History TearJerker / ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia

*** It also works as a surprisingly beautiful callback -- in "The Gang Go To Hell", God appears as a half-naked, muscular man that Mac can't admit being attracted to . Here, she's the beautiful woman that he feels he ''should'' be attracted to, unsexualised and telling him it's ok.

* Dennis' decrepit-looking form in "Dee Day" after Dee makes him remove his makeup, implants, and hair dye in "Dee Day." He looks so dejected, listless, and small, it can make you feel bad for him, especially because it's a SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome of his insecurity, eating disorder and alcoholism.

* Dennis' decrepit-looking form in "Dee Day" after Dee makes him remove his makeup, implants, and hair dye in "Dee Day." He looks so dejected, listless, and small, it can make you feel bad for him.

* As funny as Rickety Cricket's situation is, it's also heartbreaking to see things get worse and worse for him every season.
-->'''Mac:''' This is Cricket. He has the worst life imaginable.\\
'''Cricket:''' ''(proudly)'' It's true.
** "A Cricket's Tale" marks his point of no return. Cricket's father offers to give him a job so he can get back on his feet, during which Cricket meets an attractive young woman who takes a liking to him. When Cricket kisses her, his father and brother scream at him to stop, stating that his newfound love was actually a dog and he was hallucinating. Cricket then gives up on any chance at rehabilitation and you just know that his decision was fueled by a broken heart.

* It’s only briefly, but Mac has this clarity that everything the Gang does turns to shit, and they’re just cruel and angry and awful.

* It’s hard to hear underneath the chaotic music, but Dennis gets upset with Mac and Charlie taking their shirts off because “having sex with a bank lady” was “[[Recap/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphiaS03E13TheGangGetsWhackedPart2 his job]]”.

* Ben the soldier breaking down and confessing to Mac and Charlie that Dee has been verbally abusing him in order to sexually manipulate him. The guy is a rape victim and has no idea how to deal with it.
* Although it's always PlayedForLaughs, Mac's relationship with his parents can be this as he constantly deludes himself into thinking that they love him, even though they outright tell him that they don't. Whenever they're around, Mac regresses into an even more childlike state, craving their affection.
* In "The Gang Broke Dee", the episode opens with the rest of the gang making fun of Dee, who appears to be legitimately depressed; miserably downing month-old birthday cake and cheap hooch while dejectedly accepting their insults. It's one of, if not ''the'' only time in the series so far where she's ever been a straight-up [[TheWoobie Woobie]].
-->'''Dee:''' I'm just going to go home.\\
'''Charlie:''' Good! Go home! I hope you-\\
'''Dee:''' You hope I get hit by a bus?\\
'''Charlie:''' Dee, come on-\\
'''Dee:''' What difference does it make? I can't get any lower than I am already. I might as well throw myself in front of a bus, because I'm so ugly I can't even get a bus to hit on me.
* While Schmitty has his own issues, [[https://www.reddit.com/r/IASIP/comments/78dyrn/jason_sudeikas_performance_as_schmitty_in_s6e8/ this Reddit post]] adds an element of sadness to his debut episode in hindsight. In short: He was looking forward to a reprieve from his emotionally exhausting caretaker duties, and was met with a surreal cascade of meanness, immaturity, and dysfunction.
* The Reynolds Twins might be rotten adults trying to change Frank so he can get them gifts, but finding out what your kids want and buying them for yourself is nasty, and Dee/Dennis as actual children have their chains yanked right on video. Mac and Charlie don’t get off light either, Mac admitting that his parents fucked him up telling him it was a Christmas tradition to steal, and Charlie was left alone huffing glue while his mom “got presents for him”.

** The most prominent one is with Ruby Taft, a rich but SpoiledSweet woman who genuinely loves Charlie. And for a majority of the episode, it looks like Charlie returns the feeling, finally moving on from the Waitress. However, in the end, when the Waitress calls him and tells him she needs him in her life, not only does Charlie immediately start leaving to be by her side, he dumps Ruby in the coldest possible way: telling her he simply used her (and slept with her) to [[OperationJealousy to make the Waitress jealous]] and calls her "a stupid little rich slut" right to her face. Even when she breaks down crying, Charlie cruelly yells at her to go away, and she runs off in tears while he laughs and leaves without remorse. It's really hard not to feel bad for her after that.

** Again in "Psycho Pete Returns", Frank again has traumatic flashbacks when revisiting the now abandoned mental asylum he went to as a kid and even though this was a product of his mental disorder, he seemed to show genuine care for "The Frog Kid": his supposed roommate who was half frog. He seemed genuinely panicked when he spent the episode trying to find him.

* Frank sobbing while hugging the mannequin he dressed up as Charlie while telling it "I like you too New Charlie," when he believed Charlie was dead is equal parts sad, disturbing and hilarious.

* Also really sweet, but when the rest of the Gang give Charlie his rat bashing stick, he gets choked up and starts to say nobody has ever done anything like this for him before.
* The Lawyer crying about his divorce in "Paddy's Pub: Home of the Kitten Mittens". Even the Gang seems touched.
* In “Chardee Macdennis”, Charlie and Mac admit to going way too far with emotionally battering Dee, seeing as she cried for a month after and took too many pills. She tells everyone that she’s fine because she’s used to it, but even Dennis is looking at her with sympathy.
* As funny as Rickety Cricket's situation is, it's also heartbreaking to see things get worse and worse for him every season.
-->'''Mac:''' This is Cricket. He has the worst life imaginable.\\
'''Cricket:''' ''(proudly)'' It's true.
** "A Cricket's Tale" marks his point of no return. Cricket's father offers to give him a job so he can get back on his feet, during which Cricket meets an attractive young woman who takes a liking to him. When Cricket kisses her, his father and brother scream at him to stop, stating that his newfound love was actually a dog and he was hallucinating. Cricket then gives up on any chance at rehabilitation and you just know that his decision was fueled by a broken heart.

-->'''Mac:''' "If there was a God, there's no way he would make me queer."

* The Old Black Man is revealed to be estranged from/lost his wife and he just wants the gang to help him find her.
* While Dee meant well with her ToughLove “Ms Klinsky raped a child” video, ultimately trying to get it through to her brother that he was hurt, Dennis looks like he might actually kill someone when Mac turns it off. His dissociation tendencies start from this episode too.

* Charlie's devastated, tearful expression at the end of "Mac Bangs Dennis' Mom" while he watches how the Waitress rants about how she slept with Frank to get back at Dennis. It's not a leap to suppose that Charlie is not only upset by the Waitress sleeping with Frank and that his machinations the whole episode ended up [[GoneHorriblyRight going horribly right]], but at the pain she was in.

* TheReveal in “Time’s Up” that Dee raped Charlie offscreen when he decided he didn’t want it anymore makes their sweet friendship building in “The Gang Misses The Boat” feel AllForNothing. Notably at the end of the latter episode, they’re very uncomfortable around each other and he mimes choking her.

* One that doubles as UnnervinglyHeartwarming: Dennis has called Frank out plenty of times on being a terrible father, but when they’re trying the dad/son thing (after the below rejection by Charlie) and Frank praises him for how dark he is instead of being disturbed, Dennis admits he has Frank to thank for the neglect and misdeeds (which includes selling him as a prostitute) killing any sort of conscience in him. He then kisses Frank on the head and rather meekly asks if that was okay to do.

* A little like how Ms Klinsky added a new layer to Dennis, his heavy handed MommyIssues (that every man had a dominating mother who both inflated his ego and made him feel powerless, and he craves her validation including sexually) isn’t an excuse for how terrible he is, but it does sadly explain a few things.
* Dennis as both an adult and child torturing Dee when it comes to bowling. It’s sad on both sides, because Dee was actually head of the bowling team as a kid and good at something until Dennis fucked her over - going to watch and saying gutterball every time she played, destroying her confidence in a talent she had, and for Dennis he’s so insanely clingy and lonely that he can’t accept that Dee loves him (and is just as weird as he is when it comes to their insane incest thing), and her just wanting one thing to herself doesn’t mean she loves him less or is going to leave.
* While it turns out quite sweet (Dennis fantasised getting his rage out instead of hurting anyone, and goes to be with the Gang), Dennis's fantasy is consistently about the fear that he can't actually control anything, considers himself a victim of a system too, and nobody will help him.

* Dennis saying goodbye to Brian Jr. in "Dennis' Double Life". He holds him tight before giving him to Mandy, his one-night stand, and Brian waves bye to him. Back in the bar, he [[ThousandYardStare stares into space]] before announcing his need to be Brian's father, because he didn't want to hurt his own son the way Frank did.
** This moment really can't be overstated. Seeing this terrible, self-confessed TinMan look completely destroyed when he hugs Brian Jr. is a genuine gut punch. It's easy to tell right then and there that Dennis in legitimately hurt by this turn of events, compounded when he claims that he can't let it end that way.

* "Waiting for Big Mo" is probably the biggest example of just how abusive Dennis can be to the rest of the Gang. He manipulates Mac and Dee into focusing on their goal during the laser tag match by withholding compliments from Mac and giving those compliments to Dee instead. His reasoning is that by robbing Mac of love and giving Dee love that she believes she doesn't deserve, it makes them angry enough to charge at their rival players and score more points. Their faces when Dennis puts this into action is heartbreaking. Also the fact that he really does love Dee, giving up to drown when he thinks she doesn’t love him back (which she clearly does), but she’s been so abused that even the affection she craves she doesn’t trust or think she deserves.

** It's so toxic that it actually turns into a subtle Moment of Awesome when they eventually overcome his orders. Mac and Dee defy him and choose to just have fun with each other, and Charlie manages to activate Frank's laser pack.
** Dennis himself doesn't get off easy either: admitting to Charlie why he’s so hellbent on waiting for Big Mo, as he feels like he has to always be on guard for what “Big Mo” represents; certain people who want to take what Dennis has and want him to passively give it over. As is usual for charden later episode subplots, the sexual abuse trauma subtext is not hard to miss.
** Dennis’s reaction to the guy who created laser tag killed himself. He has to sit down, disappearing from the Gang’s framing like he did in “Dee Day”, and he looks so small and sad.

* "Waiting for Big Mo" is probably the biggest example of just how abusive Dennis can be to the rest of the Gang. He manipulates Mac and Dee into focusing on their goal during the laser tag match by withholding compliments from Mac and giving those compliments to Dee instead. His reasoning is that by robbing Mac of love and giving Dee love that she believes she doesn't deserve, it makes them angry enough to charge at their rival players and score more points. Their faces when Dennis puts this into action is heartbreaking.

** It's so toxic that it actually turns into a subtle MomentofAwesome when they eventually overcome his orders. Mac and Dee defy him and choose to just have fun with each other, and Charlie manages to activate Frank's laser pack.

** It's so toxic that it actually turns into a subtle CrowningMomentofAwesome when they eventually overcome his orders. Mac and Dee defy him and choose to just have fun with each other, and Charlie manages to activate Frank's laser pack.

* The Gang Goes To Hell: Part 2. Mac just collapsing when he finds out Dennis had been keeping his father's letters from him. Especially when Dennis admits that his dad never said that he loved him. He can't even bring up the energy to attack Dennis over it.

* In "The Gang Gets Whacked", Frank pimping out Dennis is played surprisingly straight, and gets HarsherInHindsight after the statutory rape reveal.