Tear Jerker / W.I.T.C.H. (2004)

• The early episodes of the animated series that dealt with Elyon abandoning her friends, parents and whole world as a result of being manipulated, especially since it took most of one whole season to resolve, instead of just being a fluke. It's like all those scenes from An American Tail, where Fievel almost finds his parents, all over again. Worst of all are the moments that dealt with Cornelia's relationship with Elyon; when they threw out a Rosebud to a character who had up to that point been portrayed as consistently superficial, rude, and obnoxious, and she actually showed deep concerns about wanting to help her friend out of trouble, her teammates rejected her pleas.
• Season Two's first half features Caleb and Cornelia breaking up, due to Caleb agreeing to stay on Meridian and help Elyon reform the Kingdom. Cornelia calls him out for not talking about this before they got together, and for prioritizing Elyon and Meridian over her. It takes a long time for Caleb to apologize, and even so he's still prickly that Cornelia doesn't appreciate that the work is never done. Meanwhile, Cornelia realizes that she's taking Caleb for granted and decides to work on their relationship after thinking he was dead.
• "E is for Enemy". When Susan laments to Will about her having a sleepover and not asking permission and not feeling sorry about it. The girls have better reasons for it. The viewers know the real reason. But Susan doesn't. She believes that what she is saying is the cold truth, but it isn't. Then, the expressions on the girls' faces when they see Will's expression. You can just tell they want to say something to Will's mom. Just wanna hug Will and tell her it's going to be alright.
• "F is for Facades".
  • When the girls fight Nerissa's lackeys to rescue the kidnapped warriors. The remaining warriors inform the Guardians that Caleb and his father had supposedly been killed off by Nerissa, much to Cornelia's grief. When everyone walks back to the kingdom with a feeling of defeat, Cornelia suddenly drops to her knees and cries in despair over Caleb's death. The other girls run back to try and console her.
  • In hindsight, Nerissa's horror about Caleb and his father being captured. She is reunited with her son and lover in her true form, and they are sentenced to death. Nerissa quickly spares them and returns them to the Guardians because she doesn't want them killed on her behalf.
  • Cornelia in her older-teen disguise breaking up with Taranee's brother. Peter takes it well, but Cornelia wasn't wrong that she and Caleb weren't together at the time, so she wasn't cheating on him.
• Just these words from Irma to Blunk in "G is for Garbage": "Garbage! Worthless garbage! Like you!" What makes it worse is that Irma only said it out of frustration and the look on her face is enough.
• "H is for Hunted".
  • Since Elyon has duties as Queen in Meridian, she has to leave her old life on Earth behind her, including saying goodbye to her best friend Alchemy who is really gonna miss Elyon and Elyon is going to miss her back. They have a tearful goodbye hug.
  • Will creates an Astral Drop of herself to do her laundry while she helps her friends prepare for a party. Astral Drops are normally unable to feel emotions, but when Nerissa changes Will's Astral Drop into an Altermere, it gains all of Will's emotions and memories, including her attachments to friends and loved ones. Excited about her new life, Altermere!Will has fun at the laundromat before eating all the food in the Vandoms' fridge. Her new zest for life immediately extends to Will's mother, who the Altermere sees as her own mother. She happily hugs Ms. Vandom before inviting her to the party at the school. When Will realizes how much trouble the Altermere is causing. She and the other guardians, thinking it's still a normal Astral Drop, begin chasing it down in an attempt to absorb it back into the Heart of Kandrakar. The Altermere, who loves her new life as much as anyone would, reacts violently, and a vicious fight ensues between Will and her. After the Altermere desperately explains to Will that she has feelings and emotions, Will then breaks down in tears, embracing her tightly and promising never to absorb her since they are technically sisters. However, Nerissa uses the distraction of the emotional display to fire a burst of lightning at Will, and the Altermere sacrifices her life to save her creator. A tearful Will offers to absorb the Altermere into her being, which would allow its experiences and memories to remain intact. The Altermere accepts and fades into Will's body, becoming one with Will's consciousness.
• "J is For Jewel": Trill wasn't real. The Nice Girl we knew from Season One was just another cover for Nerissa, who used it to infiltrate the rebels and ingratiate herself with Elyon after the latter is crowned. Everyone is shocked when Trill reveals herself after Elyon unwittingly surrenders her powers to the latter, with Elyon being in denial and saying Nerissa must have done something to her. Nerissa gleefully tells her Trill never existed before imprisoning her in a jewel.
• "K is for Knowledge":
  • Taranee gets mad at her mother for thinking Nigel is a bad influence. She sneaks out wearing a punk outfit and contacts to meet Nigel at a concert, because she may as well be the bad girl. This gets her grounded.
  • Caleb tells the Mage to send him and Blunk to Earth using Blunk's tooth; since it will kill one person at a time, he knows he'll die and Blunk can warn the Guardians. Blunk protests, saying Caleb is too precious to die.
  • Cornelia angrily asks what happened to Elyon when the Guardians arrive at Kandrakar. She's remembering what happened when Elyon disappeared the first time.
  • The story of Nerissa when the Oracle tells the girls: CHYKN was the original team, and Nerissa was the leader. Only she was irresponsible with the Heart, leading the Oracle to transfer it to Cassidy. Nerissa and Cassidy had a confrontation, and Nerissa used her powers to blast Cassidy off a cliff. Then she has a My God, What Have I Done? expression. Cue her being imprisoned for decades, changing her from a spirited young woman to a bitter hag. This also meant that Phobos was unopposed, and Yan Lin was unwilling to use the Heart.
  • Later, Yan Lin and Halinor confront Nerissa when she is attacking the new generation. They bluntly ask Nerissa if she'll kill them like she killed Cassidy and if she even cares. Nerissa pauses in her fight and nearly cries. She says she loved Cassidy, who meant a lot to her. Nerissa retreats, abandoning the fight.
• "L Is For Loser":
  • Will learning that Nerissa has kidnapped her boyfriend (not yet realizing that she has also brainwashed him into becoming Shagon). She's horrified and angry, and resentful that Nerissa's new allies thrive on pain so she can't show her anger.
  • There is a reason you don't make public declarations of love on a microphone: Irma storms in when Martin starts serenading her over the school intercom, and give him a "The Reason You Suck" Speech about how she's not interested and never will be. While she was completely right to chew him out for having no sense of boundaries, Irma can't help but feel guilty about humiliating him in front of the entire school since she didn't realize the mic was on.
  • Nerissa torturing Kor (aka Mr. Huggles) when he refused to harm Matt.
  Matt: Stop! You're hurting him!
• "M for Mercy", where Nerissa invokes the soul of the ex-leader of CHYKN, Cassidy the Guardian of Water, to try convince her come back to life through Nerissa's magic. Cassidy has even forgiven Nerissa's murder of her, so she's got no regrets and refuses Nerissa's multiple offers... until Nerissa visits Cassidy's still-living mother, Emily. Cassidy going all "... Mom..." when she hears Emily say she still misses Cassidy, only to become Nerissa's brainwashed puppet as soon as she cries and wishes to come back and be with her mom.
• "O is for Obedience":
  • For Caleb, when he learns that Nerissa is his mother the look on his face afterwards really says it all. The scene at the very end where he brushes off Cornelia's sympathetic hug and walks off into the distance is particularly heartbreaking.
  • Nerissa reveals she conceived Caleb to make him a leader of the newly reformed Meridian. All he has to do is join her. Caleb takes her staff... and tries to steal it because as he puts it, he didn't displace one tyrant on Meridian to instill another. Nerissa is truly saddened that her son refused her.
• "P is for Protector":
  • Taranee's mother thinks her daughter and her "delinquent" boyfriend Nigel held up a sushi place. She seriously calls them out for being thieves...only for the owner to clarify Taranee and Nigel stopped the real robbers, risking their lives. Theresa then faces Taranee and Nigel giving her identical Death Glares, and awkwardly apologizes on realizing how badly she misjudged the situation.
  • Kadma's reaction when the fake W.I.T.C.H. is revealed to be Nerissa and her cronies. She hasn't seen her former friend in ages, not since Cassidy died.
• "S is for Self":
  • Matt has been trapped inside his body the whole time, witnessing Shagon take over his life. He's not happy but has been playing The Long Game to regain his body.
  • Yan Lin knows that Nerissa will catch her one way or another. She tries to say goodbye to Hay Lin, but instead kisses her on the cheek and tells her, "Eat your vegetables."
  • Just as Shagon is about to obliterate Will, Matt takes over his body and starts singing "The Will to Love," the song he wrote for her. Will realizes that Matt is still in there and calls out to him. This gives Matt the strength to take over and control Shagon.
• Hay Lin's Heroic BSoD in "T is for Trauma". Seeing her so depressed and not as happy and vibrant...excuse me.
  • Even during the Transformation Sequence, while the others do their thing, Hay Lin stands silently with her back turned, not even bothering to do her pose when the sequence goes to her part.