History TearJerker / MurdochMysteries

--> '''Wallace Pike''': [[DrivenToSuicide I want silence...]]
** Also earlier on after the bomb kills Richard Welsh, his wife Cecily (who had been haughty seconds before) is close to tears as she is remorseful of her behaviour and thanks Murdoch for trying his best as time would have run out anyway.
* The entirety of "What Lies Buried". The vile DirtyCop Constable Finch extorted and even murdered young male street prostitutes several decades ago. Chief Constable Giles, who was originally a beat constable at the time, tried to investigate and arrest Finch. Unfortunately, Finch turned the tables by getting proof Giles was gay, which would've led to him being the one arrested. Giles's friend and fellow Constable Hodge, who'd been a recurring character since the start of the show, [[AccidentalMurder accidentally kills Finch]] and he and Giles bury Finch's body under the station house. Finch's body is exposed when the station house is being renovated, and Murdoch's investigation leads to the whole story finally being exposed. Giles is disgraced, and he and Hodge are both imprisoned. It's a classic case of NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished, since they were simply trying to help the young men Finch was targeting. Giles also made himself an ArmoredClosetGay, denying himself any chance of finding love so he didn't get arrested.

* "Brother's Keeper" is effectively one long TearJerker:

* "Murdoch Knows Best" has one for Terrence Meyers, of all people. He's devastated when he learns that his wife [[spoiler:was an Austro-Hungarian spy sent to seduce him, taking so far as to spend nearly twenty years married to him and bearing him two children. She refuses to become a double agent when Meyers invites her to, and she'll be deported to her home country in a prisoner exchange]], but it's made clear that, in spite of everything, she really did come to love him and their kids.

%% * The entirety of "What Lies Buried".

** Even the real killer, Nigel's father Thomas, is arguably a SympatheticMurderer. Thomas sincerely thought Nigel was innocent and being railroaded by the police, and managed to get the charges against him dropped. He was just trying to do right by his son, but he's so aghast to learn not only that Nigel committed the first murder but that he unwittingly let Nigel free to murder a ''second'' man that he finally kills Nigel himself to try and make things right. When Murdoch finally arrests Thomas, he's so crushed by guilt that he's pretty much a broken man.

* "Brother's Keeper". Watching the quirky, affable, and seemingly detached Watts break down upon learning that his foster brother was dead over the course of Murdoch's investigation into Watt's purported shooting of a suspect is heartbreaking.[[note]]When the foster brother's body is discovered, Murdoch confronts Watts with the theory that Watts discovered the killing, and murdered the killer himself in cold blood. ''Watts didn't know until then'' his brother was dead, and thought ''he'' was the killer and was trying to take the fall to protect him.[[/note]]

* When Watts' boyfriend cracks under pressure to marry a woman, he is so heartbroken that he asks Julia to enact CureYourGays with hypnotism. As she predicts, it doesn't work, and he doesn't want to hear her tries to explain his sexuality isn't something to be "fixed".

* "Prodigal Father" features a case of Bipolar Disorder that doesn't shy away from how badly it can hinder the life of someone suffering from it, and if not treated, everyone around them. The man in question is a businessman with grand ambitions, [[ItWillNeverCatchOn an uncanny knack for foreseeing highly successful ventures decades before they eventually end up happening]], and an talent for successfully pitching his ideas to investors. Unfortunately, most of his ventures crash and burn when the depression part of his Bipolar Disorder kicks in and leaves him borderline catatonic for the duration, causing the venture to fall through and losing the invested money. The killing in the episode was, in reality, one part of a husband-wife team trying to kill him [[HoistByHisOwnPetard accidentally drinking a poisoned drink intended for the businessman]] as part of a revenge plot for costing them their considerable fortune on a previous investment. When Murdoch and the rest of the constabulary (including George, who learned that the man was his long-lost father, and Brackenreid, who had invested a large amount of his own funds and the constabulary's Widows and Orphans Fund into his latest business) learn of his former ventures, they initially believe that he's a conman, when in reality he's merely a man with the best intentions held back by a debilitating mental illness nearly half a century before it was fully understood.

* "Prodigal Father" features a case of Bipolar Disorder that doesn't shy away from how badly it can hinder the life of someone suffering from it, and if not treated, everyone around them. The man in question is a businessman with grand ambitions, [[ItWillNeverCatchOn an uncanny knack for foreseeing highly successful ventures decades before they eventually end up happening]], and an talent for successfully pitching his ideas to investors. Unfortunately, most of his ventures crash and burn when the depression part of his Bipolar Disorder kicks in and leaves him borderline comatose for the duration, causing the venture to fall through and losing the invested money. The killing in the episode was, in reality, one part of a husband-wife team trying to kill him [[HoistByHisOwnPetard accidentally drinking a poisoned drink intended for the businessman]] as part of a revenge plot for costing them their considerable fortune on a previous investment. When Murdoch and the rest of the constabulary (including George, who learned that the man was his long-lost father, and Brackenreid, who had invested a large amount of his own funds and the constabulary's Widows and Orphans Fund into his latest business) learn of his former ventures, they initially believe that he's a conman, when in reality he's merely a man with the best intentions held back by a debilitating mental illness nearly half a century before it was fully understood.

* The truth behind the killing in "Forever Young" is a tragic one. The victim, a young woman who had been dying from tuberculosis, is revealed to have been [[AccidentalMurder accidentally killed]] by her father as a result of a desperate attempt to cure her. Inspired by a realization that the radiation from sunlight kills viruses and not fully understanding the nature of the then-recently discovered X-Ray, he subjected his daughter to prolonged X-Ray exposure, unwittingly killing her. In his grief, he kept her body in a glass coffin, much like Sleeping Beauty, until he died from a heart attack a decade later, at which point his widow (under the advice of an AmoralAttorney) hatched a plot to plant her body and fake her murder, with the intent of marketing the X-Ray device as an ImmortalityInducer by showing how the machine had kept her from aging for a decade before she was "murdered". Even worse, [[KarmaHoudini the widow and attorney get away nearly scot-free]] for their actions; while the intent to defraud thousands of people was there, due to the way the law is written, the fact that money had not yet changed hands means that no crime was committed, [[PlausibleDeniability there's no hard evidence that the pair knew the machine was the cause of the woman's death]] so they can't be convicted for knowingly endangering the public, and while they can charge the attorney for [[DesecratingTheDead the desecration of her corpse]] for his role in their scheme, the maximum sentence is a mere 12 months while they can't prove that the widow played any part in it, meaning she gets to go free.

* The ending of "Drowning in Money" is absolutely heartbreaking. The initial murders were caused by a woman who suffered [[AbusiveParents an abusive childhood, basically raised from birth with the sole goal of having her marry into royalty so her parents could join high society]] deciding to kill her parents when she discovers that [[BigSisterInstinct they intend to do the exact same thing with their other daughter]], exacting revenge and trying to ensure that her little sister had a better life. [[AllForNothing Tragically, this backfires spectacularly when her husband figures out that she murdered her parents and gets into a fight with the younger sister, which ends with him getting pushed to his death.]] While she's spared from the noose due to being a child, she's still going to prison while her older sister is most likely facing execution, meaning that the murders accomplished virtually nothing.

* The truth behind the killing in "Forever Young" is a tragic one. The victim, a young woman who had been dying from tuberculosis, is revealed to have been [[AccidentalMurder accidentally killed]] by her father as a result of a desperate attempt to cure her. Inspired by a realization that the radiation from sunlight kills viruses and not fully understanding the nature of the then-recently discovered X-Ray, he subjected his daughter to prolonged X-Ray exposure, unwittingly killing her. In his grief, he kept her body in a glass coffin, much like Sleeping Beauty, until he died from a heart attack a decade later, at which point his widow (under the advice of an AmoralAttorney) hatched a plot to plant her body and fake her murder, with the intent of marketing the X-Ray device as an ImmortalityInducer by showing how the machine had kept her from aging for a decade before she was "murdered". Even worse, [[KarmaHoudini the widow and attorney get away nearly scot-free]] for their actions; while the intent to defraud thousands of people was there, due to the way the law is written, the fact that money had not yet changed hands means that no crime was committed, [[ImplausibleDeniability there's no hard evidence that the pair knew the machine was the cause of the woman's death]] so they can't be convicted for knowingly endangering the public, and while they can charge the attorney for [[DesecratingTheDead the desecration of her corpse]] for his role in their scheme, the maximum sentence is a mere 12 months while they can't prove that the widow played any part in it, meaning she gets to go free.

* The ending of "Drowning in Money" is absolutely heartbreaking. The initial murders were caused by a woman who suffered [[AbusiveParents an abusive childhood, basically raised from birth with the sole goal of having her marry into royalty so her parents could join high society]] deciding to kill her parents when she discovers that [[BigSisterInstinct they intend to do the exact same thing with their other daughter]], exacting revenge and trying to ensure that her little sister had a better life. [[AllForNothing Tragically, this backfires spectacularly when her husband figures out that she murdered her parents and gets into a fight with the younger sister, which ends with him getting pushed to his death.]] While she's spared from the noose due to being a child, she's still going to prison while her older sister is most likely facing execution, meaning that the murders accomplished virtually nothing.

--> '''Wallace Pike''': ''[[DrivenToSuicide "I want silence..."]]''
* The entirety of "What Lies Buried".
* In the Episode 'Artful Detective'- Season 8, Episode 18, George is arrested, suspected of murder of Edna's husband who was NOT dead all along, as he was at war. It's understandable why George would have done such a thing. George has had his heart broken many times in the show; Edna is his latest sweetheart. To witness the outcomes of a violent husband on his Edna and her son, it's easy for Murdoch and Co. to suspect him of killing Edna's husband in order to be with Edna and to protect her from her violent husband. It's heartbreaking to see everyone being torn apart from this turn of events.
* The death of Lillian.

* "Brother's Keeper". Watching the quirky, affable, and seemingly detached Watts break down [[spoiler:upon learning that his foster brother was dead]] over the course of Murdoch's investigation into Watt's purported shooting of a suspect is heartbreaking.[[note]]When the foster brother's body is discovered, Murdoch confronts Watts with the theory that Watts discovered the killing, and murdered the killer himself in cold blood. ''Watts didn't know until then'' his brother was dead, and thought ''he'' was the killer and was trying to take the fall to protect him.[[/note]]

* The ending of "Drowning in Money" is absolutely heartbreaking. The initial murders were caused by a woman who suffered [[AbusiveParents an abusive childhood, basically raised from birth with the sole goal of having her marry into royalty so her parents could join high society]] deciding to her kill parents when she discovers that [[BigSisterInstinct they intend to do the exact same thing with their other daughter]], exacting revenge and trying to ensure that her little sister had a better life. [[AllForNothing Tragically, this backfires spectacularly when her husband figures out that she murdered her parents and gets into a fight with the younger sister, which ends with him getting pushed to his death.]] While she's spared from the noose due to being a child, she's still going to prison while her older sister is most likely facing execution, meaning that the murders accomplished virtually nothing.

* "Up from Ashes": The revelation that Jackson didn't survive the ambush.

* From "Blast of Silence", when [[spoiler:Wallace Pike shoots himself in the head after the bells and factories start up again. Even more so with the fact that he saved the mayor from his own contraption, but found that suicide was a better alternative to the sound]].
--> '''[[spoiler:Wallace Pike]]''': ''[[DrivenToSuicide "I want silence..."]]''

* In the Episode 'Artful Detective'- Season 8, Episode 18 [[spoiler:George is arrested, suspected of murder of Edna's husband who was NOT dead all along, as he was at War.]] For this troper, she can see why George would have done such a thing. [[spoiler: George has had his heart broken many times in the show, Edna is his latest sweetheart. To witness the outcomes of a violent husband on his Edna and her son, it's easy for Murdoch and Co. to suspect him of killing Edna's husband in order to be with Edna and to protect her from her violent husband.]] It's heartbreaking to see everyone being torn apart from this turn of events.
* The death of [[spoiler: Lillian.]]
* The end of "Wild Child". [[spoiler: Murdoch and Dr. Ogden give Roland back to his rightful father.]]
* In "The Missing", Watts reveals that his sister has been missing for 15 years, ever since they were both children. A few episodes later, he finds her again, and she tells him that [[spoiler: she never wanted to be burdened with the task of raising a child, and left because she wanted to.]]
* "Up from Ashes": [[spoiler:The revelation that Jackson didn't survive the ambush.]]

* In "The Missing", Watts reveals that his sister has been missing for 12 years, ever since they were both children. A few episodes later, he finds her again, and she tells him that [[spoiler: she never wanted to be burdened with the task of raising a child, and left because she wanted to.]]

* The end of "Wild Child". [[spoiler: Murdoch and Dr. Ogden give Roland back to his rightful father.]]

* The entirety of "What Lies Beneath".

* The death of [[spoiler: Lillian.]]

* In the Episode 'Artful Detective'- Season 8, Episode 18 [[spoiler:George is arrested, suspected of murder of Edna's husband who was NOT dead all along, as he was at War.]] For this troper, she can see why George would have done such a thing. [[spoiler: George has had his heart broken many times in the show, Edna is his latest sweetheart. To witness the outcomes of a violent husband on his Edna and her son, it's easy for Murdoch and Co. to suspect him of killing Edna's husband in order to be with Edna and to protect her from her violent husband.]] It's heartbreaking to see everyone being torn apart from this turn of events.

* The entirety of "What Lies Beneath".

--> '''[[spoiler:Wallace Pike]]''': ''[[DrivenToSuicide "I want silence..."]]''