History TearJerker / Firefly

* How can you forget about when Simon gets shot? When he's lying there thinking hes about to die and he turns to River and starts apologising that he won't be able to look after her anymore.

* That tiny little moment in Objects In Space, when Simon, upon hearing what the alliance was trying to do to River, a girl he still thinks of as his goofy, bratty know it all sister, just quietly brokenly says, "She's just a kid, she just wants to be a kid ". its so easy to forget that he still just sees her as a little girl.

* That tiny little moment in Objects In Space, when Simon, upon hearing what the alliance was trying to do to River, a girl he still thinks of as his goofy, bratty know it all sister, just quietly brokenly says, "She's just a kid, she just wants to be a kid ". its so easy to forget that he still just sees her as a little girl

** That's nothing! The looks of guilt on the rest of the crews faces realy pulls on the heart-strings.

** That's nothing! The looks of guilt on the rest of the crews faces realy pulls no the heart-strings.

* In the beginning of the pilot, when Mal realizes that the [[TheEmpire spaceships]] he heared are not the [[TheCavalry the ones he had hoped for]] the camera zooms in on his face while sad chello music plays. It's not a Tear Jerker the first time around, but after watching the whole series and the movie, you will feel the pain [[BreakTheCutie of him falling apart.]]

** Adding to that, the scene in "The Train Job" where River wakes up, panics, looks around the ship's infirmary in confusion, gets deeply saddened PuppyDogEyes, and whispers "Isn't home?" in this broken little child's voice. It's a tiny thing, but the look of loss and pain on her face is so ''profound.''

--> Please, God, make me a stone!
** River's ramblings while locked in the supply closet with Simon. It doesn't become apparent just what she's saying for a bit, but then you get her laughing/sobbing comment about "Bullet in the brainpan, squish!" and you realize ''she wants to commit suicide rather than let the rest of the crew be in danger on her account.''

** That tiny little moment in Objects In Space, when Simon, upon hearing what the alliance was trying to do to River, a girl he still thinks of as his goofy, bratty know it all sister, just quietly brokenly says, "She's just a kid, she just wants to be a kid ". its so easy to forget that he still just sees her as a little girl

* "Out of Gas". ''WhamEpisode The entire freaking episode''.

* "Out of Gas". ''[[WhamEpisode The entire freaking episode]]''.

* "Out of Gas". ''The entire freaking episode''.

* From "Out of Gas", after Inara snaps--or as close as she ever comes to snapping--that she "doesn't need a clinical description right now" when Simon was hopelessly describing what happens when a human body suffocates.
-->'''Simon:''' ...Sorry. It's just...*sigh*...It was my birthday.
** With the WordOfGod that Inara is [[spoiler: dying of a terminal illness]] her line becomes this.
-->'''Inara:''' I love this ship. I have since I first saw it.\\
'''Simon:''' I just don't want to ''die'' on it.\\
'''Inara:''' *softly* I don't want to die at all.

* In "Out Of Gas" it's an odd thing to get choked up over, but seeing Mal's flashback at the end of buying Serenity brings tears to my eyes. The relationship between Mal's hopes and dreams and the ship is incredibly poinant.

*** [[YourMileageMayVary YMMV]] on this one, as there's a spot in the same episode where she calls Mal "Captain Daddy", so by saying "Daddy will come for us", she could be seen as telling Simon that everything will be alright, that Mal will come for them, which makes it more of a [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming CMOH]].

* Seeing [[spoiler: Serenity crash]] in the Big Damn Movie can be this. After all, ''she's'' the main character of Firefly, and watching her "die" like that is one of the only parts of the movie that can make this troper cringe every time. Sure, [[spoiler: she gets better]], but that's heartbreaking. Wash's death seconds later does ''not'' help.

** And immediately afterward, seeing [[spoiler:Zoe's]] reaction to it. She's not crying, she's not breaking down, she isn't even showing an ounce of pain or anguish....she's just loading her shotgun, and you can ''tell'' she's simply trying to hold on after her entire world has been shattered.

* Not to mention in TheMovie, between [[spoiler: the scene where River is finally "okay" and the almost sadistic glee in killing off half the cast.]]
** "I am a leaf on the wind. Watch how I-"
** [[spoiler:"W-wait, Wash! W-where's Wash?" "... He ain't comin'."]] I get myself together after "leaf on the wind," and then that happens. It doesn't get better with repeat viewings, either.

-->'''Inara:''' I love this ship. I have since I first saw it.

'''Inara:''' *softly* I don't want to die at all.\\

*** What gets me is when Zoe breaks the formation the crew's set up and just runs at the Reavers with her gun, even though she's vastly outnumbered. She had to have known that move was borderline suicidal, but these are the monsters that [[spoiler: killed her husband]] and she just doesn't care anymore.

--->'''Simon:''' Light it.

--->'''River:''' Please. It... hurts.

--->'''Simon:''' ...Sorry. It's just...*sigh*...It was my birthday.

--->'''Inara:''' I love this ship. I have since I first saw it.
--->'''Simon:''' I just don't want to ''die'' on it.
--->'''Inara:''' *softly* I don't want to die at all.

--->'''Jayne''': All of you! You think someone's just gonna drop money on ya, money they could use? There ain't people like that! There's just people like me.

--->[[spoiler: '''Book''': You can't order me around, boy. I'm not one of your crew.]]\\

---> '''Book:''' I don't care what you believe...just believe it.

-->Please, God, make me a stone!

** Also, Mal's final monologue to River. "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta' fall down."

* River's disjointed breakdown on Miranda, like a ''lot'' of the scenes involving River in this movie, was jarring and emotionally hard-hitting, especially the bit at the end where she starts praying frantically in Chinese.