History TearJerker / Oppenheimer

* The revelation of what Oppenheimer (might have) actually said to Einstein that day at the Institute for Advanced Study, which caused Einstein to avoid looking Strauss in the eye as he passed and unintentionally causing Strauss to believe Oppenheimer was working against him. It wasn't even ''about'' Strauss, but just some small talk, and some prophetic words regarding the burdens of fame... and then, right at the end, Oppenheimer reminds Einstein of Teller's calculations, that their project might inadvertently cause a chain reaction that would destroy the world. Oppenheimer says they may have been ''right.'' And in that moment, Einstein's expression makes sense. He wasn't [[DeathGlare glaring daggers]] at Strauss, or even trying to avoid eye contact with him. His mind [[ThousandYardStare wasn't there]] at all. Like Oppenheimer, Einstein was realizing the full implications of his involvement in the Atomic Bomb, a weapon that one day may fulfill its prophecy of setting fire to the world -- only, it won't be by ''accident.''

** Oppenheimer back at work soon after learning that his friend is dead, deeply shaken and unable to focus--but still facing a looming deadline to build an ''atomic bomb'' and a room full of stressed-out scientists whose fights he still has to referee.

* The revelation of what Oppenheimer (might have) actually said to Einstein that day at the Institute for Advanced Study, which caused Einstein to avoid looking Strauss in the eye as he passed and unintentionally causing Strauss to believe Oppenheimer was working against him. It wasn't even ''about'' Strauss, but just some small talk, and some prophetic words regarding the burdens of fame...and then, right at the end, Oppenheimer reminds Einstein of Teller's calculations, that their project might inadvertently cause a chain reaction that would destroy the world. Oppenheimer says they may have been ''right.'' And in that moment, Einstein's expression makes sense. He wasn't [[DeathGlare glaring daggers]] at Strauss, or even trying to avoid eye contact with him. His mind [[ThousandYardStare wasn't there]] at all. Like Oppenheimer, Einstein was realizing the full implications of his involvement in the Atomic Bomb, a weapon that one day may fulfill its prophecy of setting fire to the world--only, it won't be by ''accident.''

** Both Rabi and Oppenheimer take a beat to hang a lampshade on the CallBack--calling back to a much simpler time, before there was an atomic bomb, when they were just two young scientists sharing a train compartment and an orange on their way to brighter unknown futures.

** Becomes very Heartwarming when Chevalier immediately agrees, no questions asked.

* Offscreen, but J. Robert Oppenheimer passed away in 1967 of throat cancer, brought on by his work around nuclear material and being near the first nuclear detonation almost unshielded. While he lived to see the Cuban Missile Crisis in its entirety, he never got to see the push for nuclear disarmament and the rise of M.A.D. which more or less assured that neither side would dare strike first.

* Kitty suffering badly from what appears to be postpartum depression after the birth of their first child. It gets to the point that Oppenheimer asks Chevalier and his wife to take him, implying that he's worried about the baby's safety around Kitty.

** Richard Feynman somberly shakes Hans Bethe's hand, a sobering CallBack to all of the euphoria and celebratory hand-shaking after the successful Trinity test, when all of the scientists were just as excited as their wives and neighbors are now.

* When Truman announces that Hiroshima has been bombed, everyone at Los Alamos who ''didn't'' build that bomb are ecstatic. The scientists who did, the people who saw the Trinity detonation and knew exactly what that bomb could do, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone look like they're going to vomit.]]

* As he staggers out of the gymnasium following his victory speech, haunted by nauseating visions of the destruction of the bomb, Oppenheimer passes by two women holding each other and weeping. They could either be scientists on the project, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone haunted by the same guilt that Oppenheimer is]], or they could be a vision of the bomb's victims, mourning loved ones they've lost. It's an incredibly sobering part of an overwhelmingly bleak sequence either way.

* One for worker's struggles, but Oppenheimer and many other prominent scientists having to give up their organizational efforts and suppress their leftist political beliefs to be a part of the historic effort to build the a-bomb, then being persecuted years later for those same beliefs.

* Offscreen, but J. Robert Oppenheimer passed away in 1967 of throat cancer, brought on by his work around nuclear material and being near the first nuclear detonation almost unshielded. While he lived to see the Cuban Missile Crisis in its entirety, he never got to see the push for nuclear disarmament and the world realizing just how very much it would like to not have a global thermonuclear war.

* Offscreen, but J. Robert Oppenheimer passed away in 1967 of throat cancer, brought on by his work around nuclear material and being near the first nuclear detonation almost unshielded.

** Both Rabi and Oppenheimer take a beat to hang a lampshade on the CallBack--calling back to a much simpler time, before there was an atomic bomb, when they were just two young scientists sharing a train compartment and an orange on their way to brighter unknown futures.

** Both Rabi and Oppenheimer take a beat to hang a lampshade on the CallBack--calling back to a much simpler time, before there was an atomic bomb, when they were just two young scientists sharing a train compartnment and an orange on their way to brighter unknown futures.

* [[CallBack The second time]] Rabi offers Oppenheimer an orange and orders him to eat it, Oppenheimer is so rattled and broken by the witch hunt of his security hearing that Rabi practically has to help him eat. The sight of him like this (plus Rabi's death glare) is enough to convince Lawrence to back out of testifying against him.

* Oppenheimer's deteriorating anxiety over the future as he saw the direction his country, one he had sacrificed for, was going in by making atomic bombs, and later hydrogen bombs, just another part of the arsenal. Although we don't see another ImagineSpot during the 1950's and 60's, his increasing distraction indicates it was still on his mind.

* The revelation of what Oppenheimer (might have) actually said to Einstein that day at the Institute for Advanced Study, which caused Einstein to avoid looking Strauss in the eye as he passed and unintentionally causing Strauss to believe Oppenheimer was working against him. It wasn't even ''about'' Strauss, but just some small talk, and some prophetic words regarding the burdens of fame...and then, right at the end, Oppenheimer reminds Einstein of Teller's calculations, that their project might inadvertently cause a chain reaction that would destroy the world. Oppenheimer says they may have been ''right.'' And in that moment, Einstein's expression makes sense. He wasn't [[DeathGlare glaring daggers]] at Strauss, or even trying to avoid eye contact with him. His mind [[ThousandYardStare wasn't there]] at all. Like Oppenheimer, Einstein was realizing the full implications of his involvement in the Atomic Bomb, a weapon that one day may fulfill its prophecy of setting fire to the world--only, it won't be by ''accident.''

* Offscreen, but J. Robert Oppenheimer passed away in 1967 of throat cancer, brought on by his work around nuclear material and being near the first nuclear detonation almost unshielded.

* Kitty's mental anguish during the clearance hearing in 1954 as Robert's infidelity was put into public record. The opening up of old wounds manifests in the sequence as her imagining Jean having sex with Robert right there in the chair while *staring her down* with a look of "he was never yours".