talking in the Secret Room and learns that George broke up with her. It's even sadder seeing it from his POV than it was the first time; he's horrified and starts tearing up as she leaves, futilely telling her vision self that that wasn't him, and is even more dismayed to hear that she's going away somewhere (to Rosegrave) as a result of it. Even once Frank is happily reunited with Joe in the Crystal, the thing he's probably the most upset about in their whole situation is knowing that George caused his beloved girlfriend emotional pain while pretending to be him.
• The death of JB Cox. Joe's face is totally shocked and freaked out as JB puts himself between him and a gunwoman and gets fatally shot protecting him, like he can't even believe what's happening, but then desperately screams for someone to help as his friend sinks to the ground. JB uses his last breath to give him a Dying Clue, while Joe just weakly tries to assure him he's okay, starts breaking down crying, and shakes his collar while pleading with him not to die. Meanwhile, Frank can only stare at the whole scene in horrified Stunned Silence.
  • Frank, knowing they can't be found there with a murder victim in a bar they illegally snuck into, reluctantly pries his brother gently away from JB's body, softly urging him that they have to go while holding him close. Joe struggles a bit at first before letting himself be dragged away miserably. The last look at JB is his body slumped against the pool table, all alone now that the building's emptied out.
  • The boys go back to JB's apartment to hide out there for the time being. Frank notices Joe is unresponsive to what he's saying...and then silently watches his traumatized brother, with his eyes full of tears, futilely trying to rub off JB's dried blood from all over his hands.
  • Once Trudy hears from Frank about JB's death and fills in the rest of the gang, the mood among all of them is somber. They hardly knew JB, unlike the Hardys, but it's still a crushing blow, and Biff notes out loud that Joe is not going to be doing well at all and wishes they could be with them. She's right, as Joe wakes up the next day looking like hell, having slept poorly and not feeling hungry.
  • Joe also notes to Frank that the killer was wearing the same coat as Laura in the picture from Quill, worried that their own mom might have been the one to murder his friend, while Frank tries to assure him it wasn't her but doesn't sound completely certain himself.
  • Joe reminisces to Frank about his relationship with JB, and that, despite repeatedly double-crossing each other, there was a playfulness behind it that they both enjoyed. Joe also blames himself for JB's death, noting that he tried to get out of the game but Joe persuaded him repeatedly to stay in it, and laments that he'd still be alive and Olivia wouldn't have the Core if they'd just listened to him.
    Joe: Now there's no "next time."
  • Joe hits his lowest point in the whole series when the gang finds out that Trudy, Jesse, and Brian have been kidnapped, noting that things are going From Bad to Worse with losing their aunt too and not knowing where their dad is, and he fears that JB ended up sacrificing his life for nothing, even lamenting that George was right before about them not being able to save everyone. Despite usually being the upbeat determinator who always keeps going, Joe's so downtrodden at this point that he admits he's not even sure they can win this one.
• Anya Kowalski becomes a subtle retroactive example with Driscoll's reveal to Belinda, Brian, and Chet in "Revelation" that she passed away the previous winter. After losing her beloved father when she was a child and having her life ruined by the Circle, she died with no family or apparently even friends to speak of, having willed all of her remaining assets to various charities, and the main characters are only learning about her death now despite it having happened months ago, hinting that her passing received little-to-no attention at the time. All of this points to her having been a lonely, sad woman throughout most if not all of her life.
• Fenton discovers that Laura has been Brainwashed and Crazy, and when they meet up again at their first apartment in Dixon City, she can't remember him and tries to kill him, forcing him to Taser her unconscious while apologizing for it. As he lowers her onto the couch, he can only stroke her hair and continue to whisper to her that he's sorry.
  • And before that, he pleads with her to recall their life together, asking if she remembers their sons. She has a small reaction that hints that she does remember them, and maybe Fenton too, but the microchip in her brain is forcing her to attack him against her will.
  • This all gets even sadder in hindsight with The Reveal two episodes later that this is All Just a Dream taking place inside a simulation. The brainwashed Laura trying to kill Fenton while he's forced to become an Apologetic Attacker to stop her is another facet and projection of his self-loathing and Guilt Complex that he wasn't able to save his beloved wife.
• Practically everything about "At the Old House" with The Reveal at the end that it's all taking place inside a Lotus-Eater Machine Immersive Sim, and after getting false hope that Laura was alive after all, her husband and sons having to accept that she truly is gone for good.
  • When the boys first see Laura after their parents arrive to save them, Frank goes over to hug her pretty quickly, but Joe is hesitant, wary that he'll open up to it after all the time he's spent learning to accept her death just for it to turn out to be false. He finally lets it out and goes to hug her too when Fenton assures him it really is her, only for them all to find out later that it is a trick.
  • The whole scene with Joe briefly seeing JB grin and wave at him before vanishing already counts the first time, but becomes even sadder once you know it's all taking place inside a simulation meant to give the people in it what they want the most. Joe is still so broken up about losing JB that he wouldn't even mind him having pulled another fast one on him by faking his death if it meant getting his friend back too.
  • After an argument at the dinner table between the parents (who want the family to move back to Dixon City) and their sons (who want to stay in Bridgeport), Frank gets upset and goes up to his room, and when Laura comes to talk to him, wonders aloud why he's still not happy despite seemingly getting exactly what he wanted and why none of it feels right and he doesn't feel like himself. He fears it's because of his exposure to the Crystal permanently messing him up, but it gets worse in hindsight knowing it doesn't feel right because it's not right; as much as Frank wants to return to and embrace a life with his mom back in it, he can't shake the (correct) feeling that things don't add up.
  • Joe's lingering resentment about Fenton leaving so often bubbles up from the latter just going to get a movie, asking what if something bad happens while he's gone and that he can't promise it won't (true, considering how many awful things have indeed occurred in his absence).
  • Once the boys figure out they're in a simulation, Frank does the test on Laura and sees the glitch in her eyes. Both brothers tear up at realizing she's not real, meaning she truly is dead after all. Even as they try to make Fenton see it too, they're both crying, torn up at discovering their efforts all season to find their mom were All for Nothing and realizing they're essentially losing her again.
  • Fenton questions why, if his mind is really creating what he wants within the simulation, he spent several days in solitary confinement there. His sons sadly tell him that it's because of his Guilt Complex: he's punishing himself for not being able to save Laura, even though it wasn't his fault. He was unable to accept that there's nothing he could have done and created this reality in the sim where he could rescue her.
  • Laura tries to persuade her sons to stay in the virtual reality and be happy there with her, but they know it wouldn't be real and they need to go stop Drew. Frank and Joe are both crying profusely as they share their last goodbyes with her before breaking out of the simulation.
    Frank: I love you. And I always will. I miss you so much. (...) You're always gonna be with me. Just not here.
    Joe: I don't know what to say.
    Laura: You don't have to say anything. Just let me be your mom!
    Joe: I want that so much. But Dad needs me. My friends need me.
  • Fenton laments to Simulation-Laura that he wasn't there for his sons when they needed him most (after her death). However important it may have been for solving her murder, he nonetheless considers leaving them behind back then to be My Greatest Failure.
  • Combined with heartwarming, Sim-Laura at last convincing Fenton to do what he hasn't been able to in the nearly-a-year since he lost her: finally start forgiving himself and moving on with his life. And both of them professing their undying love for each other before he leaves.
  • It's summed up well when Fenton, after waking up from the sim himself, asks his boys if they're okay, and Frank responds "Not even close" before they head off to stop Drew. They know defeating her is top priority right now and can mostly check their emotions for the time being, but it's clear our heroes are more traumatized than ever after all they've been through, and it's taking all they have to keep it together.

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